When it comes to benefits of volunteering, a lot of people think it's all about the warm feelings after helping someone. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} For example, volunteering...

1）Teaches you new skills

    From helping make websites to teaching kids languages, to arranging events for charity, volunteering can really be almost anything.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} And through overcoming these you learn and start to master completely new skills.

2）Can be relevant work experience

    Something that seems to stop many is that experience often seems to be a prerequisite (必备条件) for some jobs.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} There's many a journalist that gets his or her start through volunteering for a college or university paper, and that's not at all the only profession this applies to.

3）Can be therapeutic (治疗的)

    One of my close friends has completely transformed since she started working for disabled kids.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It allows you to see the world and other people from a whole different point of view, which in turn can make you grateful for what you already have and see your own personal value.

4）Helps you expand your network

    One of the great things for volunteering is that you meet a wide variety of people.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Sometimes it's very convenient to have a broad network.

A. Volunteering helps you grow as a person.

B. As it turns out, that's far from the only benefit.

C. Volunteering can actually help you get the experience you need.

D. Volunteering helps you look outside yourself and your problems.

E. It's a way to prove that you've not just been sitting and doing nothing.

F. That means when you get involved in voluntary work, you will face many challenges.

G. You're getting to know people involved in many different walks in life that you wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet otherwise.

How to Improve Your Confidence

    Confidence is something that everyone admires. At some point in your life you may question your level of confidence and wish it to be higher{#blank#}1{#/blank#}If you believe the theory that we attract into our lives who we are, then creating and keeping high levels of confidence is vital to your well-being.

    Watch your intake{#blank#}2{#/blank#}So reduce the amount of hours of soaps and reality TV each day. Read a book or magazine about a topic you are interested in. Listen to a different radio station you have not listened to before. In this way, you challenge the beliefs you hold and raise your awareness of new things.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Spend an allocated period of time being quiet and just reflecting on your life. Remove yourself away from others and focus on the power of silence and improve your levels of concentration.

    Believe in yourself. One of the key steps in raising your level of confidence is to believe it for yourself. You need to believe, accept and be in no doubt that you are a confident person{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Meanwhile, value the time that you spend doing this process.

    Take a look around for people you admire. It can be helpful to have someone in your circle that you admire for their skills or achievements. Observe the way they face new challenges and communicate with people. You also should attend a club or a group associated with a topic you're interested in{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Spend some time being quiet.

B. In this way, your attitude is changed.

C. Spend time imagining you at your absolute best.

D. What you read, watch and listen to affects your mindset.

E. Your level of confidence affects the decisions you make in your life.

F. You'll meet new people different from your present circle of friends.

G. These are the kind of people that can help you to grow in confidence.

They Just Can't Help It

    My theory is that the female brain is mainly built for empathy — the ability to understand other people — and that the male brain is mainly built for building systems. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} For example, women are more likely to read magazines on fashion and parenting, while men will choose magazines that feature computers and sport.

    You may think that these preferences are influenced by the way people are taught to behave when they are growing up. However, this is not the case. A new study carried out at Cambridge University shows that newborn girls look longer at a face, and newborn boys look longer at a mobile. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It has also been observed that girls are better at noticing signs of changes in other people's feelings. Boys, however, seem to enjoy building toy towers and playing with toys which have clear functions. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} People whose jobs are in the construction industries are almost male. Math and engineering, which require high levels of systems-thinking, are also male-chosen disciplines. Why do men and women have the difference? Actually women have four times as many brain neurons (神经) that connect the right and left part of their brains. Because of it, women have a better ability to multitask than men. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Men tend to focus on a limited number of problems at a time. They will separate themselves from problems and view tasks as independent from one another.

    Some people may worry that I am suggesting one gender (性别) is better than the other, but this is not the case. My theory says that males and females differ in the kinds of things that they find easy, but that both genders have their strengths and weaknesses. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} It is not true. The study simply looks at males and females as two groups, and asks what differences exist, and why they are there.

A. Generally speaking, there are clear differences.

B. Their preference for building systems may change over time.

C. You can see the same kind of pattern in the adult workplace.

D. They will consider many sources of information at the same time.

E. It is important to stress that the female brain may be built more for empathy.

F. That suggests certain differences between male and female brains are biological.

G. Others may think the theory creates a belief of what a particular type of person is like.

    Many countries have traditional dishes, made with special ingredients and prepared in a certain way. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, and when tourists visit, these are the foods they want to try. But why are some foods more popular than others in certain areas?

