Why I've taken a break from holidays

    It is now close to four years since I last took a holiday. This is because I have come to the conclusion, over the course of my adult life, that I am not very good at it. You might think this sounds like saying you're not very good at drinking tea or listening to music. What could possibly be difficult about the natural act of putting your working life on hold for a couple of weeks and going somewhere warm to do nothing?

    I was a model holidaymaker as a kid. However, the problems started during my twenties. A trip to the south of France was ended after just two days, mainly because I had an urge to check my e-mails. Similarly, my honeymoon was cut short by 48 hours—not because my wife and I weren't enjoying ourselves, but because we were missing our cats.

    So what is my problem? On the surface, I'm probably a bit of a homebody. And I just find the pressure of being on holiday too severe: it always feels like having a gun held to my head and being forced to have fun. Somehow, packing a list of possessions and meeting a scheduled flight has none of the excitement of suddenly deciding to take a day off and driving somewhere for the fun of it.

    Thankfully, I'm not alone. This summer, most of my friends have decided not to have a break. And a recent survey (调查) proved the downside of holidays, with the results showing that nearly two thirds of people found that the calming effects of a holiday wore off within 24 hours, as stress levels returned to normal. And this year The Idler magazine published its Book of Awful Holidays. Here you will find a list of the five most ecologically-damaging vacations it's possible to take, along with 50 painful holiday experiences voted for on The Idler website.

    What interests me is what the concept of a “holiday” says about our lives. For me, the point of living is to have a life you enjoy for 52 weeks a year. The more I like my life and the better I structure it, the less I want to go away. Maybe I'm an unusual person for not liking holidays, but I just feel the time when I'm not working is too valuable to waste on them.

    As we all know, sleep is very important and necessary. I would love everyone to develop the following four habits to have better sleep without needing the alarm（闹钟）wake-up call.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}If you eat much food an hour before you go to bed, your body will hate you, because your body needs time to digest while you are still awake.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}When I hear on TV that people just need 30-minute exercise a week, I think that's wrong. Every person should get 30-minute exercise every day. When you exercise, your body uses energy and feels tired. You have to recover from the tiredness. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The harder you exercise your body, the faster it falls to sleep and the better it sleeps.

    Turn the TV off. There are a few shows I still watch, but they will never get in my way of (妨碍) sleep. The bedroom is only for sleeping and rest. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}A question to ask yourself: If I didn't have an alarm, what time would I get up? If that time is the time you need to get up, you should probably throw away the alarm. If the time you actually get up is much later than the time you need to get up, make great changes to your way of life and the time you go to sleep. No one should need an alarm.

A. Exercise for at least 30 minutes every day.

B. Don't eat any food 4 hours before you sleep.

C. Throw away the alarm.

D. Sleep is one of the most important things in our lives.

E. Your body recovers when you are sleeping.

F. Try to get up as early as you can.

G. Take the TV out of your bedroom.

    London's newest skyscraper (摩天大楼)is called the Shard and it cost about 430 million pounds to build. At a height of almost 310 metres, it is the tallest building in Europe. The Shard has completely changed the appearance of London. However, not everyone thinks that it is a change for the better.

    The Shard was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano. When he began designing the Shard for London, Piano wanted a very tall building that looked like a spire (尖顶)• He wanted the glass surfaces to reflect the sky and the city. The sides of the building aren't regular. So the building has an unusual shape. It looks like a very thin，sharp piece of broken glass. And that is how the building got the name: the Shard. Piano says that the spire shape of the Shard is part of a great London tradition. The shape reminds him of the spires of the churches of London or the tall masts (桅杆）of the ships that were once on the river Thames.

    The Shard has 87 floors. At the top, there is an observatory. At the moment the building is empty, but eventually there will be a five-star hotel. There will also be top quality restaurants, apartments and offices.

