Secret codes（密码）keep messages private. Banks, companies, and government agencies use secret codes in doing business, especially when information is sent by computer.

    People have used secret codes for thousands of years. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Code breaking never lags（落后）far behind code making. The science of creating and reading coded messages is called cryptography.

    There are three main types of cryptography. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For example, the first letters of “My elephant eats too many eels” spell out the hidden message “Meet me.”

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You might represent each letter with a number, for example. Let's number the letters of the alphabet, in order, from 1 to 26. If we substitute a number for each letter, the message “Meet me” would read “135520135.”

    A code uses symbols to replace words, phrases, or sentences. To read the message of a real code, you must have a code book. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} For example, “bridge” might stand for “meet” and “out” might stand for “me.” The message “Bridge out” would actually mean “Meet me.” {#blank#}5{#/blank#} However, it is also hard to keep a code book secret for long. So codes must be changed frequently.

A. It is very hard to break a code without the code book.

B. In any language, some letters are used more than others.

C. Only people who know the keyword can read the message.

D. As long as there have been codes, people have tried to break them.

E. You can hide a message by having the first letters of each word spell it out.

F. With a code book, you might write down words that would stand for other words.

G. Another way to hide a message is to use symbols to stand for specific letters of the alphabet.

Building Trust in a Relationship Again

    Trust is a learned behavior that we gain from past experiences. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} That is a risk. But you can't be successful when there's a lack of trust in a relationship that results from an action where the wrongdoer takes no responsibility to fix the mistake.

    Unfortunately, we've all been victims of betrayal. Whether we've been stolen from, lied to, misled, or cheated on, there are different levels of losing trust. Sometimes people simply can't trust anymore. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It's understandable, but if you're willing to build trust in a relationship again, we have some steps you can take to get you there.

    ♦ {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Having confident in yourself will help you make better choices because you can see what the best outcome would be for your well-being.

    ♦ {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you've been betrayed, you are the victim of your circumstance. But there's a difference between being a victim and living with a “victim mentality”. At some point in all of our lives, we'll have our trust tested or violated.

    ♦ You didn't lose “everything”. Once trust is lost, what is left? Instead of looking at the situation from this hopeless angle, look at everything you still have and be thankful for all of the good in your life. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Instead, it's a healthy way to work through the experience to allow room for positive growth and forgiveness.

A. Learn to really trust yourself.

B. It is putting confident in someone.

C. Slop regarding yourself as the victim.

D. Remember that you can expect the best in return.

E. They've been too badly hurt and they can't bear to let it happen again.

F. This knowledge carries over in their attitude toward their future relationships.

G. Seeing the positive side of things doesn't mean you're ignoring what happened.

    One of the common complaints we hear from the people around us are problems they are facing. Every day and everywhere there are problems. Many times we find it hard to stay happy. When one problem is solved, another one comes up. How to solve them? The answer is that we must equip ourselves to deal with different kinds of worries by learning the three basic steps of problem analysis. The three steps are:

Get the facts

    Why is it so important to get the facts? Unless you have the facts, you can't possibly attempt to solve your problem intelligently. Without the facts, all you can do is wondering around in confusion. It is not an easy job to get facts. When you are worried, your emotions are riding high. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    When trying to get the facts, you can pretend that you are collecting this information not for yourself but for some other person. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can also pretend that you are a lawyer preparing to agree. Try to get all the facts both on your side and the other side of the case. You will generally find the truth lies somewhere in between.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Whenever you are worried, write down the questions that make you worry. And write out all the various steps you could take and then the probable consequences of each step. For example, what am I worrying about? What can I do about it? Here is what I'm going to do about it. After carefully weighing all the facts, you can calmly come to a decision.

Act on that decision.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} How can you break the worry habit before it breaks you? Crowd worry out of your mind by keeping busy . Plenty of action is one of the best ways to cure worry.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If you know a situation is beyond your power, say to yourself: “It is so; it can't be otherwise.” Don't permit little things to ruin your happiness. Try to cultivate a mental attitude that will bring you peace and happiness.

A. Analyze the facts.

B. Accept what can't be avoided.

C. Decide how much anxiety a thing may be worth.

D. This will help you to take a cold and fair view of the evidence.

E. There comes a time when you must decide and never look back.

F. But here are two ideas that can help you see the facts in a clear and objective way.

G. Unless you take your action, all your fact-finding and analysis is a sheer waste of energy.

    Having bad feeling about world? “Cheer up.” says science writer Matt Ridley. “The world has never been a better place to live in, and it will keep on getting better both for humans and for nature.”{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

1 ) {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    It is reported that there are more than ten billion different products for sale in London alone. Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty, our own generation has access to more nutritious food, more convenient transport, bigger houses, and better cars. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} This will continue as long as we use these things to make other things. The more we specialize and exchange, the better off we'll be.

