“I know I should do it, but exercising makes me feel miserable. I’m out of breath, hot and sweaty, and it just hurts. ” Does this sound familiar? You’re not alone.
About 97 percent of us think that getting enough exercise is important for health. One study of 3, 500 adults who used a fitness tracker found that less than 4 percent actually met the goal of 150 minutes of moderate activity per week.
Aside from health, what are your motivations for exercising? A 2024 study of 489 young Spanish adults found that men exercise to improve their self-image, while women are more likely to be motivated by weight loss or reducing body fat. The findings suggest that there’s a relationship between intrinsic motivation and level of physical activity, but how do you get intrinsically motivated if exercise makes you feel miserable?
Here are a few suggestions to help you overcome your bad feelings about exercise:
First, recognize that most habitual exercisers experience some discomfort with their workout. The trick for you is to limit the discomfort while exercising. Your exercise should be physically challenging, but if you’re really struggling, dial it down. Ease up, go slower, use less weight, take a break, or stop sooner; whatever it takes so that you can feel the effort you’re making but you’re not overwhelmed by it. You’re not being a quitter as long as you complete the exercise and do it again the next time.
Second, pair exercise with something that you enjoy. Get earbuds so you can listen to music or a favorite podcast. You can also give yourself a reward for finishing the workout. For example, you could only watch a favorite program on days that you’ve exercised.
Third, do the activity with a friend. If you set a routine exercise schedule with your friend, you’ll go, even if you don’t feel like doing so. You wouldn’t want to disappoint your friend, would you?
Maybe instead of hating exercise, you can dislike it less and take pride in doing it and enjoying its effects.
1. How many of the people involved in the study actually get enough exercise?2. What do the findings of 2024 study suggest?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Even the most habitual exercisers experience some discomfort with their workout, so the more physically challenging, the more effective your exercise would be.
4. What other ways can make you dislike exercise less? Why? (In about 40 words)
After graduating from the university
Born and raised in a rural area of Jiangsu, he
During his job interview at the zoo, when Jiang was asked
Shadow puppetry, also called “yingzixi”,
As for the origin, shadow puppetry can date back to the Han Dynasty. Once Emperor Liu Che lost his beloved wife Li due to a deadly disease. Much
But unfortunately, the ancient art gradually fell due to the impact of modern audio-visual media like television and movies.
China is likely to become the first country
Wu Weiren, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a
5 . It was rush hour in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. White, 38, was driving home. He noticed a gray Nissan four-door pickup on the opposite side of the two-lane street. It was hard to
As the pickup drew closer, White got a good look at the
White busted a U-turn and was now facing in the same direction as the pickup, but there were four cars
White was now inside the cab of the truck, waist deep, his legs dangling out the window. The man behind the wheel, 64-year-old Todd DeAngelis, was just
White worked quickly. They were coming up to a busy intersection, he recalls, “so I was trying to stop anything before it happened.” He
From outside the truck, White asked DeAngelis if he was OK. “No,” he replied, in a haze. DeAngelis, a diabetic, was
“I'm always trying to help, where I can, when I can, ” White says.
But jumping into a moving vehicle to prevent a crash? White admits this was new
| A．miss | B．recognize | C．seek | D．realize |
| A．direction | B．problem | C．street | D．pickup |
| A．carried out | B．given up | C．kept on | D．taken over |
| A．prohibiting | B．overtaking | C．separating | D．following |
| A．burning | B．cooling | C．warm | D．temperate |
| A．calm | B．anxious | C．desperate | D．conscious |
| A．forced | B．wheeled | C．urged | D．led |
| A．ejected | B．landed | C．released | D．escaped |
| A．regularly | B．specially | C．constantly | D．unexpectedly |
| A．cause | B．challenge | C．approach | D．territory |
When Halloween arrives, you know there is bound to be some mischief (恶作剧). So I wasn’t
When we’re solving a complicated problem, we often gather a group
Extensive evidence shows that when we generate
8 . Women experience a “gender tenure gap”, lasting in CEO roles at publicly listed companies for shorter periods than men, according to new research which may support the idea that female leaders are subject to a “ glass cliff ” where they are set up to fail.
The concept of the glass cliff is that women are more likely to be appointed as leaders when an organization is in a time of crisis, so that their position is seen as more precarious than male counterparts.
Researchers at the University of Exeter found in 2005 that women were more likely to be appointed as board members after a company’s share price had performed badly. Professor Ryan told the Observer that the Russell Reynolds analysis was “ robust and added to the body of work in this area”.
