How To Cultivate Your Confidence

    Self-confidence, the combination of self-efficacy and self-esteem, is an essential part of humanity. A person with self confidence generally is willing to take risks to achieve his personal goals, Someone who lacks self confidence, however, is less likely to feel that he can achieve his goals, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Identify your negative thoughts,

    Your negative thoughts might sound like this: "I can't do that," "I will surely fail". This inner voice is pessimistic and unhelpful and will hold you back from achieving high self-esteem and greater self confidence.

    Turn your negative thoughts to positive thoughts.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}This may take the form of positive affirmations, such as "I am going to try it," "I can be successful if I work at it, "or "people will listen to me." Start with just a few positive thoughts a day.

    Refuse to allow negative thoughts to occur more often than positive thoughts.

Eventually, your positive thoughts should be given more "brain space" than your negative thoughts, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Avoid spending time around things that can make you feel bad about yourself again. These might be reminders from the past, clothing that no longer fits, or places that don't fit with your new goals of gaining confidence. Though you may not be able to get rid of every negative source in your life, you can certainly think about how to cut your losses. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Get away from your past.

B. Rid reminders of your negativity.

C. This will go a long way in building up your self-confidence.

D. This means that you can have an abundance of self-confidence.

E. The more your positive thoughts get ，the less your negative thoughts get.

F. As you pay attention to your negative thoughts, turn them around to positive thoughts

G. The good news is that self-confidence is something that you can build on your own.

    Finland is a small country of just 5.3 million people, but over three million saunas(桑拿浴). {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Finns have a sauna at least once a week. Saunas can be found all over Finland: in offices, factories, sports centres and hotel, and 2/3 of the people have one in their house.

    Some of the basic rules for using the sauna include not eating or drinking. Also, you can't wear any clothes or swimsuits in the sauna. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Men and women visit the sauna separately, unless they're members of the same family.

    Saunas have existed for hundreds of years in Finland. In the past, Finns dug holes in the ground and put heated stones in them. When water was thrown on the hot stones, they gave off a vapour.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Traditional type is the smoke sauna. We find smoke saunas mostly in rural areas. They're heated with burning wood. Once the room is hot enough, the fire is allowed to die and the room is ventilated (使通风) by letting the smoke out through a hole in the ceiling. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} With these, you simply turn on an electric stove an hour before you want to go in. This is seen as the safest and easiest way to heat the room.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Many think that they're important for your wellbeing (幸福). Finns believe that the sauna can treat a number of diseases. Having a sauna is also seen as a good way to relieve stress and tension.

A. Now there are several types of sauna.

B. That is to say, you have to go naked.

C. Why are saunas so popular in Finland?

D. Saunas play an important role in Finnish life.

E. Since then, saunas have been introduced to Asia.

F. However, the most common type is the electric sauna.

G. If you ever visit Finland, don't forget to have a nice, relaxing sauna.

    Why Ultra-pure(超高纯的)Water Is Actually Bad for Your Health Many people are surprised to hear that drinking purified water on a regular, daily basis is actually dangerous. So why is 100% ultra-pure water not good for us? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    There is no such thing as truly pure water in the natural world. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}When these minerals dissolve(溶解)in water, they form what we commonly refer to as electrolytes(电解质).They allow us to perform all the "bioelectrical" functions such as moving, heart-beating, thinking, and seeing.

    But pure water fails to provide these fundamental electrolytes. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}You can think of it this way: imagine a room with no gravity, split in half down the middle. You throw a couple hundred balls into the left side of the room. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} But if you cut a bunch of holes in the barrier, they will slowly start to spread over to the right side. Eventually, they will be evenly distributed across the entire room.

    The water in your organs stays at very specific levels of minerals. When you drink ultra-purified water, it pulls the minerals out of your blood just like the right side of the space room pulled some of the bouncy balls over from the left. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Purified water can only be recommended as a way of drawing poisons out of the body. Once this is accomplished, the continued drinking of purified water is a bad idea.

A.Purified water is an active absorber.

B.Since there's no gravity, they bounce around everywhere.

C.It actually tries to rob your body of them when you drink it.

D.Even water in the purest lakes contains small amounts of minerals.

E.If you drank enough of it, the lack of minerals would eventually kill you.

