長文

【Passage A】

Many students study early in the morning because it is quiet. They can focus without messages or noise. However, some people feel more awake at night. The best time depends on each person.

【Passage B】

Plastic waste is a serious problem in the ocean. Fish and birds sometimes eat small pieces of plastic by mistake. Recycle bins in schools can help, but they are not enough. We also need to reduce the plastic we use every day. For example, using a reusable bottle is a small but useful change. If many people do this, the effect will be large.

【Passage C】

Last summer, Kenta joined a short volunteer program at a local library. At first he only put books back on the shelves. Later, he helped younger children choose books. One girl said, "I didn't like reading, but this book is fun." Kenta realized that helping others can also change the helper. He still studies hard for tests, but he now knows that learning is not only about scores. It is also about sharing what you know.

【Passage D】

Many teenagers say they cannot stop looking at their phones before bed. A recent survey of junior high school students found that more than half of them check their phones after they get into bed, and about one in three said they lose track of time while doing this. Scientists explain why this matters. During sleep, the brain sorts through the day's information and moves important memories into long-term storage. Blue light from a phone screen can delay this process by tricking the brain into thinking it is still daytime. Students who sleep less than six hours a night often make more careless mistakes on tests, even when they understand the material well. Interestingly, the students in the survey who reported the best grades were not the ones who studied the most hours. They were the ones who kept a steady sleep schedule, going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time every day. Why six hours specifically? Researchers chose this number because it is the point below which memory test scores dropped sharply, not because six hours is considered an ideal or sufficient amount on its own. Even so, many students repeat the same pattern night after night: they worry about an upcoming exam, so they stay up late to study one more chapter; the lack of sleep makes it harder to concentrate the next day, which lowers their test performance, which then creates even more worry before the next test. Breaking this pattern does not require studying less. It requires studying earlier in the evening, setting a fixed bedtime, and keeping the phone in another room during the last hour before sleep.