When was the last time you read a book or a magazine article? Do your everyday reading habits centre around updates on the Internet? In case you are one of countless individuals who don't make a habit of reading you may be passing up a great chance: Reading has a number of advantages and only a couple of advantages of reading are recorded below.

    Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information and you never know when it might be useful to you. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to overcome any challenge you'll ever face. Besides, here's a bit of food for thought：Should you ever find yourself in a terrible situation, remember that although you might lose everything else — your job, your possessions, your money, even your health — knowledge can never be taken from you.

    At the same time, the more you read, the more words you gain, and they'll surely make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Being able to express your ideas clearly in words is of great help and knowing that you can speak to higher-ranking people with self-confidence can be a great encouragement to your self-esteem（自尊）. Reading books is also important for learning new languages, as non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, which will improve their own speaking and writing fluency.

    When you read a book, you have to remember a lot of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history as well as the various plots(各种各样的情节) through every story. That's a fair bit to remember, but brains are wonderful things and can remember these things with ease. Amazingly enough, whenever you remember something new, new synapses(神经元的突触) are formed and existing ones are strengthened. How cool that is!

    No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other fields while an interesting article will distract(使分心） you and keep you in the present moment, letting stress away and allowing you to relax.

    Traffic Regulation and Accident Prevention

    We live in a remarkable time, and many of the once fatal diseases can now be cured with modern medicine and surgery. It is almost certain that one day a cure will be found for the rest of the diseases. Expectations of life have greatly increased. But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the incredible killing of men, women and children on the roads. Man fights against the motor-car. It is a never-ending battle which man is losing. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Nothing can seriously increase your risk of potentially fatal car accidents other than speeding and failing to pay due attention to weather conditions. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man's very worst qualities. Usually quiet and pleasant people, when they are behind the steering wheel, will become unrecognizable. They are impolite, aggressive, self-willed like two-year-old, completely selfish. All their hidden frustrations, disappointments, and jealousy seem to be caused by driving.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It's all for his own convenience. Due to a serious tragedy, the city is almost uninhabitable and the huge parking lot makes the town ugly. The destruction of rural areas and the annual mass killings are just a statistic, easily forgotten. With regard to driving, the laws of some countries are not strict and even the strictest are not strict enough.

    Traffic rules are for everyone to follow under any circumstances, and no one can make an exception unless you make a joke of your own life. Universally accepted standards can only have a significant beneficial on the incidence of accidents. Governments should develop safety codes for manufacturers. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} These measures may sound cruel. However, if these measures result in a reduction in the loss of life every year, they should certainly not be considered serious. After all, the world belongs to humans, not cars.

A. There are five reason for the accident and you are guilty.

B. Every year thousands of people are horribly killed, and we sit still and let it happen.

C. Surprisingly, society should smile at the driver and forgive him.

D. Someone has rightly said that when a person is sitting behind the steering wheel, his car becomes an extension of his personality.

E. All advertisements that emphasize power and performance should be banned.

F. It is time to develop a universal norm to reduce this senseless waste of human life.

    The Silk Road was a historical network of trade routes that connected China and the Mediterranean Sea, allowing cultural and economic interaction between the East and the West. Begun in the 2nd Century B C, the Silk Road carried goods, ideas, and even illness for thousands of miles between great civilizations for more than a thousand years. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It was the creation of Germany's Ferdinand von Richthofen, who traveled to China several times in the second half of the 19th Century.

    China's powerful Han Dynasty began expanding its trade routes towards the West in the years around 100 B.C. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Some shipments made it through to Europe and to northern and eastern Africa, through the port of Alexandria.

    As its name suggests, the Silk Road was home to large amount of silk, which made its way from China to the Mediterranean and, to Rome. It wasn't only silk, however, that was carried along the Silk Road  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Chinese traders brought delicate porcelain plates and thin but durable paper money. Romans brought delicately carved pottery (陶器）and jewelry to China.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Merchants carried shipments from major center, and then others carried the foods farther on the route. Many merchants traveled in groups, called carvans (商队). Many carvans and individual merchants traveled with bodyguards because theft along the routes was not uncommon.

    Several cities along the Silk Road became major trading centers. Some of the more famous of these were Alexandria, Karakorum, Antioch, Constantinople, and Persepolis. Local taxes placed on goods traveling along the route were quite common. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. The name, however, is a modem idea.

