Four Useful Products for Your Life

    Electric Wine Opener

    Cost: $19.89

    Once you've tried this tool, you'll never go back to the old fashioned kind. This electric wine opener will remove the cork (瓶塞) easily within seconds, and can open up to 30 bottles with a single charge.

    Fantastic Ice Cream Spoon

    Cost: $14. 99

    It's always disappointing when you're really in the mood for ice cream, but have to wait forever for the ice cream to get to just the right softness. Well, this heated ice cream spoon exactly conducts heat from your hands, and will help soften the ice cream to make it ready to eat right away.

    Express Baker

    Cost: $58. 99

    Making your own bread seems like a quite difficult job. But this baker makes it easier--within an hour. It has 12 different bread settings, and three different crust settings, so you can make bread, pizza and more. A quick look through the reviews shows that customers are pretty happy with it, too.

Corn Stripper

Cost: $7.99

    There's no denying that corn on the cob (棒) is delicious But eating corn on the cob and dealing with all the little bits that get stuck in your teeth afterwards is a painful experience. This little device takes all the corns from the cob, by letting you strip (剥) your corn easily, without making a total mess.

    In the winter of 1910, Dr. Wu Lien-Teh stepped off a train in the northern Chinese city of Harbin. He was there to solve a medical mystery, at great personal risk. Over the past few months, an unknown disease had swept along the railways of northeast China, killing 99.9% of its victims. The Qing Imperial court had sent the Cambridge-educated Dr. Wu north to stop the epidemic.

    When Dr Wu arrived in Harbin on Christmas Eve, 1910, he carried little in the way of medical instruments and had only one assistant. One of Wu' s first acts upon arrival was to set up special quarantine (隔离) units and to order lockdowns to stop infected persons from traveling and spreading the disease. He had teams check households for possible cases, and even managed to convince authorities to completely close the railways in the early weeks of 1911. Of particular concern was the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, which had become a great annual migration of people traveling across the country to see their families.

    Thanks to Dr. Wu's efforts, the number of plague victims began to die down, and by March 1, 1911, the epidemic was fully contained. The pneumonic (肺炎的) plague outbreak of 1910-1911 lasted nearly four months, affected five provinces and six major cities, and accounted for over 60,000 deaths. It is clear that without the brave and decisive actions taken by Dr. Wu, it could have been much worse. Had the epidemic gone unchecked, allowing holiday rail passengers to spread the disease to the rest of China could have meant a catastrophic loss of life and possibly a global health crisis.

    In April 1911, Dr. Wu chaired an International Plague Conference in Shenyang, attended by scientists from 11 counties including the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Japan and France. They praised Dr. Wu for his handling of the 1910-1911 outbreak. For a time, Dr. Wu was the world's most famous plague fighter, a title be defended in a malaria epidemic in China in 1919, and a return of plague in 1921.

    Are you wondering whether it's worth going for a little jog? Don't hesitate, and get your sports shoes on. A new study shows that proper running lowers the risk of death before the normal time.

    In an analysis of 14 previous studies from the US and Denmark, the group of researchers from institutes in Australia and Finland concluded that increasing running participation would probably lead to substantial improvements in population health and longevity. The studies involved 232,149 participants over time periods ranging from 5. 5 to 35 years.

    On the whole, people running any distance were associated with a 27% lower risk of death from all causes than those who did not, the study shows. Running was also related with a 30% and 23% lower risk of death from cardiovascular (心血管的) disease and cancer, respectively.

    Previous studies had concluded "inconsistent findings" about whether running could lower the risk of premature death, according to the researchers. Lead researcher Jim White, a professor at Victoria University in Melbourne, told CNN: "Our recent findings may encourage physically inactive individuals to take up running and those who already run to keep on doing it."

    He added that doctors may be encouraged by our findings to promote running as a part of "lifestyle medicine". In their paper, which will be published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers say health professionals are sometimes wary of promoting running because vigorous(剧烈的)use of it has been linked with sudden heart death.

    Jim and his team deny this by noting that the benefit of running outweighs the risk. However, they did say advice should be given on a case-by-case basis, as running might not be appropriate for everyone. Although running has a clear health benefit, the researchers point out that higher "doses" of running may not reduce the risk of premature death further. According to the WHO's guidelines, adults aged between 18 and 64 should take 150 minutes of gentle exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week.

    One of the biggest ideas in computer technology is cloud computing. The system is changing the way information is kept. It uses a group of computers or servers to store information instead of one. The data floats around like clouds instead of being saved on any computer. It means computers can be smaller than ever and store practically unlimited amounts of information. No longer are bulky computers needed because all the information is in the clouds.

    So when will cloud computing start affecting the way you use computers? You may not have noticed, but it already has. Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and many other sites all run on cloud computing. Cloud computing is really useful. You can use it to access the same file at work at home or in other countries on different computers. There may even be environmental benefits, too. Gmail, which uses cloud computing, says that the system saves a lot of energy.

