Taking good notes is a time-saving skill that will help you to become a better student in several ways. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Second, your notes are excellent materials to refer to when you are studying for a test. Third, note-taking offers variety to your study time and helps you to hold your interest.

    You will want to take notes during classroom discussions and while reading a textbook or doing research for a report. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Whenever or however you take notes, keep in mind that note-taking is a selective process. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

The following methods may work best for you.

●Read the text quickly to find the main facts and ideas in it.

●Carefully read the text and watch for words that can show main points and supporting facts.

●Write your notes in your own words.

●{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

●Note any questions or ideas you may have about what was said or written.

    As you take notes, you may want to use your own shorthand(速记). When you do, be sure that you understand your symbols and that you use them all the time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning. We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it's not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor.

    Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn't show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements are compared.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}．

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} A statement of opinion by one writer may be restated as a fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.

A. Typically, the original message has changed.

B. Finally everybody gets the meaning.

C. Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem.

D. Knowledge is passed down from generation to generation.

E. That's what happens in daily life.

F. This process is also found among scholars and authors.

G. We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively.

    If you want to be happy, you must take responsibility and stop expecting things or people to make you happy. You are the source of your own happiness, so stop looking elsewhere. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Here are a few ways for you to follow:

    Be thankful to others. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It is too easy to take those around us for granted. Show them the same consideration you would like shown to you.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} This goes beyond(超过) politeness; it is a form of giving. Treat everyone you meet as if they have a big sign on their chest saying “make me feel important.” If you do this you will discover a hidden source of joy.

    Perform acts of kindness. Don't wait to be asked, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It doesn't need to be a big thing, hold the door for a stranger, or smile at anyone you make eye contact with. Look for chances to make others feel good.

    Make a decision to be happy. This is the most important step on the road to a happy life. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} You are the key to your own happiness, so go ahead, unlock it once and for all.

A. Respect other people.

B. Be polite to other people.

C. Instead of looking for happiness, start creating it.

D. You can change your feelings by acting the way you want to feel.

E. If you see a chance to do something nice for someone else, do it!

F. Simply make up your mind to be the happiest person you know, and you will be.

G. Be grateful to the people in your life, and practice saying thank you for any politeness they show you.

    London has become a cycle-friendly zone after the launch of a new bike hire scheme.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

   {#blank#}2{#/blank#}First you have to sign up to the scheme to be sent a key. The key will unlock one of the bikes, which are kept at docking stations in and around central London. You have to pay an access fee for the key and then you pay as you go, for the length of time you use the bike.

    Transport for London, which runs the scheme, are hoping to have 6,000 bikes and 400 docking stations in place by the end of the year. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}London Mayor Boris Johnston launched the scheme and said London has been “filled with thousands of gleaming (发光的) machines that will transform the look and feel of our street and become as commonplace on our roads as black cabs and red buses”.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} On the first day some people found they couldn't dock their bike properly and their usage of the bike had not registered. Transport for London did admit they had been expecting a few “teething problems” and have said they would not charge for the first day as a “gesture of goodwill”. Some other people have criticized the lack of docking stations and locks for the bikes as well as the price it costs to hire the bicycles.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}“My crusade for the capital to become the greatest big cycling city in the world has taken a great pedal-powered push forwards.”

A. So how does it work?

B. How do you like it?

C. However, there have been a few problems since the scheme was launched last Friday.

D. Despite the comments, the green-thinking London Mayor still says with certainty.

E. However, the London Mayor is confident of the scheme.

F. It has been designed to encourage more people to cycle in and around central London.

G. The new hire system is hoping to ease congestion(拥挤) in London and is expected to create up to 40,000 extra cycle trips a day into the city centre.

    How similar are language and music?

    Language is part of our daily lives, no matter where we live in the world.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Both language and music play a huge role in our culture and here are some of their similarities.

    Both language and music have a writing system.

    In English we record language using the alphabet, which is a collection of letters. Similarly, we use notes to keep a record of music. Musicians read notes and create meaning in the form of music.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} By writing pieces of text or music, we are able to share experiences through time. We can read the ideas or hear the composition of someone who lived hundreds of years ago.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    You can make a good guess at where someone is from by listening to the language they use. In the same way, we know that styles of music are different around the world, giving us the opportunity to explore many different cultures through their music and providing us with music for every situation.

    Both share emotion.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Of course you may be able to see it in my face, but you will know for sure through my words. Similarly, music can sound angry, sad or happy. Music can show you exactly how the composer was or is feeling, and allows us to share in that emotion. When you feel happy, you might want to sing and dance to a happy song to celebrate your happiness.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} I think we have all used music to express or process our emotions, often combining it with language in the form of song lyrics.

A. Both are expressive.

B Both vary with culture.

C How do you know that I am angry?

D. We use language to express our thoughts.

E. So just as you read English, you can read music.

F. Similarly, music is part of many people's lives.

G. In contrast, you probably also listen to sad music when you are feeling down.

    Although many Chinese students say that their knowledge of English grammar is good, most would admit that their spoken English is poor. Whenever I speak to a Chinese student, they always say, “My spoken English is poor.” {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I would like to suggest that there may be some reasons for their problems with spoken English.

    First, they fail to find suitable words to express themselves due to a limited vocabulary. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}However, you can speak with a limited vocabulary, if you choose a positive attitude. Others will follow you as long as you use the words that you know.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Sometimes they make mistakes when they are speaking because they are shy and nervous. Yet students should remember that their goal should be FLUENCY NOT ACCURACY. Your aim in writing is to be accurate following the rules for grammar and using the right words and spelling them correctly. However, in speaking your aim is fluency. You want to get your message across, to talk to someone in English, as quickly and as well as you can, even though sometimes you may use a wrong word or tense, but it doesn't matter. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The third reason is that not enough attention is paid to listening. You have one mouth but two ears! All that hearing is necessary for you to start speaking.

    Fourth, most Chinese students are reactive rather than proactive(主动的) language learners. Instead of actively seeking out opportunities to improve their spoken English they passively wait for speaking opportunities to come to them and wonder why their English always remains poor. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. The person you are speaking to will understand you and make allowances for any mistakes he hears.

B. Obviously the better answer is to expand their vocabulary.

C. They may try to avoid making similar mistakes next time.

D. If you have this proactive outlook, then you will see English opportunities wherever you go.

E. Second, they are afraid of making mistakes.

F. However, their spoken English does not have to remain “poor”!

G. The second reason lies in the reluctance of using what has just been learned.