Tonight, my piano recital(钢琴演奏会) was the most important thing in my family. My grandparents were coming by plane to hear me play. Even my busy Aunt Dianne, who is on TV every night reading the news, was coming.

    But one thing was for sure. I would never win an award for my piano playing. And that's just because the more I practiced, the more nervous I got. So there I was，on the stage， in my beautiful dress，and I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play，I hit a wrong note. I told myself to start over. But then I hit the wrong note again. It was as if I hadn't practiced at all.

    Finally the disaster was over. I ran off the stage. I couldn't understand why audience(观众) were clapping. But they were. My mom and dad had flowers for me and we were all supposed to go out for a nice dinner, but I couldn't. I just wanted to go home and cry and never go anywhere again. After we went back home, Aunt Dianne just came in and sat down on the side of my bed.

    “It was my first night on the air,” she said. “I had never been on television before and I made a mistake. I mispronounced my name and the name of the news show. And you know what? No one even noticed but me. Just like tonight, no one noticed—just you.” Aunt Dianne was right. I think we are harder on ourselves than anyone else is. Maybe I will leave my room. And maybe I'll play the piano again.

    Stress is a word we hear a lot these days. People have stressful jobs; they feel stressed while studying for exams; even family life can be stressful. Stress can cause headaches and lack of sleep arid research has shown that it is one of the main causes of heart disease. None of us can completely avoid stress. Everyone experiences it.

    In ancient times, stress served a different purpose. It kept us alive. When a caveman was walking along and was suddenly faced with a lion, the stress he experienced would make him run away faster than he could usually run. Stress is the state our bodies experience when we need to react to difficult or dangerous situations. While stress saved us back then, and it is still very helpful in difficult situations, we need a break from stress every now and again.

    Luckily, there are ways to relax and deal with stress and it seems that music might be our number one cure. A recent worldwide study showed that listening to music is what most people do to relax and reduce stress. The study was based on interviews with 1,000 people in 30 countries and 56% said that listening to music was the best way to relax. Watching TV, at 53%, was the next most popular way of reducing stress followed by taking a shower or bath at 49%. It is not really surprising that listening to music is such a popular way of relaxing. It is cheap and widely available on radio, TV and the Internet.

    Of course, musical tastes differ from person to person. Sam might love listening to loud heavy metal music to relax after a hard day's work, but his neighbour - a fan of Mozart - might find hearing his music extremely stressful. “Sam needs an iPod”, you- might be thinking and you are probably right. Mobile music players can provide music privately whenever and wherever it is needed; we could even call them the stress fighters of the 21st century. So the next time you fed stressed, take a deep breath, put on your earphones and ... relax.

    There are many weird sports that are present from around the world. From each region of the world, along with the very popular common sports, there are also those really popular but very weird kinds of sports.

    The Ultimate Test between Man and Horse:

    This indeed a very strange kind of sport that tests your stamina. You will learn how to be agiler while competing against a horse. This game originated in Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells. This sport really has to do with strength. You will require great agility and strength in order to take part in this. Marathon human contestants are put to test against those mounted on horses. This is how the marathon testing takes place.

    Love Locked Race

    This is a sports event that was first introduced in Finland. This is all about a male competitor racing with a female in a certain way. There would be many obstructions and blocks on the way which would definitely bring you challenges. The person to win would have to finish the race without losing his female partner in the course of overcoming the obstacles even for once. This race takes place really fast and the obstacles are set that way.

    Toe sport

    This is yet another weird sport that welcomes you to use your toes. This is quite the same kind of sport that you used to play as a child which involved toe wrestling. This has now been turned into a major sport that even has a World Toe Wrestling Competition. It first originated in a pub of Derbyshire.

    The locals took this sport with great enjoyment and then made this so popular that it soon had its own championship. The individuals who participate have only got to use their feet in locks but then this is tougher than it may sound.

    The Mud Pit Belly Flop

    This is a kind of game where even the spectators get splashed in mud but in fact that is quite the fun. The very annual Summer Redneck Games in East Dublin brings about this game and brings about some of the greatest hubcap discus throws with it. This is also a great sport to show the strength and dexterity of your feet.

    In Canada, rights come with responsibilities. These include:

Obeying the law—one of Canada's founding principles is the rule of law. Individuals and governments are regulated by laws and not by arbitrary actions. No person or group is above the law.

    Taking responsibility for oneself and one's family—getting a job, taking care of one's family and working hard in keeping with one's abilities are important Canadian values. Work contributes to personal dignity and self -respect, and to Canada's prosperity.

    Serving on a jury—when called to do so, you are legally required to serve. Serving on a jury is a privilege that makes the justice system work as it depends on impartial juries made up of citizens.

    Voting in elections—the right to vote comes with a responsibility to vote in federal provincial or territorial and local elections.

    Helping others in the community—millions of volunteers freely donate their time to help others without pay -helping people in need assisting at your child's school volunteering at a food bank or other charity, or encouraging newcomers to integrate. Volunteering is an excellent way to gain useful skills and develop friends and contacts.

    Protecting and enjoying our heritage and environment—every citizen has u role to play in avoiding waste and pollution while protecting Canada's natural, cultural and architectural heritage for future generations.

    Big Ben is not the name of a man. It is the name of a huge(庞大的)clock in London. London is the capital of England. This clock has four faces. So，no matter where you stand, you can read the time on the face of Big Ben. Each face is the size of a double decker(层)bus. The hands are about four metres long. It is about the size of two people standing on top of each other. If you go to London, you may want to visit the Houses of Parliament(国会大厦). There you will find Big Ben sits at the top of the clock tower(塔)in the Houses of Parliament. Maybe you will hear it as well as see it. The huge clock makes such a loud noise. "Ding dong, ding dong, "it goes every quarter of an hour.

    The clock was named after a big man. He was Sir Benjamin Hall. This man did much building work in London many years ago.

Lack of sleep among children and teenagers in China has worsened in the past decade, with more than 80 percent getting insufficient sleep on school days, a new report has found.

Chinese youngsters snooze 7. 8 hours a night on average on school days, down 0. 3 hours from 2009, according to the report released on Monday by the Chinese Academy of Sciences'Institute of Psychology.

Researchers surveyed more than 15,800 students from Henan, Hebei and Guangdong provinces from April to July, asking what time they go to bed and wake up on days they take offline classes on campus.

Only 46. 4 percent of them sleep for at least 8 hours, compared with 47. 4 percent in 2009.

According to an action plan laying out measures to be taken from 2019 to 2030 to promote the health of citizens, primary school students are recommended to get a minimum of 10 hours of sleep a night. For junior high school and senior high school students, the recommended sleep durations per night are 9 and 8 hours respectively.

By this set of standards, more than 95 percent of students from primary schools, nearly 91 percent at junior high and 84 percent at senior high, did not get enough sleep on school days, heightening the risk of them developing cognitive, mental and physical health problems, the report said.

Hou Jinqin, a researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences who co-authored the study, suggested local authorities implement measures instructed by the Ministry of Education, such as lessening academic burdens, postponing start times at school and encouraging children to be enrolled at institutions closer to home, in order to prolong sleeping hours.

In terms of the COVID - 19 outbreak's impact on sleep, she said available research overseas shows school closures forced by the COVID - 19 epidemic have added two hours of sleep to young students studying-gat home.

In China, some studies have revealed no marked differences in sleeping patterns of students before and after school reopened, she added.