Here are the lessons that my first swimming experience taught me about starting a business.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}For the first time, I went beyond thinking of swimming and actually made a conscious decision to swim. When it comes to starting that business, it's enough with the wishing, thinking and talking. You need to make a conscious decision to start.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} It is something you have to do consciously. Thus you need to go beyond desiring that business.

    Tell your friends and family about your decision. I started telling my close friends and family members about my intention to go swimming for the first time. Some of them laughed at me, but it didn't stop me. I did it for two reasons. On one hand, I wanted to receive encouragement On the other hand, however, telling people about it made me responsible for them{#blank#}3{#/blank#} You can discuss the plan with your boss or best friend.

    Secure yourself. After getting my swimming ticket, I quickly asked for a lifebelt I wasn't about, to go into the swimming pool for the first time without it. Prevention is always better and cheaper than cure Make security a priority in your new business.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Enjoy yourself. Yeah, I had a lot of fun at the pool.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Starting and running a business should also involve an amount of fun. I don't mean you should not take things seriously. But not until you do what you enjoy, or enjoy what you do and have fun in the process, can your business be successful.

A. Decide to take action.

B. Make up your mind and just wait silently.

C. So go ahead and tell someone about your business plans.

D. I hung out with my friends and we all had a wonderful time.

E. Put as much money as you can in business regardless of security.

F. Making a decision involves more than just wishing for something to happen.

G. The higher the worth of the business is, the more effort you should put in security.

    Are you always disturbed by the noise made by your coworkers while you're working hard at your task? What kind of feelings will you have on hearing such kind noise? Have you ever got an idea that a certain helmet will help you out of the trouble no you can focus on your work at the office? Now, you needn't worry for the “Helmfon” will help you ignore noisy co-workers and other distractions.

    Created by Ukrainian design company Hochu Rayu, the Helmfon is a big helmet that uses special equipment to absorb the sound so as to completely block out any outside noise, giving the wearer their own quiet personal space so they can better focus their attention on their work. Made of a glass fiber shell, cloth and polyethylene（聚乙烯）, the helmet not only blocks outside sound, but it also keeps the noise you make in, allowing you to answer calls, hold Skype conferences, watch or edit videos, privately.

    The company came up with the idea for the Helmfon after being asked to design a new phone booth for an IT company. The project made the team think about the way we communicate and finally begin work on a device that would allow you to be in two worlds just sitting on your chair in the office, in a meeting, or everywhere you feel like just wearing your helmet.

    The Helmfon comes complete with a system board, microphone, speakers, and a special holder for your phone. The only trouble is that it makes you look like a character from Mel Brooks famous movie Spaceballs, but the company also made public a variety of great choices, including Bat man-inspired design, and even a Native American headgear.

    The Helmfon is still in prototype（维形）stage, but the Ukrainian company is already working on a commercially available design and plans to offer the design for sale. A release date has not yet been made public.

    Vinegar makes salad, fries and dumplings taste better, and you can even use it to clean your windows. And now, according to scientists, it may even the planet's population survive climate change.

    Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science （CSRS） in Japan found that growing plants in vinegar makes them more resistant to droughts. This could mean that in the future, worries about climate change affecting the world's supply of food will be much lower. The discovery was made after the researchers studied the Arabidopsis, a plant known for its ability to survive in dry weather. It was found that when the plant was placed in drought﹣like conditions, it produced a chemical called acetate（醋酸盐）﹣the main component of vinegar.

    After discovering this, the scientists experimented further by adding acetate to the soil of other plants, before they stopped giving them water completely. After leaving the plants for 14days, they found that the ones treated with acetate had survived, while the untreated plants had dried up and died.

    It's hoped that this simple method of survival could soon be used to help farmers in dry countries keep their crops alive. "In the experiment, we targeted the staple foods of the world﹣rice, wheat and maize﹣and the basic plant of breeding species, rapeseed（油菜籽）," Jong Myong Kim, co﹣author of the study, told Popular Science magazine.

    Kim also told the magazine he's already been in touch with people all over the world who are interested in trying this simple and cost﹣effective method out for themselves from flower growing companies to amateur gardeners. Although at this point keeping thirsty plants alive isn't as easy as just pouring vinegar over them, Kim said he and his team are working on making the process as simple as possible. "Now we are trying to cooperate with some farmers, and also some companies, to make a method to apply this system, "he said. And for those of us who always forget to ask our neighbors to water our plants when we go away, hopefully this means the end of returning home from a trip to find our favorite flowers have died.

