If those "mad moments"—when you can't recall what your friend has told you or where you left your keys—are becoming more frequent, mental exercises and a healthy brain diet may help. Just as bodies require more maintenance with the passing years, so do brains, which scientists now know show signs of aging as early as the 20 s and 30 s. " Brain aging starts at a very young age, younger than any of us have imagined and these processes continue gradually over the years," said Dr. Gary Small, the director of the Center on Aging at the University of California, Los Angeles. "I'm convinced that it is never too early to get started on a mental or brain-fitness program ," he added. In his book, "The Memory Bible," the 51-year-old neuroscientist lists what he refers to as the 10 commandments for keeping the brain young. They include training memory, building skills, minimizing stress, mental exercises, brain food and a healthy lifestyle. It's a game plan for keeping brain cells sparking and neural networks in tip-top shape. "Misplacing your keys a couple of times doesn't mean you should start labeling your cabinets. Memory loss is not an inevitable consequence of aging. Our brains can fight back," he said. Small provides the weapons for a full-scale attack. According to him, simple memory tests give an indication of what you are up against and tools such as look, snap and connect are designed to make sure that important things such as names and dates are never forgotten. " So if you want to learn names and faces, for example, you meet Mrs. Beatty and you notice a distinguishing facial feature, maybe a prominent eyebrow," said Small. " You associate the first thing that comes to mind. I think of the actor Warren Beatty so I create a mental snapshot of Warren Beatty kissing her brow. " Small admits it may sound a bit strange but he says it works. "Mental exercises could be anything from doing crossword puzzles and writing with your left hand if you are right handed or learning a language. It could be anything that is fun that people enjoy doing" , he added. He also recommends physical exercise, a low-fat diet and eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish, walnuts and Brazil nuts, and fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants(抗氧化剂)including blueberries and onions in addition to reducing stress.

Fewer and fewer of today's workers expect to spend their working lives in the same field, ______the same company.

On an average of six times a day, a doctor in Holland practices "active" euthanasia(安乐死): intentionally administering a lethal(致死的)drug to a terminally ill patient who has asked to be relieved of suffering. Twenty times a day, life-prolonging treatment is withheld or withdrawn when there is no hope that it can affect an ultimate cure. "Active" euthanasia remains a crime on the Dutch statute books. But a series of court cases has made it clear that a competent physician who carries it out will not be prosecuted. Euthanasia, often called "mercy killing" is a crime in Western Europe. But more and more doctors and nurses readily admit to practicing it, most often in the"passive" form of withholding or withdrawing treatment. The long simmering euthanasia issue has lately boiled over into a, sometimes, fierce public debate. Those opposed to the practice see themselves upholding sacred principles of respect for life, while those in favor raise the banner of humane treatment. After years on the defensive, the advocates now seem to be gaining ground. Reasons for the latest surge of interest in euthanasia are not hard to find. Nowadays, lingering chronic diseases have replaced critical illnesses as the primary cause of death. And the euthanasists argue that every human being should have the right to "die with dignity". Most experts believe that euthanasia will continue to be practiced no matter what the law says.

Where is the boundary between human mind and machine? If the test were reasoning ability

The company has the right to end his employment at any time.

Electronic mail has been in widespread use for more than a decade, simplifying the flow of i-deas, connecting people from distant offices and eliminating the need for meetings, but e-mail should be carefully managed to avoid unclear and inappropriate communication. As time goes on and more people surf the Net, the amount of unsolicited e-mail grows. Some folks reasonably assume that cyberspace mirrors many aspects of other forms of communications. It would seem that since telemarketing and direct mail are successfully used as marketing techniques for many businesses , it should follow that direct e-mail or unsolicited e-mail should also work. This topic is hotly debated between experienced Internet users and newcomers. Unlike receiving promotional materials through the mail or over the phone, e-mail does carry a cost to the recipient. "Bandwidth" is used every time when an e-mail message is sent and places a load on existing resources. The process of sending unsolicited e-mail to large, untargeted lists, or through mailing list discussion groups or Usenet newsgroups, is known as "spamming". Spamming wastes bandwidth. Imagine if it became common practice for businesses to market this way. Not only would it be annoying for many, the load on the system would translate to higher access fees. Unlike regular mail where the sender pays the cost of delivering the mail, e-mail is cheap to send, and in some cases, expensive to receive. Many businesses responsibly market by e-mail, for example, by inviting existing customers or website visitors to receive future e-mail announcements. Some of the free e-mail services are advertiser-supported and hence using e-mail marketing in an upfront acceptable manner. Hopefully, this will be the norm, rendering the inconvenience of spam a thing of the past.

