You know that eating healthy, staying active, and working out a few brain games can help keep you sharp. But these lesser-known habits work wonders, too.

1. Sit tall

When we are sad or afraid, we are more likely to slouch (没精打采地站、坐或走). This position causes us to feel worried or ______. It makes harder to think clearly and remember things. In a study of 125 university students, 56 percent found it easier to do maths problems when they sat up ______ than when they slumped down.

Sitting tall does improve memory because it helps blood and oxygen flow to the brain—by up to 40 percent.

2. Exercise—once

Having trouble remembering faces? In a small study, researchers showed pictures of faces to older people on two different days and after two different kinds of exercise. On one day, they rode bikes for 20 minutes and made sure they breathed heavily but were still able to talk. On the other day, they ______ sat on a self-pedaling bike for 20 minutes.

______, people remembered the faces better after this single exercise.

3. Limit TV

As we all know, too much screen time can hurt a child’s cognitive (认知) development. But what about those old people?

It was a long-term study for those who were over 50, and they were healthy as well. It was found that people who watched more than three and a half hours of TV a day for six years experienced a greater ______ in memory test scores than those who watched less. Another study found that watching violent programming harms people’s memory as well.

4. Walk backwards

When trying to recall something, don’t just think “walk backwards”. In a series of ______, people viewed a video of a movie, a word list or a set of pictures. Then they imagined walking forward or backwards, watched a video that moved forward or backward, or actually walked forwards or backwards. Some people also sat still.

Backward motion, whether real, imagined, or watched, is better than forward motion.

House fires often happen. So it appears necessary to learn something useful to ________ family from them. The following poster in the neighborhood will tell you ________ to do it.

Fire Safety

Put a smoke (烟) alarm in your house and ________ it every month. Half of all house fire ________ happen between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. The risk of dying in a ________ fire is cut in half with working smoke alarms.

Make sure your hearing aid, wheelchair or eyeglasses are next to your bed. Fire can spread through a house soon. You may have as little as two minutes to escape (逃离) ________. Be ________ to act at once.

________ a fire escape plan. 77% of families don’t have a house fire escape plan to follow. That’s one of the ________ why at least one child dies and 293 children are injured in a house fire every day.

Don’t call 119 until you are safely outside. During a fire, the ________ thing to do is to get out of the house as fast as you can.

It all started when my friend Mareya called, “We can go to Hawaii this weekend!”

“Really!” I was excited.

“Oh, sorry. Not us,” said Mareya. “I ______ my family.”

“It’s OK,” I said. “I plan to go for a ______ with Ollie.” But when I put down the phone, I had a ______ feeling. I am happy for Mareya, but

I was a little envious (羡慕的) of her exciting ______. After that, I called Ollie and asked him ______ we needed for our trip.

“My uncle got a fantastic ______ on a farm. I can play there when he does his work, so we’ll take our trip ______ time. I am really sorry. ” said Ollie.

“OK!” I smiled, ______ I felt sad inside.

After lunch, my mom asked me to take some scissors to our neighbor Mrs. Miller. When I got to her house, she told me, “The older I turn, the harder it is to ______ this garden. These scissors will be a big help ______ me. And this year the winter has been so ______. Everything needs a drink!”

“Let me help you water,” I said. It felt good to be helpful, but I still couldn’t stop thinking of my ______.

“Oops!” Mrs. Miller said. “That’s poisonous (有毒的).” I was so busy feeling ______ for myself that I didn’t realize what I was watering.

“When we feel unhappy, we can feed our mind with good thoughts. Talk to a friend, go for a run or ______ enjoy the beauty of flowers,” Mrs. Miller said.

Now, when sad feelings come up, I ______ what Mrs. Miller said. It doesn’t always work, but it’s worth a try!