The COVID pandemic will “go on for a year     1    (long) than it needs to” because poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. Dr Bruce Aylward, senior    2    (lead) at WHO, said it meant the COVID crisis could “easily drag on deep into 2022”. Less than 5% of Africa’s population have been vaccinated,     3    (compare) to 40% on most other continents. Aylward appealed     4    wealthy countries to give up their places in the queue for vaccines so that pharmaceutical    5    (company) can prioritize the lowest-income countries instead. The People’s Vaccine — an alliance(联盟）of charities — has released new figures     6    (suggest) just one     7     seven of the doses promised by pharmaceutical companies and wealthy countries are actually reaching their destinations in poorer countries. The vast    8    (major) of COVID vaccines    9    (give) in high-income or upper middle-income countries. Africa accounts for just 2.6% of doses administered    10     (globe).

3 . What object has the mystical ability to provide you with access to a whole new world, where you can read books, send messages or go online chatting, post pictures on social media platforms or watch TV Dramas anytime? What can entertain you day and night? Yes, you know the answer-your handphone.

Clearly, the handphone satisfies all our wants and needs, leaving us craving more. And over time as our days with this amazing pearl from technology melt into months and years, we become so intimate with our phones that the nature of our relationship morphs from one of functional to that of parasitic. According to a survey report by ConnectedLife, Singaporean youths spend an average of 3.4 hours a day on their phones. This may not seem like a big number to you, but think: what could you do in three hours? Cycling at the park with your family; revising your work; helping a friend with his work. Time wasted is life wasted.

Our phones now take on the antagonist’s role. When we try to engage in other activities, they blink their neon flashing lights non-stop, tempting us to give them one more click. We then watch our grades at school sink, our social skills plummet, our concern for others around us drop, sliced away from the real world, sliding into the digital one. Is the sacrifice worth it? No, phone addiction must come to a full stop today. How?

One way to stop addiction is to install applications to monitor the time you spend on your phone daily. You will find many mobile applications that help track the exact length of time you spend on your phone, notifying you if you exceed your targeted timing. A wake-up call, these alert you to become more self-aware of how long the daily phone usage is, and if you have already exceeded the limit. Each day you can start afresh with a new target, with a new sense of what you need to do (and what you do not).

Another method is to keep your phone switched off and to place it out of sight. Just as the common saying goes, “Out of sight, out of mind,” when you do not see that black screen, you will be less inclined to twitch and itch and check what is on the screen. Why shut it down? Well, when your phone is switched off, you would be unable to check it for updates so frequently, and hence less likely to keep pressing the ‘on’ button to read the message your friend just sent you, or the update on who just liked your post on social media. When switched off and kept away, the chances of you succeeding in what you need to focus on are higher. Although there may be a yearning for your phone, keep in mind the many different tasks you need to do instead and work on them. Procrastinate only on using your handphone; when you feel like turning it on and pulling down the notifications bar, smack your hand and tell yourself firmly, “Later!” These seeds of discipline, if grown into habits, will mature into a tree bearing much fruit.

There is one takeaway from the above two methods that effectively cuts the Gordian knot-busy yourself with other activities and push the complaints of the loss of bonding time with Mr. Smartphone out of your mind. After all, these joys are only short-term, and will be your regret in the long run. Now is the time to live your life like a human being. Be alive in this world, full of hopes and dreams, beauty and wonders. Taste the sweetness and bitterness of being human, and watch yourself grow into that tree. Cherish your youth while you can. You do not want to regret.

Oscar Wilde once said, “To live, is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist, that’s all.”

You are in the car on the way to work. You’re a little nervous,     1    (fear ) that you might be late. Then you come to a crossing. You look around and realize you have got     2    (stick) in traffic. Oh, no! Cars in everydirection    3    (be) all round you and none of the cars are moving.

If you’ve ever experienced a traffic jam at the worst moment, whether it’s being late for school     4    missing the first few minutes of a movie, you may have wondered     5    ( exact) how many cars there are on the road at any given time. Unfortunately, it' s impossible to answer the question, for there are too many vehicles in the world,

In the early 20th century, Henry Ford, the founder of the Henry Ford Motor Company, probably never imagined     6     his production system would mean to the world. While he hoped to make automobiles    7    (access) to the average Americans, he likely never dreamed the world     8     (reach) the point it has today. There are over one billion automobiles in our world now. China has over 200 million automobiles. The US has even more.     9     is believed that there will be 2.5 billion automobiles worldwide by 2050. If that happens, traffic jams are likely to be    10     (bad) than ever.

