Green Book—a touching story of friendship against all odds Need a warm break from cold Oscar films? Try “Green Book”, a film that leaves you feeling good instead of like a disaster victim. The lighthearted drama, about a road trip by two men—one white, one black—is absolutely optimistic. |
In the film, the ups and downs of their journey are told with the changing settings. They start out in Pittsburgh and Cleveland, in nice hotel rooms and at fascinating parties. It's when they reach Louisville, Ky., that the first “Colored Only” hotel sign appears, and the attitudes turn hateful, even for the Italian. Anyway, a partnership is born during the trip: Shirley tickles the keys while Lip strikes the thugs(暴徒). The loving screenplay of “Green Book”—written by Lip's son, Nick Vallelonga, and directed by Peter Farrelly — doesn't shy away from Lip's casual racism. Yet for all his kindness toward Shirley, Lip had a long way to go when it came to tolerance. “Green Book” could be accused by some critics of the story not being true. But the actors' honest chemistry takes Farrelly's movie to the next level. This small tale of American goodness deserves your full attention. |
Across Europe, where visitors can outnumber residents in the summer months, the complaints have started. Last week, in Barcelona, an open-top bus was spray-painted across its windscreen with the words “Tourism Kills Neighbourhoods”. The message is clear: such cities are under pressure. In tourists and residents' battle for shared spaces, local authorities are uncomfortably in the middle. The tourism is one of the largest employers in the world, with one new job created for every 30 new visitors to a destination—but at what cost to locals' quality of life?
More people are travelling than ever before, and lower barriers to entry and falling costs mean they are doing so for shorter periods. The rise of “city breaks”—48-hour bursts of foreign cultures—has increased tourist numbers. “Too many people do the same thing at the exact same time,” says Xavier Font, a professor at the University of Surrey, “For locals, the city no longer belongs to them.”
Compounding the problem is Airbnb, which has made tourists more casual in their approach to international travel, but added to residents' headaches. Those permanent citizens who share their apartment blocks with Airbnb hosts have lost their patience, “No longer do we have to share the streets with tourists, we have to share our own buildings!” To ease the congestion around the main attractions, many cities are taking immediate action. Venice is proposing a new concept of “detourism”: sustainable travel tips and alternative routes for exploring a different Venice. A greater variety of guidance for future visitors—ideas for what to do in off-peak seasons, for example, —can guide them from overcrowded landmarks. Repeat visitors have a better sense of the culture and it is much easier to integrate their behaviour with residents of the cities.
“But the locals should learn to take tourists as a part of urban life. Tourists do not have to be considered passive players, but rather as visitors with rights and duties,” says Font, “Everyone has a part to play in promoting that change.”
The world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. A study published in the journal “Nature Sustainability” said that recent satellite data reveals a greening pattern that is strikingly prominent in China and India. The study shows that human activity in China and India dominates this greening of the planet, thanks to tree planting and agriculture. The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.
“China and India account for one-third of the greening,” said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University. “ That is a surprising finding, considering the vague idea of land degradation (毁坏) in populous countries from overexploitation,” added Chen.
China alone accounts for 25 percent of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6 percent of global vegetated area. The greening in China is from forests (42 percent) and croplands (32 percent), but in India, it is mostly from croplands (82 percent) with minor contribution from forests (4.4 percent).
China's outsized contribution to the global greening trend comes in large part from its programs to conserve and expand forests with the goal of preventing land degradation, air pollution, and climate change.
“Once people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it,” said Rama Nemani, research scientist and co-author of the study. “In the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was not good. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Now we see that humans are contributing.”
Land area used to grow crops is comparable in China and India—more than 770, 000 square miles—and has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet these regions have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production.
This was achieved through multiple cropping practices, where a field is replanted to produce another harvest several times a year. Production of grains, vegetables, fruits and more have increased by about 35%～40% since 2000 to feed their large populations.
More than 40 percent of the species that help with pollination (植物传粉) are under threat due to the polluted environment. So some researchers have been searching for ways to protect the bees and other crucial pollinators while some engineers have thought perhaps an army of robotic pollinators could keep humans well-supplied in these foods. A team of researchers has recently designed a small drone capable of pollinating flowers. They tested their device on the large, pink flowers of lilies. And it worked.
Exciting as this success was, it is only the first step. The team has yet to figure out how to apply the concept on the massive scale. Could a fleet of robo-pollinators replace the bees?
“Although the answer isn't a straightforward no, it would be a challenging leap to go from this one little drone pollinating one large flower to an army of drones spreading across fields of crops,” says Scott Swinton, an agricultural economist at Michigan State University.
“The successful pollination was fascinating,” Scott Swinton says, “but the device itself might damage the flowers. I wonder how you make sure you're not doing more harm than good to flowers when you have a drone