Nearly everyone has spent at least one night lying in bed wishing for sleep. But for many, it's a nightly struggle. The key, or secret, is to experiment. What works for some might not work as well for others.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Set a regular bedtime. Go to bed at the same time every night.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Try not to break this routine on weekends when it may be attractive to stay up late. If you want to change your bedtime, help your body adjust (调整).

   {#blank#}3{#/blank#}If you're getting enough sleep, you should wake up on time naturally without an alarm. As with your bedtime, try to keep your regular wake-up time even on weekends.

    Be smart about napping (打盹). Though taking a nap can be a great way to become energetic again, especially for older adults, it can make insomnia (失眠) worse.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you must nap, do it in the early afternoon, and limit it to thirty minutes.

    Fight after-dinner drowsiness(睡意). What should you do when getting sleepy before your bedtime?    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} For example, washing the dishes, or calling a friend. If you give in to the drowsiness, you may wake up later in the night and have difficulty getting back to sleep.

A. Wake up at the same time every day.

B. Spend more time outside in the daytime.

C. When it's time to sleep, make sure the room is dark.

D. Get off the couch and do something to avoid falling asleep.

E. If insomnia is a problem for you, consider giving up napping.

F. It's important to find the sleep methods that work best for you.

G. Choose a time when you normally feel tired so that you can fall asleep easily.

— What are you going to do this afternoon?

—I'll take them to the shoemaker's after lunch. I must have my walking shoes repaired.

—{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Something more interesting than shopping, I hope.

—{#blank#}2{#/blank#} I enjoy going round the big shops. If I finish shopping early enough, I may go to the cinema. There is a good film at the Regal Cinema this week.

—What's the film about?

—{#blank#}3{#/blank#} One of Hollywood's best pictures, I'm told. And what do you think about martial films?

—You know I don't like films of any sort. How often do I go to the cinema? Twice a year, perhaps. Most films are very foolish. I don't understand why people want to go to the cinema every week.

—{#blank#}4{#/blank#} They want to look like film stars. They want to live in the way film stars live.

—Yes, as I said, most films are very foolish and most of the people who go to films are very foolish.

—{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

—No, of course not, my dear. I wasn't thinking of you.

A. And is that true of me?

B. Oh, but I like shopping.

C. Why do you think so?

D. They want to wear clothes like those worn by film stars.

E. And what else are you doing?

F. I know nothing about it.

G. Black Hawk Down. A really good martial film.

    For college graduates, it is of vital importance to write application letters well. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. It should state clearly the job you want, and should tell what you have done. It should be simple, human, personal and brief without leaving out any necessary facts. In writing a letter of application, keep in mind that the things a possible employer is most likely to want to know about are your qualifications, your achievements and your aims.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} If the first few sentences fail to win the reader's attention, the rest of the letter may not be continued at all. Try to key your opening remarks to the needs or interests of the employer not to your own needs or desires. For example, instead of beginning with "I saw your advertisement in today's newspaper", you might say "I have made a careful study of your advertising during the past six months "or" I have made a survey in my neighborhood to find out how many housewives use your product and why they like it."

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Be clear about the kind of job for which you are now applying. College graduates looking for their first positions often ask what they can provide in a letter and what if employers want experience  which, naturally, no beginner has.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    It is important to write a good strong closing for your letter, Make a specific request for an interview or give the possible employer something definite to do or expect. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} That makes it easier for a possible employer to get in touch with you.

A. Try to avoid writing in general

B. Don't be afraid of being a new hand

C. Here are a few suggestions for you to prepare yourself better for your interview

D. An excellent idea is to enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your letter

E. The purpose of a letter of application is to help you to"sell"yourself

F. The answer is that everything you have ever done is experience

G. The opening paragraph is perhaps the most important

    In Britain. Boxing Day is usually celebrated on December 26th, which is the following day after Christmas Day. However, strictly speaking, Boxing Day is the first weekday after Christmas. Like Christmas Day, Boxing Day is a public holiday. This means it's a non-working day in the whole of Britain. When Boxing Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday is the public holiday.

