All around the world, people are working hard to make their cities safer and more pleasant for pedestrians (行人). Cities havepainted crosswalks on their streets, made streets narrower, put in traffic lights and speed bumps (减速带) and madeplans to help more kids walk or bike to school.

    Many people have learned from a man from Brisbane, Australia,named David Engwicht. His book Reclaiming Our Cities and Towns has a simplemessage{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Kids playedthere, and neighbors stopped there to talk.

    But now, streets are just for cars and trucks. People stay inside to get away from the noise and dangerous traffic, and we lose contact with our neighbors{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.  People needto take back their streets. Engwicht travels around the world, helping people think differently about pedestrians, streets, and neighborhoods.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}． He has workedin neighborhoods from Honolulu to Scotland.

    While Engwicht was writing his book, he learned how neighbors in the city of Delft, in the Netherlands, stopped dangerous traffic on their street. They put old couches, tables, and planters in the street.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. When the police arrived, they saw how these illegal actions made the streets safer. Soon city officials started planning ways to make cars slow down, and“calm”thetraffic.

    Engwicht says we should think about streets as our “outdoor living room”.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}．

    In the future, streets will be safe places for children again,and our neighbors will become our friends.

a. Cars and pedestrians crowded the street.

b. Calming the traffic is just the beginning.

c. Cars could still pass, but they had to drive slowly.

d. He says that in the past, streets belonged to everybody.

e. It's hard to take measures to solve the traffic problems.

f. Besides his books and articles, he gives many speeches.

g..  Engwicht says that we should use streets for more than just transportation.

    Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States and Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head start in life. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.

    Parents can see that their children's skills differ. Some children are very skilled in some areas while poor in others. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be confident, happy and clever.

    Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework. Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in

    life. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully step by step. The result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and lots of self-confidence.

    Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to repair them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} And that is more important.

A. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.

B. The more cost in education, the better the result will be.

C. Cooking requires patience and time.

D. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today's children are badly off for self-respect and self-confidence.

E. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is.

F. These activities are not only teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind.

G. Thus, the more the children use the computer, the better the result will be.

    What makes one person more intelligent than another? What makes one person a genius, like the brilliant Albert Einstein, and another person a fool? Are people born intelligent or stupid, or is intelligence the result of where and how you live?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    We know, however, that just being born with a good mind is not enough. In some ways, the mind is like a leg or an arm muscle.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Mental exercise is particularly important for young children. Many child psychologists think that parents should play with their children more often and give them problems to think about. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}38．__ If, on the other hand, children are left alone a great deal with nothing to do, they are more likely to become dull and unintelligent.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} According to some psychologists, if parents are always telling a child that he or she is a fool or an idiot, then the child is more likely to keep doing silly and foolish things. So it is probably better for parents to say very positive things to their children, such as “That was a very clever thing you did.” or “{#blank#}5{#/blank#}”.

A. A healthy body contributes to one's intelligence.

B. Parents should also be careful about what they say to young children.

C. What people want to express is like this.

D. The children are then more likely to grow up bright and intelligent.

E. It needs exercise.

F. You are such a smart child.

G. These are very old questions and the answers to them are still not clear.

The Iron Lady

    Margaret Thatcher, known as the Iron Lady, was one of the toughest political women in the world.

    As the daughter of a businessman and mayor of Grantham, Margaret was educated at a very famous grammar school. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Upon graduation, she worked for four years as a research chemist. She then became a lawyer, doing an excellent job in taxation law, in 1954. Miss Margaret stood twice in elections for the Conservative Party before being elected to the House of Commons(下议院) in 1959. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} After that she quickly became a spokesman for her party, and member of the Shadow Cabinet(影子内阁).

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Thatcher spent quite a lot of time visiting schools and universities, who encouraged people to be creative. After the Conservatives lost power in 1974, she was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet. She was elected leader of the Conservative Party in the following year. In May 1979, she became Britain's first female prime minister, after the Conservatives regained power from Labor.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} She fought against labor organizations. According to a figure reported by her government, traditional industries were reduced to around 15,000 in total and she also made social housing and public transport private.

    She left office on November 28, 1990 after she failed to carry out a fixed rate local tax, which led to huge popular protest from within her party. In 1992, she was appointed to the House of Lords(上议院), as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. In the last few years of her life, she has been busy with writing and public speech. This caused her increasingly poor health. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. She got a degree in chemistry at Oxford University.

B. Also she built strong association with US President Reagan.

C. In June 1970, she became secretary of state for education and science.

D. In power, she was best known for her reducing Britain's traditional industries.

E. Therefore, she had to give up many chances of attending public activities.

F. Thatcher was appointed as a Minister in 1961.

G. Thatcher was well-known as a female leader.

    Creativity is a skill that you can work on with time, training, and effort. There are many areas you can focus on to improve your overall creativity.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

     Doodle(信手涂鸦) in your spare time. Doodling can increase creativity by increasing your engagement with the world and attention span.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}The more information you're able to absorb, the more creative you will be.

    Listen to music. Simply playing music in the background can inspire you creatively. It can help you focus better and increase your overall concentration. Classical music tends to work particularly well for creativity and concentration.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}While classical music has beneficial effects for many, experiment a little to find the music that best helps you concentrate and feel creative.

    Play video games.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Interactive games that require movement help with creative thinking as they stimulate multiple senses. Things like Wii Tennis or Dance Dance Revolution would work well. Avoid games that require you to sit for long periods.

    Read more. Make a habit of reading regularly. Pick books from multiple types and styles of writing to expand your horizons and really cultivate your creativity. Try to make time to read every day.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}This will help direct your reading if you're unsure what kinds of books to start with.

A. Try joining a book club.

B. Not every type of music works for everyone.

C. Some video games are actually good for the creative mind.

D. Creativity is really important to your life as well as to society.

E. Video games do harm to our creativity instead of helping with it.

F. The following are some creative approaches you can involving yourself in.

G. It helps you stay engaged during activities where you would otherwise zone out.

    Can creativity be taught? That's a question without a simple yes or no answer. Creativity may not be able to be taught directly, but what you can get better at is frequently targeting at the circumstances of life which bring up the greatest chances for true creative expression. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, but more like something which manifests （显现） itself inside those who learn to develop it and create the right conditions for it.

Limit your selection of tools to only the most vital. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. You'll be sharper than someone who merely fights with a larger set of tools.

    Learn how to be resourceful. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Creativity is not just about creating something new but making old things work better as well. Think of crazy possibilities as well as practical ones. You might find inspiration for a workable solution in one of your ideas.

    Don't listen to feedback （反馈） and keep following your own path. The problem of asking for feedback is that the feedback will be given according to the person's past experience. Others will unconsciously push you in a direction that they see as best. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Just don't let criticism （even the constructing type） destroy your creativity during the creative process.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Routines are positive if they strengthen a healthy creative consciousness and negative if they destroy that. The key is to discover a creative routine that puts you in a more creative mindset.

A. Creativity is not like a lightning strike

B. Having a routine is actually not a bad idea

C. You can literally do anything you like with them

D. Resourcefulness is about making the most of what you have to work with

E. The more limited your set of tools is, the more creative the output will be

F. This is done with good intentions, but it actually hurts your natural creativity

G. While breaking your routine once in a while to force new ways of thinking is good