The Magic of Tidying Up

If you haven't worn your shoes lately, thank them for their hard work and consider letting them go.“It is natural for me to say thank-you to the goods that support us,”says Marie Kondo, the author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Her method of connecting with belongings that“spark joy”and saying goodbye to the rest is popular all over the world.

Kondo's method encourages a one-time rapid and dramatic organizing event. For her, tidying is to thank anything that doesn't “spark joy”and send them to a more appreciative owner. The results can be life-changing. People suddenly find themselves surrounded by things that provide clarity(简洁). Even her book, Kondo says,should be thrown away when it's no longer needed.

Kondo suggested starting with clothes, then books, then documents, and last and most difficult, photos and mementos(纪念品). Instead of deciding what to get rid of,she says,the focus should be on what to keep:things that spark joy or are truly necessary.

After joyfully sending away mountains of unneeded or unloved belongings, Kondo turns to organizing what is left. The key is storing things mostly in drawers, arranged so that everything can be seen at a glance and nothing is stacked. So T-shirts and socks (the ones you've kept because they make you happy) are rolled and arranged beautifully.

Kondo has been fond of tidying since she was five, enjoying arranging shoes and pencils  while other kids played outside.She believes the inside of a house should be a place where there are no unnecessary things, and our thoughts become clear. It is the place where we appreciate all the things that support us.It is where we review and rethink about ourselves.

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The Grand in Grandmother

When I was growing up, my parents took teaching jobs in a remote town, leaving me in the care of my grandmother.

Nancy, as we called her, did not hug or kiss children. Her tongue was sharp and her words harsh. She was a tyrant (独裁者), but she was there. As early as I could remember, Nancy had always been a part of my life. I believed grandmothers lived forever.

She taught me many lessons, though I often ignored them. Nancy urged me never to accept second-best. For her, "good enough" was never enough, from the grades you bring home from school to the service you receive in restaurants.

When I was 13, Nancy sent me to Manila to attend high school, and I stayed there for university. I came back each summer, but after I got married the visits became less frequent. Soon all of her grandchildren had moved out. Nancy was left on her own. In her letters to me, she wrote of how lonely she was, but I never made the effort to spend more time with her.

Nancy died last year. She was 83. After the funeral, I went to our old house. Grandmother had kept so many things from my childhood: the toys; the letters I wrote home in my high school and university years; either asking for more rice or thanking her for sending fruit. Photos of her grandchildren were on display in the living room.

When I visited her grave and reflected on all her birthdays I had allowed to pass, I was filled with sorrow. I thought about all the stories she never got a chance to tell me, about her life, about the girl she once had been, about the town I left behind. It occurred to me that perhaps she did not tell me because I did not know how to ask.

A. his parents worked far away

B. Nancy loved children

C. he wanted to stay with Nancy

D. Nancy was a good teacher

A. friendly

B.unkind

C.lonely

D.patient

A.ignored teaching the children

B.received little education

C.urged him to work for the best

D.preferred to live on her own

A.the stories about Nanay

B.Nanay's funeral

C.the photo display of Nanay

D.Nanay's lessons

A.humorous

B.joyful

C.critical

D.regretful

Exercise and Dieting

 If you are overweight, it could lead to health conditions including increased blood pressure or heart disease. If you're worried about how heavy you are, ask the doctor for advice. If you only have to lose some weight, the best thing to do is stop eating when you are full, eat healthily and get more energetic.

 ① Becoming more active is the best way of burning off those additional calories(卡路里). You don't need go to the gym to do this. Just increase the amount of walking you do each day or just go for a bike ride. You put on weight if you eat more than you need; this is because you accumulate any energy not used into fat.

 ② Every day you should drink about 8 glasses of water. You will need more if the weather is hot or while you are doing physical activity. Try to cut down on those drinks high in sugar.

 ③ You don't need to give up drinking alcohol, but too much drinking can cause harm. Drinking less can help lose pounds. The guideline for women is 3 units per day, and for men, 4 units per day. A good goal for better health is to stretch your drinking over a week and not save it for the weekends. Overdrinking for a long time can also harm the liver.

