Secret codes（密码）keep messages private. Banks, companies, and government agencies use secret codes in doing business, especially when information is sent by computer.

    People have used secret codes for thousands of years. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Code breaking never lags（落后）far behind code making. The science of creating and reading coded messages is called cryptography.

    There are three main types of cryptography. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For example, the first letters of “My elephant eats too many eels” spell out the hidden message “Meet me.”

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You might represent each letter with a number, for example. Let's number the letters of the alphabet, in order, from 1 to 26. If we substitute a number for each letter, the message “Meet me” would read “135520135.”

    A code uses symbols to replace words, phrases, or sentences. To read the message of a real code, you must have a code book. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} For example, “bridge” might stand for “meet” and “out” might stand for “me.” The message “Bridge out” would actually mean “Meet me.” {#blank#}5{#/blank#} However, it is also hard to keep a code book secret for long. So codes must be changed frequently.

A. It is very hard to break a code without the code book.

B. In any language, some letters are used more than others.

C. Only people who know the keyword can read the message.

D. As long as there have been codes, people have tried to break them.

E. You can hide a message by having the first letters of each word spell it out.

F. With a code book, you might write down words that would stand for other words.

G. Another way to hide a message is to use symbols to stand for specific letters of the alphabet.

How to Live Peacefully with Your Parents

    As a teen,you are going through big changes physically and mentally.Your interests are expanding.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Here is the challenge: kids need to explore the world in new ways,and parents need to protect them from the dangers that are all out in the world.These conflicts（冲突）can easily set off fireworks in otherwise calm house. Sometimes conflicts can't be avoided.But by paying attention to the building blocks of successful relationships,you can work towards making home a happy and healthy place for you and your parents.

    For example,try to find time to talk when your parents are not angry,tired,or hungry.A good time to talk is when you are all relaxed.Timing is everything.If the conversation begins to turn into an argument,you'd better calmly and coolly ask to stop it.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.Listen to what your parents are saying,and repeat it back to them.This shows them that you are listening.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} .

    Respect is the building block of good communication.People who respect each other and care about each other's feeling can disagree without getting things ugly.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.How do you build trust?Trust,comes by actually doing what you say you are going to do.Some teens find that doing fun activities with their parents can improve their relationships.Sometime we forget that parents are more than rule makers—they're interesting people who like to watch movies and go shopping—just like their teenagers!

    What do you do if you are trying your best,but your relationship with your parents continues to be rocky?{#blank#}5{#/blank#} You can find supportive adults,such as a teacher or a coach,who can lend an ear.Remember you can only change your own behavior.Your parents are the ones who can change theirs.

A.You may consider seeking outside help.

B.Faced with this challenge,children don't know what to do.

C.And then you will be able to accept what your parents say.

D.You are more likely to get along with your parents and have more independence if your parents believe in you.

E.And your desire to take control of your own life is growing.

F.It also gives them a chance to clear things up if you are not on the same page.

G.You can pick it up again when everyone's more relaxed.

    The Panda Ant is a most unusual species with a lovely appearance. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} They look like ants but actually they belong to the wasp（黄蜂）family. The differences between the two sexes of the species are also very pronounced in both appearance and behavior. When fully grown, the male, possibly attaining a length of approximately 0. 8 centimeters, is several times larger than the female. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Cute as panda ants may look, they are dangerous and capable of knocking out an animal much larger than they are with a few stings（刺）.

    Panda ants primarily depend on flowers sweet liquid as their food. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The female panda ant often lays its eggs in a bee or wasp nest. When the young ones. hatch, they will eat their pupa（蛹）hosts.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} So although a female panda ant lays approximately 2, 000 eggs a year, a considerable amount of eggs to support their survival, this species is still on the edge of dying out.

    This species was first discovered in the coastal region of Central Chile in 1938. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Today, they are likely to be found in dry desert and sandy areas such as Southwestern United States and parts of Mexico.

