Aside from the health benefits of laughter (which are numerous and significant), having a sense of humor about life's difficulties can provide a way to bond with others, look at things in a different way, normalize your experience, and keep things from appearing too overwhelming or scary. Properly developed, a good sense of humor can keep people and relationships strong.

    Studies show that having a smile on your face can make you feel better, and can lead you to actually feeling happier (rather than just looking happier). Even if the smile is fake, the benefits you will experience are real! Also, a fake smile leads readily to a genuine one. If you are able to put a smile on your face, the laughter will come more easily, and the stress will melt more easily.

    If your situation seems ridiculously frustrating, recognize what can develop into humor in just how ridiculously frustrating and annoying it is. In your imagination, take the situation to an extreme that becomes even more ridiculous until you find yourself amused. For example, when you're waiting in a long line at the store, you can imagine that hours pass, then days, visualizing yourself accepting visits from loved ones from your new home in this ultra-long line, holding your children's birthday parties in aisle seven so you can be there to enjoy them...you get the picture.

    Besides, find a friend with whom you can laugh also works! You can each share your frustrations, and laugh about them in the process. Even when your friend isn't there, you can feel less stressed by thinking about the retelling that will come later.

    You can have a “most annoying boss” game with your friends, or try to count how many times the same potentially frustrating event happens in a day.(“I was cut off in traffic 7 times today—I'm almost up to 10!”) This works well for predictable or repetitive annoying situations that you can't control; you can begin to value them in their own special way instead of letting them upset you.

    One of the factors that drive the popularity of shows like Modern Family or movies like the classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off, is that they take somewhat universal situations that many people find frustrating and push them a little further, pointing out the silliness of it all.

What's more, you can try joining Funny Clubs.Years ago, when Oprah had a show rather than a network, she did a part on Laughter Yoga that interested me, and I researched a club on my own, finding it to be a terrific place to enjoy a good laugh. Whether you mean business or laugh at the silliness of it all, taking part in the exercises of laughter yoga with other humor-participants can be a very effective way to get back in the practice of getting some more laughter into your day.

A Small-Town Christmas

    I worked lots of extra hours in my first Christmas season as a clerk for Dancer's, the department store in my small hometown of Wayland, Michigan.

    I'd started the job, which paid 85 cents an hour, that summer of 1966 after getting a work permit at age 15. Our neighbor Arnie Wilde was the manager, and I soon learned how to fit shoes, measure and cut cloth, and keep the shelves of shirts and underwear nice and neat.

    We closed at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and at 5:55 a local farmer came in to find gifts for his wife. Arnie told me this was a holiday habit of Mr. Johnson's, and that we'd do our best to take care of him.

    I knew Mr. Johnson, whose daughter was in my class and in the band, so I went to help him. We wandered through the sweaters, dresses and skirts, the pretty towels and practical flannel ( 法 兰绒) nightgowns. We talked about size and color and what I thought Mrs. Johnson would like.

    After nearly half an hour of mulling, Mr. Johnson decided on a flannel nightgown with pretty pink slippers to match and a piece of jewelry that I'd pointed out to him. I wrapped his gifts and completed the sale, and Arnie and I walked home for dinner.

    The next Christmas Eve, like clockwork, Mr. Johnson came in at 5:55. We went through the same process, taking lots of time again to choose and wrap gifts. Tired but happy, Arnie and I headed for home.

    By my third Christmas at Dancer's, I was an experienced salesclerk. Mrs. Johnson had come into the store in late summer to buy school clothes for the kids, and we chatted while I helped her shop. As she commented on pretty colors and the lovely way a dress was made, I made mental notes.

    When Mr. Johnson made his last-minute appearance on Christmas Eve, I was ready. I told him, “Mrs. Johnson was in not too long ago, and I noticed how much she liked this royal blue sweater and the plaid skirt that goes with it so beautifully.” She'd also told me that she really needed new boots, confiding that she was ashamed to walk into church with her old ones.

    I'd found some perfect boots in her size and had put them aside for Christmas Eve. Well, Mr. Johnson was impressed, and I think more than a little relieved. We had him out the door by 6:10 with everything wrapped in paper and ribbons!

    I worked for Arnie three more holiday seasons and was always there just before closing on Christmas Eve, when Mr. Johnson knew I had the answers he needed. The big stores in Grand Rapids had more merchandise and lovely Christmas fantasies in their windows, but it's only in a small town that neighbors take care of neighbors.

⑴Questions①to⑤. Judge if the following statements agree with the information given in the passage. Choose A  for  TRUE  if  the  statements agree with  it;  choose B  for  FALSE  if  the statements don't agree with it; choose C for NOT GIVEN if the information the statements carry is not mentioned anywhere in the passage.

⑵Questions⑥to⑨. Match the following words with their meanings in the passage. Note that there are four choices more than you need.

⑶Question⑩. Choose the best answer from A, B, C or D.

Pleasure and Enjoyment

    When considering the kind of experience that makes life better, most people first think that happiness consists in experiencing pleasure: good food, all the comforts that money can buy. We imagine the satisfaction of traveling to exciting places or being surrounded by expensive devices. If we cannot afford those goals, then we are happy to settle for a quiet evening in front of the television set with a drink close by.

