For college students, graduation signals an exciting new beginning. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Many students wonder: What do I do now? What career is best for me? Most expert advice on choosing careers boils down to the following points.

Knowing Yourself

    What are your interests? Abilities? Skills? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} The results may surprise you! These can be useful, but they're not the last word.

Investigating

    Investigating occupations is much more difficult. For most people, there isn't just one ‘right' job, but several that could be satisfying. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Talk to people who have occupations that interest you. Find out what they like and dislike about their job.

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    Many people choose their careers because they believe strongly in a particular cause. Some might choose to work in areas like medicine, charity or environmental protection. Some have a strong interest in history or a love for the arts. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} So in cases like these, the field is often chosen first, rather than the occupation itself. So if you've chosen a field, self-assessment will help you find your place in it. Invest some time and effort, and find the right career for you.

How to Make Friends

    Friendship is a very important human relationship and everyone needs good friends. Good friendship has many benefits. It offers companionship, improves self-worth and promotes (促进) good health. There are times in our lives such as when we have recently moved into a new town, or changed our jobs or schools. Such changes often leave us without a friend. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But for many of us the process is difficult and requires courage. Below are some helpful suggestions on how to make and keep friends.

● Associate with (与……交往) others.

    The first step to making friends is associating with other people. You can go to public places to meet new people. Besides, you will need to make yourself known by becoming an active member of such places.

● Start a conversation.

    Starting a conversation is the second most important step in making new friends. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can always start the conversation. Being able to make small talk is a very useful skill in relating with other people.

●{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Choosing friends with common interests is important in building friendship as these interests would always bring you and your friend together. Hanging out (闲逛) will always be a pleasant experience.

● Let it grow.

    It is a good thing to stay in touch. However, try not to press your new friend with calls, messages or visits as this would likely wear him or her out and finally you may lose your friend.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} The best friendships are the ones that grow naturally.

● Enjoy your friendship.

    The best way to enjoy your friendship is to allow your friends to be themselves. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Try not to change them from who they are to what you want them to be. Become the kind of friend you will want your friend to be to you.

A. Do things together.

B. Be cheerful.

C. Making new friends comes easy for some people.

D. So you will need to give your friend time to respond to you.

E. Do not wait to be spoken to.

F. For a friendship to develop you need to stay in touch.

G. Try not to find fault with your friends.

    Thomas Edison was one of the most successful inventors the world has ever seen.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    But people found that although Edison was good at inventing new things, he was a poor fisherman. He used to spend an hour almost every day sitting at the side of a river and fish. He always fished all alone by himself.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

People asked Edison, “Why are you so crazy about fishing when you are so bad at it?” His answer was, “I really never caught ant fish because I have never used any bait (诱饵).” Another question followed, “Why would you fish without bait?” Edison answered, “Because when you fish without bait, people don't disturb you and neither do the fish{#blank#}3{#/blank#}”

    Sometimes the world's best inventor was the world's worst fisherman. In fact, because Edison was the world's worst fisherman, he could become the world's greatest inventor.

    Are you setting aside some time for yourself to think?{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Here are some ideas for you:

    Slowing down and taking long showers is a good idea.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Long walks are good too.

    Afternoon naps have been proved to improve creativity.

A. But he never caught any fish.

B. It provides me my best time to think.

C. So is listening to some soft classical music.

D. In all, Edison has thousands of inventions.

E. He was asked the reason behind him being a fisherman.

F. To make your brain work better, you need to take a rest.

G. Set aside 15-20 minutes per day so that you can do nothing.

    Here are a number of English learning tips to help you improve your English. Choose a few of them of get started today.

    Ask yourself weekly: What do I want to learn this week?

    Asking yourself this question every week will help you stop and think for a moment about what is most important to you. It is easy to focus only on the current unit, grammar exercise, etc. If you make a moment to stop of make a careful plan for each week, you will notice the progress you are making and, in turn, become more inspired by how quickly you are learning English! You will be surprised at how this feeling of success will motivate you to learn even more English.

    Quickly review important new information shortly before going to bed.

    Research has shown that our brains process information that is fresh in our brains while we sleep. By shortly(this means very quickly-just a glance at what you are working on at the moment) going over some exercise, reading, etc. before you go to sleep, your brain will work away on this information while you sleep!

    While doing exercises and alone at home or in your room, speak English aloud.

    Connect the muscles(肌肉)of your face to the information in your head. Just as understanding the basics of tennis does not make you a great tennis player, understanding grammar rules does not mean you can automatically speak English well. You need to practice the act of speaking often. Speaking by yourself at home and reading the exercises you are doing will help connect your brain to your facial muscles and improve pronunciation and make your knowledge active.

