1 . Lifestyle Changes to Make You Healthier and Happier

All people want to stay healthy and happy, but most of our focus is on sick-care, not healthcare.    1    

Food for health

Everyone knows we should eat certain amount of fruit and vegetables a day,     2     Make the effort to eat just a little more a day and go for different colors to ensure a variety of nutrients (养分).

Do exercise

    3     Another study finds walking an hour or more a day will add 1.4 years for men and 1.2 for women. If you can’t afford so much time, just remember: Anything is better than nothing.

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Getting less than five hours’ sleep a night doubles the risk of death from heart disease, according to a study, and other studies have shown that it speeds up ageing. And it plays a big part in our mental health, too.

Friends for life

    5     Besides, they reduce blood pressure and other health risks. So pick up the telephone or chat online to see if there is a game you can share with a friend or family member.

2 . We use our middle names when filling out official papers, and when we write our initials (姓名的首字母) on something. But except that, we don’t use them every day. So why do we even have middle names in the first place?

Some people might answer, “It’s so my mom has three names to shout at me, so I know I’m in trouble.”

But there is history behind it, and it dates back to ancient Rome. At that time, people had three names, a personal name, a family name, and another name which showed what branch of family you were from. The more names you had, the more respected you were by others.

This tradition of names spread over to Western cultures in the 1700s.Aristocrats (贵族) would give their children long names to show their high place in society. Spanish and some other cultures would give their children names from their parents’ previous generations to be able to keep track of the child’s family tree.

But the way we use middle names today started in the Middle Ages when Europeans named their children with the given name first, baptismal (洗礼的) name second, and family name third. The tradition was spread to America as people started to go overseas.

Today, some people don’t even have middle names, some prefer to be called by their middle name, and some never even use theirs. But, just feel lucky that we don’t need to keep track of our family tree like some aristocrats used to and end up with 38 names.

3 . Can you imagine that there are a huge number of tiny waste pieces in the Arctic (北冰洋的) sea ice? Because of the waste pieces,30,000 kinds of animals are in danger. It’s true that one person’s acts alone can’t help the planet. But each one of us can find ways to make our contributions.

In the home, we could try not to waste foods. Use a digital meal planner to get a right amount of food so that everything we buy and cook gets eaten. Learn how to store foods to keep them fresh longer. Be sure to use proper ways to keep our home warm. For example, we can replace old windows with energy-saving ones.

At the store, we could green our habits. Buy reusable plates, but not single-use ones. Buy home tissue (纸巾) not made of materials which may lead to destruction (破坏) of forests. Buy glass cups instead of paper ones.

In the community, we could help keep its plants healthy. Take part in tree-planting projects or grass-cutting activities to help plants grow well.

Our actions alone can’t save the planet, but the above ways and habits can help.

4 . We were on our way! In Wyoming we would have a new home. It was 1980 and my husband Gary and I were driving to Wyoming with our kids. After driving all day, we were hungry. So we stopped at a restaurant to have dinner.

After the dinner, we were on our way again. Suddenly our vehicle hit ice on a bridge. As soon as the car started to slide, Gary touched the brakes (刹车) but failed to control the car. We were thrown from side to side against the guardrails (护栏).It took some time before we slid to a stop, but unfortunately our car was totally destroyed.

Only minutes later, a car stopped by and the driver asked how he might help. With his help, my husband was able to have our car taken to Rapid City. Then he drove us to a hotel in the city. He made sure we were safe before he said goodnight and left. The next morning, the driver returned and drove us to find our car so that we could take back our valuables. He lost at least half a day of work, all for a family he had never met and would never see again.

With no car, our family finally arrived in Gillette, where we had no friends. Though we were a little lonely, we all felt lucky and thankful to the amazing stranger whose service made such a difference to our family.

5 . Most Popular Projects

Egyptian radiologist Ahmed Hassan liked the design and architecture of China’s     1     (remark)Temple of Heaven so much that he decided to build a replica (复制品) of Beijing’s historic monument with matchsticks.

In his free time, while exercising his hobby of building models of landmarks with matchsticks, Hassan spent more than two months     2     (work) on the Temple of Heaven. He finished the whole replica of it using about 22,000 matchsticks which he thought is one of the key landmarks and tourist     3     (attract) of Beijing, the capital of China.

The over 600-year-old monument covers     4     area of 270 hectares and     5     (consider) one of the largest existing architectural complexes in the world. Just as the original circular building is     6     (complete) wooden with no nails, the Egyptian radiologist used only matchsticks, white glue and a cutter blade to build the replica of the temple.

Hassan,     7     returned to his old hobby in 2013,     8     (produce) more than 20 replicas of monuments from Egypt, Britain, France, Denmark and Russia over the past few years. He said that building a matchstick model of the Temple of Heaven wasn’t an easy job, for it was his first time     9     (carry) out a replica of a landmark from Asia in general and China     10     particular.

9 . I’m a second-year student of Coventry University. For more than a year, I have been volunteering for SHOUT, a text-based _______ health support service.

This time last year, we all watched the COVID-19 unfold across the country. I had planned to work in the summer vacation, but this became _______ when the first lockdown began. My days became a(n) _______ of watching the news and wishing I could do something. Fortunately, I learned about SHOUT in an email from my university’s volunteering team _______ the charity needed more volunteers, due to the increase in _______ they were receiving since the pandemic (流行病) began. I applied instantly.

SHOUT volunteers _______ as a listening ear to anyone who needs support, at any time, with their mental health. The service supports them and encourages self-care techniques to keep people _______ during the pandemic. This service was especially important during lockdown, when clinical services were often _______. As volunteers, we never give advice; often our texters just need someone to _______.

My volunteering ________ have had a huge positive impact on my mental health. I have been able to gain new   ________ from gardening to instructing. In a voluntary capacity, the pressure is off. If I’m struggling, my teammates will always encourage me to rest and   ________ for a while. And when I’m feeling strong, I can get involved again and ________ other people in their time of need.

The skills I’ve gained by volunteering have given me the ________ to successfully apply for an internship (实习生) with Coventry University. I strongly believe volunteering has changed my life, and I encourage everyone to ________ opportunities to change theirs too.

10 . If you’re interested in staying healthy as you age — and living longer — you might want to add a different set of muscles to your workout routine; your creative ones.    1    . And studies show that participating in activities such as singing, theater performance and visual artistic skill could support the well-being of older adults, and that creativity, which is related to the personality of openness, can lead to greater longevity (寿命).

Think—and travel—outside the box

“People who travel tend to be more creative,” said Darya Zabelina, a psychology professor at the University of Arkansas. Traveling encourages people to reexamine their models of reality. Some studies show that travelers have more creative success, and that people who enjoy unfamiliar experiences perform better on open-ended questions calling for many ideas.     2    .

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Generating ideas is one part of the creativity, but knowledge is required to identify the ones that will work. Even if mental speed declines, a person’s base of knowledge is well-preserved as it expands over time.

“You have more to draw on,” said Nye, who thinks her creativity improved when she reached her 60s.

Mine adversity (逆境)

    4    . New Yorker Tobi Zausner discovered her mature painting style only after a severe drug poisoning. Following a battle against cancer, she became a psychologist and wrote a book about adversity followed by creative breakthroughs, When Walls Become Doorways.     5    . They increased their inspiration by sharpening their senses and increasing their emotional sensitivity (敏感性).