It seems we're always being told to get more sleep. Studies suggest spending less time on sleep can lead to obesity(肥胖) and even cancer. You might even find yourself with a head full of false memories. But rarely does science explore the dark side of sleeping too much. That's because few of us in today's busy world have the luck of exploring that option.

    In an August 2018 study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers researched the sleep patterns of those "fortunate" few and found they may not be so lucky after all. In fact, they found people who get more than eight hours of sleep have greater health risk compared to those who sleep together less than seven hours. What's more, sleep-aholics-those who manage to get 10 hours a night-stand a 30 percent higher chance of dying compared to the seven-hour crowd.

    The wide-ranging global study involved(涉及) more than three million people who self-reported on their sleep habits and came to an eye-opening conclusion: If you tend to sleep a lot, you may want to buy an alarm clock. As with all things in life, sleep is best taken in moderation(适度).

    You may be thinking: What if I only sleep in on Saturday and Sunday, am I still at risk? The answer is yes, according to a 2019 study published in Current Biology.  Researchers discovered that even if a person sleeps more than seven hours on the weekends but still sleeps less than that on weeknights, they are at risk of gaining weight and developing sensitivity to insulin, which controls the level of sugar in blood.

    For the study, 36 participants were divided into three groups that each had a different sleep schedule: nine hours every night, five hours every night, and five hours from Monday to Friday and sleeping much on weekends. People who get too much sleep tend to feel tired and lack energy. Also, both sleep-deprived(睡眠不足的) groups consume more food and gain weight.

Iceland, the land of fire and ice is filled with glaciers (冰川), towering volcanoes and geothermal (地热的) pools. Come here, and you'll have a destination that provides not just splendid sights but also plenty of culture.

Game of Thrones

Go back along with your favourite Game of Thrones characters on this five-day tour from Regent Holidays (0203 733 4931; regent-holidays. co. uk), which takes in the wilderness where the third series of the TV show was shot (拍摄). Led by the same expert guide that took the cast and crew to some of Ice land's key sights, this tour visits the scenery brought to life with tales of the "Seven Kingdoms".

Departs any time, from ￡1, 495 B&.B including Icelandair flights.

In search of the Northern Lights

A three-day "Northern Lights in Iceland" itinerary (行程表) from the Ultimate Travel Company (0203 553 2540;theultimatetravelcompany. co. uk) takes in the country's most attractions by day and goes in search of the Aurora Borealis by night. The tour includes the Golden Circle, the site of the world's oldest parliament (国会), the Blue Lagoon, and the volcanoes, glaciers and waterfalls of Iceland's southern coastline.

Departs anytime, from ￡1, 197 B&. B including flights and transfers.

Going solo (单独地)

If you're travelling without others, Discover the World (0173 7900 689; discover-the-world. co. uk) offers an eight-day journey. The tour visits Borgarfjorour Eystri, which is hidden away in the east fjords and is home to sweeping beautiful scenery, coastlines and ancient tales of elves and the "hidden people" who tales suggest, once lived there.

Departs between May and September, from ￡1, 824 full board including flights.

Kong Zhenlan, a 71-year-old woman from China's Shanxi Province, has devoted the last four decades of her life to adopting orphans (孤儿), making sure that they had food on the table and got access to education.

Even though she could only afford to support herself on a modest income  Kong Zhenlan couldn't bear to walk by the orphanage in Jixian County every day and see so many children struggling in poverty. One day, she stopped by and picked one of the orphans in her arms. That's when she knew she had to do something to make their life better. The modest woman started adopting these abandoned children and nurturing them as her own. Over the last 47 years, she has adopted 45 orphans, some of whom grew up to become doctors and lawyers.

Kong's oldest adopted child is 45-years-old, while her youngest is 9-months-old. Today, her adult children donate some of their monthly salaries to help bring up their younger siblings (兄弟姐妹), but in the beginning, the woman had to make due with what she had. And it wasn't much. She would spend all her money making sure the children had milk to drink, and if there was none left for her, she would look for leftovers in local garbage cans.

The modest woman recently told Pear Video that over the last 40 years she has only been getting 2 hours of sleep per night. She goes to sleep at around midnight, after putting the children to sleep and finishing up her chores (家务), and gets up around 2 am to check if they're all still covered with blankets. She has gotten used to it and said that a short sleep was a small price to pay for making sure the children grow up healthy and happy.

Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, which has been transporting all astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2011, typically carries a crew of three. However, the MS-14 capsule launched (发射) from a Russian spaceport in southern Kazakhstan on August 22, 2019, had just one passenger—a human-like robot named Skybot F-850.

The robot is the latest version of Russia's FEDOR robots, which were initially designed to help with search and rescue efforts. Skybot is good at many human skills, including driving a car, having short conversations, and even telling jokes. But since it lacks some special sills, the spacecraft to the ISS was piloted from the ground by scientists from Russia's space Agency. Roscosmos.