    Do five to ten minutes of listening at least four times a week.

In the past, I decided I needed to get fit and went jogging-usually three or four miles. Well after not having done anything for many months, those three or four miles really hurt! Needless to say, I did not go jogging for another few months!

    Learning to understand spoken English well is very similar. If you decide that you are going to work hard and listen for two hours, chances are that you will not do extra listening exercises any time soon. If, on the other hand, you start off slowly and listen on a regular basis(five to ten minutes at least four times a week), it will be easier to develop the habit of listening to English.

    Look for situations in which you must speak, read, and listen to English.

    This is probably the most important tip. You need to use English in a “real world” situation. Learning English in a classroom is important, but putting your English knowledge into practice in real situations will improve your fluency in speaking English. If you do not know of any “real life” situation, create new ones for yourself by using the Internet to listen to news, write English responses in forums, exchange emails in English with email pals, etc.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}on Learning English

Read the following passage and then answer the questions.

    When thinking back to an experience that has affected me the most, I can't help but recall the first time I performed for a crowd with my band.

    As I stood in the dark, in front of 300 people, my head began to pound and my eyes began to hurt from straining to see the faces before me. No matter how many times I wiped off my hands, they were covered with sweat, making them fumble across the strings of my guitar. Then, in a flash, the spotlights were turned on and the crowd yelled. My heart raced and I knew that the night of my first concert would be exciting and memorable.

    The concert was held annually at Frank's school. Being the largest activity for the students in the spring, we were told to expect the whole school to come to see us play. That fact went over and over in my mind. True, I had played in the school band in concerts for many people, but that was with a large group and I had sat in the back. Here it was just the three of us, all up front. I had had different visions of what performing would be like, but what ended up happening was a pleasant surprise.

    During the first song, the crowd stood in a mixed state of confusion and excitement. I could see nothing but their dark shapes, some swaying to the beat of the bass drum, others standing still, examining our every move. The song ended with hesitant applause.

    Glancing at Frank, the guitarist and singer, I read a message in his eyes. "I don't think they like us." His look pierced through my heart and I almost left the stage, yet kept going anyway. The second and third songs went the same way with the crowd looking at us like monkeys in a zoo. But then the magic started.

    Our fourth song we had was written for the occasion and it was as if it were the beginning of a trip that we would take with the crowd of onlookers. The funk bass and driving drums seemed to pick these people up like puppets and do with them what they pleased. The crowd danced and jumped and clapped, in and out of beat. Our music was giving these people a reason to lose their inhibitions and for a short time, enjoy themselves. By the end of the second to last song the crowd was at our mercy. Finally creating a situation that I had only dreamed of, during the last song the crowd began to sing the words. But it was not just any song, it was a song we had written. This sent my heart racing and I couldn't help smiling and even laughing. The song ended and an echoing roar came over the crowd.

    The concert was to me part of a childhood dream. My friends and I were responsible for giving 300 people a good time for an evening. They sang my words and they hummed my tune, and all helped to make the dream come true. That night back in my room, I sat up all night. I saw the bodies dancing in front of me and heard their screams. Even though I may perform in college and in the future, this feeling is one I may never feel again.

    Good learners can inspire students or anybody to learn well. Here are some characteristics of good learners.

    Good learners are curious. They wonder about all sorts of things, often about knowledge beyond their areas of expertise(专长). {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Finding out about something they didn't know satisfies them for the moment, but their curiosity is addictive.

    Good learners don't give up easily. A few things may come easily to learners but most knowledge arrives after effort. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} They try to search out new information. They read, analyze, and evaluate the information they've found. Then they study more and work at what they don't understand.

    Good learners know that a lot of learning isn't fun. The journey to understanding generally isn't all that exciting. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Others need a tiresome attention to detail, and still others need periods of intense mental focus. Your backs hurt, your arms and legs get tired, and your coffee gets cold.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}There's always more to know. Good learners are never satisfied with how much they know about anything. They are pulled around by questions—the ones they still can't answer, or the ones without very good answers. Those questions follow them like day follows night with the answers bringing daylight.

    Good learners share what they've learned. Good learners are teachers committed to sharing with others what they've learned. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Good learners can also explain what they know in ways that make sense to others. They are connected to the knowledge passed on to them and committed to leaving what they've learned with others.

A. Some learning tasks require boring repetition.

B. Good learners are willing to put in the time.

C. Some knowledge can broaden our views.

D. Good learners stay positive.

E. They write about it, and talk about it.

F. They love the discovery part of learning.

G. Good learners never run out of questions.