World Sleep Day, on 21st March, was created to bring attention to the growing number of sleep problems. Sleep is a natural part of human life, but many people in the modern world don’t realize it’s very important. As a result, sleep problems are quite common.
In 2011, scientists at the University of Athens in Greece did a survey of over 35,000 people in 10 countries around the world, including China, Belgium and South Africa. Among the people, 24 percent said that they did not sleep well, 31.6 percent were diagnosed (诊断) with insomnia (失眠). In addition, 30.7 percent of them have visited doctors for help with sleep problems and 11.6 percent said that they felt very sleepy during the day.
The survey found that many people suffer the effects of poor quality sleep, some even can’t fall asleep and often wake up in the middle of the night. The main reasons of the problems are pressures (压力) from school or work and a fast pace (节奏) of life, but noise pollution and light pollution also affect sleep and cause poor quality sleep. The survey also found that large numbers of people find it hard to sleep at night. The short term effects of this are tiredness and trouble concentrating (专心). If this happens for a long time, the risk of gaining weight and having a heart attack may increase.
There are many things you can do to improve the quality of your sleep. First, you should have regular sleep habits. Try to go to bed and wake up around the same time
each day. You also need to make your bedroom a cool, dark, quiet place to sleep so that heat, light and noise do not disturb you. At night, you should also avoid things that contain caffeine, such as chocolate, coffee, tea and many soft drinks, as caffeine may keep you from sleeping.
Getting a good night’s sleep is important for everyone. By following the advice
above, you can rest better at night and work better during the day.
Have a good sleep | |
World Sleep Day | World Sleep Day was created to make people understand the 1. of sleep. |
A survey by scientists | Of 35 000 people in 10 countries in the world, there were 24 percent of the people 2. they didn’t sleep well. 31.6 percent were diagnosed with insomnia. 30.7 percent have 3. to a doctor for sleep problems. 11.6 percent of the people feel sleepy during the day . |
4. of sleep problems | People feel the pressure from school or work . A fast pace of life 5. to sleep problems as well. Noise and light pollution also 6. sleep and cause poor quality sleep. |
Results of sleep problems | Some people aren’t 7. to fall asleep easily and often wake up at night. Feeling 8. , people find it hard to concentrate. It’s highly possible that sleepless people easily gain weight and have a heart attack. |
9. to improve sleep quality | Have regular sleep habits. Make your bedroom cool, dark and quiet Don’t drink anything 10. caffeine at bedtime. |
根据句子内容，从下面方框中选择适当的词或词组填空。
a waste of time; allow me to; I’ll have a try; are strict with; see your progress |
Sue: Hi, Millie! Would you like to go to the cinema with me tonight?
Millie: I’d like to , but… I must ask my mother first.
Sue: It seems that your parents 1. you.
Millie: You are right. My father is always away on business and my mother is never satisfied with my study. She doesn’t 2. play computer games. But I can’t study all the time.
Sue: I think playing computer games is 3. . Maybe you can try other ways to relax such as listening to music, going to the cinema…. Try to talk to your mother about that. At the same time, you should spend more time on study and let your mother 4. . In this way, she will understand you soon.
Mille: Good idea. Thanks a lot for your advice. 5. .
Sue: You are welcome.
根据句子意思，用括号中所给单词的适当形式填空。
1.We all like to stay with him because he is such a (humour) person!
2.Friends should share joy and (happy) with each other.
3.Tom said he would rather (be) a businessman .
4.With the help of a GPS, we had no difficulty (find) his house.
5.Is the film Tiny Times really worth ( see)?
根据括号中所给的汉语写出单词，使句子意思完整正确。
1.To buy a new car, Mary has to (积攒) every penny.
2.It is a good (选择) to make a list of all the things you need to do.
3.After leaving (大学), she became a color therapist. .
4.I believe your advice will be (宝贵的) to me？
5.Did your teacher spend much time (解释) it to you?
Kangkang is a ninth-grader at Qingtan Middle School in Changzhou, Jiangsu. He got back home on March 1 after four days out in the open. He ran away from home because he felt stressed out about the coming senior high school entrance examination. “I needed some fresh air,” he said.
The boy is not the only one stressed out over exams. Reporters from the Oriental Education Times did a survey at a Shanghai middle school. It showed that 72 percent of students feel stressed and 67 percent of these students said their stress comes from school grades.
Stress is a normal physical response to things that make people feel worried or disrupt (打乱) their lives in some way.
People often feel stressed when they take on a big job, such as performing in a play, taking a test, or playing in a sports match.
Some stress is good. It makes you more active. If you have an important test, stress can push you to study harder.
But too much stress is unhealthy. It can make it hard to concentrate. It can also make you feel worried and tired.
What is the best way to deal with stress? Chen Yifan is a student at Nanjing University of Technology. She passed the college entrance examination and has some experience to share. “During the days when I was preparing for the exams, I often took a walk and chatted with my classmates. We told each other our worries and this helped me to stay peaceful,” she said to Xinhua Daily newspaper.
Doctors suggested that, besides sharing thoughts with friends, students could also relax by listening to music, reading a book or just spending some time alone.
More tips for when you feel stressed
● Get some rest. Remember that your brain will work better if you let it have some
time to rest.
● Make sure that you are getting regular exercise and eating healthy meals. Exercise
can help you to relax and stay focused.
● Make a list of the things you need to do. Do things one at a time. Cross things off
the list when you’ve finished them.
1.Why did Kangkang leave home for four days?
A. Because the air was not fresh.
B. Because he couldn’t fall asleep.
C. Because he felt stressed out over exams.
D. Because he wanted to travel to another city.
2. Which of the following can make people relax?
A. Taking on big jobs.
B. Preparing for the exams.
C. Spending some time alone.
D. Reading books from morning till night.
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Stress can always make people more active.
B. More than half of the students feel stressed at school.
C. Brains will work better if people let them work all the time.
D. Sharing thoughts with friends will make you get high school grades.
4. What can we learn from the story?
A. We shouldn’t get rid of stress just because it is bad.
B. Students in Shanghai get stressed out very easily.
C. Too much stress makes people active and study harder.
D. When people’s lives are disrupted, they may feel stressed.
5. Which of the following might be the best title for this passage?
A. Don’t get stressed
B. Study hard to success
C. A survey of dealing with stress
D. The ways to become a top student
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
1.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ________.
A. want to be as rich as their neighbours
B. want others to know or to think that they are rich
C. don’t want others to know they are rich
D. want to be happy
2.It can be inferred (推断) from the story that rich people like to ________.
A. live outside New York City
B. live in New York City
C. live in apartments
D. have many neighbours
3. Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is ________.
A. an important name
B. a popular name in the United States
C. his neighbour’s name
D. not a good name
4.If a person who keeps up with the Joneses, he would _________.
A. do as the poor persons around him do
B. do everything he likes to do
C. do as his neighbours do
D. do as the rich people around him do
