Are you a “glass-half-empty” or a “glass-half-full” type of person? A study showed that optimists (乐观主义者) are more likely to live longer than those who have a(n)     1     (愁眉苦脸) in life. The theory goes that optimists may find it easier to control their emotions. Here are some people’s opinions about how to stay positive.

Vicki Siska has been through some stressful times but has managed to remain optimistic. “Music    2     (使我高兴起来), a sense of humour keeps me seeing the bright side of things, and I have good friends who love and care for me,” she said.

Humour also helped Pippa Kennedy stay positive. She watched a TV show named Dad’s Army to help her get through a bad     3     (心情). “I also think being grateful for what you have and lots of chocolate help,” she added.

Sue Oakley Dunn says she remains positive and healthy because she does “what makes my soul sing”. She has plenty of hobbies to do for     4     (娱乐). “It works for me,” says Sue.

As well as the benefits of friendship and laughter, Robyn Black, who does yoga and has better access to    5     (医疗保健), recommends that staying fit and healthy is quite     6     (必不可少的).

Lifestyles differ from person to person. Some people, known as     1     natives, do a wide     2     of things online, such as     3     with friends, watching misreading updated news and interesting articles and so on. Take shopping as an example--it’s so     4     to compare quality and prices before buying. Some other people live their lives as go-getters. They tend to     5     goals when setting out to do something. Then they make a schedule and try hard to achieve it. As for life choices, in the case of Zhang Tian, he chose to be a     6     teacher in Guizhou province instead of going to big cities. Despite the poor facilities and unstable supplies of power and water, he has improved the learning lives for the students by introducing more attractive subjects like music, art and PE to the school.

    7     made him feel satisfied was that his students were able to read, speak and write in English and became more     8     in learning. Besides all these, he contacted charity organizations to set up a library and help sell local products online. As a result of the     9     he made, he became very popular among the villagers and was treated as one of them. Zhang Tian intended to stay for another year. He feels so happy that he     10     his heart, even though it may not be what others expected of him.

I don’t think memorizing the word list is the best way to learn words. First, you should learn words in     1    . For example, when reading English stories, try to keep reading on even when you come across some new words. A lot of time, you’ll be able to guess the meaning of an     2     word without looking it up. Also, you should learn words in     3    . For example, we say “open the book”, but “turn on the computer”. Or we say “eat an apple”, but “    4     the medicine”.

No matter how exciting space exploration sounds, there’s an important point that needs to be considered: food supplies. Right now, astronauts typically       1     (依赖) dry food in airtight bags and cans, since there are strict weight limits on items taken into space. Foods that we     2     (认为是理所当然的), such as fresh fruit and vegetables, are out of the question for space explorers.

For those who     3     (有强烈的愿望) to grow food during space flights, they’ve faced many difficulties, including the absence of gravity, and a lack of soil, air and humidity (湿度). However, growing food to add and minimize the food that must be carried to space will be increasingly important on long-duration flights into space. Recently, a leading team has worked out how plants can absorb nutrients from human urine (尿). Human urine is 95 percent water, with the other 5 percent    4     (构成；组成) nutrients which are harmful to the human body but not to plants, and it could supply three to four out of the six nutrients that plants need. By recycling liquid waste and producing food, an efficient cycle will be created.

And most importantly, the duration of space flights will be greatly extended to “20 years of flight”, meaning we may be soon sending astronauts on flights to Mars, or even beyond.

Holidays with friends can be great fun and a good way of getting to know each other better.    1    一个好的旅行计划将会帮助你玩得很愉快. Also it will help you to save money if you start planning earlier.

Choose a place to visit. Going abroad will cost more but be a more exciting experience. Don’t go abroad if this is the first time you organize(组织)the holidays.    2     Going to a different place in your own country can also be fun and will be cheaper.

Collect your friends. Work out how many people you will be able to plan the trip for.    3    邀请能和你友好相处的人。

Meet up. Everyone will have their own idea of what the trip to be like, you should have a meeting.     4    你最好准备一个笔记本写下一些重要的事情。

Book transport(交通). When you decide on your hotel, you will know the dates of your stay and will be able to book transport, such as trains, buses and airplanes. Booking transport earlier can help you save some money.

    5     All in all, no matter where you go, just start planning as early as possible.

The appeal of magic

Have you ever interacted with a magician or entertainer in the flesh who       1     (使惊讶) you with a show of magic? I once had such an unforgettable experience on a cruise.