The terrorists kidnapped the director of the company and demanded a large sum of money for his______.

Job sharing refers to the situation in which two people divide the responsibility of one full-time job. The two people willingly act as part-time workers, enough hours between them to fulfill the duties of a full-time worker. If they each work half the job, for example, they each receive 50 percent of the job's wages, its holidays and its other benefits. Of course, some job sharers take a smaller or larger share of the responsibilities of the position, receiving a less or greater share of the benefits. Job sharing differs from conventional part-time work in that it occurs mainly in the more highly skilled and professional areas, which requires higher levels of responsibility and employee commitment. Job sharing should not be confused with the term work sharing, which refers to increasing the number of jobs by reducing the number of hours of each existing job, thus offering more positions to the growing number of unemployed people. Job sharing, by contrast, is not designed to address unemployment problems: its focus, rather, is to provide well-paid work for skilled workers and professionals who want more free time for other activities. As would be expected, women constitute the bulk of job sharers. A survey carded out in 1988 by Britain's Equal Opportunities Commission revealed that 78 percent of sharers were female, the majority of whom were between 20 and 40 years of age. Subsequent studies have come up with similar results. Many of these women were re-entering the job market after having had children, but they chose not to seek part-time work because it would have meant lower status. Job sharing also offered an acceptable shift back into full-time work after a long absence. The necessity of close cooperations when sharing a job with another person makes the actual work quite different from conventional one-position jobs. However, to ensure a greater chance that the partnership will succeed, each person needs to know the strengths, weaknesses and preferences of his or her partner before applying for a position. Moreover, there must be a fair division of both routine tasks and interesting ones. In sum, for a position to be job-shared well, the two individuals must be well matched and must treat each other as equals.

If you want to buy this house, the payment may be made in five______.

Many argue that efforts like this will______the line between the North and the South.

We have done all we could and now our cherished project is at the mercy of our new CEO.

Write at least 150 words about the topic: My Approach to Personal Success. You should write according to the outline given below.1. The importance of the personal competence and success in life.2. My experience on my way to success.3. My opinion on how to promote personal success.

She's always been kind to me—I can't just turn ______ on her now that she needs my help.

A. What struck him B. therefore C. broke outPhrases: A. the plague【T1】 1in southern EnglandB.【T2】 2was the conjecture that the same force of gravityC. Newton【T3】 3spent the next eighteen months at home In the year 1665, when Newton was twenty-two,【T4】 4, and the University of Cambridge was closed.【T5】 5, removed from traditional learning, at a time when he was inpatient for knowledge and, in his own phrase, "I was in the prime of my age for invention. " In this eager, boyish mood, sitting one day in the garden of his widowed mother, he saw an apple fall.【T6】 6, which reaches to the top of the tree, might go on reaching out beyond the earth and its air, endlessly into space. Gravity might reach the moon: this was Newton's new thought: and it might be gravity which holds the moon in her orbit. 【T1】

