Ways to sleep smarter

    Studies show that poor sleep influences people to make good decisions, concentrate on tasks or even manage a friendly mood(情绪) at work. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Today we've got our top favorite sleep tips and facts.

Set a regular bedtime

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Choose a time when you normally feel tired. Try not to break this routine(惯例) on weekends when you will probably stay up late. If you want to change your bedtime, make the change gradually, such as 15 minutes earlier or later each day.

Eat the right food

    Some foods are more helpful to a better night's sleep than others. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Others like bananas, potatoes, and whole-wheat bread are also helpful.

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    Exercising provides lots of good health benefits(好处). A good night's sleep is one of them. But make sure you exercise in the morning or afternoon. The National Sleep Foundation reports that exercise in the morning or afternoon can help deepen sleep. However, those who worked out in the evening hours saw little or no improvement in their sleep.

Reduce(减少) screen time before bed

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} A recent study shows that people who use electronic media(媒体) just before bedtime report lower-quality sleep even when they get as much sleep as those who don't.

How to Make Friends

    Friendship is a very important human relationship and everyone needs good friends. Good friendship has many benefits. If offers companionship, improves self-worth and promotes good health. There are times in our lives such as when we have recently moved into a new town, or changed our jobs or schools. Such changes often leaves us without a friend.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. But for many of us the process is difficult and requires courage. Below are some helpful suggestions on how to make and keep friends.

1）Associate with others.

    The first step to making friends is associating with other people. You can go to public places to meet new people. Besides, you will need to make yourself known by becoming an active member of such places.

2）Start a conversation.

    Starting a conversation is the second most important step in making new friends.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can always start the conversation. Being able to make small talk is a very useful skill in relating with other people.

3）{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Choosing friends with common interests is important in building friendship as these interests would always bring you and your friend together. Hanging out will always be a pleasant experience.

4）Let it grow.

    It is a good thing to stay in touch. However, try not to press your new friend with calls, messages or visits as this would likely wear him or her out and finally you may lose your friend.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The best friendships are the ones that grow naturally.

5）Enjoy your friendship.

    The best way to enjoy your friendship is to allow your friends to be themselves.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Try not to change them from who they are to what you want them to be.  Become the kind of friend you will want your friend to be to you.

A. Be cheerful.

B. So you will need to give your friend time to react to you.

C. Making new friends comes easy for some people.

D. For a friendship to develop you need to stay in touch.

E. Do not wait to be spoken to.

F. Try not to find fault with your friends.

G. Do things together.

Good jobs for Sports

    If sports are something that appeals to you, it stands to reason that you would do well in them. Here are some tips that can help you become a good player.

    Set ambitious but realistic goals. If you want to be great at sports, you need to set your aims high.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Instead, you should take a look at what you are, and figure out where you think you would like to be. Give yourself a suitable amount of time to achieve that goal.

    Be patient{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Impatient athletes tend to make poor ones. If you're not patient, you'll try to jump into advanced techniques long before you're ready. You'll feel discouraged when you don't see immediate improvement.

Join a sports team. Most of the sports teams are free to join. If you go to school, you should go for team tryouts when they're happening{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Accept criticism（批评）.When you play sports, you will unavoidably receive criticism, whether from a coach or other players{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Are they angry because you missed a pass, or do they sincerely want to help you improve? In a lot of cases, you can use criticism as motivation to get better.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} A skill become mastered when you're able to do it without thinking. Given enough time and practice, a skill will eventually fall under this category. When in a game, you won't have time to think everything through, so practice until it's all automatic.

A. You also need to be clear about what you are good at.

B. Practice until your skills become second nature.

C. If you're not in school, you can find a sports club online.

D. This does not mean being unrealistic.

E. Skills are often slow to build.

F. You need to take most of it with a grain of salt.

G. An important reason people join sports teams is to make friends.

    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.

    Are you truly happy? Do you ever know what it means to be happy and what it takes to achieve happiness?  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The following are a few tips that I follow to create happiness in my life.

    Make a plan for attaining goals that you believe will make you happy. Your mood will very likely increase if you are going after something you value.

    Surround yourself with happy people. It is easy to begin to think negatively when you are surrounded by people who think that way. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    When something goes wrong, try to figure out a solution instead of being absorbed in self-pity. Truly happy people don't allow setbacks to affect their mood because they know that with a little thought they ran turn the circumstances back to their favor.

     {#blank#}3{#/blank#}These few minutes will give you the opportunity to focus on the positive things in your life and will lead you to continuous happiness.

     {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Whether you treat yourself to lunch, take a long, relaxing hath or simply spend a few extra minutes on your appearance, you will be subconsciously putting yourself in a better mood.

    Keeping healthy is another way to achieve happiness.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

Climb of a lifetime

British historian Jacob Bronowski once wrote, "Man masters nature not by force, but by understanding. "

This is especially true for extreme climber Alex Honnold, who climbed the California's EI Capitan by himself, without any safety ropes. The New York Times called it "one of the greatest athletic feats of any kind, ever".

Now you can watch him do it. The documentary Free Solo, which hit Chinese mainland cinemas on Sept. 6, shows Honnold's brave journey up the 914-meter vertical(垂直的) mountain. The film won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in February. In it, Honnold gives us some useful advice: "You'll always feel fear, but over time you'll realize the only way to truly manage your fear is to broaden your comfort zone."

In fact, free climbing is a testament to perseverance(毅力), control, and concentration. "I'm not thinking about anything when I'm climbing," Honnold said. "I'm focused on executing(执行) what's in front of me. " This strong focus on the present is sort of meditation(冥想) that we can use in our daily routines.

While the documentary seemingly praises extreme athletes for pushing the limits of human potential, some are concerned about Honnold recklessly(不顾一切地) risking his own life. "His continued pursuit of ropeless ascents(攀登) puts significant stress on his loved ones, even when he succeeds," Climbing Magazine noted.

Free Solo seems to say that with enough courage and dedication(全心投入), one can accomplish any goal. However, the movie may also be viewed as the disturbing story of a climber who went against all better judgment and got away with it(未遭遇不测).