Homework is a major part of going to school: It's your teachers' way of evaluating(评价)how much you understand of what's going on in class. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Luckily, you can do a few things to make homework less work.

    Be sure you understand the homework.

    Write your homework down in your notebook or day planner if you need to. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}It's much easier to take a minute to ask the teacher during or after class than to struggle to remember later that night!

    Use any extra time in school.

    Many schools have study halls that are specifically designed to allow students to study. It's tempting(诱惑)to hang out with friends during study periods or unstructured(松散的) time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Take a break.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}So take some breaks while doing your homework. Sitting for too long without stretching or relaxing will make you less productive than if you stop every so often. Taking a 15minute break every hour is a good idea for most people.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    If you don't finish your homework during school, think about how much you have left and what else is going on that day, and then budget your time. Most highschool students have between 1 and 3 hours of homework a night. If it's a heavy homework day and it seems like you've got an assignment in every subject but gym and lunch, you'll need to devote more time to homework. It's a good idea to come up with some kind of homework schedule（日程）, especially if you are involved in sports or activities or have an afterschool job.

A.Pace yourself.

B.Settle down to do homework.

C.And it helps digest important concepts(概念).

D.Most people's attention spans(注意力持续时间)aren't very long.

E.Don't be afraid to ask questions about what's expected.

F.Once your homework is done, you can check over it if you have extra time.

G.But the more work you can get done in school, the less you'll have to do that night.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us develop more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

    Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.

    There is another difficult point for us Chinese to understand.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous (慷慨)with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly cannot manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. We will find ourselves treated hospitably(好客).

    For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

A.Americans don't show their politeness if it requires a great deal of time.

B.Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.

C.Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

D.Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real.

E.We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends.

F.If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship.

G.America is a mobile society.

    What do the world's most successful people all have in common?

    By examining the work habits of over 150 greatest writers and artists and scientist,the researchers including Stanford Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer found that high achievers like Robert Moses turn out to be all alike:

    Busy! Busy!

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}In a study of general managers in industry,John Kotter reported that many of them worked 60 to 65 hours per week―which translates into at least six 10-hour days.The ability and willingness to work difficult and tiring hours has characterized many powerful figures.Energy and strength provide many advantages to those seeking to build power.

    Just Say No!

    The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.And that's what gives them the time to accomplish so much.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}And focus means saying “no” to a lot of distractions.

    Know What You Are!

    Ignore your weakness and keep improving your strengths.Don't waste time exploring skill areas where you have little competence.Instead,focus on―and build on―your strengths{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Create Good Luck!

    Luck is not magical-there is a science to it.Richard Wiseman studied lucky people for his book Luck Factor,and broke down what they do right.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}By being more outgoing,open to a new ideas,following the feeling that something is true,being optimistic,lucky people create possibilities.

    Does applying these principles to your life actually work? Wiseman created a “luck school” to test the ideas―and it was a success.In total,80 percent of people who attended Luck School said that their luck had increased.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Spend enough time improving your weakness.

B. Achievement requires concentration.

C. On average, these people reported that their luck had risen by more than 40 percent.

D. High achievers never stop working and they never lose a minute.

E. Busy people are more likely to be lucky.

F. This means knowing who you are and what you are good at.

G. Certain personality types are luckier because they behave in a way that offers the chance for good opportunities.

    Right now you are reading English. That means that you are using your brain in a very active way. Reading is a very active process. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} When you read a text, you have to do some or all of these:

    Imagine a scene in your head

    Understand clearly what the writer is trying to say

    Agree or disagree with the writer

    There are also many advantages associated with reading, including:

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    You will usually meet with new words when you read. If there are too many new words for you, then the level is too high and you should read something simpler. But if there are, say, a maximum of five new words per page, you will learn this vocabulary easily. You may not even need to use a pocket dictionary because you can guess the meaning from the rest of the text. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    A model for writing

    When you read, it gives you a good example for writing. Texts that you read show you structures and expressions that you can use when you write.

    Seeing “correctly structured” English

    When people write, they usually use “correct” English with a proper grammatical structure. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} So, by reading you see and learn grammatical English naturally.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    You can read as fast or as slowly as you like. You can read ten pages in 30 minutes, or take one hour to explore just one page. It doesn't matter. The choice is yours. You can not easily do this when speaking or listening. This is one of the big advantages of reading because different people work at different speeds.

A. Working at your own speed

B. Learning vocabulary in context (语境)

C. This is not always true when people speak

D. Focusing on exactly what you want to learn

E. you should write down unknown vocabulary in whole sentences

F. Not only do you learn new words, but you see them being used naturally

G. It is true that the writer does a lot of work, but the reader also has to work hard

    When we were kids, if our parents wanted us to stop the screen time, they would turn off the TV. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} They grab the cell phone, the tablet or the laptop. Here we will talk about how to control their screen time.

    First, limit the time they use screens. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Kids are smart. Once you go back to your daily routine, they will quickly be back on a screen. Because they just don't understand that when you tell them to get off the tablet or computer, you mean for the rest of the day.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It can be going outside to play, reading a fun book or cleaning their room. Presenting them with an alternative helps the under-developed planning part of their little brains get past what they can't do and see what else is possible.

    And third, hide the screen device. That one may not seem very fair. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If they don't see the device around the house, they can't grab it. This way, works for us adult-types who may be a little too addicted to screens ourselves.

    Ultimately, the best way to help kids recognize how much is too much screen time is to limit our own. Yeah, you may have to stare at one all day for your job, but do you really have to come home and immediately turn on the TV or answer that email on your phone? Don't think your kids aren't taking excuses from your actions. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Second, give them an alternative.

B. So, it's necessary to set a limited time.

C. It may seem easy, but it can be challenging.

D. Now, kids often have a choice of which screen they want.

E. They watch you just as closely as they watch those screens.

F. Now go to find a screen and turn it off, for you and for your kids.

G. But the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” actually works sometimes.

    It's the water that makes our daily lives possible. That's why protecting source water is one of the primary missions at the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. We provide safe, clean drinking water to 1.8 million residents in Prince George's and Montgomery counties.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    One way we protect the water is through the watershed. The watershed reduces the pollutants reaching the reservoirs. They hold the source water that provides 30 percent of our customers with drinking water. That's over 600,000 people. For many years, we have issued permits to allow limited recreational use of the watershed. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It's a quiet, beautiful area away from urban stress and traffic. And we use it ourselves and other activities to promote water and environmental awareness.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Last year, the WSSC issued new regulations with new restrictions impacting all users, including, closing the watershed a month earlier in the fall and opening it a month later in the spring. We also limited horseback riding to the access roads. Our goal was and is to protect the watershed.

    A very small but vocal group felt we should have consulted them first. Perhaps afterward we should have. But I do want to make one thing very clear. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} But we cannot allow the interests of a tiny group to override (不理会) the well­being of the WSSC customers who drink the water from those reservoirs. There must be a balance.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} So we hired a consultant to gather data, gather input from watershed users, and assess the condition of the watershed. We also asked them to look at our operations and management practices and provide the WSSC with findings and recommendations on how to make improvements.

    It's time to work together to protect the water and provide appropriate access to the rare jewel we call the watershed.

A. We certainly understand the attraction.

B. At no time did we consider closing the watershed entirely.

C. However, only a few people like saving water.

D. But most importantly it's about protecting the water.

E. The government has taken some strong measures.

F. We take that responsibility very seriously.

G. A review of our watershed policies and regulations was overdue.