1 . During the rosy years of elementary school(小学), I enjoyed sharing my dolls and jokes, which allowed me to keep my high social status. I was the queen of the playground. Then came my tweens and teens, and mean girls and cool kids. They rose in the ranks not by being friendly but by smoking cigarettes, breaking rules and playing jokes on others, among whom I soon found myself.

Popularity is a well-explored subject in social psychology. Mitch Prinstein, a professor of clinical psychology sorts the popular into two categories: the likable and the status seekers. The likables’ plays-well-with-others qualities strengthen schoolyard friendships, jump-start interpersonal skills and, when tapped early, are employed ever after in life and work. Then there’s the kind of popularity that appears in adolescence: status born of power and even dishonorable behavior.

Enviable as the cool kids may have seemed, Dr. Prinstein’s studies show unpleasant consequences. Those who were highest in status in high school, as well as those least liked in elementary school, are “most likely to engage(从事) in dangerous and risky behavior.”

In one study, Dr. Prinstein examined the two types of popularity in 235 adolescents, scoring the least liked, the most liked and the highest in status based on student surveys(调查研究). “We found that the least well-liked teens had become more aggressive over time toward their classmates. But so had those who were high in status. It clearly showed that while likability can lead to healthy adjustment, high status                                        has just the opposite effect on us.”

Dr. Prinstein has also found that the qualities that made the neighbors want you on a play date—sharing, kindness, openness—carry over to later years and make you better able to relate and connect with others.

In analyzing his and other research, Dr. Prinstein came to another conclusion: Not only is likability related to positive life outcomes, but it is also responsible for those outcomes, too. “Being liked creates opportunities for learning and for new kinds of life experiences that help somebody gain an advantage, ” he said.

3 . Training for a marathon (马拉松) requires careful preparation and steady, gradual increases in the length of the runs.     1    , buy the best-fitting running shoes you can find. No one can say which brand will work best for you or feel best on your feet, so you have to rely on your experience and on the feel of each pair as you shop. When you have found shoes that seem right, walk in them for a few days to double-check the fit.     2    . As always, you should stretch (伸展) at least ten minutes before each run to prevent injuries.

During the first week, do not think about distance, but run five minutes longer each day.     3    , it is wise to take a day off to rest. But during the next week, set a goal of at least a mile and a half per run.     4    . After two weeks, start timing yourself.     5    . Depending on the kind of race you plan to enter, you can set up a timetable for the remaining weeks before the race.

4 . It always seemed like having traditions was a good thing. They create _________ that will last a lifetime. So when our children David and Darla were preschoolers, we _________ a family Christmas tradition. It was our tree-decorating party and it would be complete with eggnog and pfeffernűsse cookies.

The kids were excited as we pulled the freshly _________ tree into the house. It smelled so good. We would turn on the Christmas songs _________ the tree decoration began.

Our hearts seemed to _________ to the merriment of the Christmas songs. The kids’ eyes twinkled with _________. It was a heartwarming evening. When finished, we would sit drinking the eggnog and snacking on pfeffernűsse cookies as we _________ the beauty of the Christmas tree.

Years later when my daughter Darla was home from college she _________ to help decorate the tree. I was so _________. Before we knew it, the tree decoration was finished. It was a beautiful tree and its ____________ smell filled the room. As we had every year before, I brought out the eggnog and the pfeffernűsse cookies for our traditional ____________.

Then during the laughter Darla suddenly got very ____________ and said she had something to tell me. From her hesitation and body ____________ I learned that she was fearing it. She sat down next to me. Then very ____________ and caringly Darla looked me in the eye and said “Mom I’ve ____________ liked pfeffernűsse cookies.”

Then I ____________ the importance of what she had just said. Why didn’t she ever tell me? All those childhood years rather than ____________ Mom’s feelings and spoil Mom’s tradition, she had stood the cookies ____________. From a child’s heart year after year she had given me the gift of ____________!

My daughter taught me life’s very important ____________: The best gifts aren’t always found under the Christmas tree.

