I was ten when I first sat with my grandmother behind the cashier(收银台) in her grocery store. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I quickly learned the importance of treating customers politely and saying “thank you.”

    At first I was paid in candy. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} I worked every day after school, and during the summer and on weekends and holidays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. My father helped me set up a bank account. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

    By the time I was 12, my grandmother thought I had done such a good job that she promoted me to selling cosmetics(化妆品). I developed the ability to look customers directly in the eye. Even though I was just a kid, women would ask me such things as “What color do you think I should wear?” I took a real interest in their questions and was able to translate what they wanted into makeup(化妆) ideas. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} 

    The job taught me a valuable lesson: to be a successful salesperson, you didn't need to be a rocket scientist—you needed to be a great listener. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Expect they are no longer women buying cosmetics from me; instead, they are kids who tell me which toys they would like to see designed and developed.

A. Later I received 50 cents an hour.

B. Before long, she let me sit there by myself.

C. I ended up selling a record amount of cosmetics.

D. Today I still carry that lesson with me: I listen to customers.

E. My grandma's trust taught me how to handle responsibility（承担责任）.

F. Soon I found myself looking more beautiful than ever before.

G. Watching my money grow was more rewarding/worthy than anything I could have bought.

    Not too long ago, a young man asked me a question: how do you make study more fun? You can improve your study habits and make your process more enjoyable. It's a matter of many things.

    Manage your time

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} All it takes is sitting down with a calendar, and just mapping out everything you need to do and the time you need to do it: projects, tests, part-time work, homework, parties, doctor appointments.

    Set the mood

    First, choose a good study area. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Your spot may be in your dorm/bedroom or the library. If you prefer to lie on your bed or sit in a corner of the library, develop a study routine that will allow you to focus. Clean spaces are said to improve productivity. To help you focus, turn off your phone! And while you're at it, limit your access to the Internet.

    Make it a game

    Are you the competitive type? Try competing against yourself. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Or try joining or starting a study group with fiends and take bets on who can get the most right answers when doing homework.

    Take breaks

    In that hour or two you've scheduled for studying, make sure you also give yourself enough breaks. Set a timer-even a short one, like 25 minutes-and work during that time. When the timer goes off, give yourself a few minutes to relax, drink some water, etc. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Reward yourself Sweet treats and other snacks often come to mind as a “reward”, and that might work for you, but it's also probably not a great idea to eat a bag of potato chips after every 25-minute study session. Rewards can be as simple as allowing yourself to watch some interesting videos. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. And we mean a specific, unique spot.

B. it's important to realize and make peace with the fact that studying isn't always going to be “fun”.

C. You can learn how to learn more effectively.

D. Then set another timer and dive back into your studying.

E. Or you can set goals, and then buy yourself something fun when you meet them.

F. Time management may be the secret weapon to succeeding at everything!

G. See if you can improve your reading speed to get yourself under a certain number of pages in five minutes.

    The ability to stay positive is one of the most important skills for us. Why is this? The reason is that we will spend most of our lives setting and trying to achieve goals. Everyone has dreams. Everyone wants to know deep down inside that they were put here to do something great. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The second you set a goal, difficulties will begin to appear to stand in your way. Most people let these challenges rob them of the life they really want.

    If you want to achieve greatness, if you want to experience the best life possible, then be prepared to get knocked down over and over. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} This explains why there are so many people who have stopped trying to reach their dreams.

    So how do you remain positive regardless of what type of challenge you are facing? It all comes down to how you choose to respond to any situation as well as what you decide to focus on. No matter how bad your situation is, you can always find something good in it.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    If you keep focusing on how bad you have it, how are things supposed to get any better? {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Of course it is. If this is true, why even bother thinking positively? That is because if you do, you have a chance to make things better. If you don't, things will usually get a lot worse.

    Realize that challenges are a part of life.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} It's what makes reaching a goal worth it. If you were able to get everything you wanted without even trying, the victory wouldn't taste as sweet.

A.Everyone will have to go through them.

B.Staying positive can be beneficial in many ways.

C.Staying positive during situations like this is not easy.

D.You can do things like reading positive books or listening to positive songs.

E.Is it possible to be positive and still have your circumstances get even worse?

F.However, the problem is that life is tough.

G.So what you can do is start focusing on what is good.

How to Sleep Better

    If you're having trouble getting good sleep through the night (turning, waking up more than once, for example), this text will tell you what you can do to ensure a peaceful night's sleep.

