“That one looks just like a sheep! And look over there. That one looks like a horse!” Do you remember lying on your back in a grassy field on a summer afternoon, discovering the soft shapes in the clouds in the sky? Those were the good old days when you could see anything and everything in the clouds.
But now people look at the sky and see clouds in the shape of a motor company's advertising logo (商标),or a message inviting them to go out and buy a certain brand (品牌) of beer. These cloud pictures are not products of their imaginations. Instead, they are produced by a machine. These new floating advertisements are called Flogos; the name stands for “floating logos.” They' re made from a mixture of soapy foam (泡沫)and a lighter-than-air gas such as helium, and they can be made into different sizes and shapes depending on the advertisement.
Flogos can last up to an hour if weather conditions are good, and they can fly several kilometers high. Advertisers can rent a Flogo machine for$2,500 a day. The set-up is normally performed within 1 to 2 hours, and it will release four Flogos per minute. Advertisers can fill the air with any shape or message they want.
Some people are worried that the Flogos might not be pollution-free. However, the Flogo's inventor insists that the soap he uses is natural, and that a Flogo just dissipates in the air, leaving nothing behind. Though it may be true that Flogos are environmentally friendly, some people believe that the natural clouds in our memory may be replaced by man-made ones. They are afraid that soon there will be nowhere left where their imaginations can float freely.
Reading may be fundamental, but how the brain gives meaning to letters on a page has been a mystery. Two new studies fill in some details on how the brains of efficient readers handle words. One of the studies, published in the April 30 Neuron, suggests that a visual-processing area of the brain recognizes common words as whole units. Another study, published online April 27 in PLOSONE, makes it known that the brain operates two fast parallel systems for reading, linking visual recognition of words to speech.
Maximilian Riesenhuber, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University in Washington, D. C. , wanted to know whether the brain reads words letter by letter or recognizes words as whole objects. He and his colleagues showed sets of real words or nonsense(无意义的词语)words to volunteers undergoing FMRI scans. The words differed in only one letter, such as “farm” and “form” or “soat” and “poat”, or were completely different, such as “farm” and “coat”or “poat” and “hime”.The researchers were particularly interested in what happens in the visual word form area, or VWFA, an area on the left side of the brain just behind the ear that is involved in recognizing words.
Riesenhuber and his colleagues found that neurons(神经元)in the VWFA respond strongly to changes in real words. Changing “farm” to “form”, for example, produced as great a change in activity as changing “farm” to“coat”, the team reports in Neuron. The area responded slowly to single-letter changes in made-up words.
The data suggests that readers grasp real words as whole objects, rather than focusing on letters or letter combinations. And as a reader's exposure to a word increases, the brain comes to recognize the shape of the word. “Meaning is passed on after recognition in the brain”, Riesenhuber says.
The researchers don't yet know how longer and less familiar words are recognized, or if the brain can be trained to recognize nonsense words as a unit.
Do you know of anyone who uses the truth to deceive(欺骗)?When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important information that should be included, he can give you a false picture.
For example, someone might say,“I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery(彩票).It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for one hundred dollars!”
This guy's a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought $200 worth of tickets, and only one was a winner. He's really a big loser!
He didn't say anything that was false, but he left out important information on purpose. That's called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically lies, but they are just as dishonest.
Some politicians often use this trick. Let's say that during Governor Smith's last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents(对手) says,“During Governor Smith's term, the state lost one million jobs!”That's true. However, an honest statement would have been,“During Governor Smith's term ,the state had a net gain of two million jobs.”
Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths. It's against the law to make false statements so they try to mislead you with the truth. An advertisement might say,“Nine out of ten doctors advised their patients to take Yucky Pills to cure toothache.”It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Company.
This kind of deception happens too often. It's a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.
Get a Thorough Understanding of Oneself.
In all one's life time it is oneself that one spends the most time being with or dealing with.
When you are going upwards in life you tend to overestimate(高估) yourself. It seems that everything you seek for is within your reach. It's likely that you think it wise for yourself to stay away from the outer world. Actually, to get a thorough understanding of oneself, you may as well keep the following tips in mind.
Gain a correct view of oneself. You may look forward hopefully to the future but be sure not to expect too much, for dreams can never be fully realized. You may be courageous to meet challenges but it should be clear to you where to direct your efforts.
Self-appreciate. Whether you compare yourself to a towering tree or a blade of grass, a high mountain or a small stone, you represent a state of nature. If you earnestly (诚挚地) admire yourself you'll have a real sense of self-appreciation.
In time of anger, do yourself a favor by releasing (释放) it in a quiet place so that you won't be hurt by its flames; in time of sadness, do yourself a favor by sharing it with your friends so as to change a bad mood into a cheerful one; in time of tiredness, do yourself a favor by getting a good sleep.
Get a full control of one's life. Then one will find one's life full of color and flavor.
