How to improve your happiness

    Recent research has shown that people who value their time over the pursuit of wealth are happier. So how can you best make, save and use your time — and ensure you keep a smile on your face?

● Pay someone to do the housework you hate

Why waste precious hours on housework or gardening if you can get someone else to do it?

● Set time limits on tasks you can't avoid

    Give yourself 20 minutes for necessary cleaning or 10 to hang out the washing. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

● Enjoy standing in that queue

    With three people in front of you at the checkout, think about how busy you usually are and see the wait as a gift, not a bore(烦人的事情). {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

● Take on one new activity at a time

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}At work and at home, be careful about the duties you take on. If you already feel stressed at work, don't do more at home.

● Learn to say no

    Be firm by declining a new project, or telling someone you can't talk right now or that you can only talk for a couple of minutes.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

● Make lists your friend

    Start a wish list of the things you'd like to do and do more of the items that simply make you feel happy. Keep your daily to-do list manageable by putting it on an index card.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Be friendly but firm.

B. Make sure you start with an easy task.

C. This will get boring jobs out of the way faster.

D. Intending to do several things at once can be tiring.

E. Think about things that interest you, or wait patiently.

F. Trying to master too many new things at once can be unpleasing.

G. Recall things you're grateful for, talk to another customer or read a magazine.

    Here's how yo-yo dieting affects your body and your mind

    Yo-yo dieting, also known as weight cycling, occurs when a person experiences periods of weight loss followed by weight gain followed by weight loss and so on and so on. The effects of this weight cycling are significant, even when the weight lost and gained is as little as 10 pounds.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    It can make you gain weight

    While dieting may help you lose a few pounds at first, it only works temporarily. Your body responds to the lack of calories by turning to lean muscle mass for energy. Once you have returned to your normal eating habits, the weight comes back on –{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Yo-yo dieting may increase the risk for heart disease and sudden death in post-menopausal（绝经后期）women. Studies found that when normal-weight women experienced periods of weight cycling, they were 3.5 times more likely to have sudden death than women whose weight remained stable. In the same study, yo-yo dieting increased a woman's risk of death by 66 percent.

It can be damaging to your skin

    Dermatologist (a doctor who studies and treats skin diseases) Robin Evans weighed in on the effect that yo-yo dieting has on the skin. “The up and down weight losses and gains can have harmful effects on the skin especially on the face with stretching and contracting the skin,” said Evans{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

It plays games with your mind

    Yo-yo dieting is hard on the body,{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Repeatedly gaining and losing weight can leave dieters feeling more depressed about their weight and losing self-belief as a result.

    If you're a yo-yo-dieter, talk to your health care provider about lifestyle changes that can help you maintain a stable and healthy weight for years to come.

A. It only works temporarily

B. It can damage your heart

C. but in the form of fat, not muscle

D. but it's even harder on the mind

E. but with a smaller size, you will make yourself less friendly

F. The result ends up more wrinkles and an overall effect of aging the skin

G. We turned to the experts to find out how yo-yo dieting can affect your body and your mind

    I just realized that while children are dogs-loyal and affectionate-teenagers are cats.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} You feed it, train it, and boss it around. It puts its head on your knee and gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt painting. It bounds indoors with enthusiasm when you call it. However, around age 13, your adoring little puppy(child) turns into a big old cat(teenager). Then when you tell it to come inside, it looks amazed, as if wondering who died. Instead of following your doorsteps, it disappears.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Not realizing that the dog is now a cat, you think something must be desperately wrong within. Since you're the one who raised it, you assume that you did something wrong. Now you're dealing with a cat. Filled with guilt and fear, you redouble your efforts to make your pet behave. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Call it, and it runs way. Tell it to sit, and it jumps on the counter.

    Instead of continuing to act like a dog owner, you can learn to behave like a cat owner. Put a dish of food near the door, and let it come to you.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}You sit still, and it will come, seeking that warm, comforting lap it has not entirely forgotten. Be there to open the door for it. One day your grown-up child will walk into the kitchen, give you a big kiss and say, "You've been working hard all day. Let me get those dishes for you."{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. It's so easy to be a dog owner.

