Certain things confident people simply don't do.

They don't make excuses.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}That's why you won't hear them blaming traffic for making them late. They don't make excuses, because they believe they're in control of their own lives.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Confident people don't give up the first time something goes wrong. They will figure out why it went wrong and how they can prevent it the next time.

They won't wait for permission to act.

    Confident people don't need somebody to tell them what to do or when to do it. Whether it's running a meeting or going the extra mile to solve a customer's problem, it doesn't even occur to them to wait for somebody else to take care of it. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

They don't need constant praise.

    Have you ever been around somebody who constantly needs to hear how great he or she is? {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . They don't think that their success is dependent on other people's approval, and they understand that no matter how well they perform, there's always criticism.

They won't put things off.

    Why do people postpone(拖延)? Sometimes it's simply because they're lazy. A lot of times, though, it's because they're afraid of change, failure, or maybe even success. Confident people don't sit around waiting for the right time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. If they think it's not the right time, they make it the right time.

A. They don't quit.

B. They won't lose heart

C. Confident people don't do that.

D. They are not afraid of failure at all.

E. They see what needs to be done, and they do it.

F. They know that today is the only time that matters.

G. Confident people believe that they can make things happen.

Easy Ways to Keep Your Brain Sharp

    Everyone is forgetful, but as we age, we start to feel like our brains are slowing down a bit — and that can be a very annoying thing. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Read on for some techniques worth trying.

    ⒈ {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    People who regularly made plans and looked forward to upcoming events had a 50 percent reduced chance of Alzheimer's disease (早老性痴呆症), according to a recent study. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Something as simple as setting a goal to have a weekly coffee date with a friend will do. There's evidence that people who have a purpose in life or who are working on long or short-term goals appear to do better. In other words, keep your brain looking forward.

    ⒉ Go for a walk.

    Mildly raised glucose (葡萄糖) levels can harm the area of the brain that helps you form memories and physical activity can help get blood glucose down to normal levels. In fact, exercise produces chemicals that are good for your brain. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    ⒊ Learn something new.

    Take a Spanish class online, join a drawing club, or learn to play cards. A study found that mental stimulation (刺激) limits the weakening effects of aging on memory and the mind. But the best thing for your brain is when you learn something new and are physically active at the same time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Or go dancing with your friends.

A. Focus on the future.

B. This can be especially harmful to the aged.

C. It should be something like learning gardening.

D. So take a few minutes each day to do some reading.

E. But don't worry if your schedule isn't filled with life-changing events.

F. Luckily, research shows there is a lot you can do to avoid those moments.

G. In other words, when you take care of your body, you take care of your brain.

    We don't know how different our life will be in the future. We can only try to imagine it.

    At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost everyday. We will make new friends through the Internet—even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won't be as important as they are today—we will feel a little lonely.

    Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050.For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.

    Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will use solar-powered cars, which will be much cleaner.

    We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn't true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.

    Although we can't predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children's future; we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather hope about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen.

    Email has brought the art of letter writing back to life, but some experts think the resulting spread of bad English does more harm than good.

    Email is a form of communication that is changing, for the worse, the way we write and use language, say some communication researchers. It is also changing the way we interact(交流) and build relationship. These are a few of recently recognized features of email, say experts, that should cause individual and organizations to rethink the way they use email.

    "Email has increased the spread of careless writing habits, "says Naomi Baron, a professor of linguistics at American University. She says the poor spelling, grammar, punctuation(标点符号) and sentence structure of emails reflect a growing unconcern to the way we write.

    Baron argues that we should not forgive and forget the poor writing often shown in emails. "The more we use email and its tasteless writing, the more it becomes the normal way of writing," the professor says.

    Others say that despite its poor prose(文字), email has finished what several generations of English teachers couldn't: it has made writing fashionable again.

    "Email is a critical new communication technology," says Ian Lancashire, a University of Toronto professor of English." It fills the gap between spoken language and the formal methods of writing that existed before email. It is the purest form of written speech."

    Lancashire says email has the mysterious ability to get people who are scared by writing to get their thoughts flowing easily onto a blank screen. He says this is because of email's close similarity to speech." It's like a circle of four or five people around a campfire," he says.

    Still, he accepts that this new found freedom to express themselves often gets people into trouble. "Almost everyday I get emails that apologies of previous emails," he reports.

    In the US, the number of emails sent in a day exceeds(超过) the number of letters mailed in a year. But more people are recognizing the content of a typical email message is not often exact.

The United States you may not know

The United States is the only superpower in the world, and it is far more advanced than any other country. However, we can't simply owe its 1 and prosperity to its lucky escape from the destruction of the two world wars. What other nations should 2 is the American spirit and its social system. 

The most obvious features of the American spirit are 3 and pragmatism (务实思想). Nearly 70% of the important inventions have been made in the US since the first industrial revolution. Since the US occupies such an important position in science and technology, naturally it has become the first superpower in the world. 

Americans are always 4 with what they have achieved, and they have an appetite for adventure over the love of 5 . European countries have been pursuing a reformist policy of "high tax and high welfare" since the 1960s, while only the US 6 the policy of "high risk and high return". 7 , the US has become the leader of the third industrial revolution (in technology of information, materials and biology). 

High salary is not the only 8 that the talents from other countries find in the United States. Some characteristics of American society should not be 9 . Family backgrounds and great wisdom in building connections and playing up to the boss, to which great importance is attached in other countries, are not so important to 10 development in the US. Most people are on the same starting line, and whether one can succeed or not depends on his own ability and hard work.

However, the American character is full of paradoxes (矛盾). The American people are both extremely romantic and pragmatic. The American is a(n) 11 people, but in every field there are workaholics. The Americans are open-minded but they are very conservative on certain matters. Since China's reform and opening-up to the outside world, many media in Western countries have greatly 12 their attitudes towards China. However, the American media are singing the same old tune against China as they were in the Cold War period. The Americans 13 freedom, but their government is very fond of interfering in other countries' internal affairs. What's most puzzling is that the Americans 14 authority, but they highly respect the laws and regulations of the society. Therefore, in such a nation that values personal liberty, the society can still be kept in good order and operate with high 15 . Is it odd? No one can provide a satisfactory answer.