Every animal sleeps,but the reason for this has remained foggy. When lab rats are not allowed to sleep, they die within a month.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

    One idea is that sleep helps us strengthen new memories. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} We  know that, while awake,fresh memories are recorded by reinforcing (加强)connections between brain cells, but the  memory processes that take place while we sleep  have been unclear.

    Support is growing for a theory that sleep evolved so that connections between neurons(神经元)in the brain can be weakened overnight, making room for fresh memories to form the next day.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Now we have the most direct evidence yet that he is right. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} The synapses in the mice taken at the end of a period of sleep were 18 per cent smaller than those taken before sleep,showing that the connections between neurons weaken while sleeping.

If Tononi's theory is right, it would explain why, when we miss a night's, we find it harder the next day to concentrate and learn new information —our brains may have smaller room for new experiences.

    Their research also suggests how we may build lasting memories over time even though the synapscs become thinner. The team discovered that some synapses seem to be protected and stayed the same size. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  “You keep what matters,” Tononi says.

    Time management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity. Time management is essential in every field of life because time is the precious resource one needs to accomplish a task. Every single moment that passes once will never come back again. Time management helps you do your task in time and use your time more productively. It helps you to identify the useless activities which can be avoided and how time can be saved. It helps you allocate proper time for a task and perform the task more efficiently.

    A student's daily routine is filled with a lot of activities. Some are related to his studies, some are essential for his life and some are for entertainment or physical fitness. Still some activities have no use and just waste time. Similarly if the number of the activities for entertainment exceeds what is reasonable, they waste the time of a student. These activities include using the internet for chatting, playing games, watching movies or listening to music for hours on end. Such activities are called “distracters” which distract one from one's real purpose.

    Games and physical exercise are important for a student because they keep him fit in body and mind but game time should be controlled as it may waste his time.

    No one wastes time intentionally. Time is always wasted in an insensible way. That's why a student is aware of it until the days of exams come. So it is better to use the present time more effectively than cry over what you've done in the future.

    As for a student, time management compromises various steps. It is not only necessary to allocate time for different subjects but also to identify right time for each such subject. What's more, to identify the distracters which become causes of wastage of time is of significance as well.

    Take a pen and sheet. Write down all the activities you do in your daily routine. Calculate how much time you have for your studies other than other activities. Determine how much time a subject can take out of your total study time. See which subject need more time.

Time management

    Your life is composed of all the little things we experience everyday, and knowing how to find joy in some of those little things is one of the easiest ways to let happiness slowly fill your cup. In order for that to happen, you need to do two very simple things, put yourself in such situations that you can experience happiness there, and then find a way to savour the experience and let it sink into you.

    To put yourself in the position of experiencing happiness every day, Lahan Catalino, Ph.D, at the University of California, San Francisco, recommends an approach called “prioritizing positivity”—organizing your day-to-day life on purpose so that it contains situations which naturally give rise to positive emotions. It involves both carving out time in your daily routine to do things that you really love and heavily weighing the positive emotional consequences of major life decisions, like taking a new job, and you will regularly find yourself.

    Then how can we find away to savour the happy experience and let it sink into you? Here is what psychologist Rick Hanson, the author of Buddha's Brain explains.

    Let a good fact become a good experience.

    Often we go through life and some good thing happens—a little thing like we checked off an item on our To Dc list, we survived another day at work, the flowers are blooming, and so forth. Hey, this is an opportunity to feel good. Don't leave the money lying on the table: recognize that this is an opportunity to let yourself truly feel good.

    Really enjoy this positive experience.

    Practice what any school teacher knows: if you want to help people learn something, make it as intense as possible—in this case, as felt in the body as possible—for as long as possible.

    When sinking into this experience, sense your intention that this experience is sinking into you.

    Sometimes people do this through visualization, like by sensing a golden light coming into themselves or a soothing balm inside themselves. You might imagine a jewel going into the treasure chest in your heart—or just know that this experience is sinking into you, becoming a resource you can take with you no matter where you go.

