Steps to break your Bad Habits

You have to want them to go.

  (1)   So the first thing is to go deep into the depth into the depth of your heart and ask, “Do I really want to give this up?” You do? Good. Then go on to the next step…

Make up a list of all of the reasons you want to quit your bad habits.

Make them positive. Make the list long.   (2)   Put them in your mind. You are making connections between stopping the bad behaviour and what good things you will get from doing so. If you want to lose weight, then picture yourself slim and looking good in those skinny jeans.

Take action.

There are two theories about it. One is that you must take action—you must go all or nothing. Using the weight loss example, people would spend $ 500 to join a gym, and exercise every day for a year. They will get rid of all fat in the house.  (3)   And that works for some. Others would burn out on that, feel like failures and be worse off than before. They should start out slow, taking baby steps but working hard toward a planned goal.   (4)   Either way is OK as long as you get to the goal eventually.

  (5)  

Some people may want to lose 30 pounds after losing 15 pounds. They eat a gallon of ice cream. Then they feel bad and give up. Don’t! Set your goal again for another two weeks and get going again. Set it down! Say to yourself, sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.

We seem to be losing the fight against landmines. While, every year, about 100.000 landmines are removed, 20,000,000 more are buried in the ground.   (1)   . Someone has to use a metal detector to find the mines. This is very inaccurate as the metal detector finds all metal objects, not just the mines, and it does not find new types of mines which are covered in plastic. Then he or she has to dig the mine out without setting it off.   (2)   .

   (3)   . Several countries are working on technological solutions to the landmines problem. As part of Japan’s support for finding and removing landmines in Afghanistan, Japanese scientists and engineers have been researching into robotics(机器人学). One of the most exciting projects is at Chiba University, where a robot that looks something like an insect is being developed. It is 4 meters long, 1.8 meters wide, 1 meter high, and weighs 900 kilograms, about the size of a small car. It walks on 6 legs and when it finds a mine, it marks the spot with paint and sends data to a computer which can then map the mines. As well as being much safer than finding mines by hand, the insect robot is also much faster.

  (4)   . The goal is for the computer to use the data it receives to determine not only whether an object is just a piece of metal or a mine, but also what type of mine it is. The researchers hope that mass production of robots will start in the next year or so and they will be used in such countries as Afghanistan and Cambodia.

In the 1990s world opinion built up against the use of landmines and, in 1997, 122 countries signed an agreement in Ottawa, Canada, to stop the manufacture and the use of landmines.   (5)  . Perhaps robotics will provide a solution, but as every 20 minutes goes by, one more person is killed or badly injured.

Secret codes （密码）keep messages private．Banks，companies，and government agencies use secret codes in doing business，especially when information is sent by computer．

   People have used secret codes for thousands of years．　(1)　Code breaking never lags（落后） far behind code making．The science of creating and reading coded messages is called cryptography．

   There are three main types of cryptography．　(2)　For example，the first letters of “My elephant eats too many eels” Spell out the hidden message “Meet me．”

　(3)　You might represent each letter with a number，for example，Let’s number the letters of the alphabet，in order，from 1 to 26．If we substitute a number for each letter，the message “Meet me” would read “13 5 20 13 5．”

   A code uses symbols to replace words，phrases，or sentences．To read the message of a real code，you must have a code book．　(4)　For example，”bridge“ might stand for “meet” and “out” might stand for “me．” The message “bridge out” would actually mean “Meet me．” 　(5)　However，it is also hard to keep a code book secret for long．So codes must be changed frequently．

Maybe you are an ordinary student. You probably think you will never be a top student. This is not necessarily so, however,  (1)  Here’s how:

When planning your work, you should make a list of things that you have to do.   (2)  First plan your time for eating, sleeping, dressing, etc. Then decide a good, regular time for studying. Don’t forget to set aside enough time for entertainment. A weekly schedule may not solve all your problems, but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.

Look around the house for a good study area. Keep this space, which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room, free of everything but study materials. No games, radios, or television.  (3)  Studyregularly.

When you get home from school, go over your notes, review the important points that your teacher is going to discuss the next day, and read that material.   (4)   If you do these things regularly, the material will become more meaningful, and you’ll remember it longer.

There are other methods that might help you with your study. You will probably discover some of them after you have tried these.

