Seventeen-year-old Sariah Estrada didn't expect to receive anything in return when she saved a drowning man on Marianne Beach in Blanchisseuse earlier this year.
However, for her random act of kindness, Estrada was awarded the Hummingbird Medal-Bronze for her bravery, loyalty and devotion to Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, September 24, when the country celebrated its 42nd year as a republic. President Paula-Mae Weekes presented the national award to her.
In July of this year, Estrada along with two friends went to the Marianne Beach to relax. Upon leaving the beach, Estrada and her friends noticed a man struggling in the water. Immediately, she and her friends sprang into action. The teens borrowed a body board from some people on the beach and swam to the man's rescue.
She said when they reached the man, he was already unconscious and they dragged him out of the water on the body board. Estrada remembered what she learned during a life-saving course the week before and quickly started pumping the man's chest. After several attempts，she was successful and the young man's life was saved.
In an interview with LoopTT, the teenager said while she is grateful for the award, she wasn't expecting anything in return.
"This award was never expected because I thought of helping someone as an act of humanity and never looked for anything in return, but the award is well appreciated. As I reflect on the action I took, I felt as though I could help this person as I have the proper training. The week before the incident I participated in a basic life support-training course offered by the North Central Regional Health Authority." Estrada explained. She said she intends to continue assisting people.
The national award receiver also had this message for the youths of Trinidad and Tobago.
I would like to encourage the young people of Trinidad and Tobago to strive for excellence, never sell yourself short by believing that you cannot do what you desire, all things are possible and hard work surely brings success."
The American Heart Association (AHA) says that too many people are spending far too much time on chairs and couches. "Based on existing evidence, we found that U.S. adults are sedentary for about six to eight hours a day, "said Deborah Rohm Young, chair of AHA panel that wrote the new advisory.
According to the AHA, growing evidence shows that, on its own, exercise isn't enough to cancel out the unhealthy effects of sitting for a long time. "Regardless of how much physical activity someone gets, long sedentary time could negatively influence the health of your heart and blood vessels," Young explained.
The exact mechanisms behind the effect aren't yet clear. “There are many important factors we don't understand about sedentary time yet," Young said. She stressed that, "the types of studies available identify trends but don't prove cause and effect.”
"We don't have information about how much sedentary behavior is bad for health — the best advice at this time is to 'sit less and move more,” she added.
How much more? According to the AHA, people should try to get at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous (剧烈的）exercise a day to reach the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week, That's healthier than trying to cram their weekly exercise into one or two days, according to the statement.
"The real risk simply comes down to the amount we sit, without there being a true medicine or method to control the harmful effects," said Steinbaum, a preventive specialist in heart disease.
Still, society has evolved to encourage sitting, she added.
"Our lives have become focused around activities requiring us to be still—whether it be transportation, our computers, or the television or computer in our leisure time,” Steinbaum said. "Sociologically, instead of being active to be productive or to have enjoyment, our productivity and fun often requires minimal physical activities."
Like a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been dull. E-books, however, are causing heartache. Libraries know they need digital wares, but many publishers are too cautious about piracy (盗版）and lost sales to co-operate. Among the big six, only Random House and Harper Collins license e-books with most libraries.
Publishers are wise to be nervous. Owners of e-readers (电子阅读器）are exactly the customers they need: book-lovers with money. If these people switch to borrowing e-books instead of buying them, what then? Electronic borrowing is awfully convenient. Unlike printed books, which must be checked out and returned to a physical library miles from where you live, book files can be downloaded at home. The files disappear from the device when they are due.
E-lending is not simple, however. There are lots of different and often incompatible (不兼容的)e-book formats, devices and licenses. Most libraries use a company called OverDrive，which secures rights from publishers and provides e-books and audio files in every format. Yet publishers and libraries are worried by OverDrive's global market dominance, as the company can control fees and conditions. Publishers were annoyed when OverDrive cooperated with Amazon, the world's biggest online bookseller，last year. Owners of Amazon's Kindle e-reader who want to borrow e-books from libraries are now redirected to Amazon's website, where they must use their Amazon account to secure a loan.
According to Pew, an opinion researcher, library users are a perfect for market for Amazon. Late last year Amazon introduced its Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which lets its best customers borrow free one of thousands of popular books each month.
Library supporters argue that book borrowers arc also book buyers and that libraries are vital spaces for readers to discover new work. Many were cheered by a recent Pew survey, which found that more than half of Americans with library cards say they prefer to buy their e-books.
So publishers keep adjusting their lending arrangements in search of the right balance.
Random House raised its licensing prices earlier this year, and Harper Collins limits libraries to lending its titles 26 times.
Learn to Manage Your Time in College
A common view both among and of college students is that they are always short on money. While this may be true, many college students are also always running short on something else: time. Here are a few things to consider:
Manage your academic time.Consequently, your academic work should always come first when it comes to arranging your time in order of importance. When looking at your schedule for the week, figure out what your academic commitments look like. What time do you have classes? How much homework do you have to do? What assignments are due? When do you have major exams or quizzes?
Manage your personal time. It's an unrealistic expectation to think that you can study, go to class, and work all day, every day.Make sure to allow yourself time to go to something fun in the yard, attend a meeting for your favorite club, and just hang out for an hour or so at night with friends over dinner. Doing things that make your personal time more enjoyable and not totally focused on school? can actually improve your productivity when working on projects later.
