Confucius' life and thought
Confucius（551﹣479 BC）was a great thinker and teacher in the Spring and Autumn Period of China． He was born in Qufu， capital of the state of Lu （part of Shandong）． He acted as an official （官员）there． But he was perhaps a better thinker than he was an official and he ended up having to leave the state of Lu． He spent 13 years travelling around the other states， spreading his ideas． And he tried to teach people that peace was very important for a healthy society． However， it was not until the rule of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty（156﹣87 BC）that his ideas were finally put into practice． In his last few years， he returned to Qufu where he spent the rest of his life teaching． His teachings were recorded by his followers in a book called Lunyu．
Confucius' teachings formed the base of Chinese thought． Confucius thought everyone should develop virtues（美德）and always do the right thing．Confucius' thought is considered to have been the necessity of Eastern thought．
To help people understand how to behave towards others， he taught five virtues accepted by all Chinese． They are ren（kindness， charity）， yi （faimess）， li（ceremony， tradition）， zhi（knowledge），and xin（trust）． Another virtue is xiao． Xiao is the duties a person has to their parents．It means loving， respecting， obeying （服从）， and taking care of one's parents in their old age． Xiao forms the base of a peaceful society． And he is the final goal according to his thought． It means social peace．
Here's one of Confucius' famous sayings，"Do not do to others as you do not wish to be done to you．" Another saying of his is" In the company of two others， I can always find one worthy of being my teacher． "
It is clear that Confucius' thought will continue to be a necessary part of Chinese culture． And it will continue to do something good to the development of China and even the whole world．
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（1） *working as an official *travelling around to spread his ideas *teaching in Qufu |
Achievements *the book called Lunyu *the base of Chinese thought *a necessary part of（2） and ． *a help for the development of China and the world |
Main thought *（3） *doing the right thing *building a peaceful society |
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Virtues *ren： kindness， charity *yi： fairness *li： ceremony， tradition *zhi： knowledge *xin： trust *xiao： to love， respect， obey and take care of parents …………………………………………… （4） is one of the virtues and people who believe in it will love everyone in the world |
Famous sayings A． Do not do to others as you do not wish to be done to you． B． In the company of two others， I can always find one worthy of being my teacher． ………………………………………… Saying A teaches us how to （5） while Saying B is to tell people we can always ． |
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Close friends， think alike？
"What! You， too？ I believed I was the only one． "Have you ever said something like this to someone？（1）
It seems that similarity often helps form friendship． The Greek thinker Aristotle once said， "People regard friendship as a matter of similarity； they say that we love those who are like ourselves．"（2） Scientists from University of California said friends have similar behaviors， Scientific American reported．
The scientists invited 42 university students to take part in a test． Each student watched the same set of videos， which included a comedy， a discussion and a soccer match． （3） ___ According to their scans， friends who watched the same video reacted in similar ways． Similar parts of their brains lit up while watching the videos， especially parts that are connected with motivation（动机）， learning and memory．（4）
"Seeing one's friends have similar behaviors will reinforce（强化）one's own values，opinions，and interests， "lead scientist Carolyn Parkinson told Business Insider．（5） ____ Scientists from the University of Leipzig， Germany，found that friendship is also based on how physically close you are to someone．The scientists did a test with first﹣year college students the first time they met in class． In this test， students who sat in neighboring seats were more likely to become friends．
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A． Now， there is some science behind this idea． B． If so， you may have ended up becoming friends with this person． C． Friends share a lot of similarities， though there are some differences． D． But brain similarity is not the only thing that can result in friendship． E． However， people who weren't friends had different reactions to the same videos． F． At the same time， scientists scanned their brains and recorded their brain activity． |
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able；catch；difficult；hold； learn；little；possible；speech；success；tie；true； we |
A man walking through an elephant camp was surprised to find that the elephants weren't being kept in cages or held by chains． All that was holding them back from running away from the camp was a small piece of rope﹣it was just（1） to one of their legs．
As the man looked at the elephants， he couldn't understand it． Why didn't the elephants just use their power to break the rope and run away？
Wanting to know the（2） ， he asked a trainer nearby why it was so．
"When they were very young and much smaller， we used the same size of rope to tie them， and at that age， it was enough（3） them． As they grew up， they still believed that they couldn't break away． Even now， they believe the rope can still control them， so they have the （4） courage to try to break free， "the trainer answered．
The man was（5） ． These animals were able to break away from the rope whenever they wanted， but it was only because over time， they believed that it was just（6） ．
How many of us go through life like the elephants﹣believing that it was beyond（超越）our（7） to do something only because we failed once or some times before？
Failure is part of（8） ． If we fail at something， we can still get something from it． Failure in the past doesn't mean we can never（9） in the future． We should keep on trying with confidence（10） even after we have experienced failures in life．
A： Do you still smoke， Paul？
B： No．I had to stop smoking because of a serious illness．The doctor told me that many（1）___ smoking had weakened my health．
A： Could you tell me how you started to smoke？
B： When I got my first job， I was very young． I couldn't finish the tasks in time and even made many mistakes． You can't imagine how helpless I was（2） ．I began to smoke as I felt（3） at work．
A：（4） it's harmful to do so． It cannot lower the pressure（5） only to do harm both to your own health and to that of people around you． The （6） and dangerous things from the smoke easily get into people's body and the chances of being sick（7） ．
B： That's true． I quite agree with you．
A： Some people start smoking at a young age because their parents smoke．
B： Exactly． People always say children like to（8） their parents．
A： Yes， children like to follow the examples of their parents in many ways．
B： But some parents don't pay enough attention to their influence on children．
A： I agree．（9） ， smoking is one of the main reasons for fires． Sometimes those（10）____ smokers even cause dangerous fires．
B： Surely， smoking can cause lots of serious problems． I will never smoke again．
The good example of Shanghai has i us to improve the rubbish collecting system．
