Most of us believe that we go to college in order to be educated, and be ________ to our society when we complete our studies. ________ this is true, but there is more to it than that. We go to college not only to learn knowledge, but to ________ ourselves for the real world, for college is a society in miniature (微型复制品). Thus, it teaches us how to ________ relationships between different kinds of people later. College life provides many opportunities, which can help us better ________ the real world. College education also ________ a student to develop a mind that is able to think clearly and critically

While we are at college, we should communicate with our ________ as possible. They are as human as we are but with a wider range of knowledge than we do, which can help ________ our secret little problems. As a result, they can help us in more ways than just teaching us school ________.

Some of us tend to go to extremes (极端). We are either too fond of studies and become bookworms or too ________ in after-school activities. The former kinds of students,________ are star pupils at college but not likely to be successful in their career because they ________ the knowledge of real human beings and their range of interests is too ________ . The latter.________ they lack the basic knowledge of science and humanities, are not likely to succeed, either. Thus we must follow the middle ________ between these two extremes.

Most people agree that honesty is a good thing. But does Mother Nature agree? Animals can’t talk, but can they lie in other ways? Can they lie with their bodies and behavior? Animal experts may not call it lying, but they do agree that many animals, from birds to chimpanzees, behave dishonestly to fool other animals. Why? Dishonesty often helps them survive.

Many kinds of birds are very successful at fooling other animals. For example, a bird called the plover sometimes pretends to be hurt in order to protect its young. When a predator(猎食动物) gets close to its nest, the plover leads the predator away from the nest. How? It pretends to have a broken wing. The predator follows the “hurt” adult, leaving the baby birds safe in the nest.

Another kind of bird, the scrub jay, buries its food so it always has something to eat. Scrub jays are also thieves. They watch where others bury their food and steal it. But clever scrub jays seem to know when a thief is watching them. So they go back later, unbury the food, and bury it again somewhere else.

Birds called cuckoos have found a way to have babies without doing much work. How? They don’t make nests. Instead, they get into other birds’ nests secretly. Then they lay their eggs and fly away. When the baby birds come out, their adoptive parents feed them.

Chimpanzees, or chimps, can also be sneaky. After a fight, the losing chimp will give its hand to the other. When the winning chimp puts out its hand, too, the chimps are friendly again. But an animal expert once saw a losing chimp take the winner’s hand and start fighting again.

Chimps are sneaky in other ways, too. When chimps find food that they love, such as bananas, it is natural for them to cry out. Then other chimps come running. But some clever chimps learn to cry very softly when they find food. That way, other chimps don’t hear them, and they don’t need to share their food.

As children, many of us learn the saying “You can’t fool Mother Nature.” But maybe you can’t trust her, either.

We often focus on building relationships with others that we forget the essential first step: being friends of ourselves.     62     How can we have good relationships with others if we don’t even have good relationships with ourselves?

The problem might be worse than we expect. Maybe we don’t like ourselves without realizing it. Here is a simple checklist: Is there anything you don’t like about yourself from these lists? Your past: Maybe you have made mistakes in the past which you feel bad about.     63       Even if that happened in distant past, your subconscious(潜意识的) mind still has a reason not to like yourself.

Your background: You might wish that you were born in a different family, or that you have a different background. Maybe you could not accept the fact that you are not as lucky as others. They seem to get whatever they want effortlessly because of their background.

Your personal features: You might have some personality features that you don’t like. For example, you may be an introvert(内向的) and you don’t like it; you wish you were an extrovert. Others might have better achievements than you, and no matter how hard you tried, it might seem impossible for you to match them.     64     Is there anything that resonate (共鸣) with you? All these give reasons to you not to like yourself. That in turn makes it difficult for you to be a good friend to yourself.     65     Here are some tips:

Forgive yourself;

Accept things you can’t change;

Focus on your strengths;

Write your success stories;

Stop comparing yourself with others;

Always be true to yourself.