If you’re anxious about your exams, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Every year, many young people sit exams and whether they love or hate them, most of them will face some anxiety in the lead up to the big day. It might seem like a stressful time when the pressure is on to pass that all-important test but take a deep breath and absorb some good advice from people who’ve been through the same experience as you.
Eating the right food can feed your brain and keep you alert. Nutritional therapist Kerry Torrens recommends making breakfast the most important meal of the day. She recommends eating energy-giving oats and eggs, which contain a nutrient called choline—thought to help cognitive performance and improve memory. And don’t forget to drink lots of water to keep you hydrated — some research even suggests students who take water into the exam hall may even improve their grades.
One thing I know I always need is a good night’s sleep to help me work and think better the next day and that’s what’s recommended for anyone preparing for their exams. If you get good sleep your memory is better and that means you can remember the information you have revised. And it’s good to get relaxed before bedtime too — no watching TV or chatting on social media!
There comes a point when your brain can’t absorb any more information so you’ll also need to know when to stop. Lisa Artis from the Sleep Council says sitting on your bed when you’re cramming (死记硬背) is not a good idea because then you associate that place with stress. Revising for exams can also sometimes seem endless, so it’s good to take breaks and reward yourself with a small treat, like a cake or a quick run around the block.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Ways to Stay Motivated
Many distance learners agree that the most difficult part of studying online is staying motivated. Because students must take the initiative to complete their courses completely on their own, without the physical presence of teachers and other peers, many students find it easy to become distracted and discouraged in their work. Don’t let this happen to you-plan ways for yourself to stay motivated before you’re tempted to stray from your books. Use the following motivational tips to stay on task.
Find a friend or relative who has similar interests or who would enjoy hearing about your studies and let them know what’s going on in your classes. You’ll understand the material better when you have a chance to explain it out loud and will be motivated to stay on task in order to keep up with the conversation.
Don’t rely on campus consultant; design your own map of completed classes and post it somewhere that is visible daily. There’s a certain satisfaction that comes with watching your goals be accomplished. When times get hard, you can always turn to your chart and see how far you’ve come.
You get rewarded for good credit and safe driving. Why shouldn’t you reward yourself for doing well in your coursework? Whether it be a night on the town, a new dress, or even a new car, setting up a reward system just may be the extra push you need to succeed. If you stick to your system, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Before you head out to a run event where there will be many people, you should be aware of the dangers of a crowd crush.
Though the risk of crowd crush is rare, it can be deadly when it happens. Crowd crush occurs when many people are packed together and begin to fall over one another. In the past, such instances have caused horrible injury and even death. To avoid such a fate, it’s best to escape the crush before it happens.
Before attending a crowded event, look up a map of the venue. This will give you an idea of the surroundings - pay special attention to any exits. Once you arrive, choosing the right spot can be crucial. Avoid the middle or front; instead, pick the back or edges of a crowd. It’s also important to trust your feelings. Stay aware to see if you feel packed in at any point. The more crowded the event becomes, the sooner you may need to retreat to a safe place.
If you do end up in a crush, here’s how you can stay safe. The most important thing you can do is stay on your feet. To do this, spread your feet apart and bend your knees a little. Also make sure to move with the flow of the crowd. Trying to move against a crowd of people will only end in disaster.
Helping others is another great way to keep everyone safe. Once one person falls down, more people tend to fall over them. So if your neighbor in the crowd falls to the ground, help them up.
A common cause of death in a crowd crush isn’t being crushed but rather losing air. It’s best to hold out your arms in front of your chest. This allows space between you and the person in front of you. It also protects your chest and lungs from being crushed on the ground should you fall.
There is usually fun where the crowds are, so enjoy yourself. But remember to stay alert!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________How to Stay on Task
“In many activities, it is difficult to maintain a high level of focus over time. Our research asks why this is the case,” said Matthew K. Robison, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington. Although humans generally perform fine in situations that require sustained attention, they are often distracted, which can lead to inattention. Common distractions can be anything from thinking about a new romantic interest to reacting to a car honking. Most inattention has minor consequences like forgetting to forward an email or pick up an item at the grocery store. However, other inattention can lead to serious consequences, such as a train operator not reacting to an incident, a surgeon forgetting a step in an operation or an individual forgetting to turn off an oven.
“Sustaining attention can be easier said than done, as attention fluctuates(波动) across short and long intervals,” Robison said. One of the most common approaches to studying inattention has been to examine response time to a variety of tasks. For this study, Robison and colleagues employed more than 100 participants to complete reaction time tasks for about 25 minutes. In a standard control condition, participants were simply told to respond as quickly as possible on each trial. “In this condition, reaction times systematically increased across time, consistent with the idea that task focus was decreasing,” Robison said. “However, when we gave them specific goals to pursue and made those goals harder over time, they did not show that effect.”