    Pleasure is a feeling of contentment that one achieves whenever expectations set by biological programs or by social conditioning have been met. The taste of food when we are hungry is pleasant because it reduces a physiological (生理的) imbalance. Resting in the evening while passively absorbing information from TV, with alcohol or drugs to dull the mind overexcited by the demands of work, is pleasantly relaxing. Traveling to Acapulco is pleasant because the exciting novelty (新奇) restores our sensations (感觉) exhausted by the repetitive routines of everyday life.

    When people think further about what makes their lives rewarding, they tend to move beyond pleasant memories and begin to remember other events, other experiences that overlap(重叠) with pleasurable ones but fall into a category that deserves a separate name: enjoyment. Enjoyable events occur when a person has not only met some expectation or satisfied a need or a desire but also gone beyond what he or she has been programmed to do and achieved something unexpected, perhaps something even unimagined before.

    Enjoyment is characterized by this forward movement: by a sense of novelty, of accomplishment. Playing a close game of tennis that stretches one's ability is enjoyable, as is reading a book that reveals things in a new light, as is having a conversation that leads us to express ideas we didn't know we had. Closing a contested business deal, or any piece of work well done, is enjoyable. None of these experiences may be particularly pleasurable at the time they are taking place, but afterward we think back on them and say, “That really was fun” and wish they would happen again. After an enjoyable event we know that we have changed, that our self has grown: in some respect, we have become more complex as a result of it.

    Experiences that give pleasure can also give enjoyment, but the two sensations are quite different. For instance, everybody takes pleasure in eating. To enjoy food, however, is more difficult. A gourmet (美食家) enjoys eating, as does anyone who pays enough attention to a meal so as to discriminate the various sensations provided by it. As this example suggests, we can experience pleasure without any investment of psychic energy, whereas enjoyment happens only as a result of unusual investments of attention. A person can feel pleasure without any effort, but it is impossible to enjoy a tennis game, a book, or a conversation unless attention is fully concentrated on the activity.

Pleasure and Enjoyment

    As is well-known, drinking water benefits one's health. Especially when you get up early in the morning, you'd better drink water. Here are some reasons why you should do so.

    Improves Your Metabolism(新陈代谢)

    Studies have shown that drinking water on empty stomach can help increase metabolic rate up by 30%. This means that the rate at which calories are burned increases by nearly one third. Do you know what that means? Quicker weight loss!

    If your metabolic rate is high, then you will be able to digest food faster and maintain a slim figure despite eating those extra calories. However, this doesn't mean that you could bite down on all that junk food. Furthermore, you will need to drink around four litres of water daily for best results.

    Helps in Clearing Your Bowels

    Constipation(便秘) is one of the most irritating conditions which also results in deposit of poisonous materials inside the body. But did you know that one of the other benefits of drinking water is that it helps to clear out your bowels? The colon(结肠), which is in part responsible for bowel movements, require water to function properly. So just gulp down a glass of water and sit on your toilet for a clean colon.

    Improves Your Appetite

Early in the morning, with your stomach totally empty, it is natural you will feel hungry. So another benefit of drinking water is preparing you to have the most important meal of the day — breakfast. Besides this, we all know that having a healthy appetite is good for overall health.

Helps to Balance Your Nervous System

    Yes, drinking water on empty stomach especially if it's hot, can improve the health of your nervous system. Early morning, the stomach is most receptive. At this moment, if you indulge in coffee, which is a central nervous system stimulant, your nervous system will be affected from the get-go. On the other hand, if you just have a glass of warm water, it can ease your nervous system, which will help it function properly.

    Prevents Migraine(偏头痛) Attacks

    Again, if you tend to suffer from migraine attacks, then water can help fight it off. Your doctor might have already told you that migraines happen due to lacking water amongst other reasons. So just by increasing your water intake, you are basically preventing your chances from suffering another migraine attack.

    Prevents Early Aging

    And now to finish off, let's see how drinking water on empty stomach can prove to be some sort of good medicine. Water can help release toxins such as bacteria and other harmful elements from your system. This, in turn, can help your body fight the effects of free radicals(自由基) which can cause early ageing. Furthermore, if your skin doesn't lack water internally, it will feel refreshed, which can help it maintain a young state and shiny appearance.

    Now that you've learned the above benefit of drinking water early in the morning, why not develop the healthy habit from now on?

Reading the world in 195 books

    In 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country of all 195 UN-recognized states in a year. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.

    The response was amazing. Before I knew it, people all over the planet were getting in touch with ideas and offers of help. Some posted me books. Others did hours of research on my behalf. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Even with such an extraordinary team behind me, however, sourcing books was no easy task.

    But the effort was worth it. As I made my way through the planet's literary landscapes, extraordinary things started to happen. Far from simply armchair travelling, I found I was inhabiting the mental space of the storytellers. I discovered, bookpacking offered something that a physical traveller could hope to experience only rarely: it took me inside the thoughts of individuals living far away and showed me the world through their eyes. More powerful than a thousand news reports, these stories not only opened my mind to basic information of life in other places, but opened my heart to the way people there might feel. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Through reading the stories shared with me by bookish strangers around the globe, I realized I was not an isolated person, but part of a network that stretched all over the planet.

    One by one, the country names on the list that had begun as an intellectual exercise transformed into places filled with laughter, love, anger, hope and fear. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. At its best, I learned, fiction makes the world real.

    {#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.