— ____, you know.
Everyone knows a power nap feels good, but do you know that power naps fit right into your normal sleep or wake cycle? And, if done right, they can really help you get through the day.
We are built to nap
Our bodies have an inside timekeeper called the circadian rhythm (昼夜节律). The term "circadian" comes from the Latin words meaning "about (circa) a day (diem)". It is based on 24-hour light/dark cycle and allows your body to keep with the light/dark environment. The circadian rhythm helps you fall asleep and wake up. It changes during the day, as shown in the picture.
Keys to power napping
Your body's circadian rhythm falls and rises throughout the day. With the largest fall in the afternoon, your body becomes more tired during this time. That is to say, in the afternoon, you are designed for napping.
In studies, a nap lasting a quarter can do the most help in school performance and thinking ability. It helps you to concentrate on your class and reduce stress without affecting your ability to fall asleep at night. As for when to start, the best answer will be around 2:00 pm according to the variation of circadian rhythm.
In addition to the length and the timing, there are other ways you can make the most of your power naps:
Try deep-breathing or another relaxation technique as you start.
Choose a quiet, darkened location. A sleep mask may help.
Lie down or sit in a comfortable chair.
Listen to soft music or white noise.
Try a bit of stretching and walking around to refresh after your nap.
Dear Alexa,
The Irish poet Yeats said, "The intellect (才智出众者) of man is forced to choose: perfection of the life, or of the work." He was wrong. You could have both.
You're noticing that time spent on academic learning is time not spent with friends. That time cost will get worse as you get older, rounded with working, achievement-hunting or family responsibilities. Many achievers have woken up at age 50 or 70, only to wonder where all of their friends and soft memories were.
It is too easy to forget why we are trying to gain money and knowledge. It is for a life well-lived instead of money and knowledge themselves. Smart people make this stupid mistake all the time, in search for the means to an end so much that they forget the end altogether.
The trick is to see your day, not your life, as the place where you carry out your priorities. Every day there will be one more task you could do. Teach yourself to stop even though there's more to do. Think of things you have missed out in your life and promise yourself you won't do them again: "I won't cancel on a friend's birthday" or "I won't speak to my family as though I'm the lead."
Giving slightly less time to work doesn't mean achieving less. I have been lucky to know some seriously achieving people in my life from Rhodes scholars to Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners. None of them are in their office at 11 p.m. flapping papers. If they were, they would not have such energy for their greatness.
You don't have to choose between life and work since making time for one helps the other. But you have to make the time since how you plan your day is how you plan your life.
Eleanor Gordon-Smith
One of Twitter's main characters recently was a man who chose to keep his middle seat between a couple on a flight instead of moving to the side. The situation raised some questions: Who are these middle-seat lovers? What do they want?
Many of the thousands of replies suggested that the majority of the flying public cannot understand why someone would ever choose the middle over a window or an aisle (走廊). But among the majority appeared a few people who endorse middle seats. "In the middle seat I don't feel I should lean one way or another and generally sit pretty comfortably," one person wrote. Another added: "I'm not getting hit by someone walking down the aisle or luggage either."
Kyle Burke, in Florida, said on Twitter that he usually exchanged seats when asked. "I didn't want to sit between a couple that were upset with me," he told The Washington Post. At 6-foot-7, Burke, 41, said he didn't fit well in plane seats, anyway. So, he preferred the middle, which gives him double chance of having a chatty neighbor.
Frederick resident Samantha Jones told The Post by email that she usually chose the middle seat when traveling alone. As a mother of three, "Having personal space is a far-off memory." she said. "Middle seats have the least amount of responsibility," she wrote. "I don't control the window shade and only have to get by one person to get out or to go to the bathroom."
Despite the few fans, middle seats are still not likely to get much respect. "There's nothing good in the middle seat," Scott McCartney, the writer of the journal Middle Seat said. "The position's infamy (臭名昭著) was part of the reason for the journal's name." He added: "People really care about the ‘middle seat', so they are more likely to pick up this magazine on seeing it."
In the continuing fever for outdoor sports and activities, China's young generation now find themselves drawn to a new activity—lure fishing (假饵钓鱼).
Traditional fishing methods use real bait (饵) and often require hours of patient waiting. However, lure fishing takes a different approach. Here, fishermen use man-made bait to copy the movements of a fish's natural prey (捕食) such as swimming, struggling and escaping. In this way, fish will mistake the bait for the real prey and make attack. Because fishermen need to frequently throw and take back the line to seek for fish, the sport looks elegant and is called "water golf".
"The fish shakes and struggles sharply. The feeling is just like putting your hand out of the window while driving at fifty miles per hour," a fishing lover says, recalling his experience of catching a big fish using a lure fishing technique.
