While some lucky people are born with the gift of artistic power, others have to study to become fluent in the language of art.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} If the artistic path is calling you, begin the journey with tiny steps and follow it. Here are some ways to show you how to become a true artist.

    Try a generous choice of differing forms of art. If you have never spent much time creating art, it may feel challenging to try to become an artist.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}They just need to express their creative ideas in a great way. If there is a specific type of art you would like to learn more about, go for it, but don't be afraid to branch out and try other forms as well. Some of the most basic forms of art include drawing, painting, sculpting, and photographing.

    Do your research and learn the basics.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Learn as much as you can about the medium-read books and articles, watch educational videos, and research various methods and other artists. One of the best ways to learn is by studying the work of others who have come before you. If you put effort, it is completely possible to teach yourself how to be a great artist. Need help?{#blank#}4{#/blank#} I'll work for sure.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Many artists devote their lives to creating art. While you do not have to spend every single second of your day working on a painting, do try to dedicate some time each day (or every other day) to working on your project, whatever it might be.

A. Make creating art your favorite.

B. Make time for your art every day.

C. The truth is that all people are artists.

D. Pick up some books on your chosen form(s).

E. You can always further your research with an art class.

F. A key part of being an artist is observing the world around you.

G. Whichever path you are on, be clear that everyone is an artist.

    Earth is home to around 7,000 languages, around half of which are expected to disappear by 2100.

    Languages disappear for many reasons. Sometimes younger generations stop learning a language because parents want children to fit in. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Native American children of the late-19th century were required to attend boarding schools where educators forbade them from speaking their native languages.

    The United Nations ranks endangered languages according to their risk level. For example, a "critically endangered" language is one that even grandparents don't speak often. New York's Onondaga language is an example with only 50 speakers left. An "extinct" language has no speakers. It is gone forever. Alaska's Eyak language is one example. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}In the same way, different languages contribute to cultural diversity. Saving these languages benefits our understanding of other cultures. Languages can show how a society looks at the world and what it values. A language may describe something in a way that is funny, too. In Welsh, it rains not cats and dogs, but old wives and walking sticks.

    The Endangered Language Alliance wants to save languages from disappearing. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} However, its efforts are limited. If an endangered language is going to make a real comeback, it'll probably get its start in schools. For nearly 100 years, public schools in Hawaii did not teach the Hawaiian language. Now students can keep learning in Hawaiian from elementary schools to college and beyond.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} At least one did. In 1881, a Jewish linguist named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda brought the 3,000-year-old language Hebrew back to life. Today it is one of the official languages of the country of Israel, with more than 4 million speakers.

A. The last person who spoke it died in 2008.

B. Why should we save endangered languages?

C. Various animals and plants benefit our environment.

D. With just 5 speakers left, it is absolutely endangered.

E. Can a language with zero native speakers come back to life?

F. Sometimes societies force minorities to give up their language.

G. The nonprofit group finds native speakers and records their stories.

    Every animal sleeps, but the reason for this has remained foggy. When lab rats are not allowed to sleep, they die within a month. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    One idea is that sleep helps us strengthen new memories. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} We know that, while awake, fresh memories are recorded by reinforcing (加强) connections between brain cells, but the memory processes that take place while we sleep have been unclear.

    Support is growing for a theory that sleep evolved so that connections between neurons(神经元) in the brain can be weakened overnight, making room for fresh memories to form the next day. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Now we have the most direct evidence yet that he is right. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}The synapses in the mice taken at the end of a period of sleep were 18 per cent smaller than those taken before sleep, showing that the connections between neurons weaken while sleeping.

    If Tononi's theory is right, it would explain why, when we miss a night's, we find it harder the next day to concentrate and learn new information — our brains may have smaller room for new experiences.

    Their research also suggests how we may build lasting memories over time even though the synapses become thinner. The team discovered that some synapses seem to be protected and stayed the same size. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} "You keep what matters," Tononi says.

A. We should also try to sleep well the night before.

B. It's as if the brain is preserving its most important memories.

C. Similarly, when people go for a few days without sleeping, they get sick.

D. The processes take place to stop our brains becoming loaded with memories.

E. That's why students do better in tests if they get a chance to sleep after learning.

F. "Sleep is the price we pay for learning," says Giulio Tononi, who developed the idea.

G. Tononi's team measured the size of these connections, or synapses, in the brains of 12 mice.

3-2-1 GREEN!

    You already know an environmentalist's three R's: reduce, reuse, recycle. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are three things you can do for the Earth Day.

    Be a real cut-up

    The next time you're about to throw out the plastic rings that hold a six-pack of soda together, reach for a pair of scissors.

