Some Most Common Senior Year Mistakes

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}You'd better find out how to avoid these common mistakes. Finding a balance between having fun and studying for your courses is a great way to start preparing for college, since you will be called upon to do this during your college years.

    Here we've listed some top mistakes students make so that you can make sure you don't make them.

    Skipping Classes

    Skipping classes could mean missing valuable information for the coming tests.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} As is known to all, information you'll need for your major in your college program may be covered during a high school lecture you miss.

    Forgetting to Study

    When you feel less motivated to study, remind yourself that every good grade gets you closer to finding a college that offers a great program in the major you want. Keep your eyes on the prize!

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} To stay on top of your assignments, calculate how long you think something will take you, and then double it. That way you'll have ample time to get your work done.

    Daydreaming about Your Future Too Much

    Your mind now might be wandering, thinking around about degrees, majors, possible careers, study abroad and many other things. These are all exciting future possibilities, but don't forget the here and now.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Failing to Use Available Resources

    Teachers know about fall the challenges you're facing.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}This help can be in the form of extra office hours, a review of topics covered, study guides, sample exams, or other tools to help you improve your grade. Take advantage of them.

A. Start preparing for college

B. Mismanaging Your Time

C. Your senior year of high school is a busy time

D. And don't forget to think ahead to university classes

E. Almost every high school senior makes some mistakes.

F. Spending too much time daydreaming could seriously limit those future plans You

G. And many of them are nice enough to offer extra help.

    Compared to the history of China, the history of the United States is quite short.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} In 1776, 13 colonies（殖民地）located on the eastern coast of North America declared independence and fought a revolution against the British. In 1783 the colonists won the revolution and gained their independence.

    After the revolution, the United States bought a large section of country from Napoleon of France. This purchase doubled（加倍）the size of the United States. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} If he hadn't needed that money, the United States might have stayed a small country. Texas and most of what is now the southwestern part of the United States belonged to Mexico. The people of Texas fought a revolution against Mexico. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Later, the United States and Mexico went to war. If Mexico had defeated the United States in that war, California and New Mexico would have been part of Mexico today.

    The British and the Americans both claimed the northwestern part of the country. They settled their differences with a compromise. South of the 49th parallel was the United States. North of the 49th parallel was Canada. In 1861 one half of the United States did go to war with the other half. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} President Lincoln wanted to free slaves. He was supported by the North but opposed by the South. The South wanted to separate from the rest of the country and become independent. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Following the Civil War, the United States bought Alaska from Russia. Today it is the largest state in the country and a very important one, too.

A. This was the Civil War.

B. It was controlled by England then.

C. It began little more than 200 years ago.

D. After 4 years of war, the South was defeated.

E. Napoleon needed money for his European wars.

F. They became independent and joined the United States.

G. At that time many people didn't think Alaska was important.

    Like many people, the start of the day maybe isn't your favourite time. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Try at least one of these tomorrow.

    Stretch（伸展）every part of your body for 15 minutes.

    Try this before you open your eyes. Lift your arm and begin by stretching each finger, then your hand, then your wrist, then your arm. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Then your toes, feet, ankles and legs. In this way, you upped the flow of blood through your body, providing more oxygen to all parts of your body.

    Set your alarm 10 minutes earlier.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} You can begin your day by lying in bed, slowly waking up, mentally ticking off the decisions you made in advance about what you're going to wear, what you are going to do.

    Brush your tongue for 2-3 minutes.

    There's no better way to rid you of bad morning breath and begin your day fresh and clean. After all, more than 300 types of bacteria stay in your mouth every night. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Avoid any decisions.

    For truly relaxing mornings, reduce the number of choices and decisions you make to zero. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Really, there's no need to vary your breakfast, timetable or clothes to wear every morning.

A. Repeat with the other arm.

B. You can change your living habits.

C. Make your decisions the night before.

D. These few minutes in bed are all yours.

E. Quick brush can't make them all disappear.

F. Here are some healthy habits you can learn without much efforts.

G. In this way, you don't have to jump out of bed and rush through your morning.

    Recently, I've been following a simple rule that is helping me crush procrastination(拖延症) and making it easier for me to stick to good habits at the same time. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} There are two parts to the 2-Minute Rule.

