Talking good notes is a time-saving skill that will help you to become a better student in several ways.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Second, your notes are excellent materials to refer to when you are studying for a test. Third, note-taking offers variety to your study time and helps you to hold your interest.

    You will want to take notes during classroom discussions and while reading a textbook or doing research for a report{#blank#}2{#/blank#}whenever or however you take notes, keep in mind that note-taking is a selective process.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    The following methods may work best for you.

    Read the text quickly to find the main facts and ideas in it.

    Carefully read the text and watch for words that can show main points and supporting facts.

    Write your notes in your own words.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Note any questions or ideas you may have about what was said or written.

    As you take notes, you may want to use your own shorthand (速记). When you do, be sure that youunderstand your symbols and that you use them all the time.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Use words, not complete sentences.

B. There are three practical note-taking methods.

C. You must write your notes on separate paper.

D. Otherwise（否则）, you may not be able to read your notes later.

E. You will also want to develop your own method for taking notes.

F. That means you must first decide what is important enough to include in your notes.

G. First, the simple act of writing something down makes it easier for you to understand and remember it.

    Most people know that chocolate is made from cocoa and that the origins of chocolate can be traced back to Central and South America. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But how did chocolate go from being the food of the gods to being the food of love?

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} They established the first cocoa plantation and used the cocoa beans as the main ingredient in a dark，bitter drink that we would call “chocolate”. The Mayas believed that chocolate had mystical properties.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} In fact，cocoa beans were used as a form of currency that was worth its weight in gold.

    Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez was the first European explorer to realize cocoa's commercial possibilities.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} In 1529，Cortez returned Spain and introduced chocolate—as a drink mixed with sugar，vanilla，and cinnamon—to European society.

    It caught on，especially with the nobility. As its popularity spread，people found new ways to make and use chocolate.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Whether it is in delectable desserts or crunchy candy，people all over the world are still in love with chocolate.

A. But cocoa also had commercial value.

B. But not all the people all over the world love cocoa.

C. For centuries，the native there regarded cocoa as a gift from the gods.

D. When he arrived in the New World in 1519，he soon established his own cocoa plantation.

E. Around A.D.600，the Mayas were the main aboriginal group in Central America.

F. These days，chocolate is enjoyed as both a tasty treat and a romantic indulgence.

G. Doctors said cocoa plays an active part in medicine.

    Right now you are reading English. That means that you are using your brain in a very active way. Reading is a very active process. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} When you read a text, you have to do some or all of these:

    Imagine a scene in your head

    Understand clearly what the writer is trying to say

    Agree or disagree with the writer

    There are also many advantages associated with reading, including:

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    You will usually meet with new words when you read. If there are too many new words for you, then the level is too high and you should read something simpler. But if there are, say, a maximum of five new words per page, you will learn this vocabulary easily. You may not even need to use a pocket dictionary because you can guess the meaning from the rest of the text. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    A model for writing

    When you read, it gives you a good example for writing. Texts that you read show you structures and expressions that you can use when you write.

    Seeing “correctly structured” English

    When people write, they usually use “correct” English with a proper grammatical structure. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} So, by reading you see and learn grammatical English naturally.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    You can read as fast or as slowly as you like. You can read ten pages in 30 minutes, or take one hour to explore just one page. It doesn't matter. The choice is yours. You can not easily do this when speaking or listening. This is one of the big advantages of reading because different people work at different speeds.

A. Working at your own speed

B. Learning vocabulary in context (语境)

C. This is not always true when people speak

D. Focusing on exactly what you want to learn

E. you should write down unknown vocabulary in whole sentences

F. Not only do you learn new words, but you see them being used naturally

G. It is true that the writer does a lot of work, but the reader also has to work hard

    Kids and Food: Advice for Parents

    It is important for parents to know how to help their kids eat healthy. Here are a few easy ways:

    Parents control the supply lines. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Though kids may keep asking for less nutritious foods, parents should decide which foods are regularly provided in the house. Kids won't go hungry. They'll eat what's available in the fridge at home.

    Say goodbye to “clean-plate club”. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Lots of parents grew up under the clean-plate rule, but that way doesn't help kids listen to their own bodies when they are full. When kids feel full, they're likely to overeat.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Food preferences(喜好) are developed early in life, so try to offer different kinds of food. Likes and dislikes begin forming even when kids are babies. Parents may need to serve a new food on several different occasions(时机) for a child to accept it.

    Food is not love. Find better ways to say “I love you.” When foods are used to reward kids and show love, they may start to turn to food when feeling worried or unhappy. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Kids do as you do. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} When trying to teach good eating habits, try to set the best example.

    Choose nutritious food, eat at the table, and don't forget breakfast.

A. Start them young.

B. Rewrite the kids' menu.

C. Be a role model and eat healthy yourself.

D. Offer praise and attention instead of food treats.

E. Let kids stop eating when they feel they've had enough.

F. You decide which foods to buy and when to serve them.

G. Let kids choose what to eat and how much of it they want.

    How can we keep safe personal information on our computers or cellphones? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}View emails with a careful eye

    It's best to view all emails with care. Hackers (黑客) can make emails look like real company emails. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It's best to search for the original source of the information, and try to find the direct link from the site instead of using the link provided in the email.

    Use two-factor authentication (双重认证)

    Two-factor authentication adds a second level of safety to an account. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It's a safety option that requires a password as well as an additional piece of information only the user would know.

    Update apps and operating systems

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} While these updates may appear to only change the way your phone's software looks, they often come with safety improvements. There may be a bug (软件漏洞). Those bugs are discovered by cell providers or smartphone makers, so it's a good idea to upgrade them.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}It's no surprise that changing your password has always been a basic form of protection. But what we pick as passwords and how we manage them are important. First, passwords should never include your personal information. So stay away from names and birthdates. Ideally, passwords are a combination of lowercase (小写) and uppercase (大写) letters and random characters. It could be a strong, long password that doesn't have any personal information, making it harder to remember.

A. Manage passwords safety

B. Here are some steps to make it.

C. It can trick readers into clicking on dangerous links.

D. Often users are unwilling to update their mobile devices.

E. Combine your personal information with random figures.

F. Here are some ways to create your online personal passwords.

G. Do it if there's an option for your email, banking site or social media site.

A travel journal is one of the best ways to keep a long voyage in memory. Many details that don't seem important while you are writing your travel journal often turn out to be so memorable.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. When you are on a busy journey, it is easy to forget to write. You may promise yourself that you will write later, but that almost never happens. Take a few minutes every day and put down your memories.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

Use your “down time” for your travel journal. There is a surprising amount of sitting around while traveling. You can always put down a few lines in your travel journal when you are on trains, waiting for planes, drying your laundry, or waiting in line.

At the beginning of your journal, write down the day, where you are, who you are with, maybe even the weather and what you eat. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Years later when you read your journal, you will know exactly what you were doing on that day.

Focus on writing about how you feel. Listing facts and figures is fine but that isn't why you traveled. A long journey is a time for self-reflection. Memories of these feelings fade quickly with time.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Whenever you use a ticket for a train or a museum or a ride, tape the stubs to your journal. They are pieces of history from your journey. Years later you can look at the ticket stubs and see exactly what you were doing on a specific day and how much it cost.

A. Keep ticket stubs.

B. Book your ticket in advance.

C. You'd better write down as much as possible.

D. These are the first details people tend to forget.

E. It doesn't have to be long, just on a regular basis.

F. Get into the habit of writing your travel journal every day.

G. Writing about those experiences while the memories are fresh is important.