As children, our parents had dreams for us. They wanted us to do    1    was necessary to realize our highest    2    . Later in life, friends and spouses may also have schedules for us. People close to us may have ideas about how we should live our lives. The ideas usually    3    love and the desire for us to be happy.Other times , they come from a place of need within them--whether it is the parent    4    wants us to    5    his or her dreams or the friend who wants us to play an already-defined role. We can appreciate and consider those people 's input, but    6    we must follow our own inner guidance.

There may come a time when all the suggestions can become unbearable. We may feel that the people we love don't approve    7    our judgment, which can    8    us to some extent. They can    9    the choices we make for our lives by making us    10    ourselves. They may also fill a void(空虚) with their dreams before we've had a chance    11    what we want. However, they can affect us    12    as well. We may have to    13    with the feelings of resistance and to keep ourselves off them. But we can spend some time in    14    rid of any unnecessary doubts and become    15    what we desire for ourselves.

We can tell our loved ones how much we    16    their ideas, but that we need to live our own lives and make our own    17    . We can explain that they need to let us learn from our own experiences    18    rob us of wonderful life lessons and the opportunity to    19    our own judgment. When they see that we are happy with our lives, they can understand all we need them do is to share joy    20    us.

The moon had gone behind a cloud and there weren't many stars in the sky. As I took a glance at my neighbor 's house, I saw a flame in his    1    . l thought he was cooking midnight fast food so I went back to my    2    .

Soon, there was a    3    smell in the air and I guessed something was wrong.     4    , l jumped out of bed and went downstairs to    5    . l saw fire coming out of my neighbor's kitchen. Right away, I    6    , "Fire! Fire!" But there was no one nearby to    7    my shouts for help.

l___8___into my house, called the fire department and ran back to my neighbor's house. I rang the doorbell, hit the door hard and    9    my neighbor's name but there was no    10    : l managed to    11    the house and rescued a cat and a rabbit.

l tried to throw water through the kitchen window    12    it was no use. The fire was too strong.     13    , a fire engine arrived and soon the firemen put out the fire. They arrived just    14    as the fire was going to spread to the other rooms in the house.

When my neighbor came back , he was sad    15    his kitchen was burnt down, but he thanked me    16    calling the fire department and for saving his    17    . He wanted to give me some money in return but I did not    18    it.

Weeks later, my neighbor repaired and restored his kitchen. He    19    me to see his new kitchen and there he gave me a medal that he had    20    ordered from a factory. It made me feel very happy.

In the past, people usually believed what newborn babies    1    was just food and to be kept warm and dry. They thought babies were not able___2___things until they were five or six months old.     3    the researchers in the United States now believe babies    4    learning on their first day of life. They say babies are strongly    5    by their environment and that a baby will smile if its mother does something    6    it likes.

A baby learns to get the best possible care by smiling to    7    its mother. This is how babies start to learn to    8    and communicate with other people. The researchers say this ability to learn    9    in a baby even before birth. They also support the idea that newborn babies can    10    and understand sounds they heard while they were still    11    inside their mothers.

Recently, an American study    12    112 babies found babies leaned better when they were sitting up. The babies appeared to learn well whether they were sitting up on    13    own or they    14    to sit up. The researchers said keeping that kind of    15    had what they called a significant effect    16    the babies' ability to learn about objects. They said the body position may be    17    to development in the brain. One    18    said babies can pay more attention to    19    an object if they do not have to be worried    20    their balance.

If you    1    to begin a new job tomorrow, you would bring with you some basic strengths and weaknesses. Success or    2    in your work would depend, to a great    3    , on your    4    to use your strengths and weaknesses to best advantage. Of the utmost importance is your attitude. If a person    5    begins a job is convinced that he isn't going to like it or is    6    that he is going to suffer, he is exhibiting a weakness which can only hinder his success. On    7    hand, a person who believes that he is as capable    8    doing the work as anyone else and who is willing to make a cheerful    9    at it possesses certain strength of purpose. The chances are that he will do well.

