Quite a few young people nowadays have the habit of listening to background music while doing their homework.

We know that a cat, whose eyes can take in many more rays of light than our eyes, can see clearly at night.

Overhead bridges are found in many parts of Beijing, especially in places where traffic is very heavy and crossing the road is dangerous. The purpose of these bridges is to enable pedestrians (行人) to cross roads safely. Overhead bridges are used to very much the same way as zebra crossings. They are more efficient (效率高的) although less convenient because people have to climb up a long flight of steps. This is inconvenient especially to older people. When pedestrians use an overhead bridge, they do not hold up traffic. However, when they cross a busy road using a zebra crossing, traffic is held up. This is why the government has built many overhead bridges to help pedestrians and to keep traffic moving at the same time. The government of Beijing has spent a large amount of money on building these bridges. For their own safety, pedestrians should be encouraged to use them instead of risking (冒……危险) their lives by dashing across the road. Old people, however, may find it a little difficult climbing up and down the steps, but it is still much safer than walking across the road with all the danger of moving traffic. Overhead bridges serve a very useful purpose. Pedestrians, both old and young, should make it a habit to use them. This will prevent unnecessary accidents and loss of life.

长城是中国的历史文化符号之一。

Are some people born clever and other born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways. It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people is, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random from the population, it is likely that their degree of intelligence will be completely different. If, on the Other hand, we take two identical twins, they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depend on birth. Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in their intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all are likely to have similar degree of intelligence.

People from all walks of life express great respect to our soldiers because they are the loveliest people in the world.

Procrastination (犹豫不决) is a disease of the mind. A scientific study in recent years has shown that it is a close relative of sadness and attention disorder; that procrastinators tend to be the result of low self-confidence and are likely to experience anxiety. The research has shown, what is more, that the illness has become quite common. Susan Robert, a behavioral psychologist who has written a book called Living With Procrastination, says that about a quarter of the adult population of the United States and Canada is reported to have serious problems with procrastination. 'when we say 'serious' we mean people for whom procrastination causes great discomfort and suffering. We've found that such people are more troubled by daily life than others, that possibility of anxiety is much higher among them than in the rest of the population.' In a society driven by achievement, it is little wonder that not being able to work at full steam will bring people sadness. Surely, in the land of opportunity, this anxiety has produced an industry of experts offering solutions. Many books and specialist solutions have appeared. In exchange for $19.95, Dr. Jerome Murray will send out an audio-cassette called 'Protect your future from the thief of procrastination.' Dr. Murray promises that if you follow his step-by-step rules you will be empowered to 'turn self-defeat into self-realization'. 'Since the start of the 1990s, procrastination has been taken more and more seriously,' said Dr. Roberts, who has been treating patients troubled by the condition for more than 20 years. 'It is now recognized as a true mental health problem and is being seen more as a psychological problem and less as a moral issue.'

With the coming of the Internet, online communities have figured out a way to generate profit from the sharing of those underused property. Using websites and social media groups that facilitate the buying and selling of second-hand goods, it is now easier than ever for peer-to-peer sharing activities to take place. And this is known as the sharing economy. These popular online platforms are providing a chance for people to make a quick fortune. To give an example, busy parents previously might not have bothered with setting up a stall at the local market to sell their children's old equipment, but with online marketplaces, parents are now able to sell on those hardly worn baby clothes that their children have outgrown so as to put some cash back into their pockets. Businesses have also caught on to the profitability of the sharing economy and are seeking to gain from making use of those underutilized resources. Companies like Airbnb act as a middleman for people to cash in on their unused rooms and houses and let them out as profitable accommodation. Another example is Uber, which encourages people to use their own personal cars as taxis to make some extra cash in their free time. This move towards a sharing economy is not without criticisms. Unlike businesses, unregulated individuals do not have to follow certain regulations and this can lead to poorer and inconsistent quality of goods and services and a higher risk of fraud. Nevertheless, in the consumerist society we live in today, the increased opportunities to sell on our unwanted and underused goods can lead to a lesser impact on our environment.

'If you want to see a thing well, reach out (伸出手) and touch it!' That may seem a strange thing to say. But touching things can help you to see them better. Your eyes can tell you that a glass ball is round. But by holding it in your hands, you can feel how smooth (光滑) and cool the ball is. You can feel how heavy the glass is. When you feel all these about the ball, you really see it. With your skin, you can feel better. For example, your fingers can tell the difference between two coins in your pocket. You can feel a little drop of water on the back of your hand, too. All children soon learn what 'Don't touch!' means. They hear it often. Yet most of us keep on touching things as we grow up. In shops, we touch things as we might buy: food, clothes. To see something well, we have to touch it. There are ways of learning to see well by feeling. One way is to close your eyes and try to feel everything that is touching your skin. Feel the shoes on your feet, the clothes on your body, the air on your skin. At first, it is not easy to feel these things. You are too used to (习惯于) them! Most museums are just for looking. But today some museums have some things to touch. Their signs say, 'Do touch!' There you can feel everything on show. If we want to see better, reach out and touch. Then you will really see!