 ④ Never skip breakfast, as it provides you with energy to keep you going through the day. Many people miss breakfast thinking it helps them lose extra pounds. But it doesn't at all, and even worse, they can lose out on minerals and vitamins. It is clear that eating breakfast can help control your weight.

 To sum up, if you are thinking about going on a diet, make sure you consider the above guidelines.

A. Seeing a doctor

B. Having breakfast

C. Drinking enough water

D. Doing physical exercise

E. Drinking alcohol moderately

A. Seeing a doctor

B. Having breakfast

C. Drinking enough water

D. Doing physical exercise

E. Drinking alcohol moderately

A. Seeing a doctor

B. Having breakfast

C. Drinking enough water

D. Doing physical exercise

E. Drinking alcohol moderately

A. Seeing a doctor

B. Having breakfast

C. Drinking enough water

D. Doing physical exercise

E. Drinking alcohol moderately

A. into fat

B. in sugar

C. harm the liver

D. seek advice from a doctor

E. 3 units of alcohol every day

F. a lack of minerals and vitamins

G. 4 glasses of water each day

A. into fat

B. in sugar

C. harm the liver

D. seek advice from a doctor

E. 3 units of alcohol every day

F. a lack of minerals and vitamins

G. 4 glasses of water each day

A. into fat

B. in sugar

C. harm the liver

D. seek advice from a doctor

E. 3 units of alcohol every day

F. a lack of minerals and vitamins

G. 4 glasses of water each day

A. into fat

B. in sugar

C. harm the liver

D. seek advice from a doctor

E. 3 units of alcohol every day

F. a lack of minerals and vitamins

G. 4 glasses of water each day

A. into fat

B. in sugar

C. harm the liver

D. seek advice from a doctor

E. 3 units of alcohol every day

F. a lack of minerals and vitamins

G. 4 glasses of water each day

A. into fat

B. in sugar

C. harm the liver

D. seek advice from a doctor

E. 3 units of alcohol every day

F. a lack of minerals and vitamins

G. 4 glasses of water each day

Enjoy Yourself and Improve Your English

 One student I knew in Tanzania was the daughter of a school teacher. On the first day of the long school holidays, a whole set of graded English books arrived at her house. ____26____ The daughter read them all, starting from the easiest and working up to the most difficult. The holidays passed quickly and when the new school term started, she was far ahead of her classmates in English.

 ____27____ I think there are three. First, learning a new language takes time and practice. It is the same with any skill, like swimming. There are no quicker ways.

 Second, successful learning means moving from the easy to the difficult.____28____ You have to play very simple tunes before you move on, step by step, to more complex ones.

 ____29____ The student was not trying to improve her English, though her English did improve. She liked the stories and was using them to pass the time. She became better at English without knowing it. Her brain was learning the language while she was concentrating on the stories.

 However, many students give two main reasons for not reading much.____30____ I am afraid this reason is very weak and simply not true. The other reason is that they do not enjoy it. This reason is stronger. In fact it can be divided into two. You may not enjoy reading because either the language is difficult, or the stories are boring.

 A. One is that they have no time.

 B. Why don't students read more?

 C. What lessons does this story teach us?

 D. Her mother had bought them for the school.

 E. Third, reading stories in a new language is enjoyable.

 F. This is just like learning to play the piano. 

My little Niece

    My little Niece, a ten-month-old baby, is the most lovely child I have even seen. Her face is like a red apple and her eyes are like _31_stars. When you carry her in your arms, she likes to put her arms around your neck. All the __32_in the family love her very much and often try to make her smile. But quit __33__ it is she who makes us__34__. Once I winked at her and she smiled. When I did it again, she watched me_35__. Then she tried to imitate. While I closed one eye to wink, she had to close__36__eyes at the same time, and then __37__opened them again. And that was her way to wink. We all __38__into laughter. When we looked at her again, she was staring at us, puzzled, as if she were __39_ "What are you laughing at?" We all love this__40__ little baby.

A. laugh   D. grown-ups     G.cute           J. often

B. both     E. attentively      H. flowers     K. bright

C. drink      F. asking            I. burst         L. quickly