What Is Emotional Eating?

    Emotional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of satisfying hunger. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Have you ever finished a whole bag of chips out of boredom or downed cookie after cookie while preparing for a big test? But when done a lot — especially without realizing it — emotional eating can affect weight, health, and overall well-being.

    Not many of us make the connection between eating and our feelings.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} One of the biggest myths about emotional eating is that it's caused by negative feelings. Yes, people often turn to food when they're stressed out, lonely, sad, anxious, or bored. But emotional eating can be linked to positive feelings too, like the romance of sharing dessert on Valentine's Day or the celebration of a holiday feast. Sometimes emotional eating is tied to major life events, like a death or a divorce. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Emotional eating patterns can be learned: A child who is given candy after a big achievement may grow up using candy as a reward for a job well done. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It's not easy to “unlearn” patterns of emotional eating. But it is possible. And it starts with an awareness of what's going on.

    We're all emotional eaters to a degree. But for some people emotional eating can be a real problem, causing serious weight gain or other problems. The trouble with emotional eating is that once the pleasure of eating is gone, the feelings that cause it remain. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} That's why it helps to know the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger.

    Next time you reach for a snack, wait and think about which type of hunger is driving it.

A. Believe it or not, we've all been there.

B. If a crying boy gets some cookies, he may link cookies with comfort.

C. One study found that people who eat food like pizza become happy afterwards.

D. And you often may feel worse about eating the amount or type of food you like.

E. Understanding what drives emotional eating can help people take steps to change it.

F. Boys seem to prefer hot, homemade comfort meals, while girls go for chocolate and ice cream.

G. More often, though, it's the countless little daily stresses that cause someone to seek comfort in food.

This Way to Dreamland

    Daydreaming means people think about something pleasant, especially when this makes them forget what they should be doing. Daydreamers have a bad reputation for not realizing what's happening around them. They can seem forgetful and clumsy(笨拙的){#blank#}1{#/blank#} They upsets us because they seem to be ignoring us and missing the important things..

    But daydreamers are also responsible for some of the greatest ideas and achievements in human history. Without wandering minds, we wouldn't have relativity(相对论), Coke or Post-it notes.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    So how can you come up with wonderful daydreams and avoid falling over tree roots or otherwise looking like a fool?

First, understand that some opportunities for daydreaming are better than others. Feeling safe and relaxed will help you to slip into daydreams.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} And if you want to improve your chances of having a creative idea while you're daydreaming, try to do it while you are involved(参与) in another task—preferably something simple, like taking a shower or walking, or even making meaningless drawings.

    It's also important to know how to avoid daydreams for those times when you really need to concentrate. “Mindfulness”, being focused, is a tool that some people use to avoid falling asleep{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Finally, you never know what wonderful idea might strike while your mind has moved slowly away{#blank#}5{#/blank#} .Always remember that your best ideas might come when your head is actually in the clouds.

A.It includes slow, steady(平稳的) breathing for self-control that helps people stay calm and attentive.

B. Therefore, it's a good idea to keep a notebook or voice recorder nearby when you're in the daydream zone.

C. At one time, daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illnesses.

D. Can you imagine what kind of world we would have without such ideas and inventions?

E. Daydreams are often very simple and direct, quite unlike sleep dreams, which may be hard to understand.

F. They stare off into space and wander(闲逛) by themselves.

G. Having interesting things to think about also helps.

Urbanization

    Until relatively recently, the vast majority of human being lived and died without ever seeing a city. The first city was probably founded no more than 5,500 years ago. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} In fact, nearly everyone lived on farms or in tiny rural (乡村的) villages.

    It was not until the 20th century that Great Britain became the first urban society in history—a society in which the majority of people live in cities and do not farm for a living.

    Britain was only the beginning.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} The process of urbanization—the migration (迁徙) of people from the countryside to the city—was the result of modernization, which has rapidly transformed how people live and where they live.

    In 1900, fewer than 40% of Americans lived in urban areas. Today, over 82% of Americans live in cities. Only about 2% live on farms. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Large cities were impossible until agriculture became industrialized. Even in advanced agricultural societies, it took about ninety-five people on farms to feed five people in cities. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Until modern times, those living in cities were mainly the ruling elite ( 精英) and the servants, laborers and professionals who served them. Cities survived by taxing farmers and were limited in size by the amount of surplus（过剩）food that the rural population produced and by the ability to move this surplus from farm to city.

    Over the past two centuries, the Industrial Revolution has broken this balance between the city and the country. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Today, instead of needing ninety-five farmers to feed five city people, one American farmer is able to feed more than a hundred non-farmers.

A.That kept cities very small.

B.The rest live in small towns.

C.The effects of urban living on people should be considered

D.Soon many other industrial nations became urban societies.

E.But even 200 years ago, only a few people could live in cities.

F.Modernization drew people to the cities and made farmers more productive.

G.Modern cities have destroyed social relations and the health of human beings.

M: Remember Paul from our old school?

W: {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

M: I met him at the checkout in the supermarket the other day, and he was queuing right in front of me.

W: {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

M: Well, he started out as a manager in charge of sales. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} He teaches commercial English there.

W: Why did he get this new job? {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

M: Yes. It is tiring, though. After all, he has got a family to take care of.

W: I see. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

M: Exactly!

A. Isn't he working in a company as a sales manager?

B. Then he transferred to work for an international giant.

C. Of course I do.

D. But he ended up getting a job at the local university.

E. Isn't it interesting to travel around as a sales manager?

F. That's a good point.

G. Sometimes it is a painful choice, career or family.

Ted: Hi, Bob! Eating fried chicken? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Bob: Eggs and milk? I don't want to have them every day. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Ted: But don't have too much unhealthy food. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Bob: OK, I won't. By the way, I find some students throw away eggs and milk.

Ted: That's too bad. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Bob: Yes. But what do you think we can do?

Ted: {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

Bob: Let's have a try, then we may have different kinds of food every day.

    "The calm before the storm" is a very familiar expression. It is usually used to describe a peaceful period just before a very stressful situation or a tense argument. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} They noted that before certain storms the seas would seem to become calm and the winds would drop.

    But why is it often so calm before a storm? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} According to US website HowStuffWorks, a calm period occurs because many storms, tornadoes and hurricanes draw in all the warm and damp air from the surrounding area. As this air rises into the storm clouds, it cools and acts as "fuel for the storm, like petrol in a car."

    Once the storm has taken all the energy it can from the air, it is pushed out from the top of the storm clouds and falls back down to ground level. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} So once it covers an area, it causes a calm period before the storm.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} First count how many seconds there are between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder, roughly three seconds equal one kilometer. A good judgement is that if your count is below 30 seconds, you should seek shelter straight away.

    However, due to the complexity of storm system, calm doesn't always go first. So, your best bet is to keep yourself updated with weather reports for any predictions regarding a coming storm in your area. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Science has given us the answer.

B. There is no definite answer to the question.

C. Weather reports sometimes cannot be trusted.

D. British sailors coined the phrase in the late 1600s.

E. As the air declines, it becomes warm and dry, which is stable.

F. The Weather Network has a tip for working out how far away a storm is.

G. That's the most reliable way to predict the next display of nature's temper.