    It might seem a little cliche to say“stop and smell the roses”, but it's moments like those that can be stored in your happiness bank and withdrawn later. Living a happy life can be as simple as accepting the happiness that's already around you. If you want more, it's OK to go out and achieve it, but don't forget where happiness really comes from.

    Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slow moving.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.

    For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports—{#blank#}2{#/blank#}—there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.

    Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activity—{#blank#}5{#/blank#}—which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.

A. be active and practise Yoga

B. There are some aspects of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid.

C. and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them

D. physical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other

E. they spent most of the time out of doors

F. you are still only half way to good health

G. It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on.

    Are you suffering from FOMO—that is, Fear of Missing Out? Research shows that a growing number of young people are with worrying reasons for their sleep and schoolwork.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}You aren't able to do your best unless you sleep well. Most experts agree that the optimum（最适宜）number of hours is eight, and this has been accepted as common sense for as long as I can remember. However, I was young once and know most of you get much less sleep than that.

    I read an interesting article in a teachers' magazine recently.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Worryingly, the results showed that teenagers are facing a new problem. They may go to bed and get up at appropriate times, but a growing number are waking up in the middle of the night, not to use the bathroom or have a snack, but because of FOMO.

    According to the article, the number of students waking up during the night to check social media is growing. Afraid of missing a comment or opportunity to take part in a chat, teenagers are waking at all times of the night, going online and getting involved. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Experts are worried about this growing trend and the report reveals some worrying statistics: 23% of 12 to 15-year-olds wake up nearly every night to use social media. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} One in third of the students are constantly tired and unable to function to their full capacity.

    So I'd like to ask you to be responsible when it comes to social media. Switch off your devices at night. The world won't end and your social media will be waiting to greet you in the morning! {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. But things are getting out of hand.

B. I give you my word that you won't have missed anything important.

C. Another 15% wake up at night once a week for the same reason.

D. They did a study of 848 students in Wales.

E. FOMO is the fear that everyone else is having more fun and more excitement than you.

F. All happens when they should be sound asleep.

G. Everybody knows how important it is for students to get a good night's sleep every night.

Not all English is the same

    To many learners of English, it's easy to think that all native speakers have no trouble communicating with one another.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Well, it turns out that being a native English speaker from one country doesn't mean that you're able to perfectly understand a native English speaker from another country, and vice versa (反之亦然)

    Take the UK and the US for example.

    As a Briton, I grew up hearing American accents alongside British ones – on TV shows, movies and in songs.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} and how they would eat “cookies” instead of “biscuits”.  And it took me a while to figure out that the “trunk” (n. 后备箱) of a car is what us Britons call its “boot”.

    The confusion didn't stop at just vocabulary –{#blank#}3{#/blank#} For example, when talking about shopping malls, Americans pronounce it “mawl” instead of “mal”. And for some reason that's hard for Britons to understand, Americans remove the “H” sound from “herb”, pronouncing it “erb”.

    These small differences may not change much in a day-to-day conversation between a Briton and an American.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Recently, for example, an American friend told me that she liked my pants. “You can see them?” I asked, shocked. Pants means “underpants” to most British people, which explains my horror.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} In the US, for example, a “bum” is a homeless person, while the same word in the UK is used to describe one's backside（n.臀部）.

    And, more amusingly, “trump” was only ever really used as a verb in the UK – meaning “to pass gas” – until the US' current president came into the spotlight.

But as long as you can speak one version of English, it's easy enough to understand any other – and any confusion just makes your day more interesting.

A. English is changing as it spreads around the world.

B. After all, English is English, isn't it?

C. I soon noticed how Americans would put “gas” in their cars instead of “petrol” .

D. However, confusion can still happen every now and then.

E. There are different words that mean the difficult thing.

F. Some words can even be offensive (adj.无礼的) without you realizing it.

G. I discovered that many words are even pronounced differently.