3 . The Temple of the Moon is an Incan ceremonial temple on Huayna Picchu near Machu Picchu, in Peru. The site is made up of stone masonry and an open-face and shallow cave. In the centre of the cave is a throne carved out of rock. Beside the throne are steps that lead deeper into the cave. The Temple of the Moon dates back 1500 years and was rediscovered in 1936.

The Temple of the Moon consists of three structural parts: an overhanging cave with excellent stone works, a very tall double-jamb (双重门柱) doorway beyond, and farther beyond, several structures. The temple also has niches (壁橱) and fake doors inserted in the stones, with a huge 8 meter high by 6 meter wide entrance. Its three doors are 1.60 meters high (in the front) and 1.00 meter high (at the sides). Inside, there are six niches.

Most scientists and authors believe that the name of the temple is arbitrary (任意的), as many other names given to sites in Machu Picchu. Ruth M Wright and Alfredo Valencia Zegarra, authors of The Machu Picchu Guidebook: A self guided tour say that they find no evidence that the moon played any part in the use of the temple. Others argue that the temple gets its name from the way moonlight radiates (散发) inside the cave at night.

The purpose of the temple’s being built is not exactly known. There is a theory that it must have been a royal tomb, a place of worship and a look-out post. Some believe that this was a place for sacrifices (献祭), because the structure has beautiful niches and in front of the cave, there is a rock carved in the shape of an altar (祭坛). Others think it was a ceremonial bathing complex.

The trail that leads from the summit of Huayna Picchu to the temple is very exposed and can be quite slippery. A few spots have a steel handrail, but a fall in many places would have serious results. The trail that leads off from the main Huayna Picchu trail is easier and safer, but still presents dangers.

4 . Being a mother is not easy. You need to have good parenting methods. I admit that I’m not a perfect mom and that there are problems in my family. But I’m willing to change the situation. It’s the beginning of a new year and it’s time to examine ways to do a better job with my kids. This time I have decide to focus more on how I can get my parenting methods to actually get results for me rather than just doing the usual thing and simply making out a long list of impossible things. These are a few ideas about how I plan to keep my parenting methods working throughout the year.

My kids are not really what I would call lazy, but their rooms can look like a war zone at times. Instead of getting annoyed at the sight of their underwear hanging on their laptop table, I am simply going to reward the child who keeps his room neat and take a few dollars from the pocket money of the one who continues to be untidy.

I have already moved their television into our living room. All of us like to relax in the evenings with TV, but I know watching too much TV harms their health and reduces the time we spend together as a family, so I plan to throw in some snacks and turn a quiet evening into enjoyable family time. In this way I will get to spend more time with my kids as well as stopping them from hiding in their rooms watching those meaningless TV programmes.

My kids love fries (炸薯条) and biscuits as children usually do. I have worked out a deal with them. We have Tuesdays and Saturdays labelled as “happy food days” when they can eat what they want while the rest of the week we get to focus on some nutritious (有营养的) foods to develop our bodies. In this way I have worked out an effective balance between junk-food (垃圾食品) snacks and good-for-you snacks.

If you don’t know how many outings you should allow your kids to go on, you are not the only one. I have made a deal with my kids. Out of every three outing choices, they get to choose two they really want and one that I am allowed to say “no” to. You’ll be surprised at how much you can control the number of their activities out with their friends without witnessing a long cry on your living room carpet (地毯).

I have made sure that I am going to set aside five minutes a day for each child. From past experience, I have discovered that children often hide a problem until it reaches a point they cannot handle. Thus I plan to set aside five minutes for each child to just chat about their day and tell me if there is anything they want to talk to me about.

I know that all my plans to keep my ways to solve problems are not always going to go as planned. But having some ideas in place has helped me add some limits and requirements to my children’s lives without stepping on their toes or destroying their fun. I love my kids very much and this is my way of training them to get on the good side of their lives.

So, what are your parenting methods for this year? Please leave a message and share them below.

5 . I used to have this destructive problem.

I would remember something ____ or stupid I did when I was younger and the memory would hurt. In fact, I don’t know if it was pain in my ____ or just physical pain, ____ it would hurt.

