We often find that weekends and holidays feel so short while classes and work feel so long. Actually, though, we know that this is not true. But we still wonder where that strange feeling comes from.

    In fact, this is one of the ways that we're tricked by time, according to the website. All that S interesting. The website lists several wrong impressions (印象) we often have about time. Let's have a look.

    First of all, emotions affect (影响) our time-keeping abilities. Negative emotions (消极情绪). especially anxiety and boredom, make time seem longer because they make us concentrate (集中) more on the passage of time. However, when we are enjoying ourselves, we pay more attention to what we are doing and are likely to lose track of (失去对……的意识) time.

    Here is another example. In 2007, a group of scientists carried out a test. In the test, people fell 50 meters into a safety net and were then asked about their experience. Although the experience took shorter than 3 seconds, the people thought it was much longer than it actually was.

    This is because of the way our bodies reply to danger, according to the scientists. Our bodies produce a chemical called adrenaline (肾上腺素) when we are faced with danger. It allows us to concentrate better so that we can stay alive. As a result, we are able to remember far more details (细节) over a short period of time, which makes it seem like time is going more slowly.

    Another situation when we make mistakes about time is when we take afternoon naps (午觉). Have you ever had trouble telling what time it is after a long nap? That's because the best amount of time for a nap is 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you enter a new stage of sleep called slow-wave sleep. If you wake up mid-way in this stage, it will take a while before you can correctly perceive (感知) time again.

    Yes, time can be mysterious (神秘的) and there is no way to control it. So, perhaps the best thing to do is to make good use of every minute.

This month, we went on a five day trip to Xishuangbanna, a beautiful place in the south of Yunnan Province. The weather there is hot and wet. There a {#blank#}1{#/blank#} many kinds of plants and animals. I want to i {#blank#}2{#/blank#} some interesting things we saw to you during our trip.

In the jungle(丛林), we saw a twining(缠绕的)plant. These P {#blank#}3{#/blank#} grow when seeds-seeds mainly from banyan tees (榕树)are moved by animals or wind to some other trees. These seeds gradually grow, developing their own aerial (空气的) roots. Little by lite, they will get themselves around the host tree and f {#blank#}4{#/blank#} kill it, just like a snake kills its enemy.

A {#blank#}5{#/blank#} thing we learned is that when a tree gets big and strong, some of its aerial roots will grow into the ground and develop into a new tee, just like the way cell division (细胞分裂) works. The w {#blank#}6{#/blank#} tree will look like a small forest. I think this is quite a {#blank#}7{#/blank#}.

In the forest, you will sometimes find some red leaves among the green leaves. Why is that?

One reason is that the sunshine is very strong in Yunnan. The trees n {#blank#}8{#/blank#} use all of their leaves in order to do photosynthesis (光合作用) and grow, so the color of some of the leaves c {#blank#}9{#/blank#}to red.

We really enjoyed our trip to Yunnan. We learned a lot about n {#blank#}10{#/blank#} and had a rally fun time. I hope we can take more trips like this in the future.

Once a man walked to India where he had never been before. When he got there, he saw many kinds of fruits. But most were expensive. The man saw a big basket of red, long fruit. He thought it must be sour and sweet. 

He went up and asked, " How much per kilo?"And the shopkeeper said, "Two rupees(卢比). "

Two rupees in India is nothing. And it was the cheapest in the shop. So he bought a kilogram and started eating it. But after he ate some, his eyes watered, his mouth watered and burned, and his face became red. He even coughed while eating. 

But he still ate the fruit! Some locals who were looking at him shook their heads and said, "You're crazy, man. It's chilly! You can't eat so much! People use it as spice(调味品), but only a little bit to put into food for taste. They're not fruit!" But the man said, . "No, I can't stop! I can't waste my money. "

Do you think that man was stupid? In fact, we sometimes do a lot of things like that. We put money, time or effort into a relationship, business or job. Even though over a long time it won't work, and we know things will never change in the future, we still go on just because of the things we've put in. like the man. 

So even if you've lost something, let it go and move on. That's better than keeping losing. 

When I was a boy, every holiday that I had seemed wonderful. My parents took me by train or by car to a hotel by the 1 . I seem to remember I 2  on the sands with some other children all day. We were strangely 3 . We made houses and gardens, and 4  the tide(潮水) destroy them. When the tide went out, we climbed over the rocks and 5  the fish in the rock pools. 

In those days, the sun seemed to shine always 6  and the water was always warm. Sometimes we 7  the beach and walked in the country, exploring(探索) broken houses, dark woods and climbing trees. There were sweets in one's pockets or good places where one could 8  ice creams. Each day seemed like a lifetime. 

Although I am now thirty-five years old, my idea of a good 9  is much the same as it was. I 10  like the sun and the warm sand and the sound of waves beating the rocks. I no longer wish to 11  any sand house or sand garden, and I dislike sweets. 12 , I love the sea and love to feel sand running through my fingers. 

Sometimes I wonder 13  my ideal(理想的) holiday will be like when I am old. All I want to do then, perhaps, will be to lie in bed, reading books 14  children who make houses and gardens with sand, who watch the incoming tide, and who make themselves 15  for eating too many ice creams. 

注意：

1.文中不出现真实校名、地名、人名；

2.可适当发挥， 以使行文连贯， 短文首句已给出， 不计入总词数；

3.词数80左右。

 Hi, Betty,

I'm really excited that you are coming to China next month!

Yours,

Li Hua