⒈TrueCar.com
Top dealers compete for your business by offering lower prices. TrueCar spends a lot of money and resources on making sure the entire car renting experience is simple and straightforward. If you're in the market for a new car, give this site a try first.
TrueCar's network checks many of the prices in your area and gets you the best price for the car you're looking for.
⒉Carvoy.com
It offers more control by allowing you to “build your car” and select your rental plan. The “build your car” option is one of the better options for those looking to add on features to their car. If you're looking for cars with options like a sunroof or navigation (导航), it's Carvoy that makes it very easy to get started with the process.
⒊CarsDirect.com
They have a large collection of new and used cars, and also provide resources for car comparisons. In the business for many years, they are one of the first online car outlets. They have a staff that can usually help you if you give them a call. Their phone support is very good and they are mostly located in the United States.
⒋CarRent.com
It delivers your rental car to the door, which is actually a huge selling point. Many people don't like to go to a dealership or even drive somewhere to pick up a car. Imagine renting a car and having it delivered right to your doorstep, no driving necessary!
⒌CostcoAuto.com
It offers member-only savings, many car selections and an easy sign-up process. The deals through Costco are great and unique. Many times they have deals with General Motors cars like Chevrolet. There are a lot of deals to be done, but the one thing that Costco does not do is negotiate the price.
On average, primary school children in England have at least three sugary snacks a day, Public Health England (PHE) found. This means that the sugar they consume is three times more than the recommended maximum.
Children between the ages of 4 and 10 consume 51.2% of sugar from unhealthy snacks. PHE has launched a campaign, Change4Life, to encourage parents to look for healthier snacks of no more than 100 calories, and to limit them to two a day. The campaign advises parents to give their children a maximum of two snacks a day, with each containing no more than 100 calories. The campaign will also offer parents special suggestions on a range of healthier snacks—ones with 100 calories or fewer—at selected supermarkets, PHE said.
PHE said it had also improved its app so that it could mark the content of sugar, salt and fat in food and drinks. Dr Alison Tedstone told the BBC she hoped the campaign would help parents to choose healthier snacks for their children. “If you wander through a supermarket, you can see much more goods being sold as snacks than ever before,” she said, “It's a common phenomenon that kids' lunchboxes are full of snacks, leading to a lot of calories for lunch. Our research shows that parents usually appreciate a rule of thumb (经验法则). However, they are surprised to know how much sugar their children are consuming in snacks now.”
Justine Roberts, founder of Mumsnet, said, “The intake (摄入量) of sugar that kids are getting from snacks and sugary drinks alone is pretty astonishing, and it can often be difficult to distinguish which snacks are healthy and which are not. The rule of thumb from Change4Life can help parents make their decision correctly and wisely. ”
Language learning apps are very popular now and offer opportunities to learn vocabulary and practice grammar. But there has been a discussion about just how effective such apps can be.
Among the most popular apps are Duolingo and Busuu. A previous research found positive results on the use of them. But it mainly concentrated on studies with learners who had signed up to language courses and these apps worked as an after-class support, so the results were not always reliable. A recent study of 4,095 Busuu users has been carried out aimed to find out if users can actually learn a language with an app.
Busuu provides learning materials for 12 different languages. It offers special model where some content is available for free while some content is not. We find that its users are an even mix of men and women. More than half consider themselves to be at the beginner level as there is a decrease in users as their language levels go up. Most people use the app because of personal interest, or because they want to study or live abroad. Female users tend to use it less often but for longer periods of time than male users.
Getting any feedback on Busuu depends on whether your answer is correct or not. While it is helpful, this is not the sort of feedback language teachers prefer, as it does not explain why the answer is right or wrong. In spite of this, feedback in the app is very highly rated.
More than 92% of respondents state that the app has met their expectations and 86% rate the app as very good or good. In fact, more than 80% of the users surveyed strongly agree that using the app has helped them improve their knowledge of the language they are learning.
Besides, language learning apps also create an environment where mistakes are only known to the users, and this can address the performance anxiety that many learners suffer from when asked to speak a foreign language. So language teachers should encourage their students to use them to do the grammar work, leaving precious class time for more language communication.
With smart technology increasingly influencing all aspects of our lives, it is only a matter of time before someone invents “smart” shoes—ones that can be made based on personal needs. Called “ShiftWear”, the sneakers are the brainchild of a team of businessmen, and engineers led by New York-based designer David Coel.
The adaptable shoes can be customized by using a smart phone app. Shoe owners will have the option of selecting a design from a variety of HD pattern by famous artists or creating one themselves. The company's founders imagine a marketplace where artists can not only share but also sell their designs to others. Despite being electronic, the designs are clearly visible even in the brightest sunlight. What's even cooler is that by switching on a backlight, users can even show off their designs in the dark!
According to Coel, the sneakers will keep their charge “forever” if only images are displayed. Though they will need periodic recharging, active users have nothing to worry about. That's because the shoes are equipped with special walk-n-charge technology that powers the shoes—with every step. Inactive users also have options of charging the sneakers without using wires.
The bottom part of the shoes is covered with Kevler fibers, a kind of strong material, reducing normal wear and tear. Even better? They are completely waterproof (not let water through) and can even be thrown into an ordinary laundry machine for a quick wash! The company predicts that the shoes will range the price from $150 to $1000 depending on the size of the E-panels where the designs are displayed.
