2 . We’ve all done it. For many of us, it’s something that happens so naturally every day. After working on an important project or a task for a little while, you decide to take a break-only to pick up your smartphone and start looking through social media, reading emails, checking out the news and maybe getting in a quick round of “Candy Crush Saga”. A break is supposed to be a time to relax so that you can go back to your work feeling fresh. However, a new study finds that cellphone use during a mental break doesn’t really allow the brain to relax and can actually result in a poorer performance.

For the study, a group of 422 undergraduate students at Rutgers were assigned a set of 20 word puzzles to complete. Halfway through the task, the students were separated into three groups: one group took a break and were told to use their cellphones to go shopping online, another group took a break and were instructed to shop either via their computers or using a paper circular (印刷品广告), and the third group didn’t take a break at all.

Interestingly, the group that took a break with their cellphones displayed the highest levels of mental fatigue (疲劳), and had the hardest time solving the word puzzles following their breaks. In all, the cellphone group took 19% longer to finish the puzzle task, and solved 22% fewer problems than participants in the other two groups combined.

“The act of reaching for your phone between tasks, or the mid-task, is becoming more common. We assume it’s no different from any other break-but the phone may carry increasing levels of distraction (使人分心的事) that make it difficult to return focused attention to work tasks,” explains Terri Kurtzberg.

3 . It’s common that everyone wants to be happy. Everything we think, say, and do is connected with our innermost(内心深处的) desires to achieve happiness.    1    

So how is it that some people seem to be happy all the time?

They smile.

Happy people smile, even when they don’t have much to smile about.The important part about smiling is that the change in physiology actually causes a change in psychology.

They create value.

Happy people often focus on the long term.    2    They always try to provide more value in their work than what others have paid for it.

They eat healthy.

    3    Rather than fill their stomachs with processed and fast foods, they choose things made from natural and organic materials.

    4    

It’s hard to be happy when you spend most of your day worrying about the past or living in fear of the future.Happy people are present in the here and now.

They set goals.

Happy people also tend to set goals for the future.The goals give them an intended direction of travel. They’re buried in their hopes and aspirations of whatever they’re trying to achieve in life.

They think positive.

When thinking positive, and looking past problems and negativity, not only do we feel better mentally, but our minds are better able to process the here­to­now.    5    

Stick to the advice above for two or three months, and maybe you’ll find some amazing changes on yourself.

4 . Last Sunday, I was standing still and watching traffic, so I could cross the road. Traffic was coming from the right side. When I saw it was _______ , I moved just a step forward.

All of a sudden, an electric bicycle driver came from the left side. A part of the electric bicycle _______ my right leg. Luckily, he came from the left side. It is the_______ side, so he had to drive against oncoming traffic, which was why he was driving_______.

I had open bleeding wounds. The driver drove me to a nearby_______ to buy cotton bandage (绷带) and alcohol wipes.

The driver tried to _______ what I bought, but I did not agree. Letting him pay may_______ sad feelings in him and make him feel guilty (愧疚的) as well. I told him not to_______.

Nothing in this world happens without a _______. Whatever bad thing happens to us is the effect of our past ________. I will treat this accident as a(n) ________ and be more careful when going out.

I came to the hospital later and visited my doctor, who ________ me carefully and fixed the wounds with bandage. He also gave me some ________ , so that I could better deal with the wounds at home.

The driver did hit me, but I didn’t think it would be a big problem, about which the doctor ________ . I thank myself for helping me to stay________ and forgive (原谅) the driver.

I have observed that Colbie Caillat has a positive influence on pop culture in recent years. Colbie has taken a stand for natural beauty with the release of her hit single, “Try”. The first time I watched the “Try” music video, I felt inspired.

The video shows women of different backgrounds and body types as well as a range of ages. I find the most inspiration in the expressions on all of the women’s faces throughout the video. Each woman has a positive look on her own face as she is shown without make-up.

In today’s society, there is an unbelievable amount of pressure to “look good”. This opening line sets the mood for the video and gives viewers a chance to wonder whether society likes them. The theme of “Try” is that we young women should focus more on our personalities than our looks, contrary to what society wants us to believe.

I have shown this video to both my mother and my grandmother, since the video speaks positive to women of all ages. The inspirational words cause viewers to think deeper about inner beauty, which is quite powerful. My mother and grandmother had similar comments about the video, which inspired further conversation about their opinions of natural beauty in today’s society.

The closing words of the video are: take your make-up off. Let your hair down.Take a breath. Look into the mirror at yourself. Don’t you like you? Because I like you. It is important to focus on ourselves and ask ourselves whether we are pleased with ourselves. Colbie’s efforts break the pop culture rules of make-up.Inspiration and positive self-esteem come from within. Inner beauty makes one look good instead of the outside beauty. Colbie’s efforts should be copied to increase the importance of natural beauty in the pop culture and encourage further inspiration for young women in future generations.

7 . Welcome to the tour bus that helps you catch up on sleep. A new Hong Kong Sleeping Bus Tour is letting people get some much-needed extra sleep. The bus tour is a 76-kilometer, five hour ride around Hong Kong on a double-decker bus. Tickets for the Sleeping Bus Tour quickly sold out, passengers had to wait in the long line in front of the ticket office.

So how did the idea of the tour come out about? “When we were trying to develop new tours, I was stressed out by my work, and I couldn’t sleep at night. So I once suddenly passed out in my office because I had suffered from lack of sleep,” said Kenneth Kong of Ulu Travel, the organizer of the bus tours. “But when I was travelling on the bus, I was able to sleep well. So I create this tour that lets passengers just sleep on the bus.”

Dr. Shirley Li, who researches sleep at the University of Hong Kong, said, “People in Hong Kong don’t have enough time to sleep. Some people may tend to connect public transport with their sleep. And that’s why they found it easier to fall sleep on the bus. People can sleep on the bus at any time. So the Sleeping Bus Tour can really help them. And this tour also reminds the public about the drop in people’s healthy lifestyles.”

“I have been suffering from insomnia, so I am here to try and get some sleep. I know it is just for a moment, because I don’t want to move my comfortable bedroom into a bus and sleep in the sunshine,” said 25-year-old Anson Kong, one of the passengers on the first bus tour.

9 . As employees’ attitudes toward work change, new forms of employment are appearing. Workers want flexibility in where, when and how they are employed. Many people, ________ the young, choose to leave the traditional job market to look for more ________ employment chances. Change of career paths brings both challenges and _____.

Young people nowadays grow up in a more open-minded network society with more ________ flooding in. As a result, they have greater ________ to make their own decisions. Countless young people ________ to change their career paths on impulse (冲动).

After breaking up with her boyfriend, Tang Xue, 24, gave up her job six months ago to buy a ________ in Anji county, Zhejiang.

“I believe it is important to do things on impulse sometimes, as I did earlier this year. I chose to ________ my own destiny (命运) without worrying about becoming trapped in a ________ job which is not worth doing,” said Tang, who worked for short-video platforms after graduating from a university.

Tang saw a farm in Jinhua, Zhejiang, advertised online, and was ________ by prospect (前景) of working in the open air, ________ stressful city life, making new friends, and finding the ideal lifestyle.

“I thought that changing the course of my life might be a ________, but I was willing to take it. It is never too late to restart my career, as I am a smart person with excellent ________.” said Tang, who worked at the farm in Jinhua for a few months before buying her own in Anji earlier this year.

To realize her dream of buying a farm, she took an online ________ course on farming operations. She plans to run the farm as a “shared vegetable field” project, with customers ordering the ________ she grows.