【推荐1】The huge thirst for jobs in the civil service has made the national civil servant exam one of China's most Competitive tests. The first exam was held in 1995, and since then more and more people have _________ for it, with applications reaching peak over the last two years.

The latest online _________, carried out by China Youth Daily and www.qq.com, _________that more than 73 percent of young people want to work as civil servants. Of the 17,330 participants, about 83 percent said they were attracted by the job's _________, guaranteed health care and pension(抚恤金). _________, 55 percent said it could bring “practical profits.”

Nearly 1 million people _________to take the exam last year, yet only just over 10,000 were finally _________.This year the stiff (severe) competition continued. The exact number of applicants is not known, with the final day for _________today.

But the influx of applicants has already broken the exam's website once. China Youth Daily _______ that the site was forced to close for maintenance due to __________ high traffic on the night of October 16. In a typical year several hundred applicants will apply for many of the jobs listed. For example, the five job vacancies __________by the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party have this year __________more than3,880 applicants.

In general, the exam means 50 people competing for one post, the report said. __________as civil servants are attractive, not only because of the stable income and good health care, but also because of the low risks __________with the power and __________the positions enjoy. Among the total 6 million public servants, around 20,000 were dismissed between 1996 and 2003.

【推荐2】Around the world more and more people are taking part in dangerous sports and activities. Of course there have ___________ been people who have looked for adventures —those who have climbed the _______ mountains，explored unknown parts of the world or _______ in small boats across the greatest oceans. Now，however，there are people who look for the immediate _______ from a dangerous activity which may only last a few minutes or even _________.

I would consider bungee jumping to be a good example of such an activity. You jump from a high place about 200 meters above the ground with an elastic（有弹性的）rope ___________ to your ankles. You _________ at up to 150 kilometers an hour until the rope stops you from _________ the ground. It is said that 2 million people around the world have now _______ bungee jumping. Other activities，which most people would say are as ____________ as bungee jumping，______________ jumping from tall buildings and ______________ into the sea from the top of high rocks.

Why do people take part in such activities？Some psychologists（心理学家）say that it is ____________ life in modern society has become safe but ____________ .In the past，people's lives were constantly under ____________. They had to go out and hunt for ____________，and life was a continuous battle for survival.

Nowadays, ________________ many people, life offers little excitement. They live and work in relatively safe conditions; they ______________ food in shops; and there are doctors and hospitals to take ______________ of them if they become ill. The answer for some of these people is to ______________ danger in activities such as bungee jumping.

【推荐1】Shakespeare could not, of course, have imagined a world in which people would see performances of his plays projected onto large or small screens rather than acted_______in theaters, but that has become the_______. In the more than one hundred years since the first film of a Shakespeare play was made (in 1899, an excerpt from Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's production of King John), the_______has become Shakespeare's proper medium no less than the stage or the printed page. If Shakespeare's works are undoubtedly literary classics and staples of our theatrical_______, they have also inescapably become a part of the modern age's love affair with film. In a movie theater, on a television screen, or on a DVD player, Shakespeare's plays live for us, and thereby reach audiences much greater than those that_______our theaters.

It is,_______, a development not always welcomed. Some critics complain that Shakespeare on screen is different from (and worse than) Shakespeare in the theater Certainly it is a_______experience to see a play in a _______movie theater with actors larger than life. It is different, too, to see it on a television screen with actors smaller than they are in life, and where the experience of play watching is inevitably more_______than in any theater.

But there are obvious________as well. On screen, performances are preserved and allowed easily to circulate. If films of Shakespeare may sometimes lack the exciting one-time experience of live theater, they gain the not insignificant benefit of easy accessibility. In a town without a theater company one can see a Shakespeare play virtually at will. Some newly filmed version of a Shakespeare play is________almost every year, it seems. A video or DVD can be rented even if the film itself has passed from the local cine-plex. And on video we can replay-even interrupt-the performance, allowing it to________itself as we attend to details that might otherwise be missed.