A. It's a new fashion to raise panda ants as pets.

B. The name comes from their colors as pandas.

C. Yet young panda ants are meat-eaters.

D. No one believes the panda ant is the relative of bees.

E. Besides, the males are active at night while the females opposite.

F. Unfortunately, many panda ants are eaten for their bright colors.

G. Then little attention was given to it until recently.

    It can be difficult to meet new people and make friends, especially when you move to a new city or find yourself out of your comfort zone. How will you deal with the situation? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}There are several ways that you can meet people that you might not have considered in the past. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You probably have several acquaintances that you see on a daily basis or a weekly basis. If you get along well with certain people, you can see if this acquaintance would like to go out and do something socially with you. If you have common interests, you might suggest that the two of you do something together that involves your interest.

    Make an effort to accept invitations. Sometimes people that you know may be having a barbecue or other type of social gathering. Try to ensure that you are able to attend and then show up at the appointed time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you meet people that you click with, you can make a plan to see them again in the future or you can invite your friends to your own event and ask them to extend the invitation to the friends that were at their gathering too.

    Go out, even when you don't feel like it. It turns out that when people invite someone to join them for dinner or a movie or something else, they really want to hang out with you. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} {#blank#}5{#/blank#}But once you have used the same methods a few times you will know exactly what works and what does not. Don't give up, everyone is different and it just takes time to get to know people.

A. Expand on current relationships.

B. Trying to make new friends can be annoying at first.

C. Do you work with people that you get along well with?

D. But don't call them several times a day or even several times per week.

E. Be more social and you'll make your life more exciting and fulfilled.

F. If you tend to say “no” often, people will eventually stop asking you to go with them.

G. These types of gatherings often lead to meeting different people who are friends of friends.

    Parents often say that they don't mind what their children do in life just as long as they are happy. Happiness and pleasure are almost universally seen as among the most precious human goods. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Philosopher Jeremy Bentham believed that all sources of pleasure are of equal quality, but John Stuart Mill disagreed. Mill argued for a difference between higher and lower pleasure. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Lower pleasure, in contrast, requires mere（仅仅的, 纯粹的）senses.

    The entire debate assumes a clear divide between the physical and the mental. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}What will it mean for our ideas about pleasure?

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Food is usually considered to the lower pleasure. All animals cat, using the senses of smell and taste. It doesn't require ay complex cognition（认知）to conclude that something is delicious. However these people failed to appreciate something that he French food writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin captured. That is," Animals feed, man cats, only the man of intellect （才智）knows how to eat."

    Eating shows that the difference between higher pleasure and lower pleasure is not what you enjoy but how you enjoy it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Preparing it using the powers of reflection and attention turns it into a higher pleasure.

A. The dining table is a good place to start.

B. Wolfing down your food is a lower kind of pleasure.

C. What's the real difference between high and low pleasure?

D. What happens if the physical and the mental cannot be separated?

E. All philosophers believed that cookery could never be a form of art.

F. Higher pleasure depends on human abilities such as self-awareness or language use.

G. However, disagreements will be caused about whether some forms of pleasure are better than others.

Five steps to better handwriting

Some kids love handwriting, but others hate when it's time to put their pen to paper. Maybe they are worried about their handwriting. Are you one of them? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are five steps that really work!

Get a great grasp

Try this — hold your pencil at the top and try to write your name. Pretty hard? But when you hold your pencil the correct way, writing is much easier. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Hold it in place with your thumb, and your index (食指) and middle fingers.

Let the lines be your guide

Lined paper is your friend! Those lines can help you create letters that are the right size and proportion (均衡). {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Also be sure to fill up the lined space completely. Those capital letters should be from the bottom line to the top one.

Slow down

If your writing is hard to read, try slowing down a little. If you rush, it's hard to control where you stop and start your letters.

Lower the pressure

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} That makes it harder to make the smooth lines. Try easing up and don't hold the pencil too tightly.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

Lots of games require you to write or draw pictures. So even though it's not schoolwork, you're still using the skills you need to control your pen better.

A. Play games

B. Ask for more advice

C. So "a" should be half the height of a capital "A".

D. You've been writing since you were a little kid.

E. Some kids press down really hard when they write.

F. The good news is that just about everyone can improve their handwriting.

G. The best way to hold a pen or pencil is to let it rest next to the base of your thumb.