When you are frightened or feel endangered, your breathing and your pulse quicken in order to give you a better chance of either running away from the threat or defending yourself against it. When the danger is eliminated, your body returns to its pre-stress state.

Psychological stress can also be triggered in response to an external-factor, as with a fear of heights or public speaking. However, since it     1     inside our own minds and is strongly tied to out past experiences, psychological stress can also be caused simply by our thoughts about a(n)     2    event is enough to make some people anxious, even when the event is days away.

Experience plays a large role in determining what you consider as stressful. Many reactions to stress are subconscious or     3    and therefore, difficult to prevent. However, while the body’s initial reaction is hard to     4    , the choices you make can play a large role in helping keep psychological stress from going out of control.

So, what are some major types of stress?

The first type of stress is survival stress. When in fear for your safety, your body prepares to     5    the problem either by facing it or fleeing from it. Your body reacts to this type of stress by sharpening your     6    of sight and hearing and increasing your breathing and heart rate.

Another type is environmental stress, which is caused by unpleasant things you     7    in daily life. Workplace stress, which is often caused by overwork or     8    with coworkers, is one common environmental stressor.

The third type of stress is internal stress. This type of stress is caused by thinking about stressful situations that occurred in the past or will take place in the future. Being stressed is an appropriate reaction to a(n)     9    threat, but the same reactions that are helpful in the short term can prove harmful over time. Long-term-stress, known as chronic stress, can cause both mental and physical health problems. For example, many people find preparing for a job interview or to give a speech to be a stressful activity become overwhelming and can     10    with daily life if they last for days or weeks. With chronic stress, severe health consequences can be caused, including heart disease, depression, excessive weight gain, sleeplessness, and digestive problems. Long-term stress tends to weaken your immune system, makıng you more likely to contract flu or other illnesses. Furthermore, it slows down your recovery from these illnesses.

Why You Need to Fail

“Peter, I’d like you to stay for a minute after class.” Kevin teaches my favorite body conditioning class at the gym.

“What’d I do?” I asked him.

“It’s what you didn’t do.”

“What didn’t I do?”

“Fail.”

“You kept me after class for not     1    ?”

“This.” he said while imitating my     2     weight lifting style using weights that were obviously too light, “it’s not going to get you anywhere. A muscle only grows if you work it till it fails. You need to use more     3     weights. You need to fail.” Kevin is onto something.

Every time I ask a roomfull of executives to     4     the top five moments when their career took a leap forward, failure is always on the list. For some, it was the loss of a job. For others, it was a project that had gone bad. And for others still it was the failure of a larger system like an economic     5     that required them to step up.

Yet most of us spend a tremendous effort trying to avoid even the     6     of failure. According to doctor Carol Dweck, we have a mindset problem. If you believe that your talents are     7     or fixed, then you will try to avoid failure at all costs because failure is proof of your     8     People with a fixed mindset like to solve the same problems over and over again. Students with fixed mindsets would rather not learn new languages. CEOs with fixed mindsets would     9     themselves with people who agree with them. They feel smart when they get it right. But if you believe your talent grows with persistence and effort, then you seek failure as an opportunity to improve. People with growth mindsets feel smart when they are learning, not when they are     10    .

If you have a growth mindset, then you use your failures to improve. If you have a fixed mindset, you may never fail, but neither do you learn or grow.

When we visit museums, we see cultural artifacts -from everyday household items to precious carvings and statues, that give us glimpses into the     1     cultures and communities from around the world. However,     2     surrounds these artifacts and whether or not countries should return these pieces of culture if they were stolen or forcefully taken during colonization.

By the 18th and 19th centuries, European countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands had     3     many African and Asian countries. During their rule, they either seized artifacts or took them as spoils of wars, and brought them to their own countries where they are now displayed in museums.

In 2017, the Government of Benin in West Africa     4     with the British Museum in London to return their renowned Benin Bronzes, a     5     of thousands of metal sculptures and plaques, which were previously hung in the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin.

The debate regarding this issue took a turn in 2018 when under President Emmanuel Macron a report was released that directed that all heritage objects brought to French museums (without the permission of their original countries) be     6    . With the official release of this report. museums all across Europe began reconsidering their previous policies on colonial treasures.

Those who propose returning these objects to their original homes argue that with technology enabling virtual museum tours, returning these artifacts to their homeland does not take away the opportunity to learn about them. Furthermore, the country of origin will receive a     7     part of their heritage back, and these artifacts will be given a chance to be truly appreciated under proper historical context. Those against the restoration claim that culture is a     8     treasure and the artifacts are in fact “cultural ambassadors” that promote     9     and understanding They believe that while stealing them was wrong, history is full of “good” and “bad” actors. Moreover, they feel that keeping the cultural objects in the current museums have kept millions of artifacts     10     from disfiguration and damage.

In the 1970s, most Chinese people used to wash their hair with     1    . It was not until the early 1980s that     2     became popular in China. But ever since then, things have developed at great speed. A wide variety of     3     related to hair have made their way into every single family, such as shampoo, conditioner, hair cream, hair oil, brilliant hair decorations, hair     4    , hair driers and so on.

Cleanliness is not the final purpose. People become more     5     with the quality of the hair. They lay more stresses on how to make their hair     6    , shiny and healthy. In order to make their hair and themselves look the best, many people buy hair products in high quality and choose the right shampoo and     7     suitable for their own hair. More and more people pay regular visits to full-service salons to nurse their hair.

Apart from pursuing the best quality of the hair, people also pay more attention to     8     fashion. As we know, the fashions in clothes are constantly changing, and so are hairdressing fashions. In the 1980s, most women had their hair permed (烫发); in the 1990s     9     ladies poured into the hairdressing salons to have the hair colored. But nowadays, shiny black is again the most attractive color of hair for the easterners, and fashion followers would like to spend a lot to make their hair extremely straight.

Some sensible people prefer to choose the     10     fit for the shapes of their faces, their jobs or even for their personalities rather than blindly copy that of the other people.