    However, potential problems do exist such as losing information and not being able to access certain files when the internet is down. Also, some companies charge fees for their cloud computing services. Another major problem is security. If all your Information is out there in the cloud and not safely stored on your own computer or laptop, it may be possible for other people to access it. More and more of our personal information is in danger of being stolen. Therefore, it is important to be careful and to find ways of making the information secure.

    More and more companies are starting up and offering cloud computing. Will the company be reliable? What will happen to your data if the company goes out of business? There are real worries. Even so, for those interested in computing technology, one thing is for certain —the future in the clouds is going to be very exciting.

    Work days are long enough without having to deal with afternoon laziness. Many times when 2 or 3 pm rolls around, We are yawning and considering taking a short nap to help wake us up.There are several tricks that you can do to improve your energy level.

    Put on some music. Sometimes all you need is a little motivation to help you feel a little more energized. Put on some of your favorite upbeat music.

    If you are able, listen to your music a little loudly. This can help drive away your midday fog. If you are not able, try listening to the music throughout headphones, so you don't bother your co-workers.

    Grab an afternoon snack. A small afternoon snack can provide your body with a little nutrition and energy. Just make sure you pick the right type of snack to keep your energy up.  It contains caffeine and can improve focus. Avoid high-sugar snacks like candies. These cause your blood sugar to rise and then cause additional laziness.

    Pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee.  Caffeine is a stimulant that can help you feel more awake and focused. Use very minimal sugar, a natural Calorie-free sugar or none at all.

     Wash the day's stress from your mind by splashing cold water onto your face and neck. Some studies have shown that the cold water can help you wake up and feel more focused. When you are starting to feel a little sleepy, take a walk to the bathroom and make use of cold water.

A. A faster beat can help you feel a little more energetic.

B. Splash your face with cold water.

C. You can stretch yourself and make some deep breath to refresh yourself.

D. Enjoy some-high sugar snacks.

E. Try a piece of dark chocolate.

F. But most offices don't allow midday napping.

G. Small amounts of caffeine can help you beat afternoon laziness as well.

    I was at the market at 5 p.m. to pick up a few essentials: Cream for coffee, eggs for breakfast and Advil for my1. After rushing all day doing jobs, I did not want to be2, to say the least. But I told myself it was my3stop before going home to put my feet up.

    So I4a parking place, grabbed a bag from the trunk and found a shopping cart. That's when I saw her. She was5in a shopping cart. She looked to be maybe 9-months old, short blond curls, blue eyes. I couldn't take my6off her. Then I did what I always do with7: I gave her my best smile. It may have looked a bit mad,8 it comes from my heart.

That's a(an)9 I formed long ago when I became a mother. It started with my child, in that10, life-changing moment of her birth.

    At times, my smile would fade to a look of11or worry, but it never left my face for long. I've learned that everyone needs a 12sometimes, young and old, friends and13, even those at the market in a rush to get home.

    She took her14deciding just what to make of my smile. But finally, she15. I wish you could have seen her. I laughed and waved goodbye. And she16me a kiss. That put a smile on my face that got a smile17from every shopper I passed. I was18smiling when I got home and realized I'd forgotten to get Advil.19, I didn't need it. My headache was gone.

    Somehow, in that simple 20of smiles, this weary old world becomes a better place. If you're lucky, maybe they'll even blow you a kiss and make your headache go away.

    Imagine being kidnapped, then returning home after 159 years. That's happened to one zodiac statue from Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace. It was(recent) returned to Beijing.

    According toNational Culture Heritage Administration, one of the 12 animal(statue), a red bronze horse head statue, (donate) by 97-year-old business man Stanley Ho, a collector from Macao on Nov 13.

    As a surprise for(visit) to the National Museum of China, the statue was soon putdisplay. It joined an exhibition showing hundreds of priceless artifacts(文物)have been returned from overseas since 1949.The exhibit runs through Nov 27th.

    It is the seventh of the 12(steal) animal statues from the Yuanmingyuan fountain(return) to Beijing from overseas. Now, the search is on for the returning five: a dog, a rooster, a dragon, a sheep and a snake.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏子符号（∧）并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：

1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Dear Chris,

    I'm glad to hear you and learn that you are planned to set up a Chinese reading club on your school web. It is really cool. I think it was a good idea to post the relevant information on the internet, which it is helpful for people to know about your club. Also, you can put on some posters on your campus to attract student's attention. What's more, organize some reading activities and exchanging that one has gained from the reading will help arouse people's interest in your club. I hope my suggestion can be of some help to you and your reading club can be a greatly success.

Yours,

Li Hua

1）好心情的重要性；

2）不良情绪产生的原因；

3）如何调整。

注意：

1）词数120；

2）开头已给出，不计入总词数。

    We've all experienced positive and negative moods.