{#blank#}1{#/blank#} This was not because the woods and fields were always far away, but because they were too far from the city to permit people to make a day trip between morning and nightfall.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} He decided to turn his little school house into a dormitory for the summer holidays. Anyone who brought his sleeping bag and cooking equipment along could stay there for a very small quantity of money. The idea was a success. A few years later, the school house was much too small to hold the many young people who wanted to stay there. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} This was the first hostel(青年招待所).

    Today, young students and workers of every country can meet in the hostel and get to know each other. When young people arrive at the hostel, they have only to show their cards of membership in a hostel organization in their own country. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Often, at the evening meal, a group of boys and girls from various parts of the country or world will happen to meet at the same hostel. They may put their food together and prepare a dinner with many kinds of dishes. Sometimes a program will be organized after the meal with dances, songs, or short talks followed by a question period. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} For this reason, a few weeks spent ‘hostelling' can be just as useful a part of one's education as classes in school.

    In today's busy and competitive world, we all lead incredibly stressful lives. When stress becomes overwhelming, it can affect our mood and productivity. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The good news is that it is manageable and can be reduced, or even relieved completely.

    Enter the world of books. Feeling stressed out? Pick up your favorite book and leave the reality and worries behind. It is the most effective way to relax and overcome stress. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Getting lost in a book before bedtime can calm your mind and prepare your body for a good night's sleep.

    Connect with people. Another way to successfully beat stress is meeting with friends. Friends and loved ones are important to any healthy lifestyle. If you're feeling a little overwhelmed and just can't seem to shake it off, call your best friend or a member of your family and talk to them. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Walk it off. You can also effectively relieve yourself of stress by simply taking a walk around your neighborhood. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} There's a whole new world up there that you never seem to notice while rushing to work or talking to someone. Take a moment to admire a new building or a balcony somewhere high up that reminds you of a castle from your favorite movie. Enjoy your time alone and seize every moment of it.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Nothing brings you back on track like a good laughter. It is the most powerful antidote(良方) to stress and it brings joy into your life. Laughing brings people together and drives away all stress-related problems as if they never existed. It is absolutely the best medicine there is, and it will keep you both physically and emotionally healthy.

    Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of Deniliquin, a country town in New South Wales, misses the constant whir（嗡嗡声）of the rice mill whose giant fans dried the rice. The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere (南半球), once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people globally. But six years of drought have had a destructive effect, reducing Australia's rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

    Drought affects every agriculture industry based in Australia, not just rice – from sheep farming, the country's other backbone, to the cultivation of grapes for wine, the fastest-growing crop there, with that expansion often coming at the expense of rice. The drought's effect on rice has produced the greatest impact on the rest of the world, so far. It is one factor contributing to skyrocketing prices, and many scientists believe it is among the earliest signs that a warming planet is starting to affect food production.

    Researchers are looking for solutions to global rice shortages – for example, rice that blooms earlier in the day, when it is cooler, to fight against global warming. Rice plants that happen to bloom on hot days are less likely to produce grains of rice, a difficulty that is already starting to emerge in inland areas of China and other Asian countries as temperatures begin to climb. 'there will be problems very soon unless we have new varieties of rice in place,” said Reiner Wassmann, climate change director at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The recent reports on climate change carried a warning that could make the news even worse: that existing models for the effects of climate change on agriculture did not yet include newer findings that global warming could reduce rainfall and make it more variable.

    Yet the effects of climate change are not uniformly bad for rice. Rising concentrations (浓度) of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, can actually help rice – although the effect reduces or disappears if the plants face unnecessary heat, inadequate water, severe pollution or other stresses. Still, the flexibility of farmers here has persuaded some climate experts that, particularly in developed countries, the effects of climate change may be relieved, if not completely avoided. “I'm not as negative as most people,” said Will Steffen, director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University. “Farmers are learning how to do things differently.”

    Meanwhile, changes like the use of water to grow wine grapes instead of rice carry their own costs, as the developing world is discovering. “Rice is an essential food,” said Graeme Haley, the general manager of the town of Deniliquin. “Wine is not.”

How to Make Plans

    Most people get scared when talking about planning or writing plans. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.  And you need to plan for success as planning really works and inspires you to go straight ahead. However, how to create effective plans is still a problem. Don't worry, and just follow the steps below.