    10    the prerequisite(必备的)skills for a particular job is a strength. Lacking those skills is obviously a weakness. A bookkeeper(簿记员) who can't do the accounts or a carpenter who can't cut a straight line with a saw is a(n)    11    case. This book has been    12    to help you capitalize on the strength and overcome the    13    that you bring to the job of learning.But in groups to    14    your development, you must first take stock of(做出评估) where you stand now.    15    we get further along in the book, we'll be discussing in detail the specific processes for developing and    16    learning skills. However,     17    begin with, you should pause to    18    your present strengths and weaknesses in three areas that are    19    to your success or failure in school: your    20    , your reading and communication skills, and your study habits.

In our modern world, when something wears out, we throw it    1    and buy a new one.The problem is that countries around the world have produced mountains of    2    because people are throwing more rubbish    3    ever before.

How did we begin to live in a throwaway society? First    4    all , it is now easier to    5    an object than to spend time and money repairing it.     6    modern manufacturing(制造业) and technology , companies are able to produce products quickly and inexpensively. Products are plentiful and    7   .

Another cause is our    8    of disposable(一次性的) products. As    9    people, we are always looking for ways to save time and make our lives easier. Companies    10    thousands of different kinds of disposable products : paper plates and plastic cups, to name a few.

Our appetite for new products also contributes    11    the problem. We are    12    to buying new things. Advertisements persuade us that the new are better and that we will be happier with the latest products.The result is that we throw away useful possessions to make    13    for new ones.

All around the world, we can see the    14    of this throwaway lifestyle. Mountains of rubbish just keep getting bigger. To    15    the amount of rubbish and to protect the    16    , more governments are requiring people to recycle materials.     17    , this is not enough to solve our problem.

Maybe there is another way out. We need to repair our possessions    18    throwing them away. We also need to rethink our attitudes towards    19    the money. Repairing our possessions and changing our spending habits maybe the best    20    to reduce the amount of rubbish and take care of our environment.

From childhood to old age, we all use language as a    1    of broadening our knowledge and the world around us.When humans first    2    , they were like newborn children, unable    3    this valuable tool. Yet once language developed, the possibilities of mankind 's future    4    and cultural growth increased.

Many language experts believe that evolution is    5    for our ability to produce and use language. They    6    that our highly evolved brain provides us    7    : an innate (先天的)language ability not found in lower organisms(生物). Those who support this innateness theory say that our    8    for language is inborn, but that language itself develops gradually, as a function of the growth of the brain during childhood. Therefore, there is a critical biological    9    for language development.

Current    10    of innateness theory are mixed.However, evidence supporting the existence of some innate abilities can not be denied.     11    , more and more schools are discovering that foreign languages are best taught in    12    grades. Young children can often learn several languages by being    13    to them, while adults have a much harder time    14    another language once the rules of their first language have become firmly fixed.

    15    some aspects of language are innate, language does not develop automatically by itself. Children who have been    16    from other human beings do not possess language. This demonstrates that    17    with other human beings is necessary for proper language development. Some language experts believe that this is even more basic to human language    18    than any innate abilities. These theorists view language as imitative, learned behavior.     19    , children learn language from their parents by imitating them. Parents gradually shape their child 's language skills by giving    20    feedback to precise imitations and negative feedback to imprecise ones.

There was once a common street in the countryside, where no one took much    1    of their gardens. The grass was high and the hedges needed to be cut back. The street looked unattractive,     2    when the neighbor looked at each other and their gardens, they just shrugged their shoulders and laughed. It seemed that no one bothered    3    it because all neighbors had the    4    gardens and no one felt it was    5    to change anything.

Then    6    a gardener named Bill. As soon as Bill came, he started to    7    in the garden. He got the lawnmower(割草机) out and gave the grass a good cut. Then he    8    his gloves on and pulled out all of the weeds.     9    , he finished shaping the hedges.Satisfied with his hours of hard work, the gardener went inside.