    As a young turtle, Peanut got stuck in one of these rings. As she grew, the ring stayed put, forcing her shell to grow around it. By the time someone found her and cut her free, her shell was permanently deformed. Thanks to her hard shell, Peanut is alive and well. She now lives at a nature center in Missouri. But most animals that get caught in six-pack rings die.

    WHAT YOU CAN DO

    Easy! {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Hunt for vampires（吸血鬼）

    You know all those electronic inventions you've got at home? Even when you switch them off, they are really still on. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Anything with a glowing LED off/on light, a remote control, or a clock display is always on.

    WHAT YOU CAN DO

    Just pull out the plugs or tap the OFF switch till you really need the electronics.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Matt Damon really cares about clean water. So in February, he announced that he was going on strike against toilets. " Until everybody has access to clean water and sanitation（卫生设备）," he said. "I will not go to the bathroom!" He was kidding but to make a serious point. Around the world, he said, "780 million people lack access to clean water; 2.5 billion people lack access to a toilet."

    WHAT YOU CAN DO

    No need to go on a toilet strike. Just don't waste water. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Take shorter showers.

A. Use water wisely.

B. How to recognize vampire electronics?

C. Cut the rings apart before you trash them.

D. Use toilets less.

E. But how else can you help?

F. Don't run the water while brushing your teeth.

G. Things that can help with good living conditions are important.

    Although books are still popular with teenagers, most of them spend more of their leisure time staring at their phone than reading a paperbook. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Instead of publishing whole book at once, they produce very short chapters, which they send once a week to their readers by text message.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Many are written by high school or university students who are very familiar with the topics that teenagers are interested in. Common themes are love, tragedy and betrayal, and the stories often deal with difficult or controversial issues.

    Twenty-one-year-old Rin wrote her novel over a six-month period in spare moments, often while commuting on the train. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Her book sold 40000 copies and was number five in the Japanese bestseller list. Rin said that her mother had had no idea that she had been writing a novel and was therefore very surprised when she saw a book with her daughter's name on it

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Chapters have no more than 200 words, and often just 50-100 words. Sentences are short and there are no descriptions of anything or anybody because there isn't space. The text mostly consists of dialogue and the language is direct, conveying a lot in a few words.

    In 2009, a young Japanese writer called Takatsu, who lives in Canada, began writing the first English language cell phone novel, Secondhand Memories. Takatsu had read an English translation of Rin's story and had been impressed by its simple and emotional language. It was a feature he deliberately copied when he started writing Secondhand Memories. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}He now believes that, in English, cell phone novels have a powerful and poetic identity of their own. Cell phone novels encourage young people to engage in fiction, even those who would not normally pick up a book. They could be described as ten novels for the 21st century.

A. Books are sometimes regarded as old-fashioned and difficult to read.

B. In response 10 this trend, some smart young authors have changed the way they write.

C. However, as the story progressed, the style gradually evolved into something different.

D. She typed out chapters on her phone and uploaded them onto a popular website for cell phone authors.

E. No money is made from cell phone novels unless they are published as books.

F. The style of cell phone novels has evolved to suit the medium.

G. Although the idea originated in Japan, cell phone novels have also appeared in the rest of world.

The easiest way to love yourself is to treat yourself like your own BFF (Best Friend Forever). {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Quite simply, this means you need to recognize your own self-worth and live your own life as honestly as you can. Read on to learn some strategies so you can embark on a journey of loving yourself.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Negative thoughts often come from outside people whose opinions we value and from whom we seek love and acceptance. Trace down the core of those negative thoughts and tell yourself a different story. Think about what you would say to a close friend who said those things about themselves.

Accept your flaws as part of who you are. Everything you've done and everywhere you've been is a part of who you are. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Instead, accept that they're all parts of the same whole. When you love yourself, you love all of you because you wouldn't have the good without the bad.

Focus on your effort rather than the result to control perfectionism. If you expect yourself to be perfect for ever, you'll never be pleased with anything you produce. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Try to appreciate the work you put into completing a task, rather than looking for flaws in what you done.

Practice gratitude for good things. Its human nature to see negative things as bigger and more important than positive things, but this also does tremendous damage to your self-esteem. When you find yourself focusing on negative or less favorable events in your life, immediately try to name 3 to 5 things that you can be grateful for. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. This can lead to low self-esteem.

B. Pay attention to negative thoughts.

C. Let go of negative thoughts about yourself.

D. Self-love isn't about fixing all the "bad" things about yourself.

E. Look for the positive side even when bad things happen to you.

F. Usually, it might seem like it's easier to love others than to love yourself.

G. Actually, it's tough to build healthy relationships if you don't love yourself first.