    ⒈Get up on time. Changing your sleeping time by more than an hour can severely disturb (干扰) your sleep quality. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} For example, if you normally wake up at 6 am on weekdays to get to work, you might go to bed around 10 pm, because that's when you start to feel sleepy, and it's also a good time to ensure 8 hours of sleep. If, on the weekend, you sleep until 9 am, you probably won't be able to fall asleep that night until 1 am.

    ⒉{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Wait at least three hours after dinner before going to sleep. Digestion(消化) slows down while asleep, and a full stomach may interrupt(打搅) sleep. Similarly, you should avoid going to bed on an empty stomach, as a completely empty stomach may equally disturb your sleeping patterns(模式).

    ⒊{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Exposure(暴露) to light during the time when you're supposed to be sleeping can disrupt(扰乱) your body's internal clock. Turn your light off, or use a very dim night light. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}They include windows, LED clocks, computer lights and cable boxes.

    ⒋Change your sleeping position. You may think that it's impossible to control what position you sleep in since you don't fully understand what you are doing, but it is possible and it can make a big difference. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Try to avoid all sources of light.

B. Keep the room as dark as possible.

C. Make note of unusual circumstances (状况).

D. Be mindful of what you eat or drink before bed.

E. Sleep is considered to be adequate only when there is no daytime sleepiness.

F. In other words, sudden change of sleeping time will affect your “biological(生物的) clock”.

G. If you wake up in the middle of the night, make an effort to have a comfortable position.

    Entering a university is an important part of a person's life. Today, many people go to a university to study and train for a future job in subjects like law, medicine or education. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} An important one started in Egypt over one thousand years ago.

    The world's oldest surviving university, AL-Azhar, is in Cario, Egypt. It was first built as a mosque for religion (宗教寺院) in A.D.972. A few years later, learners and teachers began meeting in the mosque. They read and talked about the subject of religion and law. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Leaders in the city of Cario decided to create a school for higher learning and soon after that, and AL-Azhar University was founded.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} For these teachers at AL-Azhar, they needed to think about what courses to teach and how to teach them. The earliest courses were in law and religion. In a course, students read and studied with the teachers, but there was also free discussion. Often, students and teachers had interesting discussions, and there was no ‘right' answer. In the years that followed, the new university interested scholars from around the world. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} At AL-Azhar, people studied the past, but it was also a place for sharing new ideas.

    Over a thousand years later, AL-Azhar is still an important university in the world. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Today, many of the world's most important universities such as Oxford and Harvard still follow the same traditions as they do at AL-Azhar.

A. However, the university is not a modern invention.

B.There are many reasons to study in Egypt.

C.They came here to teach and do research.

D.Around the year 988, a new decision was made.

E. Its library contains many of the world's oldest and most valuable books.

F. The cost of university education is increasing year by year.

G. A university was a new idea at that time.

    Britain's high streets are dying slowly

    Twenty years ago, the prosperous high street(繁华商业区) was the heart of most cities. It was crowded with customers. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Nowadays, high streets are declining, with very few shops and shoppers. With about 14 shops down every day, Britain's high streets are dying little by little. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}It's fairly easy to understand. To start with, people are spending less because of the economic recession(衰退). On top of that, more and more people are using the Internet to do their shopping. And it is not easy for shopkeepers in the high streets, either. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Finally, there are the out-of-town retail parks with free car parking that sell just about everything at very low prices. What can be done? Prime Minister David Cameron has hired Mary Portas, a British business woman and star of TV show Mary Queen of Shops, to bring some life back into Britain's high streets. She's talked about creating "magnets(磁石)" to attract people back to the centre. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}In one town, a bicycle rickshaw(人力车) service is delivering people's shopping to their homes. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}where children can be cared for while parents are shopping. Members of the public have also voiced their opinions. "My ideal shopping center is one where there's a wide selection of attractive looking shops, with cheap parking and good public transport links," said a 28-year-old man. "I'd like to see Night Shopping evenings where shops are open through to 10 pm or later," said a 22-year-old girl.

A. They have to pay increasing high rents.

B. But he is not the only one to solve the problem.

C. But that's all changed.

D. In another town, they set up night shopping centers,

E. In another town, they set up a nursery,

F. They can make a fortune overnight.

G. Why are high streets in such a desperate situation?