2)Brilliant advances

    One reason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer lived and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs—food, clothing, fuel and shelter—have grown a lot cheaper. Take one example. In 1800 a candle providing one hour's light cost six hours' work. In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes' work to pay for. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Today it's half second.

3 )Let's not kill ourselves for climate change

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} A child that dies from indoor smoke in a village, where the use of fossil-fuel (化石燃料) electricity is forbidden by well-meaning members of green political movements trying to save the world, is just as great a tragedy as a child that dies in a flood caused by climate change. If climate change proves to be mild, but cutting carbon causes real pain, we may well find that we have stopped a nose-bleed by putting a tourniquet (止血带) around our necks.

A. Ridley calls himself a rational optimist—rational, because he's carefully weighed the evidence.

B. Overreaction to climate change could prove just as damaging to human welfare as climate change itself.

C. Shopping fuels invention.

D. And, of course, we earn more pounds and dollars than any who lived before us.

E. In 1950 it was eight seconds.

F. It's high time that we took immediate action to fight climate change.

G. Here's how he explains his views.

    Keeping the memory in shape is important at any age, but it requires a bit more work as we grow. There are some simple activities that can improve your memory.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Awaken your senses.

    Use your senses to help your memory store(储存) needed information. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You can ask yourself like this: Is the sky a light blue or deep purple? The more involved(参与的) you can be in the information, the easier it is for your brain to store it.

    Use imagination and relation.

    Trying to remember names? Let's say you meet a man named Frank Parker. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Tie the two together by picturing Frank dressed up in a hot dog costume(服装) parking his car in the parking lot. Now each time you see Frank, you should easily recall his name.

    Breathe deeply and relax.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Relax, breathe deeply and slowly and let your mind ease up for a minute. Being relaxed makes it easier for information to be both stored and remembered.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    When you come upon something you need to remember, say to yourself, “Hey, pay attention and remember this!” You are giving yourself a wake-up call as well as giving your mind a marker that it can use to help in storing the new information.

A. Give yourself an order.

B. Get a good night's sleep.

C. Here are four of them to get you started.

D. Picture a hot dog for Frank and a car for Parker.

E. For example, note the colors of a picture you want to remember.

F. When we try hard to remember something we often become nervous.

G. The way you live influences not only your physical health but also your memory.

How to Treat Hoarding Disorder(囤积症)

    Many of us struggle to part with treasured belongings, but for years Stephanie Evans felt too hard to leave everything she'd ever bought. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Her bedroom, meanwhile, was so full of piles of clothes that, until recently, she had to sleep on the sofa in the living room.

    Stephanie suffers from hoarding disorder, thought to affect an estimated 3.4 million people in the UK to some degree. But, like many, she didn't think it was something doctors would treat. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} In fact, hoarding is recognized as a psychiatric disorder(精神疾病) by the World Health Organization. It can be associated with other mental health conditions such as depression and social anxiety, etc. Those affected people will collect anything, such as clothes, newspapers, photos, even printouts of emails.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If a person lost something important in the childhood, he or she would resist any further losses. That's why hoarders refuse to part with things. Hoarding can have far-reaching effects on a person's life. People can lose their children and their homes due to hoarding.

    Hoarding disorder, like many other illnesses, can never really be “cured”. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Clearing out someone's overcrowded house is rarely effective on its own, because he or she will just fill it up again. If and when hoarding disorder is diagnosed, the mental health professional, the patient's primary care physician, and any specialists or other professionals involved will work together to develop a coordinated treatment. For most people with hoarding disorder, cognitive behavioral therapy(认知行为治疗) with a mental health professional is the first choice treatment. It can often help the hoarders accept that there is a problem, and then possibly develop solutions.

    Because hoarding disorder is still relatively new as a distinct condition, treatment plans may be somewhat less standardized. For instance, there is still disagreement regarding if and how to use medicine to treat hoarding disorder. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. So she didn't seek any help.

B. Hoarders may also have problems planning and organizing.

C. However, it can be successfully treated with the right mix of treatment methods.

D. The common time for it to come is when people are middle-aged or older and living alone.

E. Hopefully, some people with the condition do seem to respond well to certain kind of medicine.

F. As a result, her hallway and living room were packed with towering stacks of books and magazines.

G. One theory is that having experienced loss in the past can make people suffer from hoarding disorder.