The drop in concentration goes some way to explaining why we remember or forget the moment and why some people remember better than others. Robison and colleagues at the University of Oregon have also published a new study on maintaining attention. The results provide evidence that a simple and easily implementable change in behavior — setting specific goals for oneself — can significantly improve our ability to maintain task focus over time. “Setting a specific goal will increase sustained attention and reduce inattention,” said Robison based on his studies.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________在一堂写作课上，老师给出了以下三个题目供学生选择。
| 题目一： 以“盛年不重来，一日难再晨。”（Prime years do not return; a day’s morning is hard to come by again.）为题，结合你的生活体验，写一篇文章。 题目二： 针对目前因为了升学考试而导致的学生知识结构很不平衡（unbalanced knowledge structures）的现象，你觉得有什么好的方法或手段能够改变这种情况，谈谈你的想法。 题目三： 续写“当最后一个地球人（earthling）坐在房间里时，传来了敲门声……” |
写一篇短文，说明你选择的题目，简述理由并介绍你的写作思路。
文章必须包括以下内容：
1. 你选择的作文题目及理由；
2. 你的写作思路。
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1. 因特网带给我们很多便利和好处。
2. 我们面临网络安全的问题。
3. 今天，我想写篇博客文章谈一谈网络安全问题。
4. 我们最好访问熟悉的网站，而且，我们要用安全级别高的密码。
5. 要记住不要用公共电脑，因为它更有可能泄露我们的个人信息。
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Do you have some good advice for online safety? Post your comments below!
Tips to help you overcome people-pleasing
Considering other people’s feelings and treating them with kindness is something west rive to do. But sacrificing our wellbeing to make others happy is not. When this happens, people-pleasing has crossed the line from kind and generous to self-abandonment—not being the authentic (真实的) self because we’re afraid others will disapprove, criticize, or reject us. Here are tips for you to overcome such behaviors.
● Taking care of yourself isn’t selfish.Self-care is a necessity, not a luxury. It’s not something you do if you have time or if you deserve it. Taking care of your emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical needs keeps you healthy. Without it, you’ll get sick, stressed, and irritable. Try putting self-care activities (exercise, socializing, hobbies, etc.) on your calendar to ensure that self-care is a priority.
● Not everyone’s opinion matters.One big mistake people-pleasers make is acting as if everyone’s opinion matters equally. You don’t differentiate whose opinion matters more. Generally, the closer the relationship, the more you’ll value their opinion and want to please them. Thus, it’s natural to want to do things to make your loved ones happy. However, you don’t need to please acquaintances in the same way.
● Healthy conflict can improve relationships.Most people worry that painful conflicts will destroy relationships. It’s understandable and common to want to avoid them. But it’s not helpful or possible. When you avoid conflict, you suppress your feelings and needs. And this causes you to disconnect from yourself and from others. But health y conflict is the one in which both parties can respectfully express themselves. It results in greater understanding and ultimately strengthens the relationship. This is quite different from the unhealthy conflicts.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Have You Got Success Amnesia?
Have you heard yourself say “it was nothing really” when someone congratulates you on a job well done? Or have you drawn a blank when you are asked to make a list of what you have achieved? If so, you have suffered success amnesia. Failing to acknowledge your hard work is often a sign of success amnesia. It signals that there might be a gap between how others view your achievements and how you see them.
People who have success amnesia often have a strong track record at work or get it sorted for family members. They are people who others would describe as successful and yet they find it difficult to acknowledge and own their results. They don’t hold their achievements in their memory bank.
This particular type of memory loss robs them of the satisfaction and pleasure that can follow in achieving a goal. And, perhaps more importantly, it robs them of confidence. Confidence does not guarantee success, but it does increase the chance of success. Why not try some practical methods?
Ask for feedback about the impact you’ve had and then listen carefully. Watch out for anything that you begin to tell yourself “It wasn’t that big a deal.” Try to absorb what you hear. You can also look back over the past 6 or12 months, capture every success you can think of, whether large or small, and write them down clearly. Purposefully acknowledging and admitting your achievements can help to bring them into more realistic focus. Besides, be mindful that you have a tendency to forget or minimize your achievements. A sticky note on your laptop screen might help: my strengths and achievements are bigger than they appear to me.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
How to Be a Civilized Tourist
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As The Jungle Book song Bear Necessities goes, “forget about your worries and your conflict” can be a little bit difficult when you find yourself face to face with a real bear.
Bears are common in the Northern Hemisphere. As human habitats stretch toward the wilderness, more and more animals cross their paths with those of humans. This can lead to dangerous encounters especially when precautions are not in place. In these situations, keeping your distance is still the best advice.
According to the National Park Service, one should also remain calm as bears, more often than not, are not really willing to attack you. Once in a standoff (对峙), avoid making sudden moves or loud noises as these can trigger aggression. 7-year-old Huxley did exactly what he was told when he encountered a massive bear.
It was a Sunny morning. Huxley was wandering on his way home when a big hulking (笨重的) figure emerges from behind him. A hurried glance backward, he knew it was a black bear. The bear approached cautiously at first, probably sizing up the figure in front of him. A second later, perhaps judging that Huxley was no match for it, the bear burst into a full sprint (冲刺) and ran its way toward the boy.
At first, Huxley was really frightened. However, he knew it was impossible to run or fight with the big beast. In the moment of crisis, he remembered his mother reminds him regularly about these possible encounters. She tells him that if Huxley finds himself face to face with a bear and there are no adults around, he should remain calm.
Huxley calmed down at thinking of this. He stared at the bear down without any movement. This might have been the reason why the young bear stopped dead in its tracks. They faced each other motionless, and there was only a foot distance between them.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
From around the corner, a neighbor hurriedly walked to the scene.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The neighbor continued to pressure the bear while the animal tried its best to find an escape route.
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