You are sitting on the desk. A teacher is writing on the blackboard. Kids are yelling in the playground outside. A book falls off the desk next to you. Suddenly, the teacher hands you a pop quiz.

Don't panic! {#blank#}1{#/blank#} You're in a “virtual（虚拟的）classroom”. Everything you see and hear is coming to you through a computer-operated display that you're wearing on your head like a pair of very big glasses. Wearing this kind of virtual-reality equipment, you can find yourself sitting in a classroom, touring a famous museum, wandering across a strange landscape, flying into space, or playing with a cartoon character. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Virtual-reality equipment that delivers images and sounds directly to your eyes and ears makes these fake worlds seem lifelike.

Unlike the classroom, the technology is real. It's a type of technology that uses computer programs to imitate real world situation.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Movie directors and video game producers have been using computers for years to create ever more realistic special effects. Some companies are now building three-dimensional（三维）fantasy worlds in which players, linked by computer networks, appear to meet and go on explorations together.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They see virtual reality technology as a useful tool for learning more about why people act as they do. It could help psychologists deter identify and come up with solutions for behaviors problems, for example.

“We've spent the last 100 years looking for certain laws in how people interact with the real world,” says psychologist Albert. “ {#blank#}5{#/blank#} This is psychologist's dream.”

    According to statistics published by the University of Scranton, about 45 percent of Americans usually make New Year's resolutions—and the most popular resolution is losing weight. Of those who make resolutions, a mere 8 percent achieve them.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Are we just setting ourselves up for failure? Learn how to make realistic resolutions and how to overcome the roadblocks along the way.

    Setting a resolution to lose pounds isn't a goal that's achievable now. It may be a good long-term goal. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Registered dietitian Elisa Zied says “… to be real when you make a resolution. It's okay to shoot for the stars like making a resolution, but why not set a smaller goal and train smart?”

    The same concept applies to weight loss. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} These goals should help develop healthy habits that will finally help achieve your long-term resolution.

    Notice that these goals are simple and achievable. “Instead of going from zero to 60, from never going to the gym to going four to five times a week, why not start with three days a week, get consistent and build from there,” Zied says. Set yourself up for success and map out your course by making appointments with yourself to be active. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    You also need to be aware of your current exercise and eating habits to make achievable goals. Keeping a diary of your food and exercise habits can help. Record everything you eat and drink for three to five days and review it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}For example, if you notice a tendency to snack on unhealthy fare, set a goal to eat a fruit or vegetable with each snack. Building on these smaller goals over time can help you achieve your long-term goal.

A. So why do so many of us fail to achieve our goals?

B. Once you notice your not-so-good habits, start fixing them.

C. Set between one and three weekly goals that you want to achieve.

D. Resolutions usually involve a commitment to sticking to your goals.

E. However, in order to reach it, you need to take baby steps to get it down.

F. If you treat your goals like set appointment, you're more likely to achieve them.

G. Losing weight, as well as getting a better job, is among the most popular resolutions for adults.

    Improve your memory

    Do you find yourself forgetting where you left your keys or blanking out information on important tests?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Before your next big exam, be sure to check out some of these tried and tested ways of improving memory.

    Focus your attention on the materials you are studying. Attention is one of the major components (组成部分) of memory. In order for information to move from short-term memory into long-term memory, you need to actively attend to this information.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Structure and organize the information you are studying. Researchers have found that information is best organized in related groups.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Or you can make an outline of your notes and textbook readings to help group related concepts (概念).

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}When you are studying unfamiliar material, take the time to think about how this information relates to things that you already know. By establishing relationships between new ideas and previously existing memories, you can greatly increase the likelihood of recalling (回想起) the recently learned information.

    Pay extra attention to difficult information. Remembering information at the beginning or end of an article is easy. However, recalling information from its middle can be difficult.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Another way is to try restructuring what you have learned so it will be easier to remember. When you come across an especially difficult concept, devote some extra time to memorizing the information.

A.Use this approach in your own studies.

