I’d like tell you something about my life in this boarding school. I stay in a dormitory (寝室) with three other girls, all of whom are kind and nice. We get on well to each other and have became good friends. Living in a boarding school make me independent. I have confident to take care of myself, wash the clothes, and clean the rooms, that I never did at home. The classes here are very interesting and challenging, and I’m still feeling a little dissatisfied with some other things. The living conditions are not as good as those at home and the chance to get in the touch with the outside world is limited. Anyway, I’ll get used to live here and hope everything will be more better soon.

   Communication is one of our most important ways of being in the world as human beings. 【小题1】 It is an art because if you practice it enough times you will master it. It is a science in that there are rules that must be followed for communication to occur. It is the communication that has changed our world. However, many of us have difficulty communicating with each other effectively. 【小题2】.

·Important contexts. For communication to occur there has to be a sender and a receiver. There needs to be someone who is speaking and someone who is listening. There has to be a context for that communication to locate the message. 【小题3】 The receiver can better understand the message behind the message, the subtext of the message and so on with the help of the context.

·【小题4】 Communication requires that barriers (障碍) be laid to rest so the sender and the receiver of the message can be in contact with each other. Barriers to communication include noises, not giving your full attention, speaking on your cellphone while the other is talking. In today’s multi-task work, it’s no wonder there are so many troubles — not only at home, but also in workplaces, places of worship, meetings, etc.

·Rewarding listening. Listening is hard work. It is difficult but with practice, listening can become as natural as eating an apple pie and an ice cream. 【小题5】 When you are not listening, the communication is not getting through. Listening does not mean being quiet and pretending you are giving your whole attention while your mind wanders to what’s for dinner or something like that.

   Ever since I was seven years old, my body clock has been set to "nocturnal （夜间活动的） ". If I try to go to sleep earlier, I just lie awake, not sleepy at all. If I try to get up any earlier, it’s not a matter of being "a bit tired" ; I am hardly able to do anything. I feel groggy and find it hard to concentrate.

This caused lots of problems at school: I would wander around unconsciously, not taking anything in refused to go to school and my mum was blamed （责怪） for not being stricter about bedtime, but in reality there was nothing she could do. My mum would get annoyed but she knew that there was no point trying to sleep because she had the same problem.

Finally I was allowed to have classes in the afternoon with a tutor （家庭教师）. This enabled me to get a place at university, but the problems came up again. At first I forced myself to get up for 9 am lectures, but after five mornings I was crying from tiredness. I managed to pass my exams. It was a moment of success for me, proving I had imagination and determination after all these years of being misunderstood and called lazy.

But still I wondered why I couldn’t change my body clock. I have tried everything to change my sleeping habits — forcing myself by going to bed 15 minutes earlier every night, sitting in front of a light box in the morning, using blue candles and cutting out caffeine — but nothing has worked. I even tried sleeping pills, which put me to sleep earlier but didn’t help with the morning experience.

I was sad to discover there was no cure, but I wouldn’t give up.