wants it tomorrow. She's always complaining (抱怨) that I leave things till the last minute. Maybe she's right.

　　A month ago I made a decision to be more efficient (有效率的) this year. Well, I've clearly failed. I've also been trying to get fitter for four weeks now. I've started going to the health club. I've even been going to bed earlier. But I'm not feeling any fitter, just a little unhappier. I miss my bad habits. Why is leading a better life so hard?

　　I've just read an article on a website, and I've discovered that it isn't my fault (过错)! In fact, it isn't anyone's fault. It's our brain's. It's programmed to make it difficult to break bad habits. There's nothing we can do. Scientists have done experiments that show we use one part of our brain when we think about ourselves and another when we think about other people. However, when we think about ourselves in the future, we use the same part of the brain that we usually use to think about other people. In other words, the brain sees the "future you" as a different person than your "present you." That's why we don't always find it easy to make good decisions for ourselves in the future.

　　But that's not all. Scientists have also discovered that it takes around ten weeks to form a good habit. That's the amount (数量) of time the brain needs to accept new behavioral patterns (形式). The good news is that once you make it to ten weeks, everything becomes a lot easier. The bad news is that ten weeks is a really long time, so it's easy to give up what you want to do before then.

　　So even when we want to change our ways and become better people, our brains won't let us. Or is this just an excuse? Look - I've finished my article on time! Anything is possible!

　　【语篇解读】　本文是议论文。作者分析了为何习惯不容易被改变。

　　1．In Julia's eyes, what kind of person is the author?

　　A．A bit lazy. B．Quite smart.

　　C．Very healthy. D．Truly honest.

　　答案与解析：A　推理判断题。由第一段中的"Julia... always complaining that I leave things till the last minute"可知，作者总是把事情拖到最后时刻才做，故在老师Julia眼里，他有点懒散。

　　2．What does Paragraph 3 mainly tell us?

　　A．Why we can't have a better life.

　　B．How our brain sees ourselves in the future.

　　C．How our brain helps us make good decisions.

D．Why it is not easy for us to change our habits.