Predicting the future is a risky business for a scientist. It is safe to say, however, that the global AIDS epidemic will get much worse before it gets any better. Sadly, this modern plague will be with us for several generations, despite major scientific advances. As of January 2000, the AIDS epidemic had claimed 15 million lives and left 40 million people living with a viral infection that slowly but relentlessly erodes the immune system. Accounting for more than 3 million deaths in the past year alone, the AIDS virus has become the deadliest microbe in the world. In Africa nearly a dozen countries have a rate higher than 10% , including four southern African nations in which a quarter of the people are infected. This is like condemning 16,000 people each day to a slow and miserable death. Fortunately, the AIDS story has not been all gloom and doom. Less than two years after AIDS was recognized, the guilty agent—human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV—was identified. We now know more about HIV than about any other virus, and 14 AIDS drugs have been developed and licensed in the U. S. and Western Europe. The epidemic continues to rage, however, in South America, Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. By the year 2025, AIDS will be by far the major killer of young Africans, decreasing life expectancy to as low as 40 years in some countries and single-handedly erasing the public health gains of the past 50 years. It is Asia, with its huge population at risk, that will have the biggest impact on the global spread of AIDS. The magnitude of the incidence could range from 100 million to 1 billion, depending largely on what happens in India and China. Four million people have already become HIV-positive in India, and infection is likely to reach several percent in a population of 1 billion. Half a million Chinese are now infected: the path of China's epidemic, however, is less certain. An explosive AIDS epidemic in the U. S. is unlikely. Instead, HIV infection will continue to plague in about 0. 5% of the population. But the complexion of the epidemic will change. New HIV infections will occur predominantly in the underclass, with rates 10 times as high in minority groups. Nevertheless, American patients will live quality lives for decades, thanks to advances in medical research. Dozens of powerful and well-tolerated AIDS drugs will be developed, as will have novel means to restore the immune system. A cure for AIDS by the year 2025 will not be inconceivable. But constrained by economic reality, these therapeutic advances will have only limited benefit outside the U. S. and Western Europe.

A. we are all booked up for Flight 802 on that dayB. what about the fareC. I'd like to make a reservation to Boston next week Agent: Good morning. The United Airlines. What can I do for you? Caller: Yes,【D1】______Agent: When do you want to Ay?Caller: Monday, September 12.Agent: We have Flight 802 on Monday. Just a moment please. Let me check whether there're seats available. I'm sorry【D2】______Caller: Then, any alternatives?Agent: The next available flight leaves at 9: 30 Tuesday morning September 13. Shall I book you a seat?Caller: Er...It is a direct flight, isn't it?Agent: Yes, it is. You want to go first class or coach?Caller: I prefer first class,【D3】______?Agent: One way is $ 176.Caller: OK. I will take the 9: 30 flight on Tuesday.Agent: A seat on Flight 807 to Boston 9: 30 Tuesday morning. Is it all right, sir?Caller: Certainly.

Telecommuting—substituting the computer for the trip to the job—has been hailed as a solution to all kinds of problems related to office work. For workers it promises freedom from the office, less time wasted in traffic, and help with child-care conflicts. For management, telecommuting helps keep high performers on board, minimizes lateness and absenteeism by eliminating commuters, allows periods of solitude for high-concentration tasks, and provides scheduling flexibility. In some areas, such as Southern California, Seattle, and Washington, local governments are encouraging companies to start telecommuting programs in order to reduce rush-hour traffic and improve air quality. But these benefits do not come easily. Making a telecommuting program work requires careful planning and an understanding of the differences between telecommuting realities and popular images. Many workers are seduced by rosy illusions of life as a telecommuter. A computer programmer from New York City moves to the quiet Adirondack Mountains and stays in contact with her office via computer. A manager comes into his office three days a week and works at home the other two. An accountant stays home to care for her sick child: she hooks up her telephone modern connections and does office work between calls to the doctor. These are powerful images, but they are a limited reflection of reality. Telecommuting workers soon learn that it is almost impossible to concentrate on work and care for a young child at the same time. Before a certain age, young children cannot recognize, much less respect, the necessary boundaries between work and family. Additional child support is necessary if the parent is to get any work done. Management, too, must separate the myth from the reality. Although the media has paid a great deal of attention to telecommuting, in most cases it is the employee's situation, not the availability of technology, that precipitates a telecommuting arrangement. That is partly why, despite the widespread press coverage, the number of companies with work-at-home programs of policy guidelines remains small.

To conserve energy, estate developers are encouraged to build houses that can retain heat in winter.

Looming over the debate about human interference in the world's boreal forests is an as yet unanswerable question: Will the effects of global warming eventually dwarf man's impact?

The joys of travel, having long______the disabled, are opening up to virtually anyone who has the means.