1 . Most college students think that there are only two choices after graduation—finding a job or entering graduate school. An opportunity that is often missed is volunteering with an organized volunteer program.

Volunteering provides a year of intention (计划) in a community where recent graduates can learn about the world they are entering, about themselves as individuals (个体) and about their role in this world. It provides intentional time to understand the purpose that drives one as an individual in life. Taking a year off after graduation to volunteer allows students to slow down and really understand where they want their future to lie. Not only this, but students will also be helping others, getting work experience, living in a community and giving back to society.

Volunteering often leads to a job opportunity. A volunteer might stay and work with the organization, shifting from a volunteer position to a paid position. For example, an individual doing volunteer teaching with an organization might be offered a teaching position at their school. Even if the volunteer position does not lead to a paid position, the volunteer should keep in touch with their organization. One reason is that the organization can write letters of recommendation (推荐) for the volunteer’s job applications. What’s more, volunteer experience on a resume could catch the attention of schoolmates from the organization or program who work at a place of employment (雇用). A shared volunteer experience with the manager might help one find a job!

Volunteers have fun together and like helping others a lot. They share a common mission and vision (使命和愿景), continue personal and professional development, and get new ideas about the world around them. They get to know the community, practice their social responsibility, and build their skill set and network with others. Even if volunteers are not paid, they receive these and many other benefits through their service.

3 . A huge fire broke out on 2 September 1666 in London. The fire, known as the Great Fire of London, was the worst fire in the history of London. It burned down more than three quarters of the old city.

The fire started in the very early hours of Sunday morning in the house of the king’s baker. A strong wind blew the fire from the baker’s house into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.

At that time, most of the buildings in London were made of wood, so it was easy for the fire to spread quickly. By eight o’clock, three hundred houses were on fire. By Monday, nearly a kilometre of the city was burning along the Thames River. On Tuesday, which was considered the worst day, the fire destroyed many well-known buildings, including the old St Paul’s Cathedral.

The fire burned until finally hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire were destroyed to create a firebreak. The fire then died out eventually with nothing left to burn.

Public­square dancing is now very popular with the elderly people in China. In fact, many Chinese ladies, mostly women in their fifties or sixties,     1     (take) up square dancing as a regular form of exercise over the years. Every day after supper, they gather on the square dancing. They think that square dancing is     2     great benefit. Besides helping them keep fit, it also provides them with a good chance     3     (improve) the relationship with neighbors. Also, such dance actually enriches their     4     (culture) life on the whole.

    5    , public­square dancing has also caused some social concerns. The music of square dancing tends to be very noisy,     6     of course disturbs the normal life of people living nearby. Besides,     7     (expose) to such loud noise may do harm to the dancers’ health in the long run.

Square dancing is no doubt     8     good form of exercise and enjoyment, but dancers should take their neighbors’ needs into     9     (consider). They should choose a right time and turn down their music a bit so that they will cause little trouble for others. Only in this way can they dance     10     (happy) and live in harmony with their neighbors.

5 . The concept of showing movies outdoors isn’t novel. However, it let an auto-parts salesman such as Hollingshead find a way to give a car-loving society one more activity they could do in their cars.

He first imagined the drive-in as the answer to a problem. “His mother was rather fat for indoor theater seats,” says Jim Kopp of the United Drive-in Theatre Owners Association. “So he seated her in a car and put a 1928 projector (放映机) on top of the car, and tied two bed sheets to trees in his yard.”

Hollingshead experimented for a few years before he created a ramp (坡道) system for cars to park at different heights so everyone could see the screen. He opened the gates to his theater in 1933. A few others followed.

“Drive-ins started to take off in the 1950s,” Kopp says. “They offered family entertainment. People could sit in their cars and bring their babies... Drive-ins offered more comfort than indoor theaters.” The indoor theaters were easier about scheduling, and could show one film five or six times a day instead of only at night.

D. Vogel, owner of the Benjies Drive-In near Baltimore, Md, says the price of land is the real reason many drive-ins disappeared. “People would build on the outer areas of town, and the town would grow,” he says. “Many drive-ins were mom-and-pop businesses that few sons and daughers chose to continue running. The results were a decreasing (减少的) number of drive-ins throughout the country.” Today about 400 drive-ins remain in the United States and another 100 drive-ins exist mainly in Canada and Australia.

“The digital cinema will be both a threat and an opportunity for drive-in owners,” says Patrick Corcoran, the association’s director of media and research. “Digital will allow them to get new movies sooner than they do. But the digital cinemas will be expensive to manage, and some people may not be able to do it.”

Kopp of course bets on the drive-ins’ survival. He and his wife bought an outdoor theatre. He says they have invested about $300,000 to modernize the technology. Today the theatre can hold 265 cars and show movies on a 60-foot-by-80-foot screen.

10 . Be assured that feeling sleepy at the wheel puts you at higher risk of killing yourself, your passengers and other road users. To avoid feeling tired and sleepy while driving, please read the tips below to ensure a safe journey.

Before starting the journey, make sure that:

* You are fit to drive, by having a good sleep a night before.

* You have carried out the daily check of your cars.

* You have planned your journey and understand the risk if you have to get up unusually early to start your trip, or have a long drive after a full days’ work.

* You avoid making a trip at night and having heavy meals, as these may cause sleepiness.

While on a journey:

* Take a 15-minute break every two hours for cars.

* Take 1 hour after 4 hours of continuous driving for trucks or buses.

* Share the driving if possible.

* If you start feeling sleepy, stop immediately and make sure you stop away from the road shoulder.

* Driving hours must be in line with the law(12 hours a day at most).

Symptoms (症状) of tiredness and sleepiness:

* Yawning and nodding head

* Difficulty to keep your attention, to keep your eyes open or to see things clearly

When having any of these, some drivers would like to open the windows to get fresh air or play the radio. These will not help and will not solve the problem; the only solution is to stop and have enough rest.