F.The simple answer is that ultra-pure water doesn't provide the natural minerals we need.

G.This is why materials tend to move from more concentrated areas to less concentrated ones.

    Life is filled with regrets (遗憾). Anyone around you will have no difficulty in telling his regrets. As we get older, we look back and wish that we had made better choice. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Make better plans

    If you start to do something, you need to make a plan before doing it. The earlier, the better.

    You will know what comes first and what comes last. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} If changes happen, you can have more time to deal with them.

    Live a more active life

    You can go around more often. More outdoor activities can keep you relaxed and active. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} "Thank you" can bring a smile to someone's face. Learn to say "sorry" and don't be angry with others.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    A friend may make your life and he or she can break your life as well. So you have to think twice when you choose a friend. Good friends will always give you better ideas. When you get into trouble ask others for help. That little help may get you good results.

    Never fear failure

    Everybody fails. Even the greatest person fails before he or she achieves success. We should not fear failure, because failure is not the end of the road. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Life is good. We don't have to live in our past, but we do hope that we can plan better, live better, and work better when we have the chance to do so.

A. Ask others for help.

B. Find the right friend.

C. You also need to be kind.

D. What can we do to avoid future regrets?

E. Regrets play an important part in our daily life.

F. We must take failure as a chance to learn and improve ourselves.

G. You'll also know what you should do and what you shouldn't do.

Writing an art exhibition review is a creative experience that helps you express your ideas about an artist's work. Your review will provide a description (说明) of an art exhibit.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Here are some tips that may help you write a good art exhibition review.

Walk through the show to watch the artwork. Spare 1-2 hours to experience the art exhibit so you have plenty of time to examine the artwork. Move through the exhibit slowly, examining each piece of artwork. Besides, make several passes through the exhibit. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Take notes on the description, the form and your impression. Be as detailed as possible so you can use your notes to write the full review. First, note the title and theme of each work. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Finally, record your impression on the art, how it made you feel, and what worked or didn't work within the piece.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} While you don't need to include audience responses in your review, it may help you improve your own review of the show. Watch flow others comment on the exhibit and write down the sentences that they say.

Talk to the artists if they're present at the exhibit. If you attend on the opening night, you may meet the artists. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Ask about what they hope the audience will experience, and how they created their works. Take notes on what they say so you can use the information to write your review.

A. Notice how others are reacting to the artwork.

B. The reasons can be explained from several aspects.

C. These will help you find something new about the works.

D. Take the chance to chat with them about what inspired their works.

E. Besides, compare your review with other reviews to find out the differences.

F. Then write down the medium, materials, and techniques used to create the piece.

G. This helps visitors know what to expect from the exhibit and gives advice to the artist.

When you think about art, you might consider it to be permanent. After all, that picture you drew in kindergarten might still hang on your refrigerator years later. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Think about a Broadway performance. When it's over, it's over. Sure, it might live in your memory. But the live show is a special event. It is limited to a certain time and place. 

Can you think of other forms of art that are temporary? If you're a fan of the beach, sandcastles might come to your mind. Have you ever spent hours building a beautiful sandcastle? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You knew your work of art would be gone as soon as the tide came in. The sandy beach is a canvas where nature erases "paintings" daily. 

Most of the time, art made from sand can't last long. Still, many people love using sand to create their own unique vision of beauty. One of the most attractive types of sand art is sand animation. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Artists who work in sand animation use sand to make a set of images that usually tell a story. They often start with a large amount of sand on a flat surface, such as a table. They then use their hands and fingers to draw in the sand. 

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} However, the wide variety of beautiful and highly-detailed sand artworks might surprise you. Many of these works or art are temporary. That's where the animation part comes in. 

Sand animation artists create a series of images that move to tell a story. They might also use music and special lighting to complete the effect. Sometimes they photograph or video their creation throughout the process. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. It is a type of live performance art. 

B. Not all works of art are permanent, though. 

C. Sand animation is beautiful but lasts only for the moment. 

D. Then, they turn it into a sand animation movie when it's finished. 

E. It might seem like using sand would limit the art you could make. 

F. If you have, you would probably be sad when it was time to leave the beach. 

G. Building a sand castle is a family-friendly activity perfect for large groups.