Simply speaking, a healthy lifestyle is about finding the right balance and making good choice. Life is composed of many elements, such as family, friends, study, work, entertainment, and so on. If one element     1    your life and the others are ignored, you will lose balance and not feel good.

Carefully     2    your daily activities. Your health    3     what you choose to do in your daily life. A healthy lifestyle is generally a balanced life in which you make wise choice. Neither too much nor too little is good.

Slowly     4     changes in your lifestyle by using a step-by-step process. You do not have to change everything at once. Make small changes each day and your lifestyle will become healthier.

Teenagers often have bad habits. Most can be stopped by taking     1    action. However, habits like     2    and     3     abuse can lead to serious addictions. According to modern     4    , to change bad habits, we must first analyse them using the “habit     5    ”. To fix or improve a bad habit, we must first find out what the     6    is. Then we must change the old    7     routine to something more positive. If successful, we will feel a sense of     8     and our bad habit may disappear. Changing a bad habit is difficult, and it is easy to make excuses and give up. We need to make up our minds and show some     9    , and make small changes over time. There is no magic    10     to help us, but changing will ensure we have a happy and healthy life!

Get rid of mosquitoes, but how?

Almost everyone who spends time outdoors has experienced mosquitoes. These bloodsucking insects give itchy bites and can spread disease. But how can you avoid them and protect yourself?

Jessica Damiano is a gardening expert. In a recent story, Damiano said the best control is     1    . And she gave suggestions on how to     2     mosquito populations.

It may seem difficult to avoid mosquitoes, as most of the areas in the world are     3     populated with them. People who live near     4     of water, such as lakeside, may experience more mosquitoes. But there are several measures you can take to reduce their numbers.

Mosquitoes need less than a centimeter of water to lay eggs. A female can lay hundreds of eggs at a time. So, check your     5     to see if there is anywhere that collects water. Water can easily collect in small     6     —a child’s toy, a trash can lid, or a cooking pot.

Even if the amount of standing water seems small,     7     it. Make holes in the bottoms of containers that can hold     8     water. Other standing water such as in ponds and bird baths can be     9     with chemicals.

There are other things you can do to protect yourself. Put screens in your doors and windows or keep them closed. And cut down on time spent outdoors between the early evening and the early morning. Mosquitoes are most     10     during that time.

A key part of starting to exercise is choosing when to work out. Morning, afternoon, or evening: Which time is best? Scientists have studied this dilemma extensively.

For new exercisers, morning workouts are often the most dreaded. After all,     1     a cozy, nurturing bed for a sterile, unforgiving fitness center can be a rude awakening to say the least. But morning workouts have their advantages. The     2     of endorphin, along with a few others, boosts energy levels, alertness, and focus, which can make you more productive and attentive at work.

However, early exercisers may not be able to achieve peak performance. Stiffer(僵硬的)muscles, fewer energy     3     from overnight fasting, and cooler body temperature add up to hamper exercise output. Therefore, more     4     exercisers might prefer working out in the afternoon.

“The best     5     for explosive athleticism seems to be between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.” Shawn Arent, chair of the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina told CNN. A review of studies found that muscle strength, muscle power, and sprinting abilities all peaked in the afternoon,     6     morning performance by anywhere from 3% to 20%.

Finally, some folks may decide to work out later in the evening. Intense exercise performed within an hour of one’s bedtime will impact the following sleep     7    . For this reason, most exercise experts recommend at least 90 minutes of downtime between the     8     of an exercise session and going to bed.

Whether morning, afternoon, or evening, it is optimal if exercise timing remains somewhat consistent, research has found. Still, it is     9     fine to mix up your workout times to fit with our schedule. The average person need not worry over when to work out. Regular exercise is perhaps that single best thing that humans can do for their health, and it shouldn’t serve as something to     10     over.

It’s     1     to stay in a good place when the world is throwing so many troubles at you. Visualization (可视化) and meditation (冥想) are two great tools to start with when you feel yourself getting off-balance. They can’t only help you rebalance but also     2     your confidence. The best way to begin is to listen to some meditative music for 30 minutes. You don’t need     3     what has happened; just enjoy     4     yourself.

