For many people, history classes are seen as no more than requirements for getting degrees in chemistry, biology, business, marketing, etc. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}． Below are a few reasons why it's vital that today's people continue to learn about the past.

    Understanding where people come from plays a key role in understanding who they are.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} For this reason, it's extremely important to learn history in order to understand why people are the way that they are.   

    Through history classes, you can experience a shift (改革) in the way you think. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It's important to develop minds to be able to consider problems from different angles. Finally, this shift can improve your ability to analyze and understand situations, to make educated decisions and to learn how to weigh the consequences related to each choice before you.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}The idea that history repeats itself is rooted in truth. From wars to fashion to political trends, historians are often able to make predictions about the future based upon the past. By having a deep understanding of what happened in the past, today's people can better prepare for brighter futures by making the right decisions—instead of repeating old mistakes.

    Many people may not believe that a degree in history can lead to a well-paid job. In fact, students who graduate with degrees in history can become lawyers, business owners, think tank members, educators, leaders in historical organizations writers and so on. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    How many ways are there to reach the state of being happy?

    1）  Happiness is not an aim, but a journey. If you seek for pleasure in the course of the journey, the course will become a destination, and what's more, it will be a prolonged, boundlessly beneficial destination for all your life.

    2）  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Remain standing here, seize the present moment, and you will be happy.

    3）  Happiness is mental before it is physical. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It is better to eat without meat than to have a load on your mind.

    4）  Happiness is the opposite of unhappiness.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Release yourself from the unhappy mood and you will be happy.

    5）  Happiness is a matter of giving; the more you give out, the more you will get back. Share your happiness with others and you will enjoy it more.

    6）  Happiness is a very strange thing. It will not turn up when you beckon it, call it, and solicit it. But when you pretend complete indifference, it will pay too much attention to you, learn close to you and live with you.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    7） {#blank#}5{#/blank#} It is unwise as well as useless to try to keep it. You have got to keep on making new happiness, so that one happiness follows in the wake of another.

    8） The greatest happiness you can gain is realizing that you are not necessarily in need of it.

A. In dealing with happiness, you should adopt the strategy of leaving it at large to understand it better.

B. The decline of one means the growth of the other.

C. When you meet everyone, try smiling to them.

D. The happy place is this place, and the happy moment is this moment.

E. Happiness is drifting from place to place.

F. Smiling is a gift that God gives us.

G. In order to be physically happy to the full, you must first feel at ease and be free of worry.

    For most of us Veterans Day just means a chance to enjoy an extra day off from school or work．However this November 11th，be sure to spend a few minutes on its true purpose，by acknowledging（感谢）the men and women who have served in our armed forces．

    And you don't have to stop at just this one day．Join the over 10，000youth members of the Young Marines group that honor these brave men and women all year long with special events and completely spoil them for an entire week，from November 4th to 11th，by visiting hospitalized veterans，performing chores for disabled veterans and even organizing community－wide social event．The program open to kids ranging from the age of eight all the way to high school，is a great way to not only show your appreciation，but also get a chance to do some fun activities with like－minded kids and make a real difference in a veteran's life．

    People often believe that Memorial Day and Veterans Day are celebrated for the same reason．There is however a subtle but important difference between the two．While both honor our military personnel，the former is a day to remember and pay respect to all the men and women that died serving our country in a war，while Veterans Day is to celebrate the soldiers who are still alive and served in the forces at any time，during peace or war． Though several other countries celebrate this day in honor of their own veterans，the meaning is slightly different for each one．Some like the United Kingdom，celebrate it in honor of all soldiers－living or dead，while others like Canada celebrate it to honor all living veterans．They also call it different names．France and New Zealand sill call it Armistice Day．In the United Kingdom，Australia and Canada it is referred to as Remembrance Day，while Malta and South Africa celebrate it as Poppy Day．

    No matter what it is called，the reason for observing the day is the same－to show our appreciation to the brave men and women who sacrifice（牺牲）everything to make this world a safer place for the rest of us．

    Before there was the written word, there was the language of dance. Dance expresses love and hate, joy and sorrow, life and death, and everything else in between.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}We dance from Florida to Alaska, from north to south and sea to sea. We dance at weddings, birthdays, office parties and just to fill the time.

