About a decade ago, my grandpa who was s...

How to Develop Appropriate Self-Confidence

Under most circumstances having self-confidence is a good thing. 1. It is this strong sense of confidence that allows them to go out in the world and reach for their goals.

But can you have too much self-confidence? 2. In most cases, knowing your strengths and having the assuredness to go out and take risks are admirable qualities. But when this confidence makes you inflexible, opposed to trying new things, and incapable of listening to others, it can become harmful to success and well-being. So what can people do to ensure that their self-confidence is realistic, authentic and socially appropriate?

3. Whether you are evaluating your own success or offering praise to your children, try to place a greater emphasis on the work that went into the task rather than just focus on how things turned out. You cannot always control how things go, but you can control the amount of work you put into achieving your goals.

Keep learning new things. Even if you are highly confident about your skills in an area, keep looking for new challenges. It is easy to become overconfident if you think you know everything there is to know about a subject. Finding new challenges to overcome does sharpen your skills. 4.

Listen to what others have to say. Overconfidence can sometimes cause people to become rigid and even arbitrary. Instead of assuming that your way is the right or only way, try to keep an open mind. 5. However, it is important to listen in order to gain a new perspective.

A.Focus on the effort, not the outcome.

B.Is overconfidence definitely a good thing?

C.You might not always agree with other people.

D.Having too much self-confidence is beneficial to us.

E.Are you teaching in a different way and extremely excellent?

F.Confident people tend to be more successful in a wide variety of fields.

G.Finding new challenges also reminds you that there're fresh ways of thinking about things.

    Tests have shown robots can diagnose heart problems in as little as four seconds, as a review of artificial intelligence （Al） finds machines are now as good at spotting illness as doctors.

Analyzing a patient's heart function on a cardiac MRI （心脏磁共振成像）scan currently takes doctors around 13 minutes. But a new trial by University College London （UCL） showed an Al program could read the scans in less time with equal accuracy. There are approximately 150,000 such scans performed in the UK each year, and researchers estimate that fully using Al to read them could save 54 clinician-days （临床天数）at each cardiac centre per year. So it can make up for the shortage of doctors.

It is hoped that Al where computer systems are able to learn from data to identify new patterns with minimal human intervention will transform medicine by helping doctors spot dis- eases such as heart disease and cancer faster and earlier. However, most scans are still read by specially trained doctors.

Dr Charlotte Manisty, who led the UCL research, said, "Cardiovascular MRI offers in- comparable image quality for assessing heart structure and function. However, current manual  analysis remains basic and outdated. Automated machine techniques offer the potential to change this and completely improve efficiency and accuracy, and we look forward to further research that could confirm the superiority to human analysis."

She added, “Our dataset of patients with a range of heart disease who received scans enabled us to demonstrate that the greatest sources of measurement errors arise from human factors. This indicates that automated techniques are at least as good as humans, with the potential soon to be  'super-human'—transforming clinical and research measurement precision."

Professor Alastair Denniston said, "Within those handful of high-quality studies, we found that by deep learning Al could indeed detect disease ranging from cancer to eye disease as accurately as health professionals. But it's important to note that it did not absolutely exceed human professional diagnosis. ”

1.Which of the following can best describe this Al program?

A.Time-consuming. B.Environmentally friendly.

C.Extremely unpractical. D.Labor-saving.

2.What is Charlotte Manisty's expectation of automated machine techniques?

A.To treat eye disease faster and earlier.

B.To analyze heart disease efficiently and accurately.

C.To combine manual with automated analysis.

D.To confirm heart structure and function.

3.What did Alastair Denniston say about Al?

A.It would be super-human soon.

B.It couldn't completely replace expert doctors.

C.It would correct professionals' measurement errors.

D.It couldn't detect cancer as accurately as health professionals.

4.What is the main idea of the text?

A.Al has many shortcomings in practice.

B.Al totally shows its superiority to human analysis.

C.Al can reduce medical errors arising from human factors.

D.Al can diagnose heart disease as well as doctors in less time.

    You should try your best to create your own family library so that you and your family are always learning. "It is a great mistake to think that education is finished when young people leave school. Education is never finished even if you grow older," said Mrs Child in The Mother's Book. "Collecting a library of books in your home is really helpful to your family. ”

"What is really interesting about having so many books in your home is that a book you purchase has a chapter about the deeper knowledge of your favorite subject at school," said a university graduate. Researchers in a study tries to identify what parents do has an influence on how well their children do on standardized tests. One positive aspect they find is the availability of a large number of books at home. This has a stronger connection, especially when you read to your children every day. The more books your older kids have access to at home, the more likely they are just to be reading for fun, rather than having to wait for weekly trips to the library.

