The history of chocolate begins with a plant whose name is cacao. For centuries, people worldwide have been enjoying the rich favor of chocolate, a product made from cacao{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Americans eat an average of more than five kilograms of chocolate per person every year. The specialty shop shows the culture of chocolate and sells chocolates from different areas of the world.

    Historians believe the Mayan people of Central America first learned to farm cacao plants around 2,000 years ago{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Then they grew them around their homes. They cooked the cacao seeds and pressed them into soft powder. They mixed the powder with water to make a delicious chocolate drink. There are often images of cacao plants on Maya buildings and art objects. The rulers drank chocolate at ceremonies{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    The Aztecs also valued chocolate in the Aztec culture. But the cacao plant could not grow in the area where they lived{#blank#}4{#/blank#}They even used cacao seeds as a form of money to pay or give as offerings to the gods. Only the very wealthy people in Aztec societies could afford to drink chocolate because cacao was so valuable.

    The explorer Christopher Columbus brought cacao seeds to Spain after his trip to Central America in 1502. The wealthy people of Spain first enjoyed the chocolate drink{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Nowadays, the English, Dutch and French all plant cacao trees in their own countries.

A. Chocolate is very sensitive to temperature.

B. The Mayan took the cacao trees from the rainforests.

C. Chocolate is especially popular in the United States.

D. Chocolate has been prepared as a drink for nearly all of its history.

E. So they had to exchange goods with other societies for cacao seeds.

F. Since then, the popularity of the drink has spread throughout Europe.

G. And even poorer members of Mayan society could enjoy the drink sometimes.

    You probably think that you are already efficient and skilled in what you are doing, and perhaps you are right.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Improvement is indeed very important because it keeps you longing for success, and it is what prevents you from tiring. So, make the best of who you are, and use these practical tips.

    Spare a few minutes a day to learn new things.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}You may consider reading blogs, magazines, or trade journals that can enrich your know ledge about your field. No matter what you do, though, make sure it is something beneficial to your professional growth.

    Learn to pay close attention to detail. It is a fact that once people have become accustomed to their regular tasks, they rarely check the details about certain aspects in their job.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Get inspired and start working on your disadvantages. You should be able to pay more attention to your performance in the job, and find ways to improve yourself. If you find yourself quite emotional or stressed out, then may be what you need is an inspiration.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}By doing so, you can continue improvement and eventually become much better at this task.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}This step may seem very simple, yet it can get quite challenging to find people who are excellent and have a good reputation in your company. Once you have found these inspiring people, you should try to cooperate with them more often and complete a project that could do wonders to your organization and your personal growth.

A. Give yourself a break,

B. However, you may not be the best you can possibly be.

C. Be with the right people and always try to improve yourself.

D. If so, you're not living the abundant life that God intends for you to live.

E. You may consider looking at great work and performance for some inspiration.

F. It is important that you devote plenty of your time to learning and researching.

G. Unfortunately, this may lead to misunderstanding and negative consequences.

    Every person has a history of pain and tragedy that includes regret from the situation. At times, it's often hard to explain that pain to someone else. The challenge with a tragedy is the lack of support from someone.

    This has often been my challenge when I try to explain what occurred to me. When I was younger, I was a victim of a tragic accident that changed my life both academically and emotionally. At sixteen months old, due to the neglect of my babysitter I fell off the bed. The injury was so severe that I was rushed to the emergency room and the doctors explained to my mom that I suffered from a blood clot (血块) located on the left side of the brain.

    I was later diagnosed with what is known as a traumatic brain injury (外伤性脑损伤)．This accident affects my long term memory and testing ability. I often struggle with understanding information related to school and feel frustrated that I will not pass my tests. The pressure of school is so much, since I must always work harder than most students.

    I become easily disappointed that I study a lot but often flunk or re-take tests. It is hard to imagine, because in my mind I feel prepared for the work; however, the test results do not connect with the information in my brain. Although I always don't pass my tests, I feel like this injury encourages me to work and shows me that I can be confident when it comes to the future. For example, I have been able to maintain my grades, been employed for over a year at a local restaurant, and obtained my driver's license. I look forward to attending college, getting married, raising a family, and being a success. I will continue to live my life to the fullest and prove that an injury does not limit my life journey.

    If you need to interview someone for an article but you have never interviewed before, it can be frightening. Here are some tips for preparing for and conducting a successful interview.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} If the person is a known author or speaker, take the time to read or listened to his/her work, or at least get familiar with his/her most recent or most important work. If the interview will cover events, review whatever is known publicly about those events.

    Prepare a recording device(录音设备). You can use your phone or an audio recorder. In this way you needn't struggle to write things down. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} And this will make it easier to include direct quotes when you start writing.

    Remember to make it a conversation rather than a list of questions. Prepared questions are just a guideline. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You can also try to ask your interviewee about his/her personal thoughts and reactions to events and people they deal with.

    Appropriate feedback(反馈) is also important. Feel free to say words that show you are listening, like "yeah" and "Mmmm". {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You can also give more facial feedback like smiling.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If the interviewee changes suddenly from one line of thought to another, lead them back to the area you are focusing on. Guide the interview but don't keep interrupting with many questions.

A. Politely ask if you can interview them.

B. Do your homework before you pick up the phone.

C. Then you can focus all your attention on the interview.

D. Consider how all the questions can be asked in a short time.

E. Nodding your head can be an encouragement to the interviewee.

F. In order to get the information you need, you should guide the interview.

G. You can try to ask questions based on what they have said to you in previous responses.

    Competition is all around us and it makes the strong stronger and the weak weaker. It can also teach us how to survive in a fast-paced and stressful world. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. How many of us have seen young boys weeping because their teams didn't win inter-school tournament? How many of us have seen young teenagers cheat just to win? {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. So it's important to develop healthy competition among children.

    When it comes to encouraging healthy competition among children, the first thing to do is set goals for them to stick to. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    Since children may be easily affected by wrong ideas from popular media and the Internet, it's up to you to develop the right kind of spirit in them. Team spirit will help them grow into human beings who aren't easily annoyed by small losses or too excited by victories. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. So give them examples where family members refused to cheat to win.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. When they take an exam, don't ask about how much they expect to score; instead, ask what they wrote about. If your son played a cricket match at school, don't ask him whether his team won or lost; ask him how many runs he scored and encourage him to score higher next time instead. When you let your children know that you're more interested in how they performed rather than whether they lost or won, they will surely try to better themselves.

Being a Volunteer

    What can you do to help people? The answer is ——to be a volunteer! Then what is the common opinion of volunteering? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Help yourself by helping others.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}It's amazing to know that volunteering can calm you down when you feel upset. Lots of people really enjoy volunteering, because doing volunteer work could make a big difference in their life. So where do you start? School is a good place to start if you are looking for volunteer ideas.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Volunteering is a great way to have fun with your family. Talk to your parents, brothers, or sisters and see what they might be interested in. Find something you all agree on. You can do the things as a family like cleaning up a park and planting trees or flowers in your local community(社区).

    Create your own opportunity for your future.

    Kids can come up with their own ways to raise money or provide needed services. You can make and sell products, and donate(捐赠) the money. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Volunteering can also help kids learn important things about their future —— like what kinds of things they will be best at. A volunteer job can even help some kids decide what they want to do when they grow up. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Make a plan to start volunteering today!

A. So what are you waiting for?

B. Things to do with family members.

C. Clean up a school or other public buildings.

D. Volunteering gives kids a sense of responsibility.

E. Why don't you choose to do a job you like best?

F. Volunteering means spending time in helping others.

G. When you volunteer to help others, you are helping yourself.