“If women are more likely to take on leadership roles in times of crisis, then it follows that their time in office is likely to be stressful, more heavily scrutinised and shorter in tenure. This reduced tenure could be for a number of reasons—because there is often higher turnover in times of crisis, because they are judged as not performing well, even though poor performance was in train before their appointment, or because when things start to turn around, men come back into leadership roles.” she said.
Chief executive roles have a very low turnover, she said, which makes progress harder. “I think men can enjoy a greater followership—support within the organization. They can suffer big setbacks and rise again. Women who have been CEOs tend to go off to an alternative career.
However, she said that there was cause for optimism. The number of women on FTSE 350 boards is now 41%, up from 9.5% in 2011, and appointing women is “now the norm”. Russell Reynolds also found in a survey of 1,500 leaders worldwide that there were no significant differences in how women and men were perceived by the people who worked for them, showing that they were equally effective as leaders, although women were seen as being better at coaching and development.
1. What does the underlined word “precarious” probably mean?| A．Dangerous. |
| B．Profitable. |
| C．Essential. |
| D．Available. |
| A．“gender tenure gap” can be found in the majority of companies. |
| B．Male leaders are less likely to be appointed as board members. |
| C．Woman leaders in times of crisis tend to be shorter in tenure. |
| D．Female leaders are generally not performing well during their appointment. |
| A．Women leaders are destined to eliminate glass cliff in the future. |
| B．Nowadays woman leaders differ hugely from man leaders in followership. |
| C．Man leaders are superior to woman leaders in every aspect. |
| D．Woman leaders are no less competent than man counterparts. |
9 . I’ve been paralyzed (瘫痪的) since childhood and I started using a wheelchair in first grade. So I’ve had 30 years to learn just how
As a culture, Americans are
Well, here’s the
“So how am I supposed to be helpful?” you might be asking. You have to
Like anyone else, disabled people are both capable and in need of some help. If you want to be genuinely, actively “
| A．capable | B．desperate | C．friendly | D．responsible |
| A．promised | B．convinced | C．trusted | D．questioned |
| A．brave | B．honest | C．helpful | D．grateful |
| A．test | B．change | C．reason | D．problem |
| A．forget | B．refuse | C．continue | D．pretend |
| A．still | B．also | C．even | D．already |
| A．believe in | B．catch up with | C．smile at | D．pay attention to |
| A．tell | B．answer | C．lie | D．focus |
| A．kind | B．useful | C．faithful | D．polite |
| A．guidance | B．profession | C．performance | D．inclusion |
Children learn best when the significant adults in their lives—parents, teachers, and other family and community members—work together to encourage and support them. This basic fact should be a guiding principle as we think about how schools should be organized and how children should be taught. Schools alone cannot address all of a child’s developmental needs: the meaningful involvement of parents and support from the community are essential.
The need for a strong partnership between schools and families to educate children may seem like common sense. In simpler times, this relationship was natural and easy to maintain. Teachers and parents were often neighbors and found many occasions to discuss a child’s progress. Children heard the same messages from teachers and parents and understood that they were expected to uphold the same standards at home and at school.
As society has become more complex and demanding, though, these relationships have all too often fallen by the wayside. Neither educators nor parents have enough time to get to know one another and establish working relationships on behalf of children. In many communities, parents are discouraged from spending time in classrooms and educators are expected to consult with family members only when a child is in trouble. The result, in too many cases, is misunderstanding, mistrust, and a lack of respect, so that when a child falls behind, teachers blame the parents and parents blame the teachers.
At the same time，our society has created artificial distinctions （区别）of the roles that parents and teachers should play in a young person’s development. We tend to think that schools should stick to teaching academics and that home is the place where children’s moral and emotional development should take place.
Yet children don’t stop learning about values and relationships when they enter a classroom, nor do they cease learning academics— and attitudes about learning —when they are at home or elsewhere in their community.
These days, it can take extraordinary efforts to build strong relationships between families and educators. Schools have to reach out to families, making them feel welcome as full partners in the educational process. Families, in turn, have to make a commitment of time and energy to support their children both at home and at school.
1. What is important when it comes to children’s education?2. Why is it hard for parents and teachers to build a strong partnership nowadays?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Families and schools should join hands to support students’ development, and they should be aware that there is a clear division of their responsibilities in the education of children.
4. What are your suggestions on how to get parents involved in school affairs?
