The word "diary" comes from the Latin word "diarium", which means "daily allowance". {#blank#}1{#/blank#} And it is used for business notes, planning activities, keeping track of scheduled appointments, or documenting what has already happened. Some doctors suggest that writing in a diary is a good form of self-study.

    In America, from the 1940s through the 1980s, a diary was thought of mostly as a way to privately express one's deepest thoughts while keeping notations about the day. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Many times, movies would show a teenage girl beginning to write in her diary while she said aloud, "Dear diary……".

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} A diary kept by a young German Jewish girl by the name of Anne Frank provides us with invaluable lessons about history, for she documented her experiences while she hid from the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. Her diary became one of the world's most widely read books and is the basis for many films.

    Samuel Pepys, who lived during the 17th century, is the earliest diary keeper that is famous today. His diary is also an important documentation of history, for it gives personal insight(洞察力) into London's Great Plague and the Great Fire. His diary is being published on the Internet, and it's interesting to note that there has been a new entry every day since January of 2003. It will continue over the course of several years to come. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}   

    Today's electronic version of the diary, the web log or "blog" has once again stretched the diary to be much more than a personal account of the day's events. There are blogs to document recipes, traveling, movies, independent news, product announcements, photos, and anything else that needs to be recorded over time. Search engines like Technorati.com have been created to keep track of the more than 112 million blogs that are currently public. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

A. It refers to a book for writings by date.

B. In its newest form, the diary has become more popular than ever.

C. Reading his diary is fascinating, and it makes his life all the more real to us.

D. People love to write diaries, so whenever they are free, they will write a few lines.

E. Those private reflections may have historical significance long after the author's death.

F. Nowadays, the blog has taken the place of the diary and becomes more and more popular.

G. In those times, and even continuing on today, writing in a diary was like writing to a special friend.

    I still remember that summer before college.There were plans and ideas about what my college experience was going to be like, but none of them worked out as planned.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Use the mental health services available to you.

    That first night at college was memorable. There was scare and homesickness. Missing things from home wasn't the only reason why I felt down. The academic pressure to succeed and the social pressure to fit in are too much for some people, which don't just happen in the freshman year.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Close friends always guided me, which was important because talking helps—even if it's just with a friend. Don't be afraid to take that extra help.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    I had been ready to major in politics, philosophy and economics, in preparation for a law degree.Things changed.

    You meet new people and discover new interests.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} So, don't worry if you haven't figured out exactly what you're going to major in. It will likely change anyway.

    You're there to get a degree, but a little fun won't hurt.

    As time goes by, I'm not going to remember the grades I got on papers or the late nights spent studying. Instead, lifelong memories will include playing video games with my roommate at 3:00 am, or late-night runs with my friends after a night out. Apart from doing well inside the classroom, there are also internships(实习期) and other pressures. Employers might weigh internships more heavily than your GPA.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. It's OK to change your mind about your major.

B. You don't want to get tired of your college life early.

C. Everyone says that college is the best four years of your life.

D. Here are the things I wish I had known before my freshman year.

E. It's normal to be a little unsure of your plans once you start taking classes.

F. Getting internships and having fun with friends are also of great importance.

G. For me, there were upsets long after the days that required a map to go anywhere.

    Kids who are old enough to surf the Internet can get to know the world. But it can also bring problems. For example, some of the websites are not proper for kids, which can lead to kid's growth problems. That's why it's important to know what your kids see and hear on the Internet.

    When it comes to safety problems, it's wise to take advantage of online protection tools. They will control your kids' seeing and using adult material. Many Internet service-providers (ISPs) provide parent-control choices to prevent certain material from coming into a computer. You can also get software (软件) that keeps your child from certain sites based on a “bad site” list that your ISP creates. Besides, keep the computer in a common area, not in their own bedrooms, where you can keep a close eye on their activities.