I would be eating dinner or taking a shower and I would feel the memory approaching suddenly. There was no way I could ____ it. All I could do was wait until the memory went away. It took me a long time to recognize I was ____ a type of grief (悲伤) and the way I was dealing with it wasn’t ____. I’d stop and clench (攥紧) my fists until the ____ of the memory passed: half fighting it, half letting it defeat (击败) me. It truly was like a person who ____ roller coasters riding a roller coaster: I would ____ it firmly while on the ride, scream, let it move quickly, and then just wish it would be over.

Then, one day I ____ there had to be something better than letting the ____ disaster of my life hurt me whenever they wanted to. I finally decided to handle the next incident ____. That next time turned out to be a cold winter morning as I ____ across the parking lot from the subway station. I could feel ____, shame and guilty start to hit me. But this time, I didn’t react in an unhealthy way. ____, I stopped walking, closed my eyes, and opened my ____ as if I was about to give someone a hug (拥抱).

6 . A hero doesn’t refer to the main character in a sci-fi movie or in a bestselling thriller. What really ____ a hero are the good things done in order to ____ one’s life greatly, providing peace, values and positive thinking. A hero is a person who is admired for having done something very ____ or having achieved something good.

I want to share with you my hero who makes me feel ____ enough each day of my life to reach my own goals. For most of you my hero may be ____; however, I recall a whole life full of ____ and experiences. My grandmother is known by all her grandchildren as “Mocita”. She’s a spirited woman, always ____ her mind to fight for what she wants.

Like most housewives, she kept my family ____. She is always patient, brave and   ___. She has never lost her passion (热情) for life. Even though ____ times may come, or a ____ may be round the corner, she’s always optimistic and never ___   the smile on her face.

She started playing tennis when she was 50 and soon became ____ at it. And she is still playing at 74 years old. She ____ to play and I’m sure she will die on the   ___, doing what she likes most. Because of her love for tennis, she has ____ the whole family in this great sport, giving us the ____ to enjoy great times together as a family. She’s a champion, and has ____ so many medals, exactly 80. Maybe she isn’t the most famous person you’ve ever known, ____ for me, she’s one of the most amazing people that ____ me in my daily life to become the best I can be.

7 . A young school teacher had a dream that an angel appeared to him and said, “You will be given a child who will grow up to become a world _______. How will you prepare her so that she will realize her intelligence, develop both her confidence and sensitivity, be open-minded, yet _______ in character? In short, what kind of education will you _______ so that she can become one of the world's truly great leaders?”

The young teacher _______ in a cold sweat. It had never occurred to him before ---any one of his present or future students could be the person _______in his dream. Was he preparing them to rise to any position which they may _______? He thought, “How might my _______ change if I knew that one of my students were this person?” He _______began to formulate (规划;想出)a plan in his mind.

This student would _______experience as well as instruction. She would need to know how to solve problems of various kinds. She would need to know the value of lifelong learning in order to keep a curious and ________ mind.

His teaching   ________. Every young person who walked through his________became, for him, a future world leader. He saw each one, not ________ they were, but as they could be. He ________ the best from his students, yet tempered（使缓和）it with pity. He taught each one as if the future of the ____________ depended on his instruction.

After many years, a woman he knew ________ to a position of world fame. He realized that she must ________ have been the girl described in his dream. Only she was not one of his ________, but rather his daughter. For of all the ________ teachers in her life, her father was the best.

Where and how you will ________ this child is a mystery. But believe that one child's future may depend upon the influence only you can provide, and something remarkable will happen.

8 . Your Genes, Your Future

How would you feel if someone gave you an envelope with a description of every one of your genes? Supposing this information could tell you what illnesses you were likely to get, or even what illness you might die of, would you open the envelope?

It's a difficult question to answer. But the fact is that scientists have already begun to discover how certain genes influence us. And in the next decade, they will learn a lot more.

We have known for a long time that many of our physical characteristics are inherited（继承）. For example, our eye colour and certain diseases are decided by our genes. As long as you have a good diet, scientists can predict your height by looking at your parents' heights. And we now know that the need to wear glasses has a genetic cause. Our eating habits also appear to be decided by our genes!