Filmed Shakespeare is indeed different from staged Shakespeare or Shakespeare read, but it is no less________for being so. It provides a way-and for most of us the most convenient way-to see the plays. For people who cannot get to the theater and who find the printed text difficult to imagine as a theatrical experience, filmed Shakespeare offers easy________to a performance. For students for whom the language of a play often seems artificial and old-fashioned, the performance clarifies the psychological and social________of the characters. For all of us who love Shakespeare, his availability on film gives us an archive of performances to be viewed and enjoyed again and again. It is no less an authentic experience than seeing Shakespeare in the theater, for the modern theater (even the self-conscious anachronisms like the rebuilt Globe)imposes its own mistakes upon the plays. And possibly, as many like to claim, if Shakespeare lived today, he would most likely have left Stratford for Hollywood.

【推荐2】Truth be told, a life-changing college experience doesn’t begin or end with a high GPA or great university tour. And although parents and teachers alike work diligently to prep their students with the cutting-edge classes and impressive transcripts, they’re _______ one vital skill: emotional intelligence.

A poll of 1,502 first-year college students in the U.S. found that a majority of them wish they had received more ________ preparation for college. Emotional preparedness is ________ “the ability to take care of oneself, adapt to new environments,_______ negative emotions or behavior and build positive relationship,” according to the survey.

“Survey data indicate that college readiness requires far more than just a solid academic foundation – a findg that seems ________ conventional higher education preparation, said John MacPhee, Executive Director of the Jed Foundation, which co-sponsored the survey. “It is clear that emotional preparedness should be better _______ the work that high school communities are doing to guide students through the transition into college.”

Data show that college students _______ far more than their academics – and their stress can take a serious toll(代价) on their _______ in school. Forty percent of survey participants felt pressure to pay for college expenses, followed by 30 percent who said their biggest _______ was to make new friends._______, keeping in touch with family and friends not at their college (28 percent) and being independent (16 percent) also weighed heavily on college studnets’ shoulders.

All of these _______ had a negative impact inside and outside of the classroom. Students who felt less emotionally prepared for college were more likely to have a lower grade point average, regularly ________ drugs and/or alcohol, and rate their overall college experience as terrible or poor.

“As high school seniors start applying to college around this time of year, parents and people ________ in their lives can play an important role in helping children build confidence and life skills, said Marisa Giarnella-Porco, Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Jordan Porco Foundation, a survey co-sponsor. “It is important to _______ them to choose a college that best fits their needs first and foremost – not only in a(n)_______ sense, but also relative to emotional needs.”

Thankfully, whether your child is packing up for school this fall or still in diapers, it’s never too late (or too early!) to begin prepping them for university life. Here’s what parents should do to help their college-bound kid, starting now.

【推荐3】Research confirms that performing acts of kindness and sharing thankful thoughts have many positive effects on mood and health. They are among the top five predictors of happiness.

When you feel thankful for something, that’s gratitude. You never get it out of   ________ ; you are clear who or what is responsible, whether that’s a loved one, a stranger, or a higher power. Gratitude is how you ________ to others when you see yourself in connection with things larger than yourself.     ________, this understanding of our reliance on others is becoming ________ today. With commercial and social media, everything makes the younger generation feel that they are the   ________   of the universe. If it’s all about them, why thank others?

If true, there would be a disturbing ________ trend. Canadian researchers found that people who wrote thank-you letters or performed good deeds for a six-week period decreased their pain, upped their energy, and improved their mental health. And you can ________ these benefits at any age. Old people who choose to be thankful are less likely to worry about their   ________ health.

Gratitude tends to be easily spread, as well. Those who are helped are more likely to pay kindness ________ . One study found that when someone is thanked, it more than doubles his or her chances of being ________ again, likely because he or she enjoys feeling socially   ________ .

If you aren’t particularly grateful now, you can learn to be. People who keep a journal of three positive things that happen to them each day________health-inducing thankfulness. At first, it may be difficult to ________ the good things that occur. But ________, your brain gets trained into a more appreciative mode. And in the end, the journal becomes a book of joyful________. Gratitude training certainly comes to your aid during the ________times because a greater ________ for life is the part you focus on.