    Discuss the dangers of talking with strangers online and remind your kids that people online don't always tell the truth. Tell your kids never to give strangers their personal information, such as the address, phone number, school name or location. Tell them never to exchange photos with strangers in the chat rooms online, which will put the families at risk. Tell them never to agree to meet anyone from a chat room in person. Tell them never to reply to a dangerous email, message, post or text. Give your kids some encouragement to let them tell you about any communication or conversation that is dangerous. Nothing can make sure that they'll be kept away from 100% of the risks on the Internet. So it's important for you to spend time online together to teach your kids proper online behavior and educate them about online risks so they can surf the Internet safely. Taking an active part in your kids' Internet activities will help ensure that they benefit from the wealth of valuable information it offers.

    If your child spend long hours online, especially at night, with people you don't know, you should take notice of your kids behavior. If your child suddenly turns off the computer when you walk into the room, ask why. Unwillingness to discuss online activities is another sign to watch for.

    Age has its privileges in America, and one of the most important of them is the senior citizen discount. Eligibility(资格) is determined not by one's need but by the date on one's birth certificate. The discounts have become a routine part of many businesses—as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.

    People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them; yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent (有支付能力的). Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that ＂elderly＂ means ＂needy＂. Perhaps that once was true, but today elderly Americans as a group have a lower poverty rate than the rest of the population. To be sure, there is economic diversity within the elderly, and many older Americans are poor. But most of them aren't.

    It is impossible to determine the impact of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to revenue. But in other cases, the discounts are given at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they are a direct irritant(刺激物) in what some politicians and scholars see as a coming conflict between the generations.

    Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involve a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another sore point. Supported by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are declining the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job—thereby lessening employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers.

    Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become a privilege to a group with millions of members who don't need them.

It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enhance the myth that older people can't take care of themselves and need special treatment; and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly are ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the essence of the very thing older Americans are fighting against—discrimination by age.

Can zoos ever be animal-friendly?

    The topic of our last class discussion was “How can zoos provide animals with a good life?” Everyone believed it was impossible for zoos to give animals a caring environment. Our teacher suggested that visiting a modern zoo might give us a new point of view.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} In our discussion, many people said that zoos were full of smelly cages with unhappy animals living in. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, however, was set in an attractive, open environment. Trees and flowers had been planted around the park. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    At school, some people accused（指责）zoos of exploiting（剥削）animals for money but at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, as I see it, nothing could be further from the truth. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Before I visited Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, I wasn't sure about the rights and wrongs of zoos. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} I feel that, although zoos can't provide the freedom of the wild, they can be animal-friendly by giving animals a safe and caring environment. As long as they do this well, to my mind they make a good contribution（贡献）to animal health. They also play an important part in educating us about wildlife. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    On the bus back to school, we all agreed that what we liked most was the zoo's environment and we would recommend（推荐）it for next year's group.

A. It is difficult for the zoo to raise animals.

B. More and more animals enjoy their wild homes.

C. I think lots of my friends changed their minds, too.

D. Most of the money is used to improve conditions at the zoo.

E. I went to the zoo and was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

F. In my opinion, the animals, rather than seeming upset, were pleased.

G. It was difficult to say how a zoo could really make up for animals' loss of freedom.

Reading the world in 195 books

    In 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country of all 195 UN-recognized states in a year. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.

    The response was amazing. Before I knew it, people all over the planet were getting in touch with ideas and offers of help. Some posted me books. Others did hours of research on my behalf. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Even with such an extraordinary team behind me, however, sourcing books was no easy task.

    But the effort was worth it. As I made my way through the planet's literary landscapes, extraordinary things started to happen. Far from simply armchair travelling, I found I was inhabiting the mental space of the storytellers. I discovered, bookpacking offered something that a physical traveller could hope to experience only rarely: it took me inside the thoughts of individuals living far away and showed me the world through their eyes. More powerful than a thousand news reports, these stories not only opened my mind to basic information of life in other places, but opened my heart to the way people there might feel. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Through reading the stories shared with me by bookish strangers around the globe, I realized I was not an isolated person, but part of a network that stretched all over the planet.

    One by one, the country names on the list that had begun as an intellectual exercise transformed into places filled with laughter, love, anger, hope and fear. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. At its best, I learned, fiction makes the world real.