Anna

    I work in a bank (银行). My home is near a park and is about ten kilometers from my office. I usually go to work by train. I usually get up at 6:30 a. m. and take the train at 7:00 a. m. It usually takes me about thirty minutes to get to my office. The train is quick and cheap. I am never late for work.

Joe

     I am a student. My house is near a river . My school is across from (在……对面) the river. I can walk to school.  It takes me about thirty minutes. But I often go to school by boat, because it is more fun. It takes me about twenty minutes.

    We often see top students around us and everyone knows about them. Let us take Jenny as an example. She is the monitor of our class. She spends a lot of time working for our class. But she always gets good grades in all subjects. How do students like Jenny do that? When I asked her, she said, "Hard work is not the whole story. It's not how long you sit at the desk with your books open. It's what you do as you are sitting." In fact, we can see many top students spend fewer hours on their studies than their classmates. Jenny gave me some valuable suggestions.

    If your math teacher gives you five exercises, you should do six. If your Chinese teacher gives eight pages of reading, you should read nine. The more you practice, the more you learn.

    Studying is a matter of your personal interest, so choose the way you are most comfortable with. Some people like working at night when the house is quiet, while others like doing their work early in the morning. However, others like studying as soon asthey arrive home from school while the work is fresh in their minds. No matter(无论) which way suits you, try to do your best.

    Studying is your business and the business comes before entertainment(娱乐). When you are studying, phone calls should go unanswered, TV shows unwatched, snacks given up. Studying is the only thing in your mind. Nothing can pull your attention away from what you are studying.

    Studying is like eating. You should eat a little at a time. You can plan what to do today, but don't do too much. When you can't finish the work you planned to do, you will feel stressed and may lose confidence. On the other hand, you will not study well without a good plan. It all depends on how you manage your time.

    The students who hand in a clearly written paper are already half way to get an A. Tidy papers are likely to get higher marks than messy(乱糟糟的) ones. When you write clearly and do your work carefully, the thoughts in your mind are clear. You are able to make fewer mistakes.

Tips for Keeping Your Body Healthy

    It is not common for the human body to sit for a long time in the old days. But now sitting for a long time every day is common. Sitting for a long time is dangerous for your health. You can hurt your arms and your neck.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

    People who work in offices often have health problems. People who travel many hours on planes often say they feel bad at the end of a long trip. The following tips can help you if you don't want any problems.

    Sit correctly. Keep your back straight and your feet on the floor. It is very necessary to have a comfortable chair.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Take breaks often. Don't sit for more than thirty minutes{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Having a break can help you do more work in the day.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Water cleans your body and keeps healthy. It's good for you and gives you energy. But please don't drink lots of coffee or tea.

    Move your body. Stretching (拉伸) is a simple and quick way of moving your body while you are sitting down. Stretch your arms, your hands and your shoulders.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. You can also hurt your back

B. Drink water

C. Stand up and have a break

D. Don't stretch a lot if it hurts

E. The chair can help you sit correctly

    Do you know oil platforms (石油钻井平台)? They pump out (大量生产) oil from under the ocean (海洋). There can be over 100 people living and working on an oil platform. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    The people on oil platforms do a number of different jobs. There are engineers, cooks, doctors, cleaners, etc. But the roughnecks (石油钻井工人) have the hardest job. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}It's hard, dangerous work.

    There are no weekends on oil platforms. Usually, people work every day for two weeks. Then they go back to land to have two or three weeks off from work.

    The people on oil platforms can play games and watch TV when they don't work or sleep. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}There's not much space, and you can't just go for a walk.

    Oil platforms are dangerous places. Everyone needs to work carefully.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}An accident (事故)on the platform Deepwater Horizon in 2010 killed eleven people and a lot of oil went into the ocean.

    After that accident, some people said that oil platforms were just too dangerous.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}So we still need people to work in these difficult, dangerous places.

    There are long rivers, and there are famous rivers. The Nile(尼罗河)is the world's longest and most famous river. It runs 6,650 kilometers. Crocodiles and hippos(河马)live in its waters. Pyramids built by ancient Egyptians rise along its banks.

    The main branch of the Nile, the White Nile, starts just above Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh—water lake, in east central Africa. Then it flows to the north. At Sudan's capital, another great river called the Blue Nile joins the White Nile. Together, they form one very powerful river. Then it goes through Egypt's famous Nile Valley before reaching the Mediterranean Sea.

    Ancient Egypt, the first great African civilization(文明), started along the banks of the Nile more than 5, 000 years ago. Ancient Egypt ruled the Nile Valley for thousands of years. Great pyramids and temples were built on the banks and we can still visit them today.

    Without the rich farmland along the banks of the Nile, there might be no ancient Egypt civilization. Every year, the Nile flooded its banks. The floodwaters covered the banks with a rich soil. The Nile's banks were easy to farm and produce crops.

    The Nile also made a perfect highway for boats. The river runs north, but the wind on the river blows south. To go south, boaters put up sails to catch the wind. To go north, they took the sails down. Ancient people traded along the river for hundreds of miles.