Many people say that they are working too many hours. They don't have enough time to relax or to stay with their family.

    Work hours are different from one country to another. In France, people spend about 1, 646 hours a year at work. In Japan, however, people work about 2, 159 hours a year. That means a Japanese worker works 513 more hours a year than a French worker.

    Why do people work so many hours？Some people work extra hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don't pay overtime. Their workers don't get more pay for more work. Some people think it's their duty to work more hours. Some are afraid of losing their jobs if they don't work more hours.

    Many people say that their vacations are too short. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation a year. In Germany, they get four to six weeks, and in the United States, two weeks. One study shows fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days. In Great Britain, there is a saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull(迟钝的) boy. "If that is true, there must be a lot of dull people in the world.

    Do you like music? Probably. But do you like all kinds of music? Want to say no? Well, before answering this q{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, you'd better have a good understanding of what music is. A music teacher wanted to tell his students the difference b{#blank#}2{#/blank#} music and noise (噪音). He brought many wooden blocks (大 块) of different sizes to class. The students were very s{#blank#}3{#/blank#} to see him throw the blocks at the wall. Everyone thought it was noise. He then took the same blocks and threw them at the wall a{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. This time, however, he threw them in a special order (次序). The students quickly found it was a tune (曲 子). "So," asked the teacher, "what is music?" The answer is that it's organized noise.

    Some years ago, Danny gave up his job as a doctor to become a freelance(特约的) model maker, but now he has money trouble. He says that he wishes he'd never 1 to set up his own business.

    "I am now in such a bad situation," says Danny. "I hope I'm 2 working as a doctor. You see, I was 3 with my job, and I didn't have any fun. I said to a few friends that I wanted to go into 4 and they said that they could give me work, so I left the hospital.

    At first, everything was 5: I had too much work to do. I got too many orders every day. And soon I 6a large number of money. I had a really great lifestyle, and when the work was finished, I used to take good 7 in places like the beautiful blue Aegean Sea, Maldives, Hawaii and so on, just to get relaxed.

    Like this, I was busy having fun all around the world, and charged (支付) everything to my credit (信用) cards, but then I began to 8 how much in debt (负债) I was. At last, I had to sell all my office equipment (设备). Now I could do almost 9 even if people asked me. I've had to 10 my business now and I don't know what I'm going to do for money. It just goes to show if you set up your own business, you shouldn't spend money you don't have."

    Cindy's teacher was Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones was old. But she didn't walk slow. She walked fast. She didn't have white hair. She had black hair. She wasn't a bent woman. Her back was straight. All the students liked Mrs. Jones. They especially liked her on Fridays. On Fridays, she brought cookies (饼干). She gave cookies to all the students. The cookies were delicious. All the students liked the cookies.

    Today was Friday. Mrs. Jones gave cookies with animal pictures to all the students. All the students said,“Thank you. "Then they all ate the cookies. But Cindy didn't eat her cookie. Mrs. Jones asked, "Why aren't you eating your cookie, Cindy?” She said, "I'm not eating my cookie because I will take it home. I will share it with my sister. "Mrs. Jones said," You're so sweet. Here's a cookie for your sister."

    Facebook says it is working on technology to allow us to control computers directly with our brains. It is developing "silent speech" software to allow people to type at a rate of 100 words per minute, it says. The project, in its early stages, will require new technology to detect brainwaves without needing invasive operation. "We are not talking about monitoring your random thoughts," assured Facebook's Regina Dugan. "You have many thoughts, and you choose to share some of them. We're talking about monitoring those words. A silent speech interface(界面) — one with all the speed and flexibility(灵活) of voice. "

Ms Dugan is the company's head of Building 8, the firm's hardware research lab. The company said it intends to build both the hardware and software to achieve its goal, and has employed a team of more than 60 scientists and academics to work on the project.

On his Facebook page, Mark Zuckerberg added, "Our brains produce enough data to stream four HD(高清) movies every second. The problem is that the best way we have to get information out into the world-speech can only send about the same amount of data as a 1980s modem. We're working on a system that will let you type straight from your brain about five times faster than you can type on your phone today. Finally, we want to turn it into a wearable technology that can be produced in quantity. "

Technology is going to have to get a lot more advanced before we can share a pure thought or feeling, but this is a first step. Other ideas detailed at the company's developers conference in San Jose included work to allow people to "hear" through skin. The system, comparable to Braille, uses pressure points on the skin to pass information. "One day, not so far away, it may be possible for me to think in Chinese, and you to feel it instantly in Spanish," Ms Dugan said.