Before you begin studying English, ask yourself one question: “{#blank#}1{#/blank#}” Is it because you want to, or because someone else wants you to? Like every decision in life, studying English must be something you want to do. Here are some tips to help you learn English well.

    Set goals.

    If you know why you want to study, setting goals is easy. For example, maybe you want to travel to an English-speaking country. Great! {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Perhaps you have already known many useful phrases, but you want to improve your listening skills and pronunciation. Whatever your goals are, you should write them down,

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    How long do you need to study to achieve your goals? This answer is different for every student. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you work 40 hours per week，don't plan on spending another.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} hours a week studying English. Start off slow, but study regularly. Use material that is challenging, but not too difficult. Find out what works for you. After you have studied for a few weeks, adjust your study schedule accordingly.

    Make a commitment.

    Learning English requires a lot of motivation. Nobody is going to take your attendance when you aren't in class. If you are sure that you are ready to begin studying, make a commitment.

    Have fun learning English.

    If you aren't having fun learning English, you're not studying the right way! You can be a serious student who has fun at the same time. Make up your own reward program to give yourself encouragement to stay on a task.

    Theatre is a great activity to be a part of. It's an excellent way to make friends, practice the art, show your talents, and explore your creative side. Here's how to prepare yourself so that you can be your shining best.

    Practice, practice, practice!

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}To improve your practice, ask directors for pointers. While no show is perfect, with persistence (意志力), you can create a very satisfying end result.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    When you are in bed, picture yourself on the stage having a great time. Go through your lines, songs, and dance moves, and picture them going perfectly. The key is to stay relaxed and create a positive image of yourself on the stage.

    Don't be nervous when you are on stage!

    It will be dark where the audience is seated, and you won't be able to see their faces. When you aren't saying lines, take deep breaths. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Just have fun!

    Remember to show expression.

    Be proud of your performance and display the emotion that your character is feeling. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Keep in mind that you're not only representing who you are as a performer, but also the rest of your cast and crew members and your directors as well! Smile (if you are supposed to) and have lots of fun!

    Smile during the curtain call.

    The curtain call is when the audience will take pictures, so wear a smile. Depending on the type of show, you might want to stay in character for a few extra seconds before you break out into a smile. Also, if you have one last song to sing at the end, sing it loud and proud.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Just make sure the audience can't tell.

B. This is when all of your hard work pays off.

C. Get good sleep for the last few nights before the performance.

D. Go over every aspect of the performance until you are satisfied.

E. It's also polite to introduce your supporters to the other cast members.

F. Talk about exactly what you want to do on stage, and what you don't want to do.

G. If you are performing an emotional scene, pull the audience into your tale so that it's an enjoyable experience.

Tips for cooking on a tight schedule

    From my experience, there are three main reasons why people don't cook more often: ability money and time.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Money is a topic I'll save for another day. So today I want to give you some wisdom about how to make the most of the time you spend in the kitchen. Here are three tips for great cooking on a tight schedule:

    ⒈Think ahead. The moments when I think cooking is a pain are when I'm already hungry and here is nothing ready to eat. So think ahead of the coming week. When will you have time to cook? Do

you have the right material(材料) ready?{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    ⒉Make your time worth it. When you do find time to cook a meal, make the most of it and save yourself time later on. Are you making one loaf of bread? {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It takes around the same amount of time to make more of something. So save yourself the effort for a future meal.

    ⒊{#blank#}4{#/blank#} This may surprise you, but one of the best tools for making cooking worth your time is experimentation(实验). It gives you the chance to come up with new ideas and recipes(食谱) that can work well with your appetite and schedule. The more you learn and the more you try, the more ability you have to take control of your food and your schedule.

    Hopefully that gives you a good start. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}And don't let a busy schedule discourage you from making some great changes in the way you eat and live!

