I-Shou Lin（林义守） is a very successful businessman. When he was a child, he had no opportunity to get a formal education, but didn't let that hold him back. By the age of ten, he had begun a few small businesses. In 1988, Lin started a steel factory in Taiwan where he was born, and then developed it well. 11 years later, the production doubled.

    During this time, his mom reminded him of the importance of education. Because he had made some money, she felt he had a social responsibility to help in this field. Then Lin realized that few students studied electrical machinery. So he started Kaohsiung Polytechnic Institute （KPI）, which was later upgraded to I-Shou University.

    When asked about education, Lin replied that the next generation needed to be educated from an international point of view. And in 2004, I-Shou International School was set up.

    After suffering a serious illness, Lin realized that life is priceless. He looked for more ways to improve people's lives. As a result, he established a world-class hospital with the latest equipment and best-trained staff. I-Shou university's medical school combines education and medicine to educate students to serve those in need.

    Life needs fun as well. Having travelled to many countries and regions, Lin thought Taiwan should be as desirable as Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. Then he developed E-DA World. It includes one of Asia's best outlet malls as well as the region's largest amusement park and theater.

    What do steel production, ______, ______ and entertainment have in common? The answer is: I-Shou Lin!

    Students generally find it difficult to prepare for a speaking test because they have nobody to practise    (A)    or correct their mistakes. But that doesn't mean you can't test yourself.

    Whether you're taking an end-of-course test or an official (官方 ) exam like PET or IELTS, there's one great tool you can use: your mobile phone. Nearly every smartphone these days has an inbuilt recording feature (内置录音功能) which you can use to test your speaking skills. You can record yourself speaking, play the recording back, and correct your own mistakes.

    I practised this way in Italian. I chose some speaking questions from PET and did the exercise three times. The first time, I made a few grammar mistakes and didn't speak for long enough. The second time was a bit better, and the third time was nearly perfect.

    All in all, I made a real improvement with my grammar, pronunciation and how long I spoke. Also, recording myself put me under the pressure (压力) I would experience during an important speaking test.

    Many students found this method    (B)   . Nelia, from Brazil, said that she could hear her mistakes when she listened to her voice. She was mainly using the wrong verb tense (时态) and using prepositions(介词) incorrectly. When she tried the exercise again, she got its right! Donghyeon, from South Korea, said that the exercise helped him to improve his English skills in general.

Small talk

    Americans often have short conversations, called small talk, about unimportant things with strangers or people they know but not very well. They may have small talk at parties, while waiting in line at the store, at family events or work. It's a way to say hi and express friendliness.

    Small talk is very useful. It can avoid uncomfortable silences and build stronger relationships. For example, when you first meet someone or talk to someone you don't know well, you can break the ice by making small talk. Small talk with a colleague(同事) about his child may help you to understand more of his life outside the office.

    In 2013, researchers from the University of Essex asked some people to make small talk in a study. They found small talk can make people happier. People who talked briefly(短暂地) with a waiter in a coffee shop felt happier than those who simply went in, ordered and left.

    However some people are not good at small talk. Here are some tips to improve your small-talking ability.

    Firstly, find common ground. When you have something similar with your speaking partner, that means you have something to talk about.

    Secondly, ask open-ended questions. They are suitable(合适的) for small talk. For example, if you ask visitors whether they like your city, they may simply say "Yes." But if you ask "What do you think of our city," they will have more freedom in how they answer.

    Thirdly, become a student. Nobody knows everything. So, as someone is answering one of your open-ended questions, they bring up something about which you know nothing. So, tell them! This lets the other person become the teacher. They feel good about sharing their knowledge and you get to learn something. It's a win-win situation.

    Finally, practice makes perfect. Like anything, getting good at making small talk takes practice.

    If you make small talk in your native language, you might become happier. If you are making small talk using English, you will most surely improve your speaking and listening skills.

    Why do people cry? Scientists say the body produces tears because they need them. One kind of tears is for the eye, the other is for the heart. They both work as cleaners If something else like dust(灰尘) gets into your eye, tears also come into the eye to clean it out. If you are hurt by something, your strong feelings produce some poisonous chemicals(毒素) in your body, and at the same time, tears come out with them. If these poisonous chemicals are not cleaned out of your body as soon as possible, they will do harm to the heart sooner or later.

    In the United States men have heart problems more often than women do. Doctors say heart problems have something to do with the pressures(压力) of living and working now. Perhaps men suffer more from these illnesses because they do not cry enough. They need to cry more.

    In fact, you can find many ways of reducing the pressures to keep fit. Crying is natural and physical one.

    I'm a 34-year-old man, married, lived in a nice house, and have a successful career. But my life was not always so great. I had a learning disability from an early age. I went to a special school where I got plenty of extra(额外的)help. Still, I suffered(遭受)the rest of my school days in public schools.

    My life improved greatly when I discovered art. The art world gave me a chance to express myself without words. I went to a workshop and gradually became good at making things with clay. Here I learned my first important lesson: disabled as I was in language, I could still be smart and well express myself with clay. And my confidence(自信)came along.

    I got my next lesson from rock climbing. It was a fun thing but I was scared from the start. I soon noticed it wasn't an easy thing: it needed lots of practice. So I did it more. After about five years of climbing, I found myself in Yosemite Valley on a big wall. I learned that if you fall in love with something and do it all the time, you will get better at it.

    Later I decided to learn how to read and write. I practiced reading and writing, which I used to avoid as much as possible. After two years, I was literate(有文化的).

    Through the long process with art, climbing, and reading and writing, now I've got to a point in my life: I am smart enough to dive into(潜入)an area that is totally unknown, hard, but interesting.