There is an English saying that goes,“he who laughs last laughs the hardest.”High School Musical star Zac Efron is laughing a lot these days.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Because he was always the smallest in his class and was laughed at because he had a big space between his teeth. In sixth grade, Efron's basketball team made it to be the league championships. In double overtime(两个加时赛),with three seconds left, he rebounded the ball and passed it to the wrong team! {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Now at 21,Efron is one of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People, graces(荣登)the cover of Entertainment Weekly Hollywood's most influential magazine, and is travelling the world promoting the third High School Musical film. Director Adam Shankman described Efron as “arguably the biggest teen star in America right now” Simply google “Zac Efron”, and you get more than 14 million responses. Yes, it seems Efron has a lot to smile about these days.

    Efron was born and raised in California. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} According to Efron,“he would flip out(发疯) if he got a B and not an A in school, and that he was a class clown.”It was his father who encouraged him to act. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} He also took singing lessons. He graduated from high school in 2006 and was accepted at the University of Southern California to study film. But he put it off —why study movies when you can star in them. Efron has risen all the way to the top of the movie business. And he can now laugh all the way to the bank.

A. He owed it a lot to his father that he succeeded.

B. But history, as they say, is a thing of the past.

C. He took part in school performances and acted in a local theater.

D. When he was young, Efron was an unqualified basketball player.

E. He took school seriously.

F. They scored and his team lost the game.

G.As a young boy, Efron was picked on by his classmates.

    Being outspoken is a quality that, when used with skill and wisdom, can set you apart from the crowd. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The quality of being outspoken is a positive and active skill. Here are some tips.

    Gain self-knowledge(自找认识)through journaling. Knowing who you are, what you believe, and how you feel is the beginning of knowing yourself, and journaling is a great way to gain that knowledge. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Not only can you know yourself better, journaling is an excellent tool to improve self-confidence. Self-confidence is the foundation of being outspoken.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} In order to be outspoken, you have to believe that your voice has worth. You have to believe that your input will make any conversation better. And it probably will! It's different opinions that make conversations or debates interesting.

    Overcome shyness. The fact that you're confident doesn't mean you like hearing your own voice. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Overcoming a natural tendency towards shyness can seem horrible, but doing the opposite of your natural instinct can open up a whole new set of choices: brave choices.

    Back up your opinion with facts. Some people feel uncomfortable having or expressing an opinion because they don't know much about a topic. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

A. Be confident

B. Open your mind and speak it out.

C. The next step is overcoming your shyness.

D. Practice journaling for 15 minutes each night before bed.

E. Being outspoken is to speak your mind—to be honest and frank.

F. Allowing the other parties to make their points fully can help you seem more reasonable.

G. You can combat this feeling and have more confidence about your opinion if you learn facts that can support your opinion.

    Are you afraid of failure? However, only by overcoming fear of failure can we achieve success in life. Here are some tips on how to remove fear and focus on success:

    Understand that at times you make mistakes. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Before any of us learned how to walk, we crawled(爬行). We got up, fell down and got up again. We continued the process until we could walk quite well.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Instead, view it as a stepping stone. Make certain that you learn from failure and then use what you have learned in future situations. Refuse to consider failure a character weakness. Doing so will only prevent you from achieving future success.

    Remember that failure has produced many successes. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Albert Einstein's teacher told him to quit school and said, “Einstein, you will never achieve anything!” Beethoven's music teacher said he was hopeless to become a composer(作曲家). Henry Ford's first two car companies failed.

    Appreciate the benefits of failure. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you try, the better you make.” It's hardly possible for someone to achieve success for the first time he tries. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Believe in yourself. Rather than give up when things don't work out, take it as a chance to build perseverance(坚持不懈). Remind yourself how many failures became successful because they wouldn't give up. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Don't take failure personally.

B. Work hard and try to avoid(避免) failure.

C. Realize that you are human and humans make mistakes.

D. Believe that you've got what it takes to work through the difficult times.

E. Making the same mistake again can lead to the failure in your future work.

F. Consider how many people in history had failed before they became successful.

G. In other words, your chances of getting things right on the first try are little.

    I just counted how many foreign languages I've studied so far in my life and it's been twelve!

    I always follow my interests and find ways to put my language learning into things I'm already interested in. I like to read blogs(博客)in other languages.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. For the most part, bloggers tend to write the same way they speak, so I don't have to worry much about adopting strange terms that are only used in writing.