Another     5    (忽略的) rebalancing technique is recording your thoughts in a journal. It actually     6     bad thoughts in your mind for positive ones to enter. Being alone is a wonderful tool that is helpful for you     7    (分析) your current state of mind.

A third tool is to actively engage in doing something that you have a     8    (热烈的) love for.

Although we all go through emotional upsets, we should learn to keep them in perspective with     9    (智慧) and use what you have taught yourself to     10     them away.

Less is More

Did you know that Americans have approximately three times the amount of space we have fifty years ago? Therefore, you’d think we’d have sufficient room for all of our possessions. However, that’s not the case. We’ve got triple the space, but we’ve become such     1     consumers that we require even more. This phenomenon has resulted in significant credit card debt, enormous environmental footprints, and perhaps not     2    , happiness levels have failed to increase over the same half century.

I’m here to suggest a(n)     3    — that having less might actually be a preferable decision. Many of us have experienced, at some stage, the pleasure of possessing less. I propose that less stuff and less space can not only help you economize, but also     4     your life. I recently started an innovative project to discover some creative solutions that offered me everything I required. By purchasing an apartment that was 40 square meters instead of 60, I     5     saved $200,000. Smaller space leads to reduced bills and also a smaller carbon footprint because it’s designed around an edited collection of possessions, limited to my     6     stuff. I’m really excited to live there.

How can we live more basically? Firstly, we must cut the unnecessary objects out of our lives without hesitation. To reduce     7    , we should think before we buy, and ask ourselves, “will it truly make me happier?” Secondly, we require space     8    . We want appliances that are designed for use most of the time, not for occasional use. Why own a six-burner stove when you rarely use even three burners? Finally, we need     9     spaces and housewares. I combined a movable wall with transforming furniture to get more out of my limited space. Consider my coffee table. It increases in size to     10     ten people. My bed simply pops out the wall.

I’m not saying, we should all live in tinier apartments, but consider the benefits of an edited life. When you return home and walk through your front door, take a moment to ask yourselves, “Could I do with a little life editing? Will that give me more freedom and more time?”

Home schooling is hard even for the best of us

Many parents have toyed with home schooling. The idea is associated with images of children and parents sitting at the kitchen table, solving the mysteries of maths, science and languages     1     of traditional education.

This week, parents have encountered a harder reality — not home schooling in the usual     2    , but enforced schooling-for-home. Kitchen tables piled with books and bowls; frustrated parents trying to remember how to do improper fractions (可约分数) while taking part in a video conference with work colleagues; fights over laptops as children insist they need to log on to online lessons — such     3     will have been repeated in households across the world.

Home learning, as more usually     4    , is not a new idea. The modern home-school movement emerged in the 1970s,     5     by the bikes of John Holt, an American teacher and education writer. He advised parents to fit the curriculum to the child’s interests, not the other way around. The most recent     6     suggest that close to 60,000 children are home schooled in England, for reasons including mental health issues and special educational needs. Some parents have given up on what they see as a(n)     7     “one-size fits all” education system. Educationalists, including Britain’s Sir Ken Robinson, have complained that schools’ need to follow strict curriculums can harm children’s natural creativity.

For parents in today’s health crisis, technology is proving a lifeline. School by Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams or Zoom has been hugely popular to keep children focused as well as     8     as class. For younger children, various British celebrities (名流) are offering their services to help with lessons in maths, English as well as history.

How best to make it work? Experts say children need a clear structure. They should rise, breakfast and work according to a clear timetable in line with normal schooling,     9     studying in a place without distractions. Make the most of “live” online classes, and additional work and resources, that schools are offering. Allow time for physical exercise, and family time - and arguably less homework after studying finishes. Above all, parents should take a deep breath and keep calm. One     10     lesson many home workers-cum-home schoolers will draw from today’s crisis is this: teachers will never again have to prove that they are worth it.