The process of forgiveness can be a liberating experience. Interestingly, forgiveness can only occur because we have been given the gift of the ability to make choices. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The choice of offering forgiveness develops along three steps.

    At step one you are filled with self justified anger. At some point in your life you have been hurt and you are mad at the person who you feel has wronged you. You blame the person committing the wrong. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You have forgotten that you have a choice as to how you will react.

    The second step towards forgiveness emerges when after feeling angry with someone for a while you realize that the anger does not feel good to you. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} So you take steps to forgive. You may begin to see the problem from the other person's point of view or you may simply decide to let the problem go. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The third stage of forgiveness comes after you have seen the beneficial results of forgiveness and you don't want to waste your precious life in discomfort. In this stage the choice is to work to either repair the relationship or let go of seeing the situation as a problem. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} At this stage you are aware that the length of time you experience the situation as a sorrow is primarily up to you.

A. If we want to forgive someone, no one can stop us.

B. We have the choice to forgive or not to forgive and no one can force us to do either.

C. In either case you decide to forgive because you have had some practice with it and see the benefit in your life.

D. It is their action and not your choice of response that you feel causes your anger.

E. In either case you are no longer angry and you have forgiven the person.

F. This could emerge in a situation where you are cut off by another car on the road.

G. It may be hurting your emotional balance or your physical health.

    How did you learn how to ride your bike? Someone probably gave you a few lessons and then you practiced a lot.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} No one is born to know how to study. You need to learn a few study skills and then practice them.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Do you have trouble paying attention in class? Are you sitting next to a loud person? Is it hard to see the board? Make sure you're sitting in a good seat that lets you pay attention. Tell your teacher or parents about any problems that are preventing you from paying attention and taking good notes.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.Waiting until Thursday night to study for Friday's test will make a homework night no fun! It also makes it hard to do your best. We're all guilty of putting things off sometimes. One of the best ways to make sure that doesn't happen is to plan ahead.

    Break it up! When there's a lot to study, it can help to break things into chunks(大块). Let's say you have a test on 20 spelling words. Instead of thinking about all of the words at once, try breaking them down into a five-word chunks and working on one or two different chunks each night.

    Ask for help. You can't study effectively if you don't understand the material.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} You can check yourself by reading through your notes. Does it all make sense? If not, ask your teacher to go over it with you.

    Get a good night's sleep. So the test is tomorrow and you've followed your study plan—but suddenly you can't remember anything, not even 2+2! Don't worry. Your brain needs time to digest(消化) all the information you've given it. Try to get a good night's sleep.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Plan ahead for tests and projects.

B. Study regularly instead of just the night before.

C. You can learn how to study in much the same way.

D. You'll be surprised by what comes back to you in the morning.

E. If you're studying math or science, do some practice problems.

F. Be sure to ask your teacher for help if you're confused about something.

G. Good studying starts in class.

    Who would win in a competition to memorize numbers, a chimp or a teenager? The teenager? Think again. Scientists have proved that chimps perform better than human beings when it comes to this kind of problem.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Memory is our ability to learn something, save it and recall it when needed. Our memories are important to our sense of self, our personalities, and our ability to understand the world.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} There is short-term memory and long-term memory. Your short-term memory saves information for a few seconds or a few minutes. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Long-term memory involves the information you try hard to keep, because it's meaningful to you-an example is data about family and friends. And then there is visual memory and sound memory. But these are not hard and fast. In fact, Scientists argue a lot about the nature of memory.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Some memorize better with the help of pictures. Others are helped more by sounds. One thing's for sure though: If you can put the different kinds of memory together, there can be great results. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} At the same time, you could listen to recordings of the same group of words. These things may help when it comes to memorizing the words.

    Imagination and association can be useful too. By imagination, scientists mean picturing a word in your mind, while association means relating the word to something you already know.

A. So why not try pictures with English words?

B. Then how do chimps have better memories than us?

C. Scientists say that there are different types of memory.

D. We may have to rethink what we believe about human memory.

E. Scientists have also found that people memorize things in different ways.

F. For example, the time it takes to compare the prices of a few items in a store.

G. Short-term and long-term memory differ in the amount of information they can store.

    Thanksgiving Day is special holiday in the United States and Canada. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} On December 4, 1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a three-day feast (盛宴). {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Everyone brought food.

    In time, other colonies (殖民地) began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours. But the Canadian thanks-giving Day falls on the second Monday in October.

A. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest.

B. He declared the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving.

C. The Pilgrims were those who celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day.

D. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.

E. The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast.

F. This is why he decided to make it a national holiday throughout the U.S.

G. The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest.

Four Steps to Begin Your Path to Greatness

    Feeling stuck is quite common. Many times, we have thoughts and dreams of what we want in life.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Our thinking pattern holds us back from going forward. The good news is, at any moment in time, we have the ability to start taking action toward creating the life we want. Here are four steps to get started.

    Celebrate Your Success.

    Write down all the successes you've already achieved and all the awesomeness that you are today.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} And once you're in that positive routine with your thoughts, it will lead you to make better choices and take better actions toward your greatness.

    Create Your True Vision.

    Many times we live based on others' expectations or we stay stuck in a particular place because it's our safety zone. Own your path. It can be hard to do, but allow yourself to get out of your head(or stop listening to what others want for you) and focus on your heart and what it's telling you.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    If you want to start going to the gym, going 5 days a week right away is extreme, and setting yourself up by biting more than you can chew typically doesn't result in success, but failure. Instead, start slow and go once or twice a week. After you do that for a while and get into a nice routine, up it to more days. Over time, you will build toward your goal by taking realistic, smaller steps to get there.

    Have the Right Support.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Find the right support to cheer you on in the process. It could be a friend, a family member, or significant other who you trust. Whoever it may be, having someone on your journey will be just what you need to keep you on track and celebrate with you as you work toward the life you dream of.

A. Don't do it alone.

B. Be realistic about your goals.

C. Be kind to yourself and accept the moment.

D. Your failure can lead you to another success.

E. This practice will direct your thinking to a positive place.

F. Sadly, they only stay as thoughts and dreams inside of us.

G. Look within yourself deeply and decide what you want and what's true for you.

    Next time your plane lands, listen to the sound of the tyres hitting the ground. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The tyres of cars, motorbikes and trucks are also often made of the same stuff.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Workers cut the trunks of the trees and collect a white liquid called latex（乳胶）. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, huge numbers of rubber trees were planted in countries including Malaysia, Burma and Brazil. Nearly half the rubber which is produced each year is natural rubber and there is always a need for more.

    Rubber trees are not easy to grow. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Some trees survive while others die and it is all decided by their genes. British scientists have been working together to look at rubber trees. They have now discovered the "genome" (基因组) of the rubber tree. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} The genome contains all the information the plant or animal needs to grow. The genome for a plant such as a rubber tree is smaller than a human genome but it is still very long, which is why it has been so difficult to find. Scientists say the work has been like putting a picture puzzle together where all the pieces show blue sea and blue sky.

    Now scientists can use the rubber tree genome to produce stronger trees. By understanding the genome, they can change the DNA in rubber trees in useful ways. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Natural rubber comes from trees.

B. Regretfully, many forests are being severely destroyed.

C. This is the way genes fit together in very long chains of DNA

D. Stronger trees have played a more important role in producing tyres.

E. They are affected by changes in temperature, rainfalls, winds and diseases.

F. The reason why the tyres don't explode is that they are made of natural rubber.
G. In the future, it will be possible to grow trees which survive climate change and disease.