This is not the first time that electronics and shoes have combined. Lithuania-based iShuh Technology has come up with a similar concept that connects e-reader panels to a smart phone app via the Bluetooth. Whether these smart shoes become as popular as our smart devices remains to be seen, though they surely are attractive.
Whoever wrote the song “it's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” must have never experienced Holiday blues. Fortunately, psychological research suggests some effective ways you can beat the holiday blues. The key point is that sadness and other tough emotions are not what we should try to avoid. . Here are four strategies to help you make your own happiness recipe this holiday season.
Don't force cheer
At family gatherings with cousins you secretly can't stand, you tend to put on a happy face. Indeed, that might even seem like the most mature response—no drama, no conflict. But a 2011 study followed dozens of bus drivers, looking to see when they gave forced or honest smiles at their passengers. The results showed when the drivers pretended to have a good mood, their actual moods got worse. .
Let off sadness
The results of the bus-driver study can be explained by researchers, who find that negative feelings like sadness or anger only increase when we try to control them. . We don't like contradictory behavior.
Respond cautiously
Recently, scientists have been paying special attention to the benefits of caution. When you respond cautiously to an emotional trigger (e.g. overcooking the holiday turkey), you pause rather than reacting at once. . Besides, it is associated with less anxiety, and may even carry physiological benefits.
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Of course, the holidays will bring a mix of highs and lows, but the most important lesson to keep in mind is that this variety of emotions might be the best thing possible for your overall well-being. In other words, sadness, anger, and other difficult emotions are nothing to fear. Just make sure you're balancing them with lighter experiences. And don't forget to give yourself a break.
A. Relax your mind
B. Enjoy a mix of emotions
C. We tend to deny the important function emotions serve
D. Instead, they can help contribute to a healthy and happy life
E. So trying to force happiness seems to have the opposite effects
F. A cautious response to a negative event reduces sadness we experience
G. We feel bad when our appearance contradicts how we truly feel inside
Jayce began noticing when he was in kindergarten that he looked different from his classmates. They had two arms. He had one.
It started when one boy 1 him, said his mother, Lewis. He'd return to his home with questions: “Why am I 2? Why me? His mother recalled he was actually mad at God for making him that way and that it was a heavy 3 to his heart.
Lewis 4 she didn't know what to do at that point. A few weeks later, Lewis turned on the TV to a news story about an eighth grader, Trashaun, becoming an Internet hit after 5 videos of his slam dunks (灌篮), and, like Jayce, he 6 most of his left arm. Lewis called Jayce in. To her surprise, Jayce was immediately 7. At the time, it seemed that watching Trashaun was 8 an inspiring moment for Jayce—he saw a role model with a similar 9. If it had stayed just that, Lewis would have been happy enough. But little did she know that a family friend had already 10 to the newspaper to help set up a 11 with Trashaun to build Jayce's confidence.
The boys met and instantly 12 with each other as both of them were in the same condition. They rode bikes, took photos, and shot basketball on the court. Instead of spending the whole day feeling 13 for themselves, they had a lot of fun. However, Trashaun did get 14 with Jayce sometimes. They talked about his left arm. He told Jayce he was perfect the way God made him. He also told him not to let anyone 15 him and not to let those words shake his 16.
Since that meeting, Lewis has seen a noticeable 17 in her son. As for Trashaun, his relationship with Jayce made him 18 to help more kids. “Honestly, it 19 a lot to know that I changed Jayce's life,” Trashaun says. Still, he never dreamed that his 20 would have such an impact. “I just thought my friends would see them, and be like, 'Oh, he dunked it!'”
He certainly did.
Senior citizens are the first to come to our mind when you think of hearing loss, but in a recent report, hearing professionals worry teenagers will soon outnumber aging adults it comes to living with hearing loss.
The rise in popularity of personal audio devices from iPods to smart phones has had dangerous effect on the ears of those who use them most, teenagers! A research (conduct) by the World Health Organization finds that nearly 50% of teens (fall) into the habit of exposing themselves to unsafe levels of sound so far.
A sound is considered unsafe when it goes beyond 85 decibels (分贝). At that level, it takes just 8 hours of listening over your lifetime to cause damage. The louder the sound is, the (little) time it takes to cause damage. Because hearing loss is (typical) considered a health problem for the elderly, it is difficult to convince already stubborn teenagers that they really are doing damage their ears.
Young adults have been exposed to loud noise over a period of time may have some hearing loss symptoms. Their (able) to learn is compromised, and they may have difficulty developing social skills.
In an effort to help teens better protect their hearing, we suggest (set) volume limits on personal audio devices. is also good to limit the amount of time exposed to noise and to take listening breaks to give the ears a rest.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
Dear Jack,
How are you?
A well-known play, Tea House, will put on in the newly-built Grand Theater in our city at 7:00 p.m. in 5th, February. I knew you are fond of Chinese culture, but I sincerely invite you to go with me. It is said that it is performed quite well by some famous actors and actress. If you are interesting in this play, I will book tickets in advance and we can appreciate it together. I think it is really a good chance for us to learn more about Chinese tradition plays.
Besides, there is a provincial museum near a theater, which is worth visiting it after the play.
How do you think of my advice?
Looking forward to your reply.
Li Hua
注意：
1）词数100左右；
2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3）开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Tim,
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