In recent months, many young Chinese have taken to social media to share their experiences. The topic "lure fishing" has over 140,000 posts on the lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, and videos with the same tag have billions of views on the short video platform Douyin.
Another feature that attracts the young generation is lure fishing's environmentally-responsible approach. By using green man-made bait, the activity does not bring trouble to the natural environment of the water. Also, the general agreement in the lure fishing community is to "catch and release", which is to let the little fish go and grow, in order to protect fish.
Moreover, lure fishing is beginner-friendly and requires less equipment compared with traditional fishing. A basic set costs between 500 and 2,000 yuan. But costs can rise significantly if you seek to take a more professional approach.
"Each fishing scene has its fishing rod (竿), and each fishing technique also has its fishing rod," another lure fishing lover says. He adds he has seven to eight sets of fishing rods, which should come to thousands of yuan in cost.
How to learn alanguage on your own?
Are you thinking of learning a language on your own but don't know where to start? Are you wondering how to keep on learning when meeting difficulties?
To start with, be independent. You're going to learn this language, so it is your responsibility. It doesn't matter whether you're at a school or entirely on your own. If you're interested in a certain tense, you can look it up after the classroom. It just means that you are determined.
Next, cover the same material in different books. You're coming across the same material again and again through lots of repetition. You're not worried about answering questions or writing exams. Don't try to master or remember anything. Just keep letting the language wash over you.
Find materials that are interesting, real, but not too difficult when you start learning the language. Materials of a conversational nature or podcasts are easier than formal materials. But as you become more skilled in the language, you need to move from easy materials to real ones. This may sound challenging, but it helps a lot in improving you understanding of the language.
Learning a language is a challenging activity. You may doubt yourself during this process. Sometimes it helps to take a break from it. These goals tell you that you are moving because you make no mistake as long as you continue to spend time with the language. Keep it up and one day, you will find certain things come together for you.
A. Furthermore, seek out materials that arouse your interest.
B. It also helps to set specific goals like the number of words.
C. Slowly your brain gets used to the material and the language.
D. In addition, use different materials at different stages of learning.
E. Here are some tips that help you become a successful language learner.
F. If you're confused about the formation of a certain word, search it by yourself.
G. Therefore, being an independent learner doesn't mean that you are not in a class.
In the early hours of the morning on April 17, Kevin Record, 43, was sleeping in his apartment on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England. His dog, Shogun, jumped onto the bed and 1 him up. Record's e-scooter (电动摩托车) was sparking. In a sudden, the scooter's battery 2 and the bedroom was quickly set on fire.
Though suffering serious life-changing 3 on the right-hand side of his body, Record managed to 4 from the flat and survive from the fire. 5 , Shogun lost his life. "Losing my hero dog especially made me 6 ." Record said. "He was everything to me. I'll never 7 what he did for me." Record added: "I can't explain the 8 of the fire. I had never seen anything like that. Within seconds, it was like a fireball that 9 to everything in sight. It was so quick and 10 .
Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) 11 to the apartment fire. They put out the fire but could not 12 any of Record's belongings. Fire investigators believed that the 13 in Record's e-scooter had been overheated while powering up, causing the scooter to catch fire.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Kevin promised he would routinely check his e-scooter and make sure it is in good working 14 . After Kevin recovered from his injuries, the 43-year-old was hoping his experience would serve as a(n) 15 for anyone storing or charging e-scooters.
Every weekend, Yang Jie spends at least a morning at a book house by the 6,300 km-long Yangtze River, reading while enjoying a cup of coffee. The book house that Yang Jie often visits (call) Pipa Pavilion, inspired by a famous poem Pipa Xing. Shaped like pipa from a bird's eye view, Pipa Pavilion (stand) as a cultural landmark in the Jiujiang section of the Yangtze River National Cultural Park.
Pipa Pavilion offers more than 5,000 books free reading, as well as a coffee shop and a tearoom. These (facility) are part of the Yangtze River National Cultural Park, which aims to pass on the cultural history of Yangtze River, the (long) and most iconic river in China.
Similarly, China is building cultural parks centered around the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, the Long March and the Yellow River, all of are defining symbols of Chinese culture. By (set) up these parks, China proudly displays (it) diverse culture. More importantly, it shows how cultural and (environment) protection coexist in harmony, offering a sustainable legacy (遗产) for generations to come.
1．表示关心；
2．提出建议；
3．给予鼓励。
注意：
1．词数100左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3．开头和结尾已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Dear Max,
I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing academic stress and irregular eating habits.
……
Yours,
Li Hua