    Part 1—If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For example, washing your dishes immediately after your meal, tossing the laundry in the washing machine, taking out the garbage, sending that email, and so on.

    If a task takes less than two minutes to complete, then follow the rule and do it right now.

    Part 2—When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.

    Can all of your goals be accomplished in less than two minutes? Obviously not. But, every goal can be started in 2 minutes or less. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    It might sound like this strategy is too basic for grand life goals, but I beg to differ. The 2-Minute Rule works for big goals as well as small goals because of the inertia(惯性)of life. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} I love the 2-Minute Rule because it embraces the idea that all sorts of good things happen once you get started.

    The most important part of any new habit is getting started—not just the first time, but each time. It's not about performance, it's about consistently taking action.

    I can't guarantee whether or not the 2-Minute Rule will work for you. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Anyone can spare the next 120 seconds. Use this time to get one thing done. Go.

A. I call this little strategy the “2-Minute Rule”.

B. And that's the purpose behind this little rule.

C. Here's what you need to know to stop procrastinating.

D. Once you start doing something, it's easier to continue doing it.

E. But, I can guarantee that it will never work if you never try it.

F. The goal is to make it easier for you to get started on the things you should be doing.

G. It's surprising how many things we put off that we could get done in two minutes or less.

When you were at school, were you ever told to stop daydreaming and concentrate? It was easy for your mind to wander if you weren't interested in what you were learning or if you had better things to think about. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But understanding how to do it, and knowing what is distracting you, can help.

Scientists have looked at what makes us delay and found a number of ways to help us stay in the zone. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Research by Science Focus magazine found silence is best for concentration, or a gentle background music is great! It also found turning off notifications on your phone, or switching it off altogether, removes a major distraction and helps us focus on the task at hand.

  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Psychologists and neuroscientists are increasingly interested in our ability to settle down and have looked at what we can change inside our head to make us concentrate. An article for BBC Future by Caroline Williams says that "Attention Researcher Nilli Lavie of University College London has found that making a task more visually demanding takes up more processing power and leaves the brain nothing left to process distractions." So, keeping your mind busy might be the answer.

 {#blank#}4{#/blank#} These include making a list or timetable of the tasks you have to do, finding a workspace where you're not attracted by other things, or chewing some gum! It's possible the movement in your mouth occupies parts of the brain that might otherwise get distracted.

But according to Science Focus magazine, distraction isn't all bad. "If we were always so focused that we never got distracted, we'd miss potential changes, such as threats, in our environment. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} ."

A. Distraction is vital for survival.

B. Staying focused can avoid dangers.

C. Performing visual tasks makes us concentrate.

D. One of the most obvious things is removing noise.

E. Staying focused can still be a challenge in adult life.

F. There are more practical tips to keeping your mind focused.

G. Another possible cure for a short attention duration is brain training.

It is often a complex and tiring task to live a healthy life, but that isnˈt always the case. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Itˈs time to change the classroom environment for the health of the children.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Itˈs not surprising that sitting for long as a child is associated with health problems as an adult. Fortunately, thereˈs a simple, overlooked solution to these problems—standing desks.

Over the last few years, a number of studies have shown that the benefits of the increased range of movement students experience when using standing desks are surprisingly broad. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Besides, standing desks encourage higher levels of teamwork and participation among students. Standing desks also help to reduce the risk of some diseases. They can help to prevent fatness, heart disease and low spirits. Sedentary（久坐的）lifestyles are a major reason why teenagers suffer from poor mental health, while higher activity levels reduce the chances of a child experiencing such an illness.

The benefits of bringing standing desks into classrooms are obvious. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Otherwise they will likely hurt their muscles when standing for a long time. Standing desks usually offer a full range of motion, which includes the option to sit or lean（倾斜身体）without losing eye-level of the rest of the class, and that full range of motion is important.

Sitting isnˈt horrible. It isnˈt a thing we should never do. The problem is that we do it too much, and so do our children, which makes children less likely to succeed and keep healthy. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A．It is time for us to stand up to stay healthy.

B．But it is important for children to use them gradually.

C．Children spend most of their school day sitting at desks.

D．Thus itˈs necessary to break up the sitting with standing desks.

E．Something as cheap as a desk could be making a major difference.

F．Right now there is something we can do easily to keep our children healthy.

G．For example, they help students keep fit and avoid putting on too much weight.