    Before building work began, a lot of people didn't want the Shard though the plans were approved. Now they are still unhappy about the Shard. Some critics say that such a tall skyscraper might be good in a city like New York, but not in London. They say that the best thing about the Shard is its spire shape. But that is the only thing. There is no decoration, only flat surfaces. The Egyptians did that 4,500 years ago. They also think the Shard is too big for London. It destroys the beauty of the city.

    Other critics don't like what the Shard seems to represent. They say that the Shard shows how London is becoming more unequal. Only very rich people can afford to buy the expensive private apartments and stay in the hotel. But the people who live near the Shard are among the poorest in London. So the Shard seems a symbol of the division in society between the very rich and the poor.

    The Shard now dominates the London skyline. It is not certain, however, that ordinary London citizens will ever accept it as a valuable addition to the city.

    Many people turn to doctors or self-help books, but they ignore a powerful thing that could help them fight illness: their friends.

    Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship in health. A 10-year Australian study found that old people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk  for obesity (肥胖) among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could improve brain health as we age.

    “In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn't well realized,” said Rebecca, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “Friendship has a bigger effect on our psychological health than family relationships.”

    While many friendship studies are about the close relationships of women, some research shows that men can benefit, too. In a six-year study of 736 middle-aged men, having friendships reduces the risk of heart attack. Only smoking was as important a risk factor (因素) as having little social support.

    Exactly why friendship has such a big effect isn't entirely clear. While friends can send a sick person to the hospital or pick up medicine, the benefits go well beyond physical assistance. Friendship clearly has a big psychological effect. “People with stronger friendships feel like there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen, a doctor. "The message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”

There are many great museums in South Africa. Here we will know about some of those museums.

The Heart of Cape Town Museum

Cape Town is famous for many amazing firsts, especially the world's first heart transplant (移植). This surgery was under the careful guidance of professor Christiaan Barnard. This museum honors everyone who played a major role in medicine and put South Africa and the .University of Cape Town on an international stage.

Cost: $20 (adults); $12 (children)

The Iziko South African Museum

Founded in 1825, this museum holds more than 1.5 million objects, especially ancient fossils (化 石) and stone tools made by people living in South Africa millions of years ago. It also clearly presents the appearance of ancient locals.

Cost: $20 (adults); $15 (children 6-17); $7 (children under 6)

The Warrior Toy Museum

If you think museums are only for a select few, the Warrior Toy Museum in Simon's Town will make you change your idea. Having toys of all shapes, sizes, models and themes, it's a great place for young and old to visit. You can share stories about toys that you played when you were young and create new memories with your children.

Cost: $20 (adults); $10 (children 8-16); $5 (children under 8)

The Van Tilburg Collection

The Van Tilburg Collection is a museum that contains 17th and 18th century furniture, paintings and many other works of art from England, France and Italy. And you will also have a chance to enjoy the largest South African collection of Chinese ceramics (陶器).

Cost: $22 (adults); $10 (children)

The ancient Chinese built two great engineering wonders: the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. Though the Great Wall's effect in military {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (defend) has worn off over time, the Grand Canal remains an important channel of cultural communication.

The Grand Canal, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} is made up of three parts (Suitang Grand Canal, Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal and Zhedong Grand Canal), is a {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (run) epic (史诗) of transformation. The man-made waterway runs more than 2,000 kilometres from north to south across the large eastern flatland of China. It is about 16 times {#blank#}4{#/blank#} size of the Suez Canal in Egypt and 33 times {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (long) than the Panama Canal, the world's second- and third-largest man-made waterways. "It sees the striking and early development of water engineering," the UNESCO website says {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (official).

In ancient times, the Grand Canal served {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the key waterway for grain transport and every kind of economic and cultural exchange. It also improved the time-consuming journeys of workers {#blank#}8{#/blank#} materials for the building of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the imperial city of the Yuan (1271-1368), Ming and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

Years ago, it {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (inspire) the name of Chenchen, one of the three mascots (吉祥物) of the Hangzhou Asian Games. Chenchen, from the Gongchen Bridge, which goes across the Hangzhou part of the Grand Canal, is coloured blue {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (suggest) science and technology.