Many teachers suggest learning English by using mnemonics (助记术). Mnemonics are methods to help remember information.

The loci (轨迹) method

This method is very useful for remembering lists of words. First, you need to form a path (路线). Next, looking at the words, you will create a picture that isn’t easy to forget for each word. Then, imagine walking down your path and put the pictures at certain places. Finally, put away the words and move along the path in your mind again.

The connection method

To remember a word, it is helpful to connect it with a picture. For example, if you are trying to remember the meaning of the word “tremendous”, you might connect it with trees and men. Say the word “tremendous”, and you hear “tree” and “men”. This connection of meaning, sound and picture can help you remember new words quickly.

The grouping method

Try to remember the following words: pencil, notebook, book, newspaper, pen, paper. Try dividing them into smaller groups (things you write with; things you write on; things you read). And you’ll probably find that you are able to remember more words.

What these three methods have in common is the idea of active learning. We’ve looked at just a few mnemonics. In the end, it really depends on your own learning style and how you keep information. Why not find the one that works best for you?

Inventions are very important and they can easily change our life. The followings are some great inventions.

The television was invented in 1925. As time passed, more and more people were able to buy the television. It is a popular invention, but it is also bad for your eyes. People spend almost 4-8 hours in front of a TV while they spend less than 2 hours staying with their family.	The plane was invented in 1903. It is a very popular way of going out either for travelling or business. Over 3,000,000 people take a plane every day. It is very convenient for us. And it makes our trip faster and more comfortable. But the biggest problem led by the planes is the air pollution.
Credit cards were started in 1915. They allow people to buy things first and pay for them later. What’s more, you don’t have to carry lots of money around. You can know what you have bought by credit cards. However, you may not know how much money you have spent until you get your bill. This might put many young people and families into an economic crisis (经济危机).	The pacemaker (心脏起搏器) began to be used in 1932. It saves many people’s lives. It was an invention that was designed to give the heart small “shocks” and make it work again. The only disadvantage (缺点) for most people is that it costs a lot of money. Getting one can cost from 16,500 yuan to 35,000 yuan.

Nobody wants to lose, but we must accept that losing is a part of life. After all, we can’t win all the time. However, we can learn something valuable from every failure (失败). This may help us succeed in the future. So we must know how to be a good loser.

We should not be afraid of losing. When we lose, just take it with a smile and look on the bright side of it. Failure can’t be avoided in our life. Edison failed 10,000 times before he invented the light bulb (灯泡). When he was asked how he felt, he said that he hadn’t failed 10,000 times but had learned 10,000 things which didn’t work. We must know that history is full of examples of men and women who achieved success although they failed many times.

Losing is not very disgraceful. We must accept our failure. Remember that it can be helpful. Take action to walk out of it. When we lose, think about what we did and how we can improve. If someone else can help, we’ll be lucky enough. Maybe he or she has been through the same experience before. Many people enjoy helping others solve problems. This can save us a lot of time in learning how to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

In a word, being a good loser will help us to succeed in life. It might be painful at the beginning, but there are many advantages. Good losers set examples to us, and most importantly, they finally win.

China is a nation of etiquette (礼仪). Chinese people are among the most hospitable (好客的) people in the world. If foreigners visit a Chinese family, they would be surprised at the warmth that they would receive as guests.

When you visit a Chinese family, the host usually makes tea for you. Then he will serve you snacks like biscuits or candy. Someone in the family will also chat with you, never letting you feel lonely.

At the same time, other family members will prepare a meal for you. Chinese people treat their guests with a big meal. They always present more food than the guests can eat. And the guests must be the first to eat. Perhaps one of the things that surprise Western guests most is that the Chinese host likes to pick up food for visitors, which won’t happen at Western tables. The Chinese family go out of their way to make you feel at home. As you finish eating, the host usually says, “It seems that you didn’t eat much. Please have more. ”Although you tell them you are full, they still put more food in your bowl.

Being warm and hospitable has long been an important part of Chinese culture and tradition. As Confucius (孔子) said thousands of years ago, “To meet friends from afar, how happy we are!”

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Dads have Father’s Day. Moms have Mother’s Day. Kids have Children’s Day. But do our grandparents have a special holiday? Yes, they do.     17     The festival is on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar (阴历). As the Chinese word for nine has the same sound as the word for long, people take the Double Ninth Festival to show their wishes of long life for elder people. This year it fell on Oct 23rd.

    18     On that day, families get together and climb mountains for luck and in the hope that elderly people will live much longer. They also drink chrysanthemum wine (菊花酒) and wear a plant called zhuyu to celebrate it.

    19     For example, when there are several guests at the table, the host usually introduces them from the oldest to the youngest. When a younger person is presenting something to an older person, two hands are used. On a crowded subway or bus, younger people always offer their seats to elderly people.

It is a traditional virtue (美德) in China to respect (尊重) elderly people. That’s because the Chinese know that elderly people have knowledge and experience that young people can learn from. So Chinese people take pride in being old.     20    

Once there was a boy. He was smart, talented and handsome. However, he had a really bad temper (脾气) and nobody wanted to be friends with him. Often he got angry and said ________ things to people around him.

The boy’s parents ________ about his bad temper. They considered what they could do and one day the father had an idea. He gave his son a hammer (锤子) and a bag of nails (钉子). The father said, “Every time you get angry, take a nail and drive it into that old wood.”

The wood was very hard and the hammer was heavy, but the boy was so ________ that during the very first day he had driven 37 nails. Day after day, the ________ of nails was gradually decreasing (减少). After some time, the boy started to understand that holding his temper was ________ than driving nails into the wood.

One day the boy didn’t need the hammer and nails anymore because he learned to hold his temper perfectly. So he came to his father and told about his ________. “Now every time, ________ you hold your temper all day long, pull out one nail,” said the father.

Much time had passed. At last, the boy could be ______ himself as all the nails in the wood were gone. When he came to his father, he was asked to walk out to take a look at the wood. His father said, “You did a good job, but pay attention to the ________ that left. The wood will never be the same. The same happens when you say something hurtful to people, as your ________ leave scars (疤痕) in their hearts like those holes in the wood.”

Remember, we need to treat everyone with love and respect because even if you say you are sorry, the scars will never disappear.

Dreams are often mysterious (神秘的). One day, a man named Zhuang Zhou had     31     interesting dream. He dreamed of becoming a beautiful butterfly. Flying around, he could do anything he wanted. How happy     32     free he was! He forgot that he was a man. Then he     33     (wake) up from his dream and found he was a man.“Who am I, indeed (到底)?” he asked     34     (he). “Am I Zhuang Zhou or the butterfly?” Finally, he said, “Maybe I am a butterfly. In my dream, I became a man and my name was Zhuang Zhou.”

Zhuang Zhou lived     35     (much) than 2,000 years ago. We also call him Zhuang Zi. Zhuang Zi loved nature and freedom. He thought that people and animals should     36     (treat) equally (平等地). There are many interesting     37     (story) about him and animals. Once, Zhuang Zi and his friend     38     (be) taking a walk along the river. After a while, Zhuang Zi said, “Look     39     the fish! How happy they are!” His friend asked him, “You are not a fish. How do you know they are happy?” Zhuang Zi smiled, “But you are not me. How do you know that I don’t know the     40     (fish) feeling?” Is Zhuang Zi’s question a difficult one? What do you think he was—a man or a butterfly?