A. Try new things.

B. Make three or four instead.

C. Ability is easily improved.

D. Understand your food better.

E. Cooking is a burden for many people.

F. A little time planning ahead can save a lot of work later on.

G. Let cooking and living simply be a joy rather than a burden.

    Britain's high streets are dying slowly

    Twenty years ago, the prosperous high street(繁华商业区) was the heart of most cities. It was crowded with customers. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Nowadays, high streets are declining, with very few shops and shoppers. With about 14 shops down every day, Britain's high streets are dying little by little. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}It's fairly easy to understand. To start with, people are spending less because of the economic recession(衰退). On top of that, more and more people are using the Internet to do their shopping. And it is not easy for shopkeepers in the high streets, either. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Finally, there are the out-of-town retail parks with free car parking that sell just about everything at very low prices. What can be done? Prime Minister David Cameron has hired Mary Portas, a British business woman and star of TV show Mary Queen of Shops, to bring some life back into Britain's high streets. She's talked about creating "magnets(磁石)" to attract people back to the centre. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}In one town, a bicycle rickshaw(人力车) service is delivering people's shopping to their homes. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}where children can be cared for while parents are shopping. Members of the public have also voiced their opinions. "My ideal shopping center is one where there's a wide selection of attractive looking shops, with cheap parking and good public transport links," said a 28-year-old man. "I'd like to see Night Shopping evenings where shops are open through to 10 pm or later," said a 22-year-old girl.

A. They have to pay increasing high rents.

B. But he is not the only one to solve the problem.

C. But that's all changed.

D. In another town, they set up night shopping centers,

E. In another town, they set up a nursery,

F. They can make a fortune overnight.

G. Why are high streets in such a desperate situation?

    Near the city of Yogyakarta in Java(爪哇岛)is not only one magnificent(宏伟的)monument, Borobudur(婆罗浮屠), but a second equally impressive one. Prambanan, the second monument, shares a remarkable number of things in common with Borobudur.

    First, both huge temple complexes (建筑群) are thought to have been built at about the same time, around 850 AD. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Some historians think that both temples were created during the era of the Sailendra Dynasty

    Second, in both cases, the temples appear to have been abandoned just after they were completed. Why were they left alone, isolated (被孤立) in the mountains of Java? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It certainly took a great deal of effort to build the monument, so why would their use come to a standstill(停止)without a very good reason?

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Prior to efforts to restore and preserve them in the 1800s, they lay in ruins, covered with plants. Today, both Borobudur and Prambanan are UNESCO World Heritage sites, famous for their religious art.

    Although there are so many similarities, there are important differences. For example, Prambanan, east of Yogyakarta, is a Hindu temple, while Borobudur, northwest of the city, is a Buddhist temple. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Overall, its individual (个别的) buildings are smaller than those of Borobudur. Borobudur sits on a hill and you can make it out from some distance. On the other hand, Prambanan is spread out over a flatter area. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Perhaps it is due to the eruption of the volcano, Mount Merapi.

B. Borobudur and Prambanan each tell their sacred stories in vivid detail.

C. Borobudur temple is one of the best-preserved ancient monuments in Indonesia.

D. However, scholars are not completely sure about the exact dates of construction of either place.

E. Finally, you can go inside the Hindu temple, but you must admire the Buddhist one from the outside.

F. Borobudur is one huge structure with ten levels, but Prambanan is a group of eighteen temple buildings.

G. The third common factor is that both priceless monuments suffered a great deal of damage during the centuries when they were left alone.

Tips for Writing a Great Speech

    How to write a strong speech? There are a lot of different ways to answer that question. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Read your speech out loud.

    Unlike almost all other forms of writing, speech-writing is designed for listeners. So, when reviewing your text, read it to yourself and pay attention to how the words sound and feel. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} If your phrases make you stumble (结巴),they are guaranteed to make your boss stumble as well. Just remember that good writing is not necessarily good speech-writing.

    Simple phrases are your friends.

    Keep your sentences short and sweet. Compound phrases with multiple clauses may look great on paper, but are likely to confuse your audience and decrease the effectiveness of your speech. Limit yourself to one or two ideas per sentence. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Do your research.

    Before beginning a speech, make sure to familiarize yourself with the subject. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} The creative aspects of speech-writing are only effective when backed by a strong foundation of knowledge by the speaker. The audience must trust your words in order for their meaning to sink in. If you're well-prepared, it will show.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Your listeners should be a strong determining factor of the content, tone and style of your speech. Before drafting remarks, think about who you're speaking to, the place you're speaking at and the timing of your speech. There's a time and a place for every type of remarks. It's your job to figure out when and where you are.

A. Know your audience.

B. Show respect to your listeners.

C. Express them as clearly and powerfully as possible.

D. Thus, you can write about it with confidence and authority.

E. Do they slip off the tongue or are they clumsy and awkward?

F. Different writers are most likely to adopt diverse approaches to speech-writing.

G. Here are rules that all writers should follow in order to write a winning speech.