It was ten years ago, after I renewed my       2     (签证) as a visiting scholar in a high school in West Virginia, the US. For the summer vacation, I w    3     from my little town in the eastern US accompanied by two colleagues and boarded a huge ship that reminded me of the Titanic, going from Miami across the sea b    4     to the Bahamas, an island country famous for its white sandy beaches and sky-blue water     5     (难得) seen in daily life.

While we were having dinner in the dining hall, an entertainer came over to our table and asked “Excuse me, would you like to see a little magic?” “Yes, of course,” we replied. How could we possibly r    6     the temptation of getting involved in a magic show? And so, the entertainer fished out       7     (迅速地) one rubber band from his pocket and asked me to hold out my hand. He put the band around my fingers, turning it in different ways to make a complex web. Then came something that seemed u    8    : slowly but surely, he     9         10         11     (去掉) the band from my fingers in one turn, as if the band had never been wound! A language teacher by p    12    , I failed to make any verbal       13     (反应), until the entertainer wished us to enjoy our dinner and went away.

Having seen many splendid magic shows on TV, I am still impressed with the one performed around my fingers. Magic can     14     ( 逗 乐 ) and amaze people whether they are       15     ( 成 熟 的 ) adults or children, easterners or westerners. The appeal of magic is u    16    .

Books and movies are two different forms of media and therefore have different rules. With this in mind, perhaps we should j    1     a movie in its own right, and not against its     2     (原作的) source.

If you think i    1     is only for adults, well, you’re wrong — because kids can be just as innovative as adults are, even more sometimes.

Here are four ways to teach your kids to be more creative:

Function follows form.

This is the idea of working backward where you start with a solution first and then work back to the problem. An example of this is the Ruined Product Exercise where you have your kids take any product around the house. Then ask them to make one change to the product where they’re going to make it worse. So they’ve got to take this seemingly ruined product and figure out some way to make it     2     (benefit) to people.

Constraints (限制) are important.

Teach your kids to realize that constraints are a necessary condition for creativity to occur. For instance, ask them to come up with an idea for the car. Then p    3     to take them into the car and tell them that they have to come up with an invention that only applies to people sitting in the backseat. This way, the kids are forced into a smaller, more constrained environment where they’re more likely to come up with a more creative idea than their first one.

Division technique creates opportunities.

The division technique basically involves taking a component, cutting it, then rearranging it somehow. One very good example is time which can be divided and rearranged, not physically but mentally. At first, just divide a(n)     4     (随机的) thing out of their day, move it to a different part of the day, and see if there’s a benefit to it. The lesson here is to get them to realize that moving the schedule around creates opportunities they may not have thought of otherwise.

Getting patents (专利) is possible.

The idea of patents has always a    5     to kids. A patent is a l    6     protection in business or engineering. But kids think they’re difficult to get. So you should get your kids to see that it’s very possible to create something and have it patented. Search the Internet for inventions by kids and you’ll find lots of examples. And this could be something they will get very excited about.

Any time you bring people together, you will have more than one opinion instantly on anything. Living in a community, I’ve heard arguments among groups of people over some of the silliest things. It’s human nature that we want others to agree with our point of view. How we     1     (解决) conflicts within a community is important to the long-term success of the community. I’d like to share three tips.

First, respect others. Be careful to debate the issue itself and not the person. You can make     2     (投诉) about what is wrong but you have to be polite to the person. And remember, as a community we have a single common identity.

Second, have     3     (自制力). Don’t let your emotions control your discussion. Avoid being overly dramatic to “win     4     (票数)”. It’s hard to keep this in mind when discussing something you’re deeply keen on, but you have to.

Lastly, work together to     5     (协商) a solution. Compromise is often the result of debates. Don’t expect to always win everyone over to your point of view.

I am sorry to hear     1    （你很难适应你的新学校）. Such problems are quite normal. Perhaps the     2    （以下建议可能会有所帮助） .

First, I think you should     3    （与同学交流）as much as possible. In this way, you will get to know each other better. Second, it might be a good idea for you     4    （参加更多的活动）, knowing new friends and communicating with other students are good for developing friendly relationships. I recommend you consider asking our teachers     5    （当面对一些棘手的问题时）. I believe they can usually offer you some sensible suggestions.

I sincerely hope     6    （我的建议会对你有所帮助）. If there is anything more I can do to help, please let me know.

Yours,

Li Hua