If you'd love to be more eco-friendly but don't know where to begin, start with a few small changes.  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Adjust your thermostat（恒温器）to save on heating and cooling costs.  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}In summer, set your thermostat to 78 ℉when you're at home and raise the temperature when you're away. In winter, turn your thermostat to 68 ℉ and lower it by 5°-10° when you're sleeping or out of your house. To stay warm in winter, put on a sweater or another layer instead of turning up the thermostat.

    Turn off lights and unplug power strips that you're not using. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Some devices can still use energy even when they're turned off. So, turn off the power strips at night to completely cut off energy use. If you need to leave your computer or TV on, try setting it to sleep mode.

    Make your taps and toilets low-flow. Cut back on water waste by installing flow restrictor(节流装置) inside your taps and installing a low-flow shower head in your bathroom. This can save 3 to 4 gallons of water for every minute. If you're replacing a toilet, look for a low-flow one to save thousands of gallons of water a year.  {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Adjust your washing machine to use cold water instead of warm. Since more energy is spent drying the clothes, skip the machine and hang your washed clothes on a clothesline. If you don't have space for a clothesline or can't hang clothes outside, set up a clothes drying rack that you can use inside. Try running your clothes through an extra spin cycle to remove even more water from the clothes. This will make them dry quicker.

    Too many of us are waiting too long to live our best lives. We keep putting everything off until tomorrow. Then, before we know it, we find ourselves asking, "How did it get so late so soon?"

    So we'd better make today the beginning of our new life. Take time to figure ourselves out. Take time to realize what we want and need. Take time to love, laugh, cry, and learn. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are five things we should start doing today:

    Accept ourselves. The secret to happiness and success is the acceptance of ourselves. We will never become who we want to be if we rely on everyone else to qualify us.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} So always go with ourselves, never against ourselves. Be who we were created to be and we will set the world on fire.

    Make ourselves a priority. To tell the truth, there are only a few people in this world who will stay 100% true to us, so we should stay true to ourselves. Put our own needs into the list of things to do.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Don't sit back and let things happen to us. Go out and make things happen. We are what we do, not what we say we'll do. Stop saying "I wish" and start saying "I will". Turn our dreams into plans.

    Do the work. We can't underestimate (低估) a person who always works hard. Be that person. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Always remember that the task ahead of us is never greater than the strength within us. Do what's right, not what's easy. Our dreams are worth it.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}We can't force things to happen; we can only drive ourselves trying crazily. There's a time and place for everything. So don't force what's not yet supposed to fit into our life. When it's meant to be, it will be. Work hard, and be patient.

A. Take positive action.

B. Enjoy every moment of life.

C. Life is shorter than it often seems.

D. Everyone has a different way of life.

E. Accept ourselves just the way we are.

F. Allow life to happen like it's supposed to.

G. In life, we don't get what we wish for; we get what we work for.

    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.

    Being 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.

    With the development of technology and economy, social media is becoming one of the fastest-growing industries in today's world. A study conducted by the US Pew Research Centre showed that 92 percent of teenagers go online daily. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Changing relationships.

    High school student Elly Cooper from Illinois said social media often reduces face-to-face communication. "It makes face-to-face relationships harder because people's attention is given to their phones instead of their friends," Cooper said.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Beth Kaplan from Illinois meets her long-distance friend through social media. He currently lives in Scotland, but they're still able to frequently communicate with each other. "I can feel close to someone that I'm talking to via FaceTime," Kaplan said.

    Wanting to be "liked".

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The 19-year-old Essena O'Neill announced on the social networking service Instagram that she was quitting social media because it made her unable to stop thinking about appearing perfect online. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Teenagers who get harmful comments can't help but feel hurt.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    However, Armin Korsos, a student from Illinois, takes advantage of the comments(评论) he receives over social media to improve his videos on the social networking site YouTube. "Social media can help people show themselves and their talents to the world in a way that has never been possible before," Korsos said.

A. Opening new doors.

B. Teenagers' attitude toward social media.

C. Unpleasant comments can also do great damage to a teenager's self-respect.

D. The wide spread of social media has changed nearly all parts of teenagers' lives.

E. Yet, the social media is beneficial to show people's talents.

F. The rise of social media has changed the way teenagers see themselves.

G. Yet, some people believe social media has made it easier to start relationships with anyone from anywhere.

    I'm a survivor of atomic bombing (原子弹轰炸)of Nagasaki, Japan. I was born on December 25, 1944, so when the bombs fell on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, I was only nine months old. My family were not even in the city of Nagasaki. We were outside. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    There are three ways that atomic bombs can kill you. One is the blast (冲击波). That knocks down all the buildings nearby. The second is the fireball. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}And those who were touched by the fireball disappeared immediately. And the third way is the radiation (辐射).

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    I remember both my mother and my sister were sick in bed. And when I was six, they died.

    When my sister died, I heard her doctor tell my father that I wouldn't live to see my tenth birthday. So I knew that I was not going to live long. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Whenever I get a simple cold, I thought this might be the end of my life.

    I also felt that it was wrong for me to stay alive. Why did my sister and my mother, who were wonderful people, had to die? And yet L, who am not worthy, am still alive? {#blank#}5{#/blank#}It kills everything on its way. It kills slowly. and painfully.

    If the United States is attacked with radioactive weapons, millions of people will die. If North

    Korea is attacked, Korea, Japan, part of China and even Russia will be affected I want all nations to come together and start finding a way of getting rid of nuclear weapons altogether.

A. But I always took good care of myself.

B. There was a huge fireball in both cities.

C. Therefore, I was always worried about my health.

D. The radioactive dust was what started killing our family.

E. It always does much more harm than good to human being.

F. This feeling is the kind of weapon that shouldn't be allowed on the earth

G. However, radiation from the bombing went far beyond the city limits and harmed us.

Time is precious for students especially during finals. Having good skills of time management becomes so important. But how can you manage your time?

Get some sleep.

When things get rough, sleep often gets cut out of your schedule. The lab report has to be done by tomorrow morning, so... no sleep tonight, right? Wrong.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Your brain will run slower, and you'll be super tired all the time. So even if it sounds strange, spare time to get quality sleep.

Prioritize (划分优先顺序) often.

Keep a running list of the major tasks that you're performing. Change it as often as necessary and refer to it when you feel worried about all the things you have to do.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can't do so many all at once.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Although you might try hard to plan every, detail of your routine, sometimes things just happen. You might get sick or your roommate loses your keys. Set aside as much time as you can each day for emergencies. That way, you needn't deal with the unexpected in a rush.

Schedule time to relax.

Finals can be surprisingly stressful, and you may not realize how much harm they do to you until they're over. Workload can sometimes be unbearable. Schedule some free time to make you mentally recharged.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Ask for help when you need it.

Asking for help is pretty normal during leaning. It's rare to find a student who can make it through school life without any help.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} There are lots of places that can give you a hand at the end of a term.

A. Get on well with roommates.

B. Leave extra time, just in case.

C. Thus, don't hesitate to seek help when necessary.

D. Feeling worried may help you accomplish nothing.

E. If you feel depressed, focus on the one at the top of the list.

F. Let your brain take a break so it can go back to work efficiently.

G. Not getting enough sleep can actually cost you more time in the long run.