How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets. Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities. If a child has good parents, he is well fed, looked after and loved. It is unlikely that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return. In addition, life is always presenting new things to the child-things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well known. A child finds pleasure in playing in the rain, or in the snow. His first visit to the seaside is a marvelous adventure. But a child has his pains: he is not so free to do as what he wishes to do; he is continually being told what to do and what not to do. Therefore, a child is not happy as he wishes to be. When the young man starts to earn his own living, he becomes free from the discipline of school and parents; but at the same time he is forced to accept responsibilities. With no one to pay for his food, his clothes, or his room, he has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may get himself into trouble. If, however, he works hard, goes by the law and has good health, he may feel satisfied in seeing himself make steady progress in his job and in building up for himself his own position in society. Old age has always been thought of as the worst age to be, but it is not necessary for the old to be unhappy. With old age comes wisdom and the ability to help others with advice wisely given. The old can have the joy of seeing their children making progress in life, they can watch their grandchildren growing up around them; and, perhaps best of all, they can, if their life has been a useful one, feel the happiness of having come through the battle of life safely and of having reached a time when they can lie back and rest, leaving everything to others.

Practice should go hand in hand with theory.

Whether we like it or not, the world we live in has changed a great deal in the last hundred years.

B: It's already on sale, Madam. But since it fits you so perfectly, 10% off, is that OK?

就是在这间小屋里，他们勤奋地工作着。

It is estimated that about 80% of the world's population cannot afford to have proper food, housing or medical care.

A：你好!我叫张明，我在外语系学习。你学的是什么专业?

It was December 25. Marie, a 13-year-old Australian girl, was happy. It was Christmas and Marie's mother was making a very special cake. She put four small coins into the cake and then baked it. The four coins were for good luck. After dinner, Marie and her family ate the cake. They found three coins in the cake and put them on the table. Where was the fourth one? It was missing, but Marie's mother didn't notice. After Christmas, Marie got sick. She coughed and couldn't speak. Marie's parents took her to hospital. Doctors at the hospital looked her over and then said, 'We are sorry, but we can't help her.' For 12 years, Marie didn't speak. But like other common people, she grew up, got a job and got married, One day, when Marie was 25 years old, she got a sore throat. She began to cough. She coughed up something small and black. What was it? Marie didn't know. She took it to a hospital. A doctor at the hospital said, 'This is a coin!' The doctor told Marie, 'I think you can speak again.'

Emotion is sometimes regarded as the opposite of reason, as is suggested by phrases such as 'appeal to emotions rather than reason' and 'don't let your emotions take over'. Emotional reactions sometimes produce consequences or thoughts which people may later regret or disagree with, but during an emotional state, they could not control their actions. Thus, it is generally believed that one of the most distinctive facts about human beings is a contradiction between emotion and reason. However, recent empirical studies do not suggest there is a clear distinction between reason and emotion. Indeed, anger or fear can often be thought of as an instinctive response to observed facts. The human mind possesses many possible reactions to the external world. Those reactions can lie on a continuum, with some of them involving the extreme of pure intellectual logic, which is often called 'cold' , and others involving the extreme of pure emotion not related to logical agreement, which is called 'the heat of passion'. The relation between logic and emotion merits careful study. Passion, emotion, or feeling can reinforce an argument, even one based primarily on reason. This is especially true in religion or ideology, which frequently demands an all-or-nothing rejection or acceptance. In such areas of thought, human beings have to adopt a comprehensive view partly backed by empirical argument and partly by feeling and passion. Moreover, several researchers have suggested that typically there is no 'pure' decision or thought; that is, no thought is based 'purely' on intellectual logic or 'purely' on emotion—most decisions are founded on a mixture of both.

政府已经采取积极措施防止空气污染。

I'm a Chinese student studying in Canada. I have been a boarder (寄宿生) with the Carsons for more than a year and a half. The Carsons live in their own house, which has four bedrooms including the one in the basement (底层) which I live in. Judy does all the work in the house and Andrew is responsible for the work in the garden. When they go out in the evening, they often ask me to look after their children. Judy's parents, Mr and Mrs. Morris, lived in another city. Judy was their only child and naturally they doted on (溺爱) Judy's children. They often sent the children presents. Last April, Mr. Morris died. Now that Mrs. Morris was quite alone, I expected that Judy would want her to come and live with them. One day, Margaret told me grandma was coming to live with them and her daddy and mummy would want my room back. The news didn't surprise me and the next day I went to Judy and asked her about it. I said I couldn't think of living in their basement room any longer if it was needed for Mrs. Morris. Judy seemed surprised at first. Then she told me there was no deed for me to move, for they hadn't yet come to any decision about her mother coming to live with them. 'Naturally I'm worried about my mother. She has been in poor health.' She smiled sadly and added. 'To be honest, Andrew and my mother have never got on well. We'll wait a bit and see what happens. Perhaps Moter will be all right living herself, of perhaps they will both change their minds.' That was six months ago. During this time I've heard that Mrs. Morris has had two illnesses and that her health has got worse. A nursing home was mentioned once but Mrs. Morris refused to go there. So up to now she's still living alone and I'm still living in the basement room.