  Courage is a personality quality that everyone possesses, but it sometimes fades because of bad experiences or memories. _  (1)  _. By identifying the source of any lack of courage and actively changing your behavior, you can build courage.

   Determine your specific fears. People are often reluctant to admit that they are afraid of something and this may be weakening theft confidence and courage. In order to begin building courage, you need to determine your specific fear. _  (2)  _, This may help you to develop a plan to overcome them and build your courage.

   Recognize your courage. Just as it's important to identify your fears, you should also recognize that you also possess courage in many situations. _  (3)  _. It can help you to figure out how to apply this quality to situations in your life that cause timidity (胆怯). It can also help you to develop your behavior and begin building courage in every aspect of your life.

   Develop a concrete plan to build your courage. Once you've identified your specific fears and recognized situations where you exhibit courage, write out your plan to build your courage and update it when necessary. _  (4)  _, for it helps you stay on track if you have setbacks and see your progress over time.

   Avoid comparing yourself to others, livery person is different and comparing yourself to other people can minimize your self-confidence. Focusing on yourself and not comparing yourself to others is essential to building your confidence and courage.

   _  (5)  _. Two characteristics of a courageous person are that they not only have confidence, but also they believe in their ability to succeed and overcome fears. By cultivating and projecting confidence in yourself, you set yourself on the path to build and maintain courage.

What color do you like best ? Do you like yellow, orange, and red?   (1)  Do you prefer grays and blues? Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be pessimist .At least, this is what psychologists tell us, and they should know, because they have been seriously studying the meaning of color preference, as well as the effect that colors have on human beings.   (2)  If you happen to love brown, you did so, as soon as you opened your eyes, or at least as soon as you could see clearly.

     (3)  A yellow room makes most people feel more cheerful and more relaxed than a dark green one; and a red dress brings warmth and cheer to the saddest winter day.  (4)  A black bridge over the Thames River , near London, used to be the scene of more suicides (自杀) than any other bridge in the area until it was repainted green .The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply. Perhaps it would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue.

    (5)  It is an established fact that factory workers work better, harder, and have fewer accidents when their machines are painted orange rather than black or gray.

Does this situation seem familiar to you? Your English is progressing well, the grammar is now familiar, the reading comprehension is no problem, and you are speaking quite fluently． __(1)____

First of all, remember that you are not alone．Listening is probably the most difficult job for almost all learners of English as a foreign language．The most important thing is to listen as often as possible．

 __(2)____ The Internet is really a useful tool for English students．You can download The RealPlayer from RealMedia.com．The RealPlayer allows you to use the Internet like a radio station．

Once you have begun to listen on a regular basis, you might still be frustrated（受阻）by limited understanding. __(3)____

By remaining calm, allowing yourself not to understand, and not to translate while listening, your brain is free to concentrate on the most important thing: understanding English in English．

It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. ___  (1)  ___ Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. ___  (2)  ___ If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser. When such moments occur, donˈt worry about them. Just continue as if nothing happened.

Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that donˈt really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther Kingˈs famous speech－“I have a dream”， you may notice that he stumble(结巴) his words twice during the speech. ___  (3)  ___ Why? Because you were fixing your attention on its message rather than on his way of speech­making.

People care a lot about making mistakes in a speech because they regard speech­making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice­skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well­thought­out speech that expresses the speakerˈs ideas clearly and directly. ___  (4)  __

As you work on your speech, donˈt worry about being imperfect. ___  (5)  ___

Most people buy a lot of gifts just before Christmas. But some people think we buy too much. They have started a special day called Buy Nothing Day.   (1)    .

   Buy Nothing Day is November 29. It’s 25 days before Christmas. It’s after Thanksgiving and often the first day of Christmas shopping.      (2)    .

   The idea for Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver, British Columbia.    (3)     . In California, parents and children get together to read stories, sing songs, and paint pictures. The children talk about why they don’t need a lot of toys. This year, in Manchester, England, people dressed up in costumes to tell people that we buy too much.

    In Albuquerque, New Mexico, high school students wanted to tell other students about Buy Nothing Day. They organized a spaghetti dinner to give people information about Buy Nothing Day.   (4)    . They made posters and talked to other students about it.     (5)     . The students at high schools liked the idea of this new tradition. Next year, they want to have another dinner to tell more people about Buy Nothing Day.