Most American businesses are open five days a week. American school children attend school five days a week as well. American families {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (usual) have a two-day weekend. The weekend is Saturday {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Sunday.

    Over the weekend, people spend their time {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (do) various things. Many families enjoy weekend together. They may go shopping, go for a drive, or visit friends. They may also send {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (invite) friends and have a party at home. Weekends are also good chances to take trips, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} are usually short ones. They will go to the nearby mountains, parks, lakes or other {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (interest）places to relax them. Some even go camping and picnicking there.

    Many families participate {#blank#}7{#/blank#} sports during the weekend. Running, biking, playing volleyball and swimming are popular in the summer. Skiing and skating are the favorite winter {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (sport).

    Weekends are also a time for American families {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (work) on something in their yards or on their houses. Many families plant flowers and have vegetable gardens. So weekends {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (use) to paint or repair their houses. For most Americans, weekends are very busy.

    Marry of us wake up feeling{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(tire) in the morning. Many of us ignore the problem as the day goes on,{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (forget) that it might have a{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(danger) effect. Society even glorifies “burning the candle at both ends” as{#blank#}4{#/blank#}sign of our devotion to work and family.

    Believe it{#blank#}5{#/blank#}not, all this bad sleep has far-reaching consequences. We just do not give ourselves enough chances to sleep. A survey of over 74,000 people found 35 percent reported sleeping less than seven hours daily{#blank#}6{#/blank#}average. Furthermore, the amount of sleep{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(change) greatly over the past 15 years.

    This lack of sleep can lead of many serious{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(problem). One study found that{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(simple) limiting yourself to six hours of sleep a night for two weeks had similar effects to staying up all night the night before,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}could make you perform poorly on a timed attention task.

    Friends play an important part in our {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (life). Though we may take friendship for granted, we often don't clearly understand {#blank#}2{#/blank#} we make friends. While we get on {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(good) with many people, we are usually friends with only a few—for example, per student usually {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (have) about 6 friends. In all the cases of friendly relationships, two people like one another and enjoy {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (be) together. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}fact, as we get to know people, we take into account things like age, race, economic condition, social position, and intelligence. Although these things are not of great {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (important), {#blank#}8{#/blank#} is more difficult to get on with people when there is an obvious difference in age and background. Compared with marriage, there are no friendship ceremonies to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (strong) the connection between two people. But the mutual（彼此的）understanding that results from common experiences and emotions does seem to create a powerful bond, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} can overcome difference in background, and break down barriers（障碍）of age, class and race.

    Are you sometimes a little tired {#blank#}1{#/blank#} sleepy in the early afternoon? Many people feel this way after lunch. They may think that eating lunch is the cause of the sleepiness. Or, in summer, they may think it is the heat. However, the real reason lies inside their bodies. At that time——about eight hours after {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (wake) up——your body temperature goes down. This is what makes you slow down and feel sleepy. Scientists have tested sleep habits in experiments in {#blank#}3{#/blank#} there was no night or day. The people in these experiments almost always {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (follow) a similar sleeping pattern. They slept for one long period and then for one short period about eight hours {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    In many parts of the world, people take naps {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the middle of the day. This is {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (especial) true in warmer climates, where the heat makes it difficult {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (work) in the early afternoon. Researchers are now saying that naps are good for everyone in any climate. A {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (day) nap gives one a more rested body and mind and therefore is good for health in general. In countries where naps are traditional, people often suffer less from {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (problem) such as heart disease.

    If you only got six hours' shut eye last night, there is no need {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (lose) sleep over it.

    Scientists say that though it is {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (wide) believed that we need eight hours of sleep a night, six to seven hours is the natural amount.

    Advising short-sleepers to rest easy, the US researchers say, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (have) important implications (暗示，含义) for the idea that we need to take sleeping pills because sleep has been reduced from {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (it) natural level by the widespread use of electricity, TV, the Internet and so on.

    The lead author of a study, Ghandi, said: "There's the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (expect) that we should all be sleeping for eight or nine hours a night, and if we took away modern technology, we would be sleeping more. But now, for the first time, we are showing that's not {#blank#}6{#/blank#} truth."

    Most of those {#blank#}7{#/blank#} were studied slept for less than seven hours a night, with the average amount just six hours and 25 minutes. This is much less than the eight hours often {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (recommend) in western societies.

    Despite this, the people studied were in good health, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} lower rates of obesity (肥胖症), better blood pressure and {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (healthy) hearts than people in industrialised societies. They were also fitter.

Happiness Is an Attitude

    The 92-year-old confident and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably combed and makeup perfectly applied, moved to a{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(nurse) home today.

    Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (make) the move necessary.

    After many hours of waiting patiently in the hall of the nursing home, she {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (smile) sweetly when told her room was ready. As she got into the elevator {#blank#}4{#/blank#} her wheelchair, I provided a description of her tiny room.

    "I love it," she started with the enthusiasm of {#blank#}5{#/blank#} eight-year-old child having just been presented with a new dog.

    "Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room….just wait."

    "That has {#blank#}6{#/blank#} to do with it," she replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. {#blank#}7{#/blank#}I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged…it's {#blank#}8{#/blank#} I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (recount) the difficulty I have with the parts of my body{#blank#}10{#/blank#} no longer work or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones working. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away… just for this time in my life.”