All in the memory…

    Many people complain that their memory is bad, especially as they get older. Phone numbers, names, facts we studied only a few days ago – life would be so much easier if we could remember them all effortlessly. So how can we improve our memory?

    Many people think that repeating things is the best way to remember them. While this undoubtedly helps short-term memory (remembering a telephone number for a few seconds, for example), psychologists (心理学家) doubt whether it ca help you to remember things for very long. The British psychologist Ec Stanford seemed to prove this point when he tested himself on five prayers (祈祷文) that he had read aloud every morning for over 25 years. He found that he could remember no more than three words of some of them! More helpful, especially for remembering numbers, is grouping the information. The following numbers would be impossible for most of us to remember: 1492178919931848. But look at them in chunks, and it becomes much easier: 1492 1789 1993 1848.

    So what about “memory training”? We've all heard about people who can memorize packs of cards by heart—how is this done and can anyone learn how to do it? According to experts, there are many ways of training your memory. Many of them involve forming a mental picture of the things to be memorized. One method, which may be useful in learning foreign languages, is to create a picture in your mind connected to a word you want to remember.

    Another method is to invent a story that includes all the things you want to remember. In experiments, people were asked to remember up to 120 words using this skill; when tested afterwards, on average, they were able to recall 90% of them!

    However, not all of us are interested in learning long lists of names and numbers just for fun. For those studying large number of information, psychologists suggest that the best way to form meaningful connections is to ask yourself lots of questions as you go along. So, for example, if you were reading about a particular disease (疾病), you would ask yourself questions like: “Do people get it from water?”, “What parts of the body does it influence?” and so on. This is said to be far more effective than time spent “passively” reading and re-reading notes.

    We live on the earth. We use the sea around us. What do we take from the ocean? And what do we give to it?

    We take fishes from the ocean—millions of kilograms of fish, every year, to feed millions of people. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}We take minerals (矿物) from the ocean. We can get salt by evaporating (蒸发) seawater. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}such as gold. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Seaweed (海草) becomes food of many kinds—even candy and ice cream—as well as medicine. Believe it or not, fresh water is another gift from the sea. We can't drink ocean water. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}But ocean water becomes fresh water when the salts are removed. In the future, we will find ourselves depending more and more on fresh water from the sea.

    The sea gives us food, fertilizer, minerals, water and other gifts. What do we give the sea? We pollute the ocean all the time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Throwing waste into the ocean is killing off sea life. Yet as the world population grows, we may need the sea and its gifts more than ever.

    We are finally learning that if we destroy our sea, we might also destroy ourselves. Hopefully, it is not too late.

These days, more and more people like the "city walk" around China. The city walk is a kind of city tour coming from the UK. It means tourists follow a planned route（路线）working deeply on the city's history and culture. During the traditional kind of travel, people need to follow a group of people. But city walk routes are special for every tourist. People probably choose a route on their own and move on foot without a purpose. They can also talk with locals（当地人）and taste local food on their way. 

City walkers may be tourists from other places or local young people. For tourists, by taking part in a city walk, they can learn the city's history and culture. For the local young people, they may spend weekends knowing more about their living places. And they even share their routes and places online. So more people get interested in their cities and come to visit them. 

Now the city walk is very hot. However, we also find that to make money, some travel agencies（旅行社）may make some routes without understanding the culture and history of a city. That will make tourists lose interest in the city walk. What's more, many young people spend much time taking photos to just show themselves online. 

Confidence is something everyone needs.  Sometimes you may question your level of confidence and wish it to be higher.  Your confidence level makes a difference to what you can achieve. So keeping a high level of confidence is important to you. You can do as follows.

Renew your mind

What you receive decides your mind, so try something new. Read a new book or magazine or listen to a radio you haven't listened to before. In this way, you can challenge your opinions, open a new world and enrich your knowledge.

Also, spend a period of time being on your own and just think about your life sometimes. Keep yourself away from others and enjoy the power of silence.

Choose your friends wisely

Choose people you admire as your friends. It can be helpful to have those friends in your circle. Learn the way they face new challenges and communicate with them more. Keep away from those who always give up.

Let go of the past

Forgive(原谅) people who hurt you in the past. Write a letter to yourself to record your feelings in detail. If there are people who you need to say sorry to, go and do it right away.

Push yourself out of comfort zones

It's easy for us to make excuses for something. Maybe you think it's out of your comfort zone or too difficult. Remember that you can do it. It will help you discover something new about yourself, such as new hobbies or skills.

Scientists say they recently invented the world's tiniest remote—controlled robots. The robots are small enough to sit on the side of a coin. They don't have any power of their own，and they can be controlled from a distance by using lasers（激光器）. The scientists say one day robots like these may be able to work in areas too small for tools. The robots don't move very quickly. But because of their tiny size，they're also not too slow. It takes the robots about 20 seconds to cover 1 centimeter. 

Right now the robots aren't all that useful. All they can do is to move，and they need to be in a place where lasers can shine on them to do that. But the scientists say these robots are an important step toward inventing more helpful tiny robots. 

The researchers say that one day tiny robots like these might be able to work in very small spaces. It's possible that they could build very tiny machines，or perhaps even travel inside the human body to help do with medical problems. 

Using similar building methods，the scientists made a number of different robots，including ones that looked like small insects. John Rodgers，says that their methods allow them to "build walking robots with almost any sizes or 3 D shapes. "

Which movie to choose?

最近，看电影已经成为越来越多人的娱乐休闲方式，而电影的种类也在趋于多元化，以满足不同观众的喜欢。请仔细阅读下列题中的五位观众的陈述和各部电影的介绍，选择符合五个观众情况的最佳电影选择。

 {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Mike: I like to watch action movies because it's exciting to see the heroes fight bad people.

 {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Lily: I love cartoons. The cartoon animals are always cute and lovely. It's quite enjoyable to watch cartoons.

 {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Sara: My favorite movies are comedies. It's a good way to relax by watching comedies. We are free to laugh. It's quite fun.

 {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Jack: I prefer to watch scary movies. Although some scenes may be frightening, I still enjoy myself. I think I can be braver after watching them.

 {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Tom: I enjoy watching love stories. I think love is the most beautiful thing in our lives. And it's wonderful to see people love each other.

A.                  B.               C. 

D.                E.