5 . Young Chinese couples are increasingly abandoning large formal wedding ceremonies for smaller, intimate ones at unconventional locations and coffee shops, wedding planners said.

When Sun Hongxu started a wedding service business in Beijing in 2012, she found most weddings were celebrated in a “typically Chinese way” at venues such as hotels and restaurants, with a large number of guests, often 200 or more. There were friends and relatives of the young couple, or their parents, sitting at 20 or more tables, waiting the bride, groom and their parents enter the venue. Then the couple exchanged vows and rings.

The newly weddings would give out presents and even cash to show their appreciation for the attendance of their guests. Despite some couples not wanting such traditional nuptials, they felt obliged to meet the wishes of their parents who thought this was what a wedding should be like.

However, a reporter released in July by wedding service website Hunliji and science and technology media platform 36Kr shows that the generation born after 1990 is against formal weddings with too many complex procedures. Instead, they are paying more attention to having a happy and joyful small wedding that reflects the personalities of the bride and groom. They may only choose to have a meal with their family members, or have a trip with his or her lover in a romantic site. In their eyes, it is more meaningful , economical and unforgettable.

According to a survey, the average cost of a wedding in 2020 was 231,000 yuan, 3.7 times higher than five years ago, the reporter said.

However, it added that the majority of young couples take cost into consideration and spend reasonably on their weddings. XuLin, a wedding planner in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said compared with those born in the 1980s, who took into consideration their parents’ wishes for grand traditional indoor weddings, couples today prioritize their own wedding preferences.

8 . Daily life has its satisfactions: The perfect reply to a friend’s text message; The first after-work drink; The sound of another government U-turn. But do any really compare to the joy of going to sleep? That moment when the mess of 21st-century existence disappears into the non-judgmental hug of a bed?

Somehow we have pushed this pleasure to the back of the queue. A third of American adults report sleeping less than the recommended seven hours. Many of us feel under-rested. For some, the problem is modern life: emails, to-do lists and screens. For other people, it’s the demands of work or family. Then there are those who can’t sleep when they try. In 1895 the Earl of Rosebery resigned after barely a year as British prime minister, unable to overcome his insomnia (失眠症). Up to 1 in 10 adults meet the criteria for insomnia.

Stressing ourselves out about a lack of sleep can make the problem worse. In his book Overcoming Insomnia and Sleep Problems, Oxford professor Colin Espie writes about “orthosomnia”, where people are so focused with sleeping well that they become too anxious to do so. The marketing of sleeping aids adds to this.

Espie says we each have a sleep pattern that, like a shoe size, we figure out through trial and error. Genetically, some humans are larks (百灵鸟) and some are owls; the larks may just have better cardiovascular (心血管的) health. For an owl to try to fight their natural schedule, and sleep earlier, wouldn’t necessarily help.

Once we weren’t urged to sleep until we were dead. Now we are told to sleep or we’ll be dead. Nowadays sleep is becoming something that people hope to excel at. About that I’m unconvinced. A goodnight’s sleep is a great pleasure. As far as possible, it should also remain a simple one.

10 . Arden University

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University of London International Programmes

We have over 60,000 students in every corner of the globe studying on more than 100 different programmes. Our global footprint and flexible study method has enabled students to study wherever they live. As a family of 19 world-class colleges and admired institutes, the University of London has an international reputation for academic distinction in teaching and research. Our students achieve exactly the same standard of internationally recognized qualification as those who attend the University itself. Click here to view this school.

University of York

The University of York is one of the top ten universities in the UK for teaching and research, and is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world. This well-established university consists of over 30 academic departments and research centres and a student body of 13,000, and was named Times Higher Education University of the Year 2010. Most of the distance learning courses are designed to meet professional development needs, and reflect the benefits of online learning in this context. Click here to view this school.

Lloyd’s Maritime Academy

Course options include popular and well-established diplomas in Marine (海洋) Surveying, Ship Management, and Maritime Law. Various accreditation levels are available from short, online based certificate courses to fully-accredited diploma and postgraduate diploma study options. We also offer our best course — the MBA in Shipping&. Logistics. The continued strength of these distance learning programmes have over 6,000 students enrolled on our courses. Click here to view this school.