B. Children as cats can turn to their parents.

C. You won't see it again until it gets hungry.

D. Then you'll realize your cat is a dog again.

E. Teenagers can understand and appreciate their parents' love.

F. But remember that a cat needs your help and your affection, too.

G. However, all the efforts made before now produce the opposite of the desired result.

    Maybe once you lived with your roommates! Many of us live with a roommate at some stage. Sometimes, there can be problems. Who hasn't had an argument about whose turn it is to take out the rubbish or who should be the one to clear up after dinner? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

    You know that there's always someone else around, which can help you feel safer. There is always someone to talk to, so you never feel lonely. Besides these obvious benefits, there are some you may not notice. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    To examine the effect of living alone, Australian university researchers did much research and found that people living alone tended to eat less fresh food, which can have a significant negative effect on long-term health. However, those living with others generally benefited from a more varied diet compared to those living alone.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The researchers believe the social and cultural roles played by cooking, food preparation and eating may be important considerations. For example, those living with friends have someone else to go shopping with, and thus are likely to buy high-quality fresh food regularly.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If people living alone find they do not have the knowledge required to prepare a particular dish or cook a certain food, they may fall back on ready-made, less healthy food.

    However, if they live with at least one other person, they maybe able to ask for help.

    In addition, people living alone can eat whatever they want at any time of the day or night. However, it's helpful to have someone around who questions your decision to eat frozen pizza at 3 am. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    So, if you now live alone and find yourself fighting a losing battle against poor eating habits, why not consider sharing a home with someone else? You could encourage one another onto greater health and well-being.

A. Cooking skills maybe another factor.

B. In other words, roommates can draw your attention to unhealthy routines.

C. Living with a roommate could be good to share your expenses and contribute to your home's maintenance.

D. For example, we're actually more likely to eat healthier food when living with others.

E. What could explain these findings?

F. It's hard to find someone who doesn't grate on your nerves, has a similar cleanliness level as you and goes to bed at the same time.

G. However, living with another person also comes with many benefits.

    Rivers play an important role on the earth, and we can't imagine what the earth would be like without rivers. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    With a length of 6, 650 kilometers, the Nile is the longest river in the world. The Nile River has been the source of human civilization since ancient times. The Nile has two main branches—the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile starts from the Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa through Lake Victoria.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} The Blue Nile carries with it a lot of fertile soil which turns out to be very important to farming in Egypt.

    The Amazon River is the world's largest river with a width of about 40 kilometers during the rainy seasons but about 10 kilometers wide when it is not flooded. The Amazon River has such a big water volume that it accounts for(占.....比例) more than 20% of all the world's fresh water—far more than any other river. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}The main Amazon River flows mostly through Brazil and Peru but its tributaries can also be found in many other countries.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}It has a depth of about 250 meters. Its length is 4, 700 kilometers. The sources of the Congo River are in the highlands and mountains in the Eastern Africa Rift Valley. It's the second largest river in terms of water volume. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}The Congo River basin(盆地) is the catchments(流域，集水区) area of the Congo River. It lies in both north and south of the Equator, making its flow very stable as there are always some tributaries experiencing a rainy season at any time.

A. Some of them are worth mentioning.

B. The Congo River is the world's deepest river.

C. Do you know which is the deepest river in the world?

D. The Blue Nile originates from(发源于)Lake Tana in Ethiopia.

E. Without rivers, there would be no living life in and along them.

F. And it flows through the second largest rain-forests in the world.

G. Streams that begin in the Andes Mountains are its sources.

    Think of everything that could go wrong in your life. What if your city floods tomorrow and you lose your home? What if a tornado passes by and you are struck by flying objects, leaving you with several broken bones? Or maybe next year you crash your car and are badly in need of a life-saving surgery. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    All of these incidents, terrible as they are, require money to fix. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} With an insurance policy, you are given a safety net which you can land on in the event that anything terrible happens to you or your family.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} As a part of this plan, you will have to pay a premium (保费). It is a monthly or yearly payment to an insurance company. If you do have an insurance plan, then in exchange for your premium money, an insurance company will agree to cover the cost of whatever accident may occur to you. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} For example, if you tend to get sick a lot, you will have to pay more in your premium because it is more likely that you will go to the hospital.

    In many ways, getting an insurance plan is a bit of a bet. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} However, by getting an insurance plan, you can ensure that you will always have a safety net to land on if anything terrible does occur, as you have a guarantee that at least some portion of the cost will be covered by your insurance company.

A. What will you do then?

B. We should have the sense of insurance.

C. And this is where insurance comes into help.

D. There are some ways to help you handle the problems.

E. Your payment usually varies based on your risk factors.

F. Insurance companies offer insurance plans to people in need.

G. You never know whether you will have an accident in the future.