    “I adore dancing,” says Lester Bridges, the owner of a dance studio in Iowa. “I can't imagine doing anything else with my life.” Bridges runs dance classes for all ages. “Teaching dance is wonderful. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}It's great to watch them. For many of them, it's a way of meeting people and having a social life.”

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}“I can tell you about one young couple,” says Bridges. “They're learning to do traditional dances. They arrive at the class in low spirits and they leave with a smile. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}”

    So, do we dance in order to make ourselves feel better, calmer, healthier? Andrea Hillier says, “Dance, like the pattern of a beating heart, is life. Even after all these years, I want to get better and better.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} I find it hard to stop! Dancing reminds me I'm alive.”

A. So why do we dance?

B. Dance in the U.S. is everywhere.

C. If you like dancing outdoors, come to America.

D. My older students say it makes them feel young.

E. I keep practicing even when I'm extremely tired.

F. Dancing seems to change their feeling completely.

G. They stayed up all night long singing and dancing.

    Whoever wrote the song “it's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” must have never experienced Holiday blues. Fortunately, psychological research suggests some effective ways you can beat the holiday blues. The key point is that sadness and other tough emotions are not what we should try to avoid. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Here are four strategies to help you make your own happiness recipe this holiday season.

    Don't force cheer

    At family gatherings with cousins you secretly can't stand, you tend to put on a happy face. Indeed, that might even seem like the most mature response—no drama, no conflict. But a 2011 study followed dozens of bus drivers, looking to see when they gave forced or honest smiles at their passengers. The results showed when the drivers pretended to have a good mood, their actual moods got worse. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Let off sadness

    The results of the bus-driver study can be explained by researchers, who find that negative feelings like sadness or anger only increase when we try to control them. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. We don't like contradictory behavior.

    Respond cautiously

    Recently, scientists have been paying special attention to the benefits of caution. When you respond cautiously to an emotional trigger (e.g. overcooking the holiday turkey), you pause rather than reacting at once. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Besides, it is associated with less anxiety, and may even carry physiological benefits.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    Of course, the holidays will bring a mix of highs and lows, but the most important lesson to keep in mind is that this variety of emotions might be the best thing possible for your overall well-being. In other words, sadness, anger, and other difficult emotions are nothing to fear. Just make sure you're balancing them with lighter experiences. And don't forget to give yourself a break.

A. Relax your mind

B. Enjoy a mix of emotions

C. We tend to deny the important function emotions serve

D. Instead, they can help contribute to a healthy and happy life

E. So trying to force happiness seems to have the opposite effects

F. A cautious response to a negative event reduces sadness we experience

G. We feel bad when our appearance contradicts how we truly feel inside

    In many developed countries, people who have high degrees begin to work longer than those who don't. About 65% of American men aged 62－74 with a professional degree are in the workforce (劳动人口), compared with 32% of men who only finish high school. This gap is part of a deepening divide between the well­educated wealthy and the unskilled poor. Rapid technological advance has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while squeezing those of the unskilled. The consequences, for individuals and society, are profound(意义深远的).

    The world is facing an astonishing rise in the number of old people, and they will live longer than ever before. Over the next 20 years the global population of those aged 65 or more will almost double, from 600 million to 1.1 billion. The experience of the 20th century, when greater longevity (长寿) translated into more years in retirement rather than more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this shift (变化) will lead to slower economic growth, while the swelling (渐增的) ranks of pensioners will create government budget problems.

    Policies are partly responsible. Many European governments have abandoned policies that used to encourage people to retire early. Even the better­off must work longer to have a comfortable retirement. But the changing nature of work also plays a big role. Pay has risen sharply for the highly educated, and those people continue to reap (获得) rich rewards into old age because these days the educated elderly are more productive than the preceding (先前的) generation. Technological change may well reinforce (强化) that shift: the skills that complement (补充) computers, from management know­how to creativity, do not necessarily decline with age.