Chopsticks

    Right now, millions of people are digging into their food with two sticks that have school the test of time as a utensil(烹调用具)for humans. But what's so special about them? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Personally, I think they teach us the importance of:

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    If you're ever tried using them, you know that you can't get what you want by just randomly stabbing at the plate. To be able to get what you want, you have to aim for it. There's no way you can pick up everything in one go. Know what you want, and just do it. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

    Practice

    Using chopsticks doesn't come naturally. You can't learn to use them by just reading about them. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It is the same with the real life. You can read as much as you like about all the things you want to do, but it will just amount to dreams and theory if you don't try actually doing it.

    Slowing Down

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Why? Because it allows your stomach to tell your brain you're full before you overeat. Eating with chopsticks is a slower process, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes we need to slow down and take things one step at a time, so that we have time to think and realize that we don't have to keep charging full speed through life.

A. Aim

B. Motivation

C. What can we learn from them?

D. You have to practice using them

E. Those who eat too fast were less successful at losing weight

F. Sometimes, a little bit of focus makes the difference between failure and success

G. A common health tip is to try to eat with chopsticks when you can

    Do you have a health problem, such as high blood pressure or obesity? Did your doctor tell you that you can improve your condition with better nutrition? Do cancer, heart disease, or diabetes run in your family? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Meanwhile, you also need to improve your eating habits for better nutrition.

    It can be hard to change your eating habits. However, you are sure to benefit from making changes to your diet if you have diseases that can be made worse by things you are eating or drinking. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Find the strengths and weaknesses in your present diet. Do your eat 4-5 cups of fruits and vegetables every day? Do you get enough calcium（钙）? Do you eat whole grain, high-fiber foods? If so, you're on the right track. Keep it up! {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you eat a lot of fat at present, cut back and change your habits. For example, reduce any extra fat. This includes butter on bread, sour cream on baked potatoes, and salad dressings.

    Keep track of your food intake（摄入量）. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} This record will help you assess（评价）your diet. You'll see if you need to eat more or less from certain food groups.

    Think about asking for help from a nutritionist. They can help you follow a special diet, especially if you have a health issue.

A. Cut back on unhealthy fat.

B. Write down what you eat and drink every day.

C. Below are suggestions to improve your health.

D. If not, add more of these foods to your daily diet.

E. You should eat foods that contain vitamins and minerals.

F. If your answer is yes, talk to your doctor about your health.

G. Balanced nutrition and regular exercise are good for your health.

    We all wish we had just a bit more time. Just think what you could do with an extra hour or two each day: you could finally stick to an exercise routine, or spring­clean the house, or write your novel, or learn the guitar and so on.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But I can help you find more hours in your day for the things that really matter.

    Get Out of Bed Earlier

    If you normally get up at 7：30 a．m., try getting up at 7：00 a．m. That half­hour might not sound like much, but it could be time that you use to exercise, to read that book you've been meaning to finish. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Do the Important Tasks First

    Once you get to work, get the important ones done first (not the easy ones, or even the urgent ones). You can afford to spend at least an hour working on big, important tasks rather than on all those little urgent ones.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The urgent tasks will still get done, and you won't miss the important ones.

    Reduce Interruptions

    If colleagues have a habit of hanging around your desk to chat, or if the phone is constantly ringing, you might find that it takes you half the day to finish a simple task like writing a letter. Constant interruptions don't just eat up time, they also break your concentration.

    When you've got a big task to focus on, let your calls go to voicemail. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Wearing headphones makes it less likely that people will try to strike up a conversation.

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    A few minutes' chatting, browsing the web, and so on, can easily turn into hours of wasted time over the course of a day.

    When you're working, work. If your concentration is slipping, take a proper break: go and get a glass of water, or stretch your legs a bit. And if you're facing a difficult task, try breaking it into small steps or stages so that it's easier to deal with.

A．Stay Focused on Your Work

B．Take Breaks When Necessary

C．If you have an office door, close it.

D．If you work like this, you'll usually save time.

E．Would you want me to make your day longer?

F．I can't magically make all your days 25 hours long.

G．Or simply to get your day off to a calm and organized start.

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.

    A new urban sport, parkour, is hitting the streets. It has evolved from obstacle course training into a fitness option for young people. In parkour, the outside world is the gym! {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The goal of parkour is a direct route from one place to another. You meet an obstacle, you overcome it.

    Mark Toorock, who teaches the techniques of parkour at his fitness gym, says that parkour is a method to train the body and mind using obstacles as the medium. He says that this new sport is demanding and takes years to master. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    But Toorock, who used to be a martial arts expert, says that everyone can benefit from learning the basic skills involved in parkour like running, jumping and crawling (爬行). These are the things that humans used to have to do all the time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The original idea of parkour was to return to running and jumping as basic elements in moving from one place to another.

    Georges Hebert, a French navy officer, was so impressed by the effortless athleticism of African tribes that he devised a training method based on running, climbing, jumping, balancing and throwing. The word parkour comes from parcours de combatant, the French term for a military obstacle course. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Dr Kenneth Kao explains that the sport of parkour is not extreme – it is the environment which is extreme and dangerous. Being outside, jumping off railings and flipping over park benches can be quite frightening, so parkour courses in gyms concentrate on practicing all the individual moves to make everything easier. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} However, that is not real parkour because it's indoors with a fixed obstacle. The goal for everyone is to go outdoors.

A. Gyms provide thick floor matting (垫子) for rolling and rubberized boxes for jumping over.

B. The bridges, buildings and railings (栏杆) of each and every city are the equipment.

C. Every action in parkour is natural, so everyone must have the ability to move in this way.

D. Parkour was introduced into china in recent years and has gained popularity.

E. But today, due to modern transport, these basic skills are no longer used on a regular basis.

F. The French word for people who participate in the sport is traceurs or traceuses.

G. Beginners should realize that they won't be jumping over buildings any time soon!

    Movies have documented America for more than one hundred years. Since Thomas Edison introduced the movie camera in 1893, amateur and professional movie-makers have used moving pictures to tell stories and explain the work of business and government. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} By preserving these movies, we will save a century of history.

    Unfortunately, movies are not made to last. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Already the losses are high. Only 20% of US feature films from the 1910s to 1920s survive. Of the American features produced before 1950, about half exist. For independently produced works, we have no way of knowing how much has been lost.

    For many libraries and museums, the hardest step in preserving movie collections is getting started. The Movie Preservation Guide is designed for these organizations. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} These institutions have collections of moving pictures but lack information about how to take care of them. The Guide contains basic facts for "beginners" —professionals trained in history but unschooled in this technical area.

The Guide grew from user workshops at Duke University. At the sessions  beginners talked with technical experts about what they needed to know to preserve and make available their movie collections. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Following the advice, the Guide describes methods for handling and storing moving pictures that are practical for research institutions with limited resources. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} The Guide has been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

A. "Keep it simple!" was the advice of the discussions.

B. They'll be damaged within years if not properly stored.

C. These organizations are the first to save American movies.

D. It is organized in chapters and includes case studies and charts.

E. It introduces movie preservation to nonprofit and public institutions.

F. They show how generations of Americans have lived, worked and dreamed.

G. They store the original movies and new ones under cool-and-dry conditions.