John Henry, one educated parent, said, "I have been homeschooling my children using the philosophy of A Thomas Jeffer son Education. This philosophy of learning is based on the reading of classic books. ” Clinton Fadiman said, "When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before； you see more in you than before. " Classic books also make you smarter and wiser! The wisdom comes in the examples in the lives of the characters.

"It is within your power to guide your youth in their reading and to cultivate in their hearts a desire for good books. It is the most unfortunate if a person is not possessed with the desire for good reading. The reading habit, like charity, should begin at home," said Mrs Child.

1.What does the author mainly want to show in paragraph 2?

A.Kids don't need to go to the library any longer.

B.Parents should set a good example at home.

C.It's necessary to create a family library.

D.It's important to let kids pass standardized tests.

2.How does the author explain the effect of reading classic books at home in paragraph 3?

A.By quoting others ’words. B.By questioning.

C.By imagination. D.By analyzing research data.

3.What can we learn from what Mrs Child said?

A.East or west, home is best.

B.One is never too old to learn.

C.He who makes no mistakes makes nothing.

D.Charity is the soul, rather than the virtues of hand.

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A.Where to Store Your Favorite Books at Home?

B.When to Read the Classic Books to Your Children?

C.Which Is Better, a Home Library or a Public Library?

D.Why Not Have Your Own Library of Books at Home?

    As I drove along the road, a small car flew across the center divider from the opposite direction and crashed into my car head-on, I fainted and was awakened by the ringing of my mobile phone.

I was brought to Kuala Lumpur General Hospital bleeding on from my nose, mouth and legs. But the hospital staff was too busy to attend to me, so I called a friend to tell him about the accident. Some friends arrived very soon and sent me to a private hospital nearby. I saw my injured feet hanging from my body, blue and lifeless, and I begged the doctors to save them at all costs. They calmly promised to do their best.

The doctors made it. After I was discharged, I was given ten months medical leave. My heart sank, knowing that it meant I, a big man, couldn't work. How was I going to support my 65-year-old mother and other family members? I felt completely helpless, but a lot of unexpected blessings came my way. I had many visitors during my 14 days in hospital and when I was recovering at home. Friends and relatives helped me with my banking, insurance or simply came to cheer me up.

When the casts （石膏）were removed, I did not let the sight of my weak legs discourage me. I worked hard at my physiotherapy （物理疗法）with only one aim. After eight months, I was walking without the aid of a walking stick. On February the following year, I returned to my job again. Today, after eight years, I have travelled to many countries as a tour leader.

The accident makes me realize how lives can change in a split second. I value life more, not only of my own but also of everyone I know, and I will always try to help when I know of someone in trouble.

1.What made the author come back to life in the traffic accident?

A.Someone made a call to him.

B.A car crashed into his car head-on.

C.One of his friends gave him first aid.

D.His mobile phone was out of order suddenly.

2.What does the underlined part "was discharged" in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A.Was inspired. B.Got injured.

C.Left hospital. D.Was discovered.

3.What can we learn about the author from paragraph 4?

A.He is honest and strong. B.He is optimistic and determined.

C.He is learned and intelligent. D.He is discouraged and desperate,

4.What conclusion does the author draw from the accident?

A.Life is very precious to people.

B.Many people are in trouble in life.

C.It's a hard job to be a tour guide.

D.It's a must for someone to help others.

The Master Gardener Foundation

Aim

The Master Gardener Foundation provides free information to the public on environmentally  safe gardening practices and water conservation. The information is research-based and encourages limited use of farm chemicals and fertilizers.

Donation Activities

The master gardeners here did much donation work. They donated over 35,000 volunteer hours, serving 40,000 adults and more than 5,200 children. They did this through about 35 plant clinics, 6 demonstration gardens, 4 youth gardens, as well as a classroom program and dozens of workshops. The Master Gardener Foundation provides roughly two-thirds of the financial support for all these valuable activities.

Washington State University currently provides the salary and benefits of the Master Gardener Program. The foundation funds office space and supplies, as well as a part-time program assistant.

The Master Gardener Program

Safe and green gardening and water use practices are vital to preserving our environment. The Master Gardener Program seeks to provide this kind of education and information to the citizens for free. It is a highly successful example of cooperation between a foundation and volunteers.

Waiting for Your Donations

The Master Gardener Foundation is a non-profit organization, and all donations are allowed by law and support the Master Gardener Program and activities.

Please consider a donation to the Master Gardener Foundation and help keep our environment green!

1.What does the underlined word "this" in paragraph 2 refer to?

A.Science research. B.Adopting children.

C.Donation work. D.Sparing volunteer hours.

2.What do we know about the Master Gardener Program?

A.It's very expensive.

B.It proves to be unsuccessful.

C.It provides education just in producing farm chemicals.

D.It's a bridge between the foundation and volunteers.

3.What is the main purpose of the text?

A.To encourage donations.

B.To describe volunteer work. '

C.To spread the agricultural knowledge.

D.To give some suggestions to gardeners.