【推荐1】What’s that one thing you really should do, but keep putting off? We all have them: time-consuming, or difficult chores we’re afraid of and drag out until the last minute — if we complete them at all.

But what if we could drive ourselves into those boring tasks by pairing them with something we really enjoy? Research suggests that combining the things we want to do with the thing we should do, could be a nice trick to reach our goals. The method is known as “temptation bundling” and it allows you to combine two differing but complementary activities at the same time.

“I only let myself get a footbath when I’m doing some work,” says Katherine Milkman, a professor of behavioral economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Another example? Going to your favorite restaurant but with a difficult colleague, or someone you’re supposed to spend time with, such as a relative.

In short, it’s pairing something you like with something you don’t like, offering you incentive to do something you might be putting off.

Exercise is one activity routinely treated as a boring task — so Milkman used it in an experiment to know how temptation bundling works in reality.

In her experiment, Milkman encouraged students to exercise while listening to addictive, page-turning audiobooks. One group, which could only access the audiobooks while at the gym, were 51% more likely to exercise than the control group, which were able to listen when they liked. Another group, whose access to the audiobooks was not restricted but who were merely encouraged to bundle the activities, were 29% more likely to exercise than the control group.

The benefit of “temptation bundling” comes from doing two things at once that go well together, says Milkman. “The secret is to bundle tasks that require different effort. For instance, if one task requires focus or concentration, you want the other not to be too distracting — reading while listening to a podcast is very difficult, for example, while cooking and listening is more realistic,” Milkman adds.

1. Temptation bundling can help us to _________

A．avoid delaying what should be done in time.

B．solve two problems at a time.

C．put what we have learned into practice.

D．improve our ability to face a chore.

2. What does the underlined word “incentive” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Something that allows you to do something.

B．Something that persuades you to do something.

C．Something that encourages you to do something.

D．Something that prevents you from doing something.

3. The two percentages 51% and 29% in paragraph 6 show that _________

A．many people treat exercise as a boring task.

B．most people consider listening to audiobooks a boring thing.

C．combining two activities at the same time can contribute to each other.

D．the control group do the worst in dealing with physical exercise.

4. Which of the following is true according to this passage?

A．Cooking and listening can be combined because neither needs focus.

B．Combining two differing but complementary tasks is popular among us.

C．Milkman’s experiment shows that temptation bundling is effective.

D．Temptation bundling is suitable for reading and listening to a podcast.

【推荐2】Ways to Improve Your Memory

The human mind is a remarkable thing. In many ways we could consider it the original super computer, capable of astonishing feats (功绩) when it's working well. Some of the secrets of getting the most out of our minds are quite simple to carry out once we are aware of them.     1    Check out these ways to improve your memory, and you may never find yourself wondering where you left your car keys again!

Cut Stress.    2     This means when anyone with these things is running wild in your life, your memory will suffer, sometimes greatly. Some methods that have worked again and again: meditation, yoga or even spending relaxing time with a pet.     3    

Get the Blood Flowing. Exercise isn't only great for your body, but it's equally good for your long and short term memory.     4    Then what you thought was a bad memory will likely be replaced by a more youthful mind that is less forgetful. So running, swimming, riding the bike or clocking in on the rowing machine are all good choices here.

    5    This is a trick used by all of the world's top memory contest winners, so you know that if we accept it we should take it very seriously! Instead of thinking of words and numbers when we try to remember something, make an effort to think in visual terms. By associating what we would like to remember with images, we are much more likely to remember what we wish to without struggling. It's a law of how our minds work that can be easily used to improve our memories in seconds. Get in the habit of drawing pictures in your mind and a memory contest may be in your near future too!

A．Image Association.

B．Eat More Fish and Legumes.

C．Give these a try and see what you think.

D．Have you ever wished your memory was more sharp?

E．Get moving, and keep your blood flowing in a healthy manner consistently.

F．In fact, not sleeping well one night can take up to three good night's sleep to recover from.

G．Depression, stress and anxiety all tax the same area of your brain that is responsible for memory.

【推荐3】How to Solve Worry Problems

The Great Nobel Prize winner in medicine, Dr. Alexis Carrel, once said, “Businessmen who do not know how to fight worry die young.”     1     Then how can we find a quick, surefire (万全的) recipe for handling worry situations? Here are a few basic steps to deal with different kinds of worries.

Get the facts

Why is it so important to get the facts? Because unless we have the facts, we can’t possibly even attempt to solve our problems intelligently. Without the facts, we will be left in confusion.     2     Half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision. If a man will devote his time to securing facts in an objective way, his worries usually disappear in the light of knowledge.

    3    

However, getting all the facts in the world won’t do any good until we figure out what these facts mean and interpret them. It is much easier to achieve this after writing them down. In fact, merely writing the facts on a piece of paper and stating our problem clearly goes a long way toward helping us to reach a sensible decision. Therefore, when we are worried, sit down and write down two questions – and the answers to these questions, “What am I worrying about?” and “What can I do about it?”

Arrive at a decision

Worry is killing. So we will probably save our life by sitting down and writing out all the various steps we could take and then writing down the probable consequences of each step and calmly coming to a decision. Experience has proved the enormous value of arriving at a fixed decision.     4    

Act on that decision

    5     Don’t stop to reconsider. Don’t begin to hesitate and retrace (折返) our steps. Don’t lose ourselves in self-doubting which causes other doubts. Don’t look back our shoulders.

A．Analyze the facts.

B．Write down our worries.

C．This is the chief cause of worry.

D．There comes a time when we must decide.

E．Once we have made a decision, go into action.

F．And so do housewives, horse doctors and bricklayers.

G．It is the failure to reach a definite decision that drives men mad.