B. Try grouping similar concepts and terms together.

C. Relate new information to things you already know.

D. Repeat the information you are studying to improve memory.

E. Try to study in a quiet place and concentrate on your learning.

F. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to help improve your memory.

G. You can overcome this problem by spending extra time memorizing this information.

    The news media in the U. S. consist of radio, television and newspapers. Together they are everywhere on the lives of many Americans and influential on their daily routines. Many Americans begin their day by reading the newspaper or watching a morning news program on television while drinking their coffee.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Throughout the day the news is broadcast repeatedly on the radio and television.

    In the evening news is a main feature on television with up to two hours of news in the early evening and more news late at night. For those who prefer reading, the evening newspaper offers the reader the possibility of reading the news others see and hear on television.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}It is up to the general public to choose what to read, watch or listen to. Therefore, the media must have sensitivity to the interests of the public.

    News is a big business. However, it is a very competitive business, as each station or each newspaper competes for audiences and readers.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} When an item becomes news worthy, such as an election or a war, Americans will become familiar with the details as the news media try to be as informative as possible.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The news media report the same news items regarded as the most interesting and impressive.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} However, most Americans would not criticize their news media too harshly. The truth of the news media is generally acknowledged and accepted by the American public.

A. Americans don't have to pay for the services.

B. The news media are free of government control.

C. But the result is that the news becomes repeated.

D. Sometimes they have to bear boring advertisements.

E. Each tries to present the news Americans want to know.

F. While driving to work, the news can be heard on the car radio.

G. Listeners, viewers or readers might find it difficult to be selective.

    There is nothing worse than sitting next to someone whose breath smells bad. In order to solve this problem, people have tried various methods since thousands of years ago.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Nowadays, we use gum（口香糖）instead and it seems to be much easier.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Scientists can even tell whether or not somebody has a disease just from a simple breath test now.

    How does it work? Breath is made up of waste chemicals that the body makes.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. In fact, they are just like fingerprints （指纹）—that's why scientists sometimes call them “ breathprints” .

    Compared with other kinds of tests, a breath test is much quicker. Instead of taking hours, it only takes a few minutes.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. This machine will help to test their breath. It has been useful in finding early signs of problems such as stomach cancer.

Now, scientists are trying to use breath tests as many as they can.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. There are many ways to make your breath smell better

B. It's much cheaper to do a breath test than other tests

C. How your breath smells says a lot about your health

D. In ancient China, people used to eat a special plant to make their breath smell better

E. Hopefully, someday, visits to the hospital will be a lot quicker and easier for everyone

F. Breath tests are also a lot easier to do than regular tests as people only need to blow into a special machine

G. Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology found that these chemicals are different for each person

    Parents often say that they don't mind what their children do in life just as long as they are happy. Happiness and pleasure are almost universally seen as among the most precious human goods. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Philosopher Jeremy Bentham believed that all sources of pleasure are of equal quality, but John Stuart Mill disagreed. Mill argued for a difference between higher and lower pleasure. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Lower pleasure, in contrast, requires mere（仅仅的, 纯粹的）senses.

    The entire debate assumes a clear divide between the physical and the mental. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}What will it mean for our ideas about pleasure?

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Food is usually considered to the lower pleasure. All animals cat, using the senses of smell and taste. It doesn't require ay complex cognition（认知）to conclude that something is delicious. However these people failed to appreciate something that he French food writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin captured. That is," Animals feed, man cats, only the man of intellect （才智）knows how to eat."

    Eating shows that the difference between higher pleasure and lower pleasure is not what you enjoy but how you enjoy it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Preparing it using the powers of reflection and attention turns it into a higher pleasure.

A. The dining table is a good place to start.

B. Wolfing down your food is a lower kind of pleasure.

C. What's the real difference between high and low pleasure?

D. What happens if the physical and the mental cannot be separated?

E. All philosophers believed that cookery could never be a form of art.

F. Higher pleasure depends on human abilities such as self-awareness or language use.

G. However, disagreements will be caused about whether some forms of pleasure are better than others.