Some students have always been very efficient (效率高的) at schoolworks, among whom, Li Lin, a monitor of our class, is an example. When asking why he was always so productive, Li responded that this was some good habits that benefited him greatly and helped him to be efficient. Because he believes that efficiency depends on good organization, he has strictly following plans. Besides, he makes full use of his time. He listens attentive and takes notes in class. After class, not only he finish his homework but also he makes sure that he has reviewed that he learned timely. This is Li Lin, from him we can learn that a student’s good performance is closely connected with his better habits.

6 . Any foreigner who has tried to learn Chinese can tell how hard it is to master the tones required to speak and understand. And anyone who has tried to learn to play the violin or other instruments can report similar challenges.

Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese. Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience，researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills draw on the same parts of the brain that help people discover changes in pitch(音调).

One of the study's authors，Nina Kraus，said the findings suggested that studying music “actually tunes our sensory system”.This means that schools that want children to do well in languages should hesitate before cutting music programs，Dr. Kraus said. She said music training might also help children with language problems.

Mandarin(普通话)speakers have been shown to have a more complex encoding(编码) of pitch patterns in their brains than English speakers do. This is because in Mandarin and other Asian languages，pitch plays a central role. A single­syllable word can have several meanings depending on how it is intoned.

For this study，the researchers looked at 20 non­Chinese speaking volunteers，half with no musical background and half who have studied an instrument for at least six years.

As they were shown a movie，the volunteers also heard an audio tape of the Mandarin word “mi” in three of its meanings:squint，bewilder and rice. The researchers recorded activities in their brain stems to see how well they were processing the sounds. Those with a music background showed much more brain activities in response to the Chinese sounds.

The lead author of the study，Patrick C.M.Wong，said it might work both ways. It appears that native speakers of tonal languages may do better at learning instruments.

7 . Very few of us become fluent in another language by studying it in high school.

I made a (an) _____ to maintain (保持) the little bit of French that I learned in school, but eventually realized that this was ____ . I was well aware that new languages are_____ learned when young, and that our abilities _____ with age. However, just before my 50th birthday, I ______ French classes.

After I was _____ to see which group I belonged to, I was placed at almost the _____ level. When I looked around at my first Saturday morning class, I was _____ by how many of the students were learning French as a third, fourth, or _____ fifth language.

While I’d always considered myself as a quick _____ , that was no longer the case. I _____ new vocabulary very slowly. What I learned one week seemed to ____   as soon as I learned the next skill. I looked up the same _____ and language structures over and over again.

Now, a couple of _____ in, I can listen to the news in French and catch 90 percent of it on the first try, read a novel if the language is not too difficult, and hold up my end of a _____ if it doesn’t go too fast. Who knows what I might still ____   ? I’ve learned so much beyond grammar and vocabulary. I’ve met people from around the world who have the ______to make fools of themselves to learn something new. I have a _____ understanding of how something can look _____ different from another perspective. I’ve learned that a language is not just a set of words, but a way of _____ .

But most of all, I’ve learned that it really is never too late to learn something new.

10 . Yao Ming was born in Shanghai in 1980. At 229 centimeters, he was the third tallest player in NBA history. Yao made his first appearance in the NBA during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He surprised many critics with his first games, and was fast becoming an international fan favorite, as he broke Michael Jordan’s record for votes (投票) received. In July 2011 Yao announced his retirement from the NBA due to frequent problems in his left foot.

He continuously works to raise awareness of endangered species and even went as far as to stop using shark fin soup at his wedding in 2007. Yao has been saying no to shark fin soup since 2006 when he was appointed Goodwill Ambassador (亲善大使) for wildlife protection. “Shark’s are friends of human beings. They are not our food.” Since his retirement he has become a surprise international force in the field of wildlife protection, and he is using his fame to tell us the difficulties faced by sharks.

Most recently he went to Houston Zoo, as part of his continuing effort to educate young people about the importance of wildlife protection. He is part of a large campaign (运动) by the wildlife protection charity WildAid, and has traveled through Africa to see and document the difficulties facing elephants and rhinos in the wild. With elephant and rhinoceros poaching (偷猎) on the rise, Yao also said, “When the buying stops, the killing can too. Get rid of the demand for rhino horn and ivory right at the source. That’s what I want to do.”

Although Yao is not the first Chinese player in the NBA, it could be argued that he is the most important one, not just for his taking part in charity and wildlife protection work. He built a bridge between two completely different worlds and introduced millions to the Chinese way of life, and the American lifestyle separately.