    Volunteering is a great way to support an organization and make a difference in your community. It can also be an opportunity to meet new people and learn new skills. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} And what should we plan for? Here's a guide for beginners.

    Step 1: {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Do you want to help the world, or your community? Do you want to build your own skills, make new friends, and learn? Do you love what you do? Do you want to share your gifts with others or give something back? Think about these kinds of questions. That can help you to choose the right direction for your volunteer work.

    Step 2: Choose an organization that is meaningful to you.

    If you feel strongly about literacy (读写), for instance, volunteer at your local library or find out if there is an organization of volunteer tutors in your area. There are organizations doing all sorts of work. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Step 3: Start small.

    If you already have a busy school life, volunteer your time for an hour or two a week, or perhaps one day a month. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Then, if you find you enjoy the work and have more time to do it, take on more time by time.

    Step 4: Get training.

    If there is a training course, attend it. If not, talk to the group leaders and other volunteers about their experiences. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Step 5: Try not to give up.

    Volunteer work sometimes involves unpleasant tasks, difficult fellow workers, busy days, or bad management. If you find your work difficult, however, try to work through it before you decide to quit.

A. Do you love to work with people?

B. But how do we go about volunteering?

C. Get to know others in the organization.

D. It is important that you choose something that you like.

E. Think about why you want to volunteer.

F. You'll pick up some good tips to make your work there more productive.

G. You might be surprised by how much you can do in even a little bit of time.

    When a laptop or smartphone battery starts losing its power, the only options are to buy an expensive replacement, or just keep it plugged in all the time. But a woman Mya Le Thai may have found the answer to this problem.

    Thai was frustrated that the batteries for her wireless devices degraded(降级)over time, until they failed to charge fully. She did not like having to keep her laptop connected to an electrical outlet to keep it powered on. So, she decided to do something about that problem. At first, she and her team at UC Irvine thought about inventing a new battery. But as they experimented, Thai discovered something that might permit lithium—ion(锂离子)batteries to last forever.

    Lithium-ion batteries power most wireless devices. Over time, the batteries lose the ability to hold a charge. Most of these batteries have a life span of about 7,000 charging cycles before they die. One of the reasons lithium—ion batteries degrade is their use of nanowires to carry electricity. Nanowires are extremely thin. A human hair is thousands of times thicker, for example. Nanowires are extremely efficient carriers of electricity, which makes them useful in batteries.

    But, Thai had a theory—the nanowires might last longer if covered with a gel(凝胶). She and her team tested this theory. "It was a long process and a lot of work, "Thai said. The team tried many coverings for the wires. PMMA, a type of plastic, was one of them. The nanowires were coated with PMMA and cycled through charges 200, 000 times. The PMMA-coated nanowires showed no evidence of damage. The results suggest that batteries could last forever, without losing charging ability.

    Thai hopes to continue her research to understand why this gel works so well and to see if any other gel could create better results and she is enjoying the publicity about her discovery. She said she never expected her research to get media coverage. "It's kind of cool," she said. "I'm really glad people are showing interest in my work and not just in the work itself, but also in technology and energy."

    Why is setting goals important? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Instead of just letting life happen to you, goals allow you to make your life happen.

    Successful people imagine how their life should be and set lots of goals. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It's like having a map to show you where you want to go. Think of it this way. There are two drivers. One has a destination in mind which can be found on a map. She can drive straight there surely without any wasted time of wrong turns. The other driver has no goal, or destination or map. She starts off at the same time from the same place as the first driver, but she drives aimlessly around, never getting anywhere, just using up gas. Which driver do you want to be?

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They decide what they want in life and then get there by making plans and setting goals. Unsuccessful people usually just let life happen by accident. Goals aren't difficult to set and they aren't difficult to reach. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You are the one who must decide what to achieve and in what direction to aim your life.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Written goals can be reviewed regularly, and have more power. Like a contract with yourself, they are harder to neglect or forget. Also when you write your goals in a particular way, you are able to make yourself continuously aware of situations that will bring you nearer to your goal.

A. Winners in life set goals and follow them through.  

B. Research tells us that when we write a goal down we are more likely to achieve it.

C. It's up to you to find out what your goals really are.

D. It's difficult for a driver to reach his destination without a map.

E. By setting goals you are taking control of your life.

F. Because goals can help you do, be, and experience everything you want in life.

G. Because everybody should have a goal in his mind.