A hobby is an inverstment of time. It also can be an investment of money and commitment. Many people choose to developing more than one type of hobby. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} When it comes to choosing the hobby, consider the following factors.

    Hobbies are usually an activity of some sort that brings out a certain skill that you have. When you have a talent like painting or woodworking, it can be easy to determine which hobby suits your skill. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Skill can be developed and challenged as you go along. It is not a necessary requirement. A hobby is fitting because you love it, not because you're a professional at it.

    Some people particularly enjoy taking part in hobbies that they can do in a group with others. It can be a lot more fun to become a member of a hobby group than to sit alone in your basement. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It's important to share interests and network with other hobby enthusiasts that do what you do.

    Hobbies are generally an activity that you undertake because of the joy it brings you. Of course many people have discovered the joy that also comes with a hobby that earns you a living.  {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Just make sure you make the choice that fits your lifestyle and personal preference.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} But most of the skilled hobbies like art, building or writing have a series of lessons or tutorials that you can take to further your skills. In some cases it's a really good idea to take lessons, especially if you are clueless as to where or how to begin. Step by step books for most hobbies can often be found in bookstores as well.

A. However, hobbies don't have to be skill related.

B. Most hobbies can easily be done within your own home, at your leisure.

C. Look one up or start your own.

D. Read hobby books to learn more about your chosen hobby!

E. Make a list of things that you enjoy or don't know about.

F. It can be a necessary part of selecting the hobby that is right for you.

G. Whether it's full time, part time or not at all, you must decide whether your hobby applies to you

    Controlling your food longings and dropping pounds fast is easy: Just eat breakfast. The editors of Eat This, Not That! carried out researches to determine some best breakfast food for weight loss.

Black Beans

    Protein, per 1/2 cup: 7g

    Black beans will not only fill you up for hours but also help slim you down. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers found that with black beans consumed daily, study participants' fat reduced by 4 percent over two years.

Peanut Butter

    Protein, per 2 tbsp: 7—8g

    While processed peanut butter is filled with sugar and oils, the real stuff is made with just two ingredients: salt and peanuts. The peanut is filled with heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. Nutritionist and personal trainer Kristin Reisinger suggests using the healthy fat in an AM smoothie.
Almond Butter

    Protein, per 2 tbsp: 7—8g

    “Almond butter is high in protein, fiber and monounsaturated fats,” says Martha McKittrick, RDN, CDE. “Studies have also shown that people who eat nuts are less likely to become overweight than those who avoid them, likely because it helps you feel fuller.” To get the benefits at breakfast, McKittrick suggests spreading some nut butter on the whole grain toast.

Eggs

    Protein, per two large eggs: 13g

    “Eggs are an excellent source of protein and other healthy nutrients including fat-burning choline(胆碱),” says McKittrick. Choline, also found in lean meats, seafood and collard greens, attacks the gene mechanism that causes your body to store fat around your liver, according to Zero Belly Cookbook. The more eggs you eat, the less egg-shaped you get.

    We know cats like to hide in boxes and knock things over. But if you make a square on your floor, what will your cat do? Turns out a lot of cats will get inside it. Amazed cat owners repeated the experiment, often with tape(带子), but others with squares made out of ribbon, sheets of paper and even shoes.

    Cat experts weigh in

    So what makes cats so interested in a square on the floor?

    “We know that cats like safe spaces. It's possible that the mark on the floor creates some illusion(幻觉) on the floor that doesn't actually exist,” says cat behavior expert Mikel Delgado. “It might have enough similarity to a low-sided box that a lot of cats are attracted to it for safety.”

    Another cat behavior expert Ingrid Johnson agrees. “I would imagine they probably feel as if they are 'in' something. Though shallow, still comforting, offers the idea of sides,” she says. Johnson points out that cats have poor close-up sight, so they may have the idea that the tape is actually the sides of a square area. “Their sight is built for distance and speed, watching a mouse run across the field,” she says. “Close up, they're blind 8 to 12 inches off their noses.”

    Kitty curiosity(好奇心)

    Another reason cats are attracted by the square? Pure curiosity.

    Because cats are very sensitive to their environment, the tape square might be attracting them just because it's new and different, she says. The same thing would likely happen if you put a piece of cardboard or a paper bag on the floor. A lot of cats would check it out.

    All over the world people enjoy sports, Sports help to keep people healthy and happy, and to live longer.

    Many people like to watch others play games. They buy tickets or turn on their TVs to watch the games. Often they get very excited when "their" player or team wins.

    Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere go in for(参加)them. Football, for example, has spread (展开)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! And think of people in cold countries. Think how many love to skate or ski(滑雪)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. People are inventing new sports or games all the time. 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. Sports help to train(培养，训练)a person's character(性格，品格).One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace(胜不骄，败不馁).

    Stocky, slow-moving whale, rarely grows beyond 15 metres in length

    Flippers are a third of body length; variable dorsal fin size and shape; saw-toothed trailing edge on flukes, often raised when diving

    Bumpy tubercles on top of head

    Body colour is dark brown to black; often extensive white on flippers and underside of body and flukes; such patterns enable individual recognition

    Bushy blow, occasionally V-shaped

    270-400 olive baleen plates

    Humpback whales belong to the rorqual (groove-throated) family, which includes fin, sei, Bryde's, minke and blue whales. The big family migrate between winter tropical breeding areas (North West Shelf, Great Barrier Reef, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiii, Tonga) and summer Antarctic feeding areas. Once common in New Zealand waters, humpbacks are now rarely seen and may migrate further offshore. Males compete for mates either by physical fight or by song. Females give birth to their young every two to three years; some non-breeding females probably remain in the southern waters during winter. Young humpback whales return to their area of birth but in later life some wander between breeding areas. Humpbacks eat small shrimps and other schooling prey, such as fish, forming small, cooperative groups of two to three individuals to feed.

    Similar species: Easily identifiable due to a 'hump' back when submerging, but at a distance may be confused with other species that raise their flukes when diving, such as sperm, right and blue whales.

    Protection status: Recovering well from past whaling and now numerous in some former migration and aggregation areas, rarely seen in others.

     A lot of parents help their kids do homework and study for school.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    A photographer in India's Bihar state took a photo of dozens of parents risking their lives to help their 10th-graders cheat on tests. The parents climbed the walls of a four-story school to throw cheat sheets through the window for their children.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} About 600 students were expelled(开除) from the school. And police have detained(拘留) more than 1,000 people connected with the scandal(丑闻).

    The tests the Bihar students were taking are called board exams. These exams help determine who will be considered the top students in each class. India's best university will take only students with a 95 percent score or better.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Students who make it into India's top universities have a much better chance of getting well-paid jobs. They can help their families by becoming doctors or engineers. Many of the students who don't pursue(追求) these kinds of careers have a much more difficult time making money.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}About 30 percent of its citizens are considered poor. In many parts of the country, a family of five might struggle to survive on as little as $80 a month. For students who do well, the exams can be a life-changing event for their families.

    Few believe the Bihar incident will stop people from cheating on exams. Many students think that because others are cheating, they also have to cheat to keep up.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Officials believe that new laws and policies will help only so much. To stop cheating, they say, people need to change their attitudes toward it.

A. India has a high poverty rate.

B. This cycle has proved very difficult to break.

C. The exam season can be called cheating season.

D. The government cannot stop cheating in exams.

E. The serious cheating outbreak did not go unpunished.

F. But the parents of some students in India have taken helping their kids to a new level.

G. As a result, students throughout the country are under great pressure to do well on the tests.