    The exact origin(起源)of the holiday is unclear. One of the thoughts is that during the Middle Ages, when great sailing ships were setting off to discover new land, a Christmas Box was placed by a priest(神父)on each ship. Those sailors who wanted to ensure a safe return would drop money into the box. It was sealed up and kept on board until the ship came home safely. Then the box was handed over to the priest in exchange for the saying of a mass of thanks for the success of the sailing. The priest wouldn't open it to share the contents with the poor until Christmas.

    One more thought is about the "Alms Box" placed in every church on Christmas Day. Worshippers(做礼拜的人) put gifts for the poor into it. These boxes were always opened the day after Christmas. That is why that day became known as Boxing Day.

    Today, many businesses, organizations and families try to keep the traditional spirit of Boxing Day alive by donating(捐赠) their time, services and money to aid Food Banks, providing gifts for the poor, or helping families in need. Besides, spending time with family and shopping are popular Boxing Day activities now.

A travel journal is one of the best ways to keep a long voyage in memory. Many details that don't seem important while you are writing your travel journal often turn out to be so memorable.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. When you are on a busy journey, it is easy to forget to write. You may promise yourself that you will write later, but that almost never happens. Take a few minutes every day and put down your memories.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

Use your “down time” for your travel journal. There is a surprising amount of sitting around while traveling. You can always put down a few lines in your travel journal when you are on trains, waiting for planes, drying your laundry, or waiting in line.

At the beginning of your journal, write down the day, where you are, who you are with, maybe even the weather and what you eat. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Years later when you read your journal, you will know exactly what you were doing on that day.

Focus on writing about how you feel. Listing facts and figures is fine but that isn't why you traveled. A long journey is a time for self-reflection. Memories of these feelings fade quickly with time.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Whenever you use a ticket for a train or a museum or a ride, tape the stubs to your journal. They are pieces of history from your journey. Years later you can look at the ticket stubs and see exactly what you were doing on a specific day and how much it cost.

A. Keep ticket stubs.

B. Book your ticket in advance.

C. You'd better write down as much as possible.

D. These are the first details people tend to forget.

E. It doesn't have to be long, just on a regular basis.

F. Get into the habit of writing your travel journal every day.

G. Writing about those experiences while the memories are fresh is important.

D

With the completion of the Human Genome（基因组）Project more than 20 years ago, and the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA enjoying its 70th birthday last year, you might assume that we know how life works. Think again!

Evolution has a 4bn-year head start on us. However, several aspects of the standard picture of how life works-the idea of the genome as a blueprint, of genes as instructions for building an organism, of proteins as precisely tailored molecular（分子）machines and more-have wildly reduced the complexity of life. 

In the excellent book How Life Works, Philip Ball explorers the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more delicate affair than we have understood. Ball explains that life is a system of many levels-genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and body modules-each with its own rules and principles, so there is no unique place to look for an answer to it. 

Also, How Life Works is a much more appealing title than the overused question of "What is life?". We should be less concerned with what a thing is, and rather more focused on what a thing does. Defining a living thing implies an unchangeable ideal type, but this will run counter to the Darwinian principle that living things are four-dimensional, ever changing in time as well as space.

But it's an idea that is deeply rooted within our culture. Ball points out that we rely on metaphors（比喻）to explain and explore the complexities of life, but none suffice. We are taught that cells are machines, though no machine we have invented behaves like the simplest cell; that DNA is a code or a blueprint, though it is neither; that the brain is a computer, though no computer behaves like a brain at all.

Ball is a terrific writer, pumping out books on incredibly diverse subjects. There's a wealth of well-researched information in here, and some details that are a bit chewy for the lay reader. But the book serves as an essential introduction on our never-ending quest to understand life.