    Step 1 {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    What plans have you had in the past？Probably, in some of your plans, you haven't ended up where you thought you were going to end up. Get a good understanding of what you have done and what you haven't done in the past. It is a primary foundation for your new plan. If having no plan, just take actions and make plans right now.

    Step 2 Think about the What-Ifs

    When you are building your plans, you should consider where you are going and make clear the What-Ifs. Because not everything just goes smoothly as you believe. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

Step 3 Document the plans

    When starting to make plans, you should try to write them down. It is of key importance for the future.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} In addition, make sure you have the plans fully written out with all the key elements concerned, including details.

    Step 4 Update the plans

    According to your written plans and actual situation, you should check out the plans you have completed and haven't completed. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Make sure all the assumptions are there and work out the details. After hanging on for some days, planning will be getting simpler and easier.

A. Review historical plans

B. Make new plans immediately

C. Actually, people are more likely to succeed in a planned way

D. And you need to continue what you haven't done and update it

E. Not all people can memorize every word they said and thought well

F. And what you should do next is to check your plans monthly or quarterly

G. For your benefits, you need to make Plan A and Plan B in case of changes and contingencies（偶发事件）

My students and I were ready for a challenge — a trip to Costa Rica. As we were waiting at the airport, we talked about our hopes and fears for our ten-day trip. My students worried about homesickness and felt uneasy with their homestay families. But strange foods or meeting new people didn't concern me. What terrified me was the best part of the trip — a zip lining (滑缆绳) flight over the jungle valley bordering Arenal Volcano. I made a secret pact (协议) with myself to find an excuse to get out of it at the last minute.

    When the fateful day arrived, we got to the peak to enjoy the breathtaking view of the volcano. When seeing the activity, my students raised a cheerful shout. How I wished I had had the same feeling as them. However, I was afraid of heights.

    My student Eileen sidled up to me. Her face was pale. "I'm scared," she whispered. "Will you stay back with me?" Here was my chance! I could get out of zip lining and still save face!

    "I'm scared, too," I said quietly.

    "Yeah," she said. "I thought you would be the right person to ask because you are really white, and you are sweating." Her words woke me up, and something clicked into place. If I couldn't step outside of my comfort zone, how could I ask the kids to do so?

    "Maybe we should give it a try," I said. I felt a little sick, but I couldn't believe my body was actually moving toward the launch point.

    "Come on," I said.

    "OK," she agreed.

    Eileen zipped past me, screaming with fear or delight, which I was not sure of. Once she was across, I followed. The attempt was not as terrible as I had thought. From that moment on, I knew there was nothing to fear as long as I walked out of my comfort zone and had a try.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} According to a new survey by the National Sleep Foundation, 51% of kids aged 10 to 18 go to bed at 10 pm or later on school nights, even though they have to get up early. Last year the Foundation reported that nearly 60% of 7- to 12-year-olds said they felt tired during the day, and 15% said they had fallen asleep at school.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Babies need a lot of rest: most of them sleep about 18 hours a day! Adults need about eight hours. For most school-age children, ten hours is ideal. But the new National Sleep Foundation survey found that 35% of 10- to 12-year-olds get only seven or eight hours. And guess what almost half of the surveyed kids said they do before bedtime? Watch TV.

    "More children are going to bed with TVs on, and there are more opportunities to stay awake, with more homework, the Internet and the phone," says Dr. Mary Carskadon, a sleep researcher at Brown University Medical School. She says these activities at bedtime can get kids all excited and make it hard for them to calm down and sleep. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Changing levels of body chemicals called hormones not only make teenagers' bodies develop adult characteristics, but also make it hard for teenagers to fall asleep before 11 pm.

    Because sleepiness is such a problem for teenagers, some school districts have decided to start high school classes later than they used to. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Students parents and teachers are pleased with the results.

A. How much sleep you need depends a lot on your age.

B. Other experts say part of the problem is chemical.

C. Getting less sleep has become a bad habit for most American kids.

D. what homework waiting for kids might always affects them sleep well every night.

E. Raising the minimum sleep is identified as a key way to help solve the problem.

F. Three years ago, schools in Edina, Minnesota, changed the start time from 7:25 am to 8:30 am.