With other characteristics, things are not so clear. Certainly, scientists have now shown that some traits（特性，特质） are strongly influenced by our genes. Do you prefer getting up early or late? To a great extent, it's your genes that decide. Do you enjoy dangerous sports such as car racing? There is a gene that influences how much excitement we need.

But with most psychological characteristics, scientists are learning that both our genes and our environment affect us. This is true of things such as how violent we are, and how well we get on with other people. So, even though scientists may soon be able to describe our genes in detail, it does not mean they will be able to predict our future with any real success.

Nevertheless, the fact is that scientists will be able to "read" our genes in the near future. This will create new problems. To give a few examples, insurance companies may not want to insure people whose genes predict certain illnesses. Employers may not want to employ people who have a gene for violence. One thing is already clear -- with these new developments, life is going to become even more complicated!

9 . I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn’t like attention drawn to myself. And ________otherwise assigned a seat by the teacher, I always ________to sit at the back of the classroom.

All this _________after I joined a sports team. It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team. At first I thought it was a crazy________ because I didn’t have a good sense of balance, nor did I have the_______ to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me. But for the teacher who kept insisting on my “________for it”, I wouldn’t have decided to give a try.

Getting up the ________to go to the tryouts was only the half of it! When I first started________the practice sessions, I didn’t even know the rules of the game, much _______what I was doing. Sometimes I’d get _________ and take a shot at the wrong direction—which made me feel really stupid.________ , I wasn’t the only one “new” at the game, so I decided to _________ on learning the game, do my best at each practice session, and not be too hard on myself for the things I didn’t ________“just yet”.

I practiced and practiced. Soon I knew the _______and the “moves”. Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive _______in me was winning over my lack of confidence. With time, I learned how to play and made friends in the ________ — friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player. I never had so much fun!

With my ________ self-confidence comes more praise from teachers and classmates. I have gone from _______in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself, _______raising my hand— even when I sometimes wasn’t and not 100 percent _______I had the right answer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.

10 . “I find myself glancing at my watch to see how long I’ve been standing in line,” she said. “Everywhere I go, I notice if the dumpster gates are open or if there’s trash in the parking lot.” Ms. Clark is a “mystery shopper”, one of thousands of contract workers that companies hire to pretend as regular customers in order to judge customer service, cleanliness and whether a store is selling a product that meets company specifications.

Mystery shoppers can be found or, rather, not found, everywhere from restaurants and automotive shops to convenience stores and department stores. They play a constant cat-and-mouse game with store and restaurant employees and managers. However it’s not all fun and games. Once in the field, a mystery shopper will typically visit several stores or restaurants per hour, taking mental notes while inside, then jotting down physical notes after they leave.

It’s important for mystery shoppers to be as exact as possible, because the client companies are looking for data they can use to improve their service. The questionnaire won’t say, “Does the trash can need to be emptied?” What an educated shopper will say is, “The trash can to the left of the front door was overflowing with 10 pieces of trash on the ground.” Companies don’t need opinion but facts.

Nowadays mystery shoppers are armed with a number of high-tech devices, such as a digital scale and a digital thermometer, as well as a handheld PC for recording the entire experience. It’s a challenging job but a rewarding one. Mystery shoppers can be full time or part time, but the full-time workers tend to stick to standard mystery shopping while part-timers often choose the less complex reward-based programs. In those, the shoppers stay disguised only until the “shop” is finished, and then reveal themselves to the store management and award prizes to employees who provided excellent service.

To be a mystery shopper, it’s important to be a good observer, but sometimes it’s important to have the right profile, too. Companies often hire shoppers from particular backgrounds to better blend in with clients’ regular customers. If a secret shopper will be sent in, for example, to do a high-end automotive shop, the candidate must have a particular profile that meets a high-end, luxury car-type buyer profile. “It’s a challenge to perform your shop without being discovered,” Ms. Clark said, “because most of the people that we work for are very aware of the mystery shopping program.”