Memory loss has to be one of our biggest     1     (fear). Names, words, facts and faces — nothing is spared.       2     (lucky), research has shown that it is possible to train the brain to protect our memories.

    3     (challenge) your brain could be one way of preserving your memories — through the value of commercial brain training app is debatable; some experiments seems to show that while people may become a master of the games on     4     (they) screen, the improvements fail to transfer to daily life. But other, more traditional activities — like learning a musical instrument or a second language — do seem to have some     5     (protect) benefits, at least on short-term memory. Ideally, it is probably best     6     (keep) your brain active throughout your life, well before you begin to approach old age.

Exercise and a healthy diet are also thought to offer some protection against memory loss. So can     7     active social life — since regular contact with other people is also thought to excite our brains. Ensuring that you regularly get a good might’s sleep     8     (help) too.

Of course, nothing can guarantee health and vitality in old age     9     these few simple measures might give you the best possible chances     10     protecting your mind as you age.

5 . The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Bemers-Lee, has won an important award which comes with a prize bag of one million Euros (₤671,000). The “Father of the Web” was named as the first winner of the Millennium Technology Prize by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation. He said he had just been “in the right place at the right time” and did not want his photo taken.

In 1991, he came up with a system to organize, connect and browser (浏览) Net pages which completely changed the internet. The British scientist was knighted (封爵士) for his pioneering work in 2003.

Sir Tim created his program while he was at the particle physics institute (粒子物理研究院), Cem, in Geneva. The computer code he came up with let scientists easily share research findings across a computer network. In the early 1990s, it was called the “World Wide Web”, and is still the basis of the web as we know it.

The famous man never went on to commercialize his work. Instead he worked on spreading the use of the Net as a channel for free expression and cooperation.

“The web is encouraging new types of social networks and opening up new ways for information management and business development. The web has obviously improved many people’s ability to obtain information central to their lives,” said Pekka Tarjanne, chairman of the Millennuim Technology Prize award committee.

Just under 80 people from 22 countries were nominated (提名) for the prize for their work in the areas of health, communication, new materials and the environment.

The Millennuim Technology Prize was set up by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation, an independent body backed by the public and private money which aims to recognize outstanding creations.

Sir Tim currently heads up the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, where he is now based as an academic.

8 . When it was my thirteenth birthday, I was overjoyed that the moment has come for me to become a teenager. I would be given more responsibility and freedom. My writing skills would strengthen and become sharper (鲜明的). To me, the experience of being a teenager excited me. I was so focused on the pleasures that I almost forgot my sister’s warning. I didn’t understand at first, but realized later what she meant.

As a teen, you — and probably many others — love the sweets teenhood brings. You are given more freedom from your parents. You can actually have some privacy with the freedom you have. The talents you have start to strengthen and become sharp. Also, you can get a job and earn your own money. Of course, you have to do so when your parents allow you to.

As I said before, being a teenager isn’t all happy and fun. Adults place higher expectations on you as you get older. The peer pressure starts to kick in. As you start to gain friends, you lose friends as well. The mood swings (情绪波动) come and go. To make matters worse, you receive more homework. That’s terrible!

All in all, teen life can be really stresstul. With so many things going on, a teenager can hardly breathe! I, for one, can tell from experience that teenhood can really be a disappointment, with no fun at all. And then, it can be heaven (天堂). That is just the way life goes.

9 . Nowadays, students are easier to learn in front of computers. With good reasons, many people question whether the state-of-the-art technology can finally change the way we learn. Others, however, make an argument that the traditional classroom-based learning has its own limitations. Considering both sides, my view is that the new programme can bring far more benefits than the traditional education.

First, it is obvious that, for any people, as long as they have access to Internet, can get the education resources easily. It is especially beneficial to people who live in a faraway area without schools or are short of money to pay for tuition. So, it is truly an easy way for people who are interested in learning.

Moreover, the distance rearning can help itself integrate (融入) its best knowledge materials and let go of them for sharing. For example, in the last 5 years, some famous universities, including Yale, Cambridge and Oxford University, have shared their most famous professors’ courses on the Internet, followed crazily by many students all over the world. If more and more universities take part in the programme, students will be facing a large wide and varied knowledge and the benefits for the whole human beings is huge.

That is not to say that traditional education should be forgotten. Teachers not only can teach knowledge, but also they can correct, encourage and communicate with students in person. But unfortunately it has weaknesses due to its inflexibility (不灵活) and lack of communications with teachers after class.

All in all, we should fully make good use of the modern technology to make the education opportunities available to people; meanwhile, we should not lose sight of the importance of traditional learning. Only by doing so can we bridge the gap between rich and poor, and thus make the whole society more impartial (公正的).