学进去

Are you sometimes a little tired and sleepy in the early afternoon? Do you feel that sometimes a task that takes you five minutes in the morning may take fifteen minutes in the afternoon? Many people feel this way after lunch. They may think that eating lunch is the cause of the sleepiness. If this is true, why wouldn’t people feel just as sleepy after eating a large breakfast or after dinner? The truth is that this sleepiness has little to do with meals and is due to another cause.

The real reason lies inside your bodies. At that time, about eight hours after you wake up, the body temperature goes down. This is what makes you slow down and feel sleepy. Scientists have tested sleeping habits in experiments (试验) where there was no night or day. The people in these experiments almost always followed a similar sleeping pattern (模式). They slept for one long period and then for one short period about eight hours later.

In many parts of the world, people take naps (午睡) in the middle of the day, especially people in warmer climates where the heat makes work difficult in the early afternoon. Researchers are now saying that naps are good for everyone in any climate.

A daily nap gives one a more rested body and mind. In countries where naps are common, people have less health problems like heart disease.

If you want to make the most of your nap, here are some tips. First, remember that the best time to take a nap is about eight hours after you get up. A short sleep too late in the day may only make you feel more tired and sleepy afterward. This can also happen if you sleep for too long. If you do not have enough time to try a short nap—even ten minutes of sleep can be helpful.

If you feel down next time, try taking a nap to lift your spirits. Napping, or even just resting for an hour without falling asleep, can also light up your day.

From different TV dramas or books about the ancient time, we can often hear titles (称谓) like “taoli” and “kaimo”. In fact, they are so popular that people regard them as part of ancient Chinese history and culture. What do these Chinese titles refer to? Have you ever wondered what the stories behind these ideas are?

Modesty and respect

Chinese people in the past or even sometimes today call their sons quanzi (犬子). They believe that dogs are humble (卑微的) animals. When Chinese parents use quanzi to refer to their sons, they are being modest. Although most parents do want them to be successful, they don’t usually talk about this in front of others. Instead, they try to play it down. This is similar to how even rich Chinese people call their big houses hanshe (寒舍), which means “my humble home”.

Although people are modest about themselves, they respect others a lot. They call their own sons quanzi, but call others’sons linglang (令郎), a respectful way to say “your son”.

Trees of character

In Chinese, kaimo (楷模) means “role model”. Both of these Chinese characters have a “木”on their left side. People believe that kai and mo might are two kinds of trees in ancient China. It was said that there were many kai trees growing near Confucius’ tomb (孔子墓). These trees were so straight that they made people think of Confucius’ character—straight and honest. People believed that the mo trees grew near the tomb of the Duke of Zhou (周公). The color of the mo tree’s leaves made the tree a symbol of integrity.

Since the kai and mo trees grew near the tombs of two respected people, kaimo was then used to refer to role models.

High school life is coming to an end. _______ of the students got a gift, but Linda’s gift from her dad was the most unusual.

What’s _______ about it? It’s a long story. Ever since kindergarten (学前班), Linda’s father had invited all of his daughter’s teachers to write some words about her in a notebook. Her teachers _______ their beautiful days with Linda from kindergarten to high school. And Linda’s father gave the notebook to her _______ she graduated from high school. The final gift was so surprising and moving that she cried a lot.

Linda’s father has kept this notebook as a _______ these years and the notebook has become yellow. “It’s clearly believed that everyone else in my life knew about it,” Linda said. “The words from every teacher _______ me. They also help me remember my years. Thanks to the notebook, I can look back at the past school years. I can also enjoy the happy memories for the _______ of my life. My teachers loved my smile. But what they wrote about me most is my deep love for life. It was a big surprise to me because I have _______ imagined the gift would be so special. I would keep it for myself forever.”

When we’re thinking about giving gifts, we can _______ some ideas from Linda’s father. Sometimes, the best gift is not the most expensive one but the one with something meaningful ________ it.

Roy, the rabbit, was playing with his friends in the forest. Charlie, the deer, looked at Roy’s big ears and said, “I think Roy’s nickname(外号) must be Big Ears from now.” Hearing that, all his friends started laughing and making fun of Roy, “Big Ears! Big Ears!” That evening Roy was very upset and told his dad about his big ears sadly. His dad said to him patiently, “Listen carefully, Roy. There are very good reasons why we have big ears, and one day your friends will find out why.”

A few days later, Roy and his friends were playing again. Suddenly, Roy stopped and called his friends together, He said to them worriedly, “Listen! I can hear lions coming. We need to run away.” “But we can’t hear anything!” said his friends. They still stayed there and played happily.

A few minutes later, 3 lions appeared from behind the trees. They scared all the Roy’s friends. “Run! Run for your lives!” shouted Roy. Everyone started running quickly.

When they all reached safety, Roy spoke seriously to his friends, “Now you can understand why I have big ears. I can listen very well and today my big ears saved us from danger. I know that you may think my big ears look silly, but everyone in the world has their own features, and these features surely help them in a unique (独特的) way.” said Roy.

“Wow, Roy, now we understand why you have big ears. They are your unique features. And thanks to your ears,we are out of danger today. We were wrong to make fun of you before and we’ll never do that again. ” said Roy’s friends and they all said sorry to Roy for what they did to him before.

假定你是李华，你的英国朋友Chris正在开展与“友谊”相关的主题调研。他想了解你的交友情况，请你用英语给他回复一封邮件，谈谈你有怎样的朋友并说明你是如何与他们相处的。

How is everything going? I’m glad to share something about my thinking on friends.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours,

Li Hua