Keep your health in mind. When people's schedules are tight, one of the first things to go is sleep. While it may be common among college students, a lack of sleep is more hurtful than you might think. It can throw everything into disorder: your mental health, your physical health, your stress level, and, of course, your schedule.
Use your technology. Nothing helps a college student stay organized more than a good calendar! Some students use the calendars on their phones; others use things like Google Calendar; others still use the classic paper-calendar model.Just change and try again.
A. Try your best to keep a routine on a regular basis.
B. Remember that your brain needs to have a break, too.
C. If what you're using isn't working for you, don't give up.
D. How can you balance your time when there never seems to be enough of it?
E. It's important to remember why you're in college in the first place: to graduate.
F. Making a list and then crossing items off as they are completed can be satisfying.
G. Take moments to plan out the time for a week: your homework, social time and sleep.
In October, I told the eight-year-olds about my plan. "I'd like all of you to do extra jobs to1 some money. Then we'll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner 2 ." I wanted the children to3 that it's more blessed to give than to4. I wanted them to understand that religion is5nice theological ideas; that people somehow have to make it come 6 .
Early in the week, the boys and girls arrived in class seizing their hard-earned money and couldn't wait to go shopping. I watched7they ran up and down the supermarket aisles.8, we headed toward the checkout. Then someone9 a “necessity” that sent them racing.
"Flowers!'' Kristine cried, The group rushed toward the holiday10 .I pronounced, “you can't eat flowers.” But Mrs. Sherlock, we want flowers.”11,I sighed as the children moved a pot of purple mums（菊花） into the cart.
Then we set off for the house of a needy grandmother and finally 12 in front of a small house in the woods. A woman with a tired face came to the door to13 us. My little group hurried to get the turkey and the trimmings. As each box was carried in, the old woman thanked us—much to children's 14 , When Amy put the mums on the counter, the woman seemed surprised.
We returned to the car. Fastening seat belts, we could see the kitchen window. The woman inside waved goodbye, then turned and walked across the room, past the turkey, past the trimmings, 15 to the mums. She put her face in the flowers. When she raised her head, there was a16 on her lips. She was17 before our eyes. The children were quiet. In that one brief18, they had seen for themselves the 19 they possessed to make another's life20 . The children had sensed that sometimes a person needs a pot of funny flowers on a dark November day.
China is known as the Kingdom of Bamboo. More than 400 species of bamboo, one third of all known species in the world, grow in China. China (lead) the world in the amount of area planted with bamboo, the number of bamboo trees and the amount of bamboo wood (produce) every year.
The oldest bamboo(article) in China were unearthed from the remains of a primitive society that existed some 7,000 years ago in is now Hemudu, Yuyao County, Zhejiang Province. As early as the Shang Dynasty, Chinese people used the bamboo for making weapons ,，such as bows and arrows. Before paper(invent), strips of bamboo were the most important writing medium, more widely used than silk, they were cheaper, resistant to corrosion (腐蚀)，and more abundant. Bamboo has thus played an important part in the spread and development of traditional Chinese culture.
Bamboo was(close) connected with the daily lives of people in ancient China. Su Dongpo, a literary giant of the Song Dynasty, said that people could not livebamboo, and people of the time used bamboo (make) paper, hats, shoes and so on. At that time, as today, bamboo shoots were eaten as a popular dish because of (they) crispness and fresh, sweet taste. Bamboo shoots also contain vitamins, sugar, fat, and protein.
1）感谢热情接待；
2）阐明礼物意义；
3）邀请其来中国。
注意：
1）词数80左右；
2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
When I arrived at 6 a.m. in the large hospital kitchen, Rose was already checking name tags on the trays (托盘).
Hi, I'm Janet." I tried to sound cheerful, although I already knew Rose's reputation for being impossible to work with. "I'm scheduled to work with you this week."
Rose stopped what she was doing and peered over her reading glasses. I could tell from her expression she wasn't pleased to sec a student worker.
“What do you want me to do? Start the coffee?” I asked.
Rose coldly nodded and went back to checking name tags.
I filled the 40-cup pot with water and began making the coffee when Rose yelled, “That's not the way to make coffee.” She stepped in and took over.
Nothing I did pleased her. All morning, her eagle eyes missed nothing and her sharp words hurt.
Totally exhausted, I trudged the six blocks home late that June afternoon. As a third year university student working my way through school, I had never before met anyone like Rose.
Fighting back tears, I wrestled with my dilemma alone in my room. "What shall I do?" The answer caught me completely by surprise. I needed to love Rose.
Working with Rose the next morning, I ignored the hurtful remarks thrown in my direction and did things Rose's way as much as possible. As I worked, I silently began to surround Rose with a warm blanket of love. Over the next few days, an amazing thing began to happen. My focus shifted from what she was doing to me and I started seeing Rose as the hurting person she was. Then her icy tension began to melt away.
Throughout the rest of the summer, we had numerous opportunities to work together. Each time, she seemed truly happy to see me. Her bitterness gave way as she started opening up. As I worked with this lonely woman, I listened to her, something no one else had done. I learned that she was burdened by elderly parents who needed her care and her own health problems.
The days slipped by quickly as I finished the last several weeks of my summer job. I soon would be returning as a full-time university student and say goodbye to Rose.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1 ：
One day, while I was working alone in one of the hospital kitchens, Rose entered the room.
Paragraph 2 ：
Although I never saw Rose again, I still remember her vividly.