Traditional ingredients

    Typical recipes (菜谱) are usually made with native plant and animal products. For example, Korean dishes often include rice and soybeans because both plants are native to East Asia and grow well in hot, wet areas. In contrast, wheat grows well in drier areas, like the Middle East, where bread is a common staple (主要的) food. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, whereas inland cuisines tend to use more meat from farm animals.

    Food preservation

    Local cuisines often depend on how people traditionally prepared food for storage. In warm weather, meat and fish can go off quickly, so they must be cooked right away or preserved for later. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, For that reason, modem Norwegian cuisine includes many smoked foods.

    Cooking techniques

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. In China, people often fry food in a deep metal pan or steam it in a basket over hot water. In Morocco, people cook traditional dishes in a special pot called a tajine, while in parts of India, people use a large oven, called a tandoor. And some local dishes aren't cooked at all.

    Imported (进口的) ingredients

    Sometimes local cuisines include ingredients that originally came from another place. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, while many Russian dishes are made with potatoes. However, all of these ingredients were brought to Europe from South America in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. But now they are common around the world.

A. Seafood is often a key ingredient in coastal areas

B. There is a danger that local food traditions will be lost

C. Many different cooking techniques are used around the world

D. For example, Italian dishes often include tomatoes and peppers

F. Nowadays, we can buy food products from all around the world

E. These local dishes can become symbols of a place and its culture

G. In Norway, the Vikings used to “cure” meat and fish by smoking them over a fire

Making Short Videos

    "A picture is worth a thousand words or so", they say. Well, motion (运动) pictures can contain even more memories. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are some apps you can use to make your own short videos.

    Qupeiyin.cn

    Reciting lines from movies is an effective and classic way to learn English. So what if you could dub (配音) recordings accompanied by movie clips (剪辑) and then share them with friends? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You name it. By contributing your voice, you can either mimic (模仿) the original soundtrack or create something completely new of your own.

    Shorts

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}With the help of the Shorts app, you can make pictures in your album into a slide show. Choose from any of the off-the-shelf themes—"holiday", "travel", "friendship" and "party" for example—each matched with its own theme music and slide background. But if you're not satisfied with the combinations, feel free to do a little change by adding text to the pictures or replacing the music with something in your own playlist.

    Viva Video

    Video making and editing once seemed awfully hard. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} But this app will ease you into the field with straight-forward functions and clear direction to help you "create your own video story". Apart from filter, stickers and text, the coolest part of this app is that you can write the narratives yourself and add your own voice to the video. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Viva Video requires a relatively powerful phone to run smoothly.

How to Develop Appropriate Self-Confidence

Under most circumstances having self-confidence is a good thing. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It is this strong sense of confidence that allows them to go out in the world and reach for their goals.

But can you have too much self-confidence? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} In most cases, knowing your strengths and having the assuredness to go out and take risks are admirable qualities. But when this confidence makes you inflexible, opposed to trying new things, and incapable of listening to others, it can become harmful to success and well-being. So what can people do to ensure that their self-confidence is realistic, authentic and socially appropriate?

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Whether you are evaluating your own success or offering praise to your children, try to place a greater emphasis on the work that went into the task rather than just focus on how things turned out. You cannot always control how things go, but you can control the amount of work you put into achieving your goals.

Keep learning new things. Even if you are highly confident about your skills in an area, keep looking for new challenges. It is easy to become overconfident if you think you know everything there is to know about a subject. Finding new challenges to overcome does sharpen your skills. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Listen to what others have to say. Overconfidence can sometimes cause people to become rigid and even arbitrary. Instead of assuming that your way is the right or only way, try to keep an open mind. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} However, it is important to listen in order to gain a new perspective.

A. Focus on the effort, not the outcome.

B. Is overconfidence definitely a good thing?

C. You might not always agree with other people.

D. Having too much self-confidence is beneficial to us.

E. Are you teaching in a different way and extremely excellent?

F. Confident people tend to be more successful in a wide variety of fields.

G. Finding new challenges also reminds you that there're fresh ways of thinking about things.