All over the world people enjoy sports. Sports help to keep people healthy and happy, and to live longer.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}They buy tickets or turn on their TVs to watch the games. Often they get very excited when their player or team wins.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Football, for example, has spread around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers. What fun it is to jump into a pool or lake, whether in China. Egypt or Italy!{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Think how many lovers to skate or ski in Japan, Norway or Canada.

    Some sports or games go back thousands of years, like running or jumping. Chinese wushu, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new. Neither one is a hundred years old yet.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Water-skiing is one of the newest in the family of sports.

    People from different countries may not be able to understand each other, but after a game together they often become good friends.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace.

A. And think of people in cold countries

B. Sports help to train a person's character

C. Not a few people participate in different sports competitions themselves

D. Many people like to watch others play games

E. People aren't inventing new sports or games

F. Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere take part in them

G. People are inventing new sports or games all the time

    Talking good notes is a time-saving skill that will help you to become a better student in several ways.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Second, your notes are excellent materials to refer to when you are studying for a test. Third, note-taking offers variety to your study time and helps you to hold your interest.

    You will want to take notes during classroom discussions and while reading a textbook or doing research for a report{#blank#}2{#/blank#}whenever or however you take notes, keep in mind that note-taking is a selective process.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    The following methods may work best for you.

    Read the text quickly to find the main facts and ideas in it.

    Carefully read the text and watch for words that can show main points and supporting facts.

    Write your notes in your own words.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Note any questions or ideas you may have about what was said or written.

    As you take notes, you may want to use your own shorthand (速记). When you do, be sure that youunderstand your symbols and that you use them all the time.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Use words, not complete sentences.

B. There are three practical note-taking methods.

C. You must write your notes on separate paper.

D. Otherwise（否则）, you may not be able to read your notes later.

E. You will also want to develop your own method for taking notes.

F. That means you must first decide what is important enough to include in your notes.

G. First, the simple act of writing something down makes it easier for you to understand and remember it.

How to Know Yourself Better

    Most of us believe that we know ourselves better than anyone in this world. But a lot of people are still strangers to themselves. Why?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}For a person to have a well-lived life, it is important that he know himself good. If you are one of those who are striving to know yourself better, these steps will guide you.

    Take a moment to write down things that you know "very good" about yourself - your interests, likes, dislikes, preferences, hobbies, strengths, weaknesses, hopes, fears, dreams, etc.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}By creating a list of your personal attributes that you are familiar with, you are keeping yourself in touch with yourself.

    Take personality and psychological tests. This is another way to know yourself better. The Internet has a rich source of free online personality and psychological assessments and tests.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Know yourself better by understanding people's perceptions about you.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Sometimes, you think you know yourself enough, but other people who see you from their point of view can offer you some insights how you act and get understood by others. Be careful, however, to balance both perceptions to come up with an objective view of yourself.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}It's a lifetime process. Everyday you will be given new insights about yourself. Writing a journal will help you keep track of these new discoveries. Maintaining that hunger to know yourself better will make you more self-aware, opening up new opportunities to enrich your life.

A. Keep on learning who you are.

B. Remember that you are a worthy person.

C. By answering them, you will understand yourself better.

D. The better you know yourself, the easier it will be to love yourself.

E. Reflect on these qualities and find out how they impact your overall life.

F. Pay attention to what your family, friends, coworkers, etc. observe and say about you.

G. Not everyone is courageous enough to travel the path within to achieve a better self-understanding.

Suggestions for cooking on a Tight Schedule

    In my opinion, there are three main reasons why people don't cook more often: ability, money and time,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Money is a topic I'll save for another day. So today I want to give you some wisdom about how to make the most of the time you spend in the kitchen. Here are three suggestions for great cooking on a tight schedule:

    ⒈Think ahead. The moments when I think cooking is a pain are when I'm already hungry and there is nothing ready to eat. So think about of the coming week. When will you have time to cook? Do you have the right materials ready?{#blank#}2{#/blank#} 

    ⒉Make your time worth it. When you do find time to cook a meal, make the most of it and save yourself time later on. Are you making one loaf of bread? {#blank#}3{#/blank#}it takes around the same amount of time to make more of something. So save yourself the effort for a future meal.

    ⒊{#blank#}4{#/blank#}This may surprise you, but one of the best tools for making cooking worth your time is experimentation. It gives you the chance to hit upon new ideas and recipes that can work well with your appetite and schedule. The more you learn and the more you try, the more ability you have to take control of your food and your schedule.

    Hopefully that gives you a good start.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} and don't let a busy schedule discourage you from making some great changes in the way you eat and live!

A. Cooking is a burden for many people.

B. Make three or four instead.

C. Ability is easily improved.

D.A little time planning ahead can save a lot of work later on.

E. Let cooking and living simply be a joy rather than a burden.

F. Try new things.

G. Understand your food better.

    What is a big dream? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Or, is a big dream something that provides only entertainment? Children dream big dreams, but there are three barriers to realizing dreams. They often kill dreams before children ever have a chance to grow.

    The self

    Immediately following the birth of a big dream, a negative self-talk takes over and gives all the reasons why it can't happen. This inside voice is the ego (自我). It is there for protecting and should be listened to. Sometimes it is right, but more often it is wrong. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} That's why only a handful of people make their dreams come true.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

    Family and friends are a lot like the ego. They want to protect those they love, so they will often list all the reasons why the big dreams won't come true. Sometimes, family and friends destroy dreams of those they love most, out of their own fear of being left behind.

    The world

    If one gets past the first two barriers, one has to face the world. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In the past, big dreamers were locked up and sometimes even killed when they were shown to the world. Fortunately, in most of the world today, big dreamers just get laughed at.

    The way to realize a big dream is with confidence and action. When children have confidence and then take action, they will be ready to accept any failure. The truth is that every great dreamer whose dreams have never seen the light of success knows failure well. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

A. How big dreams die

B. Family and friends

C. They simply fail until they succeed.

D. Does a big dream show one's future?

E. Most people are influenced by the inside voice.

F. It is the last and the most terrible barrier.

G. And their big dream is to be a rock star or a famous artist.

    Things only people who have worked overseas can understand

    If you have ever worked or lived overseas, I'm pretty sure you can understand the following things!

    We do not automatically become fluent (流利的) in another language. A lot of people believe that changing your geographic location can improve your language learning skills quickly. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Language application takes time and has a number of factors that play into a person's level of fluency.

    We feel extremely lonely at times. Yes, living abroad can be wonderful. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Sometimes, we think that no one back at home understands our true feelings and life challenges, but a lot of other people travel long term and work abroad. Maybe they are not facing the same problems as you, but they know exactly how you feel.

    We don't really like our birthdays. Usually, your special day ends with the last phone call you get from home and then you can look through all your greetings on social media. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You may throw a small party with some of your new friends, but it's going to be nothing compared with the good­old feasts you used to have with your loved ones back at home.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Too often we simply can't tell you if we will be coming home for holidays this season. Sometimes, our working/living permits require us to stay in the country for at least a year. Adding up the flight costs and additional travel expenses, traveling home becomes quite a challenge for us.

    We will change. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} You become more mature, independent and open­minded. Usually, you return home as a better person than the one you left as.

A. The truth is: it isn't like that.

B. We may not plan to move back home.

C. We don't know when we'll come home next.

D. However, it can get extremely lonely on some days too.

E. Living abroad makes us value the little things a lot.

F. Living and working abroad shape your personality a lot.

G. After that, you just act as if it's another ordinary day in your life yet.