growing mountain of electronic waste like computers and personal digital assistants. The electronic waste stream is

increasing three times faster than traditional garbage as a whole.

        Electronic devices contain valuable metals such as gold and silver. A Swiss study reported that while the 

weight of electronic goods represented by precious metals was relatively small in comparison to total waste, the 

concentration (含量) of gold and other precious metals was higher in            So-called e-waste than in naturally 

occurring minerals.

         Electronic wastes also contain many poisonous metals. Even when the machines are recycled and the harmful 

metals removed, the recycling process often is carried out in poor countries, in practically uncontrolled ways which 

allow many poisonous substances to escape into the environment.

         Creating products out of raw materials creates much more waste material, up to 100 times more, than the 

material contained in the finished products. Consider again the cell-phone, and imagine the mines that produced 

those metals, the factories needed to make the box and packaging(包装) it came in. Many wastes produced in the

producing process are harmful as well.

        The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that most waste is dangerous in that “the production, 

distribution, and use of products — as well as management of the resulting waste — all result in greenhouse gas 

release.” Individuals can reduce their contribution by creating less waste at the start — for instance, buying 

reusable products and recycling.

        In many countries the concept of extended producer responsibility is being considered or has been put in place 

as an incentive (动机) for reducing waste. If producers are required to take back packaging they use to sell their 

products, would they reduce the packaging in the first place?

Governments' incentive to require producers to take responsibility for the packaging they produce is usually

based on money. Why, they ask, should cities or towns be responsible for paying to deal with the bubble wrap (气

泡垫) that encased your television?

From the governments' point of view, a primary goal of laws requiring extended producer responsibility is to

transfer both the costs and the physical responsibility of waste management from the government and tax-payers 

back to the producers.

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.

    Read the following advertisement and answer the questions below according to the table.

    SECRETARY TV

    Major network looking for secretary/gal/guy. Friday to work on various temporary assignments. Work 1，2，3，4 or 5 days a week. Mr. Newcomb 889-0030

    SECRETARY QUEENS

    Good skills, General insurance agency. Richmond Hill area.

    849-8760

    SECRETARY. P/T.

    Steno, type, hrs, Mon.-Fri., 10-1 and/or Mon. Wed. & Fri. 2:30-7:00.

    Tues.2:30-5:00 Midtown office 355-5743 after 7 p.m.

    SECRETARY

    Small midtown law firm. Excel skills, no legal exp req'd. 755-2040

    SECRETARY.

    Fast-moving ad agency needs bright, energetic, good typist for various responsibilities. 684-2500

    （P/T.=part time; Steno=stenographer速记员；exp=experienced；req'd=required）

    Maybe you are aware that the latest job markets news isn't promising: Unemployment is still more than 9 percent, and new job growth has fallen close to zero, which is bad for economy, of course. And it may be especially discouraging if you happen to be looking for a job or hoping to change careers right now. But it actually shouldn't matter to you nearly as much as you think.

    That's because job growth numbers don't matter to job hunters as much as job turnover data. After all, existing jobs open up every day due to promotions, resignations, terminations, and retirements. In both good times and bad, turnover creates more openings than economic growth does. Even in June of 2007, when the economy was still falling along, job growth was only 132,000, while turnover was 4.7 million!

    And as it turns out, even today — with job growth near zero — over 4 million job hunters are being hired every month.

    I don't mean to imply that overall job growth doesn't have an impact on one's ability to land a job. It's true that if total employment were higher, it would mean more jobs for all of us to choose from. And it's true that there are currently more people applying for each available job opening, regardless of whether it's a new one or not.

    But what often distinguishes those who land jobs from those who don't is their ability to stay motivated. They're willing to do the hard work of identifying their valuable skills; be creative about where and how to look; learn how to present themselves to potential employers; and keep going, even after repeated rejections. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed that 2.7 million people who wanted and were available for work hadn't looked for a job within the last four weeks and were no longer even classified as unemployed.

    So don't let the headlines fool you into giving up. Four million people get hired every month in the U.S. You can be one of them.

    Scientists have connected the "fat gene" with the "happy gene". They believed there could be genetic evidence which explains why fat people are often happier than their skinny friends. The breakthrough could be an explanation for why fat characters, such as The Laughing Policeman and Father Christmas are often described as joyful and kind.

    FTO is the major genetic contributor to being fat. But it is also connected with an eight percent reduction in the risk of depression. Researchers at McMaster University in Canada had been studying whether there was a connection between being fat and being depressed. They found the opposite was true.

    They studied 17, 200 DNA from participants in 21 countries. Results showed people with FTO gene—the fat gene—showed less signs of depression. This finding was supported by three additional international studies.

    Professor David Meyre said, "We set out from the belief that being depressed and being fat both deal with brain activity. We thought that fat genes may be related to depression. However, we have discovered a molecule (分子) contributing to depression. It is the first evidence that an FTO fat gene is connected with protection against depression.

    In a recent interview, actress Lisa Riley said she was more than comfortable with her size. She said she is a "big, really happy" girl who is lucky enough to be confident in her own skin, and added, "Many people want to be thinner. Not me. I love being different and it drives me mad that people don't believe I'm happy with what I am."

    Failure is probably the most exhausting experience a person ever has. There is nothing more tiring than not succeeding.

    We experience this tiredness in two ways: as start-up fatigue(疲惫) and performance fatigue. In the former case, we keep putting off a task because it has either too boring or too difficult. And the longer we delay it, the more tired we feel.

    Such start-up fatigue is very real, even if not actually physical, not something in our muscles and bones. The solution is obvious though perhaps not easy to apply: always handle the most difficult job first.

    Years ago, I was asked to write 102 essays on the great ideas of some famous authors. Applying my own rule, I determined to write them in alphabetical(按字母顺序), never letting myself leave out a tough idea. And I always started the day's work with the difficult task of essay-writing. Experience proved that the rule works.

    Performance fatigue is more difficult to handle. Though willing to get started, we cannot seem to do the job right. Its difficulties appear so great that, however hard we work, we fail again and again. In such a situation, I work as hard as I can-then let the unconscious take over.

    When planning Encyclopaedia Britannica (《大英百科全书》), I had to create a table of contents based on the topics of its articles. Nothing like this had ever been done before, and day after dat I kept coming up with solutions, but none of them worked. My fatigue became almost unbearable.

    One day, mentally exhausted, I wrote down all the reasons why this problem could not be solved. I tried to convince myself that the trouble was with the problem itself, not with me. Relived, I sat back in an easy chair and fell asleep.

    An hour later, I woke up suddenly with the solution clearly in mind. In the weeks that followed, the solution which had come up in my unconscious mind provided correct at every step. Though I worked as hard as before, I felt no fatigue. Success was now as exciting as failure had been depressing.

    Human beings, I believe must try to succeed. Success, then, means never feeling tired.