    Movies are also a really good tool, especially if you can find subtitles in the language you're learning.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}, they will still keep your brain listening and reading in the same language. Music is another way to start listening to things in your new language. Personally, I'm so bad at understanding lyrics(歌词)even in English, so this one doesn't really work for me, but I have friends who learn a language through lyrics. Games are of course also an excellent way of studying a new language. A lot of language learning computer programs include games. I'm super competitive and if I play any of them, I can be hooked for hours.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    When the initial excitement of learning a new language begins to fade, it can be hard to stick with it. The hardest bit for me is when I'm comfortable enough with a language to understand most things and make myself understood. I'm actually stuck at this stage in Norwegian.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Ideally I should sign up to take a big language exam. Each time I start getting self-satisfied, it's time to take a new course or sign up for online lessons, or take up some sort of challenge that will require me to level up my skills.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. The best language class I've ever taken was my beginner's Russian course at university where my professor never used any English. It got to the point where I would kind of just forget about English while in Russian class, which helped me to really immerse myself in the Russian language and do a whole lot with the limited Russian I had.

A. That's really uncomfortable

B. Whatever languages they're translated into

C.I also try to think in the language I'm learning

D. It's time well spent if I'm learning the language

E. Computer games always make me feel worn out

F. Though they don't always exactly match what's being said

G.I found them the perfect learning tool because they're usually written in oral language

Public Speaking

    Public speaking can be defined as the act of making a speech in front of a group of listeners.

    The types of public speaking are deliberately structured with three general purposes: to inform, to persuade and to entertain. An informative speech has a purpose to inform, or give knowledge to its audience.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}For persuasive speech, the speaker would try to change the mindset, perception, or behavior of the audience for their own good. Thus, the speaker needs to look for common ground with the audience and try to relate to what they might agree on. The last type is a ceremonial speech. It tends to be less formal and more personal than the other types of speeches. No matter how well you know the person you are giving speech about, try not to say bad things about them, even if it is meant to be a joke.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Sparing some time to practice will help build confidence and help determine how long the presentation will last. Aside from it, knowing who the audience will be is quite necessary. Try to get as much information as possible regarding this particular area related to the audience. Knowing the “battlefield” in advance will give the speakers a huge advantage.

    Language is the main aspect a speaker needs to pay attention to while giving a speech.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}A speaker needs to choose their words carefully and make it clear to the audience what they mean. Often, when given a speech, the audience look up to the speaker to give them something new and useful.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Language and delivery alone will not be sufficient if the speaker does not have the body language. The movement and gesture of a speaker also affect the audience. While closing the speech or presentation, speakers can restate their main points, just to remind the audience of the important things that have been said.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. It needs to be used clearly.

B. These speeches mark special occasions.

C. The important thing to watch about is not to put in too much information.

D. The key of perfecting anything is through practice, including public speaking.

E. They can also end it with a special message and encourage the audience to ask questions.

F. Knowing how public speaking is done is a key part in understanding the importance of it.

G. Thus, the speaker needs to know how to deliver their speech to fulfill the audience's expectation.

Exam Anxiety

    Has this ever happened to you? You've been studying hard for your midterm, but when you walk into your exam, your mind goes blank, your heart races fast, you get sweaty palms and find it hard to breathe. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Everyone feels stressed during exams. Usually, it results from a fear of failure, lack of adequate preparation time and bad experiences taking tests in the past. This is normal and often helps you work harder, think faster and generally improve your performance. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}You may also feel that other people are managing the exam better than you. This can cause you to feel that your mind has "gone blank" on information you know you have revised.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Some choose to ignore the problem, while others don't review because they think they will do badly anyway and even miss exams due to the anxiety. It can also be really easy to think that if you don't try and then you fail, you won't feel as bad as if you fail after trying really hard.

    So what can you do to fight against the negative mindset and stay calm before and during your test?{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Yes, this seems obvious, but it's worth repeating. If you feel confident that you've prepared thoroughly, you'll feel more confident walking into the test. The second tip is simple: just start. The blank page can maximize your anxiety. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} You can always go back and change things later if needed, but a few quick answers can get the ball rolling. Besides, allocating(分配) your time is equally important. Look through the whole test before getting started. Mentally allocate how much time you'll spend on each section. If there's time to recheck, even better.

A. The first thing you should do is to be prepared.

B. People often deal with exam stress in many unhelpful ways.

C. If these classic signs of exam anxiety sound familiar, you're not alone!

D. Therefore, people need an appropriate amount of pressure to help deal with exams.

E. Realizing time is almost up and that there's still a lot of blank space will make you desperate.

F. However, if you are overly anxious about the result, you may be unable to focus on your work.

G. After you get the paper, dive right in by getting some questions done to build up your confidence.