B. Diseases also spread along the Silk Road.

C. It sent silk and other goods to other civilizations.

D. Merchants would prepare some supplies in advance.

E. Goods did not travel with the same person all along the route.

F. As a result, many goods traveled only part of the way due to the high cost

G. Many other things made their way from the East to the West, or from the West to the East.

    Have you ever kept your eyes groundward while otherwise presenting yourself well at a job interview? People who do often wonder why they fail to get the job despite having made full preparations and taken into consideration every possible interview question. To a large degree, the problem is not about your verbal preparation but rather your body language at an interview, Preparing your body language for an interview is crucial (至关重要的)，because it has various meanings in different cultures.

    And how does the language of gestures vary between Chinese and Western society? Instead of examining the theory, let's focus on handshake, the most practical gesture that easily escapes our attention. Patti Wood once said, “Most of the hiring decisions are made in the first 10 seconds of an interview.” The way you shake the interviewer's hand could create the first impression you make. A weak handshake implies lack of confidence. But is it wise to use a powerful handshake? It depends. This would not be a problem if you were shaking hands with a Westerner as they appreciate a firm handshake. But for Asian people a gentler handshake is better, as an over-powerful grip might seem offensive.

    Hand gestures are another major difference. Western prospective employers are likely to appreciate interviewees who use their hands expressively, and to assume that those who keep their hands hidden are either distrustful or lacking in confidence. The opposite applies in Asia. Be sure, therefore, to keep your hand gestures to a minimum at interviews with local companies in China.

    There are, apart from these two differences, other elements of body language that could ruin your interview wherever you are. You should make eye contact with your interviewer. That doesn't mean you should glare directly into the interviewer's eyes. The best point of focus would be a little lower than the middle point. Secondly, you shouldn't touch your nose, lips or forehead. This tells the interviewer that you are either extremely nervous or lying. Lastly, never jiggle (抖动)your legs or fold your arms. Leg jiggling delivers clearly the message that you feel uneasy and want to escape as quickly as possible. Likewise, crossing your arms implies that you are either defensive or bored.

    A research entitled “Non-Verbal Clues in Job Interviews” found that interviewers spotted a high connection between motivation, social skills and employment. Job seekers hence communicate their motivation and social skills through their body language. This crucial factor determines your fate in any job interview, which is why I cannot overemphasize (过分强调)the significance of body language and gestures. If you now recall your last failed interview, perhaps it is easier to understand why you didn't get the job.

    When was the last time you sat on a park bench(凳子)? Did you stay for long? A new kind of park benches will limit the amount of time you can sit there. If you don't get up in time, it could be very painful: there are many sharp spikes (钉子) on the part that you sit on!

    Visitors who want a rest on the bench need to put a coin in a machine next to it. Once the money was accepted, the spikes disappear into the bench. Then visitors can sit down comfortably, but only for half an hour. When the time's up, the spikes slowly start moving up again. It doesn't hurt at first, but after a minute, they start coming up even more quickly. They aren't long enough to cause serious hurt, but they do cause pain, as tests have shown. But why have they been installed (安装)?

    "Our public park is very popular in summer," a spokesperson for the park explained. "But with all the thousands of people who visit the park, there aren't enough benches for everyone. We want to make sure that the benches are shared by more visitors, and to stop people taking a bench and staying there all day. Installing spikes seems to be the fairest way of stopping people doing this."

    Life is not easy when you are looking for something worthwhile and ready to learn from the best experiences. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are some life lessons which people will learn the hard way in majority of cases.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}However people usually get discouraged when it takes more time than they thought it would. At this time, people refer only to people who have already achieved what they want to do. Look at any successful person and you'll notice one thing common in all of them: they took time to learn and mastered their skill like no one else. There is no elevator to success and you have to take the stairs.

    Be brave to take the road less traveled. In our whole life, we always want to follow the same path that everyone suggests, do the same thing everyone does, take the same career path everyone takes, wear the same clothes everyone wears, and hang out with the same people we work with. Why? Because we are scared to fail. But when you get bored of life, you realize that you are not meant to do what everyone does and that your destiny is different from anyone else's out there in the world. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    You don't have to live your life in a way society wants you to. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Parents sometimes force their children to select a career they don't want because other children have selected that career. Worst of all, people follow them without even asking. There is no harm in believing in old beliefs but when you pursue them before your interest, sooner or later you'll realize that you should first do what you think is right.

A. It takes continuous time and effort to be successful in any area.

B. The general rule goes that the harder you try, the greater results you get.

C. Many old beliefs are being performed these days and are followed blindly.

D. It always takes tests and then fails us to learn anything worthwhile.

E. However, in most circumstances your effort and attempt go well alongside with your desired achievement.

F. But the price we pay to realize this is high because it takes a great amount of courage to follow your own path.