    10    in Bill's work, the neighbors walked by and casually    11    the tidy garden. At first,     12    changed, but over some time, something interesting    13    . One by one, the neighbors started to design their own gardens and the sounds of lawnmowers could be heard every Saturday morning. After a few months, the street    14    room a messy, dirty collection of houses to a beautiful avenue    15    wouldn't be out of place in a stylish magazine. Bill showed everyone what could be    16    with a little bit of hard work.

We usually think because no one else cares, we don't have to    17    . But    18    we have a chance to make a meaningful change, it will not only    19    us, but also inspire others to follow, which will    20    the changes of the whole world.

History has some very special qualities. It is a    1    of what has happened in the past, and the really interesting thing is that much of history has been repeated time and    2    . It allows us to learn from the past, both the    3    made and the successes achieved.

One of the    4    of history is that it allows us to know.     5    famous people reacted when they were    6    with challenges in their life. Although these challenges happened at a certain time in the past or in a different country or culture, all of them can always teach us something    7    .

Take for    8    the story of Thomas Edison and how many times he    9    while on the road    10    finally inventing the light bulb. He could be regarded as an example of a person who    11    stopped trying. I am sure he was    12    by those difficulties but he did not let them stop him. He had a dream and he just kept    13    until he reached success.

Or, think about the story of Abraham Lincoln    14    managed to become President of the United States even though he suffered hearing    15    . Most of us only know about his success.     16    , his life was not an easy one. His story makes us keep moving forward no matter what    17    we have in life.

These true historical stories will make you stop to reconsider    18    or going after your dreams even though you may not think you have the courage or the    19    for now to get what you have always wanted. They could help you make decisions and    20    when you have no idea what to do. They could inspire you to be all that you can be.

Setting off fireworks during festival is    1    to have a history of about 2000 years. It does add to festive atmosphere. But let's stop and    2    the price we pay for just a few minutes of excitement.

First, the amount of money we    3    on fireworks is    4    . The excitement is gone    5    . Let's face it that    6    we are really doing is burning money. Those tax dollars would be put to    7    better use.

Second, there is the matter of    8    . Fireworks contain chemicals that are harmful    9    people and animals. As the years pass, these chemicals will poison the air we breathe and the water we drink.

Third, let 's consider the rubbish    10    behind after a fireworks display. What a    11    ! One would probably expect those who set off the fireworks would have the politeness to    12    the trash afterwards.     13    , they don't. The mess    14    the kind of attitude people have towards our    15    .

Fourth, fireworks are    16    . Some fireworks can damage your    17    , especially the fireworks used meanwhile that give off a big BANG. Losing your hearing is too high a price to pay.     18    all the safety warning, we still see injuries and deaths as a result of fireworks. Approximately 10, 000 Americans are injured every year by fireworks.

In my view, all particularly dangerous fireworks should be    19    . Public fireworks displays should be kept to a minimum and should be paid for through volunteer funding, not tax dollars. Finally, those people in charge of fireworks displays should be    20    for cleaning up the mess they make.

During the Nov.11 shopping event, many people    1    to buy more than they need    2    sales promotions or just plain urges. But what normally    3    the shopping spree(疯狂购物)is not satisfaction    4    regret. That's because many people just buy things to fill the    5    in their hearts, but accumulating things actually    6    the burden in their minds.

The concept of Danshari may provide a(n)    7    to the problem. Danshari was based on three Chinese characters, duan she li, meaning refusal, disposal and separation. It promotes the idea of getting rid    8    unnecessary things and separating oneself from the drive to own    9    possessions. There are two basic rules that decide    10    you should keep something--the relationship between you and the item under    11    as well as the timing. So before you enter your payment password for something, ask yourself two questions: Do l    12    it now? Does it suit me?

Danshari encourages you not only to deny yourself things, but to give up the unreasonable desire    13    with owning them. Nowadays, people need to lean to    14    their daily lives. Buy only the necessities and    15    items, and regularly throw away things you don't need any    16    . You'll get freedom in your heart then.

However, it doesn't mean that you should    17    your desire and live a less interesting life. Instead, you should    18    yourself rather than material goods. Through    19    what to buy and what to get rid of, you can see a deeper reflection of yourself.     20    , learn to make wise decisions about more important things.