________your gratefulness directly with the person you feel grateful to, the benefits of happiness ________ . You don’t need a scientific study to know that showing and accepting gratitude can ensure you an ________ life, a much better life than you thought.

【推荐1】It was in my first year of work as a doctor. My mouth was _________ and my palms sweaty. The only thing that kept me _________ was the thought that things were so _________ worse for the family I was talking to.

A young girl had been rushed up to operation room after a road traffic accident. I had spent some time in between _________ in the operation room and talking to the family as they waited for news. The doctors had been   _________ to save her life. Ashen-faced, the consultant (会诊医师) told them the bad news. I sat with them for some time as they _________ quietly and when I came from the room the consultant was standing outside. “I think it would be nice if it came from you,” he said.

I _________ blankly. “What?” I asked. “About organ(器官)donation,” he replied. I swallowed hard. Surely this would be the _________ thing they’d want to talk about. It felt rather _________ and ill-timed to be considering this kind of conversation while they were being drowned in __________. But the problem with organ donation is that every minute __________.I opened the door and sat opposite them, __________ that I was only going to make things worse for them.

“It’s what she’d have wanted,” the mother said __________ I’d even finished.

The father nodded. While I had __________ they might be angry with me for bringing up such a __________ subject in their moment of grief, __________ they seemed pleased. “She was always so __________,” her father added. As I left them, it __________ to me that I’d been wrong in thinking it would be an awkward conversation. Nothing could take away the pain of having lost their daughter. Yet this last, final act had __________ them and helped them feel that the __________ of their daughter lived on in this act of generosity.

Strangely, it was one of the most heart-warming conversations I have ever had

【推荐2】Brian Peters had one thing to do before leaving his job as a police officer in Brooklyn. He decided to spend $500 he_________for his service to buy 10 gift cards and handed them out to strangers in Brooklyn Centre on his_________day.

It took him about two hours to_________the cards and he could put smiles on a lot of people’s faces, including one woman he stopped _________noticing the condition of her car. “Her car was really old and really_________. I saw her screen wipers were _________in the up position,” Peters said. “I explained what I was doing and gave her a gift card, and_________she lit up with a smile.”

Once people_________the initial shock of what he was doing, Peters said he received a lot more hugs that day. Monique Drier, who_________with Peters, said Peters has__________wanted to give back and didn’t really want the attention. “He didn’t even have a going away__________,” Drier said. “He has always tried to__________the human side of law practice. He was a great policeman and will be dearly missed.”

Peters, who started his__________job three days ago, said he still wants to continue giving back to the community. “Community service is extremely__________, and when you’re fortunate in life, you should give back to others who aren’t as fortunate as you,” Peters said. “That’s what__________the world go round.”

【推荐3】On July 15, a small community in Colorado witnessed an extraordinary act of bravery during a fierce wildfire. Firefighter John Smith should have completed his ________ hours earlier, but his decision to stay saved a family’s home from destruction. His motivation came from the ________ to protect his community.

As reported by local news, Smith was nearing the end of his shift when he noticed a house in the path of the ______ flames. Without hesitation, he ________ to the scene, aware that every second ________. He quickly assessed the situation and realized that with additional assistance, he might save the house.

He geared up and grabbed a hose(水龙带), ________ the flames with intense focus. After hours of relentless (不懈的) effort, he managed to ________ the fire, preventing it from spreading to the nearby residential area.

Once the danger had passed, the homeowners were ________ and couldn’t express enough ________ to Smith. They knew that their home would have been reduced to ashes without his ________ efforts.

________ Smith, he remained humble about his heroic actions. “I was just doing my job,” he said ________. In his view, it was not an achievement, but rather a duty. “Anyone in my ________ would have done the same,” he added.

________ Smith and the family were strangers before the incident, they have since formed a strong bond. Smith may not have won any official ________, but his act of selflessness and courage won the hearts of the entire community.