A. It has its own value.
B. Do oneself a favor when it's needed.
C. Do yourself a favor when you resist the attack of illness.
D. But it is precisely oneself that one has the least understanding of.
E. Especially if it is well within your reach, you are just too blind to see it.
F. When you are going downhill you tend to underestimate yourself for your own incompetence.
G. So long as you have a perfect knowledge of yourself, there won't be difficulties you can't overcome.
This is the softest and merriest laughter of the year. Maria and Pit Sanders didn't1 their son's teachers. Instead, they decided to present them with 2 for Christmas.
Maria and Pit Sanders say,“Their son,14-year-old Jake, is that3 kid who always has something to say in class.” So, when the parents wanted to say thanks to Jake's teachers for 4 him, Maria Sanders said they had to do something 5.
“How many coffee cups does a teacher6,” she said.“But who doesn't need a glass of wine after 7 a kid like mine?” With help from a friend's printing company, the Sanders turned some bottles of wine into a truly 8 holiday gift for their son's teachers.
The label features a picture of a9 Jake and reads,“Our Child Might Be The Reason Why You 10 So Enjoy This Bottle On Us.” The teachers 11the wine,“that's all I'm going to say,” Maria Sanders said.“None of the 12 were shocked by it.”
Word about the gift spread13 after Jake's older brother, DJ, posted a photo on Twitter and received more than 10,000 likes: My parents always get our elementary school teachers a 14 around Christmas. It is very 15 of them to present something small like a candle or flower to say thank you. This year they got them bottles of wine and 16 the labels with their own with my smiling brother on them… Happy 17!
Jake insisted he's not18 by the gift. In fact, he helped 19 the wine personally.“I thought it was 20,” he added.
There once was a forest filled with happy animals. One day a raccoon(浣熊) found some socks left behind by picnickers, and (decide) to wear them. They fitted so well, and felt so (comfort), that he kept them on. He spent his days (walk) through the forest in his new socks.
Other animals became envious of the raccoon's new look and followed his trend. First it was squirrels in (shirt), then rabbits hats on, and finally birds wearing underpants!
Doctor Bear, forest physician, disapproved and tried to warn the clothes-wearers. But no one listened. Instead, they urged him to follow the (late) trend too.
Soon, the problems started. The squirrel caught his shirt on a branch and crashed to the ground. The rabbit tried entering his hole while wearing his hat and got stuck. Even the raccoon, thanks to his (bright) coloured socks, slipped into the river and almost died.
When the (injure) animals came to see Doctor Bear, he told them,“Your clothes are killing you. You don't need them.”
Those listened to the doctor's advice finally understood they didn't need clothes. They'd only started wearing clothes to make others envy them.
要求:1）80词左右;
2）需包括至少两个中国元素。
"Wanted: Violin. Can't pay much. Contact…"
I rarely read the classified advertisements, so why did I notice that one? I laid the paper on my lap and closed my eyes, remembering what had happened many years before, during the Great Depression when my family struggled to make a living on our farm. I, too, had wanted a violin.
When my older twin sisters began showing an interest in music, Harriet Anne learned to play Grandma's piano, while Suzanne turned to Daddy's violin. Simple tunes became lovely melodies. My baby brother danced; Daddy hummed and Mother whistled. I just listened.
When my arms grew long enough, I tried to play Suzanne's violin. Oh, how I wanted one! But I knew it was out of the question.
One evening as the twins played in the school orchestra. I closed my eyes tight to capture the picture firmly in my mind. Some day, I'll sit up there, I vowed silently.
It was not a good year. At harvest the crops didn't bring as much as we had hoped. Yet even though times were hard, I couldn't wait any longer to ask, "Daddy, may I have a violin of my own?"
"Can't you use Suzanne's?"
"I'd like to be in the orchestra too, and we can't both use the same violin at the same time."
Daddy's face looked sad. That night, and many following nights,I heard him remind God in our family prayers,"…and Lord, Mary Lou wants her own violin."
One evening we all sat round the table. The twins and I studied. Mother sewed and Daddy wrote a letter to his friend, George Finkle, in Columbus, Ohio. Mr Finkle, Daddy said, was a fine violinist.
When Daddy received a letter from Columbus a few weeks later, he asked me, "Mary Lou, do you want to go with me to visit Mr. Finkle?"
He drove us to Columbus and we came to a fine, old house. A tall man opened the door. He and Daddy heartily shook hands, both talking at once.
"Mary Lou, I've been hearing things about you. Your Daddy has arranged a surprise for you!" He picked up a case, opened it, lifted out a violin and started to play. The melody surged and spoke like waterfalls. Oh, to play like him, I thought.
Finishing the piece, he turned to Daddy. "I found it in a pawnshop(当铺)for seven dollars. It's a good violin. Mary Lou should be able to make a beautiful music with it." Then he handed the violin to me.
注意：
⒈所续写短文的词数应为150左右;
⒉至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语;
⒊续写部分分为两段,每段的开头语已为你写好;
⒋续写完成后,请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
I noticed the tears in Daddy's eyes as I finally comprehended. It was mine!
Paragraph 2:
I forced my thoughts to the present and read again the advertisement.
