Listen to the following passage. Altogether the passage will be read to you four times. During the first reading, which will be

Stress in Life
    All of us experience stress, to one degree or another, in our everyday lives. / Stress is the body’s reaction to an event / that is experienced as disturbing or threatening. / In the contemporary world, we are more likely to experience stress / when we face overwhelming responsibilities at work or home. / Stress is adaptive when it prompts us to take action to solve a problem. / But if we continue to expose ourselves to the stress, / stress becomes a negative experience. / If we feel stressed, there are several things that we can do. / First, we can take breathing exercises, such as yoga, / and we can do some physical exercises to help reduce stress. / Then, talking things through with a good listener / can help us to put things into a more realistic perspective. / Finally, bringing our expectations into line with reality / and learning to say no when we choose to offers immediate relief. /