The six-foot-tall, 350-pound robot had another important task while on board. Without risking the lives of human astronauts, it helped Roscosmos researchers test the safety and flight experience of the new Soyuz-2.1, a carrier rocket, which carried the spacecraft into orbit. The feedback (反馈) will be important in determining if the rocket is safe to transport future human crews to space.

Though the launch into orbit went smoothly, Skybot's arrival at the ISS was delayed by three days, from August 24 to August 27. The delay didn't seem to bother the robot, which announced its arrival, "Sorry about the delay. Met with traffic. Ready to work now."

Skybot's two-week task is largely a test to measure its ability to work effectively in microgravity, and includes simple tasks like using tools. If all goes well, Russia hopes to send more advanced versions of the FEDOR robots to help astronauts with special tasks.

Earlier this year, the US space agency launched two little robots called Astrobees to help astronauts with daily chores, like finding lost pieces of equipment. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency's social AI-powered CIMON spent a year assisting astronauts, before returning to Earth on August 27, 2019.

    Our world is more connected than ever before thanks to technology.      . Indeed, it is becoming increasingly important that we all learn how to deal with this painful feeling.

    You should be determined to actively end your loneliness. We often end up passively waiting for someone else to make us feel less lonely. You may feel that your loneliness indicates that nobody is willing to connect with you. And there is nothing you can do about it. But that is far from the truth.      .

    You should find reasons why you are lonely. We all feel lonely for different reasons. Some of us have no one else to interact(互动) with on a consistent basis and that's why we feel lonely. You may feel that the people in your life don't share your thoughts and ideas.      , you need to identify it. And you know exactly how to handle your loneliness.

          . People who are lonely tend to fall into destructive mental habits. They try to avoid the pain of not being understood and being disconnected by not giving people any chance to understand and connect with them. That's not what you should choose to do. Instead, you should share your thoughts and feelings with others and do so openly and fearlessly.

    You should find people who share your interests.      , everybody is interested in something. And just as there are many interests, there are many people who share those interests. Find what interests you and connect with others on that basis.

A. Whatever the reason is

B. Whether it's coin collecting or video games

C. If you have no reason to share your interests

D. You should be true to yourself or actively end loneliness

E. You should be open about your thoughts, ideas and desires

F. Ending loneliness is something that you can and should do actively

G. However, more and more of us find ourselves having to stand loneliness

Most of us remember our teachers. One or two might slip the1, but even the most unimportant ones have some2on us. Then there are those who remain guides for life. For me there was Dr Wylie—his unusual ways threw new3on maths. And my English teacher, Dr Parry, 4my science and maths-focused brain to the joys of literature. I didn't realize it at the time, but those two5shaped my future.

As a journalist I 6 major events, but I cared only shallowly. Now as a teacher, I communicate with just a group of teenagers, but I care 7: those struggling to make friends, those 8in with the wrong crowd or those doing brilliantly. I have made them 9poems by heart and we are going to be listening to classical music. 10, I am trying to build up their cultural capital, to broaden their eyes and to 11 them to worlds beyond their own.

I've found that most people don't think of teaching as being quite as12as writing for newspapers. Tell people you are a journalist, and at least some will13it interesting. 14 you tell someone you are a teacher, you can see memories of their school days 15 back, and fear flash in their eyes. So teaching isn't for the faint-hearted (胆怯的). It can be 16work—but is there anything worthwhile in life that isn't? Some classes can be 17 at times. But don't believe how terrible and self-centred teenagers are. They are 18and full of potential. It is my job—and my19pleasure—to help them achieve it and to give them the solid20that will let them blossom.

The University of Oxford is truly an international university. It's  (old) than any other university in the English-speaking world. It's thought that teaching  (take) place there as early as the 11th century.

 (lie) in and around the city center of Oxford, the university consists of 44 colleges and halls as well as the largest library system in the UK. There are 22,000 students at Oxford in total, around 40% of  are international students. A quarter of the city of Oxford's residents (居民)  (be) students, giving the city the youngest population in the UK. Oxford is  youthful city with plenty to see and do. Students can choose (spend) their time studying or help themselves to various activities available. The university's particular  (strong) is the sciences, and it's ranked number one in the world for medicine. It's also ranked highly for sport， with its top rowers taking part every year  the world-famous boat race with the University of Cambridge on the River Thames.

It has a friendly rivalry (竞争) with Cambridge for the title of best university in the UK and is  (regular) ranked as being one of the top three universities in the world.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（ \ ）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：

1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

My daughter and I went to a supermarket where was about two block away to buy some fruits. While she was queuing at the check-out, my daughter waited on a bench nearby. When I finished, my daughter was seated next to elderly woman. I had a talk with her and find out that she was waiting for a bus to go home. I offered to take her home. She glad agreed. It was a nice chance to give up someone a ride when needing. The nice thing was what my daughter and I gained a new friendship. And we promised to visited and have lunch with the elderly woman.

1）写邮件的目的；

2）戏剧社团活动的时间和地点；

3）戏剧社团定期开展的活动。

注意：

1）词数100左右；

2）可以适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯；

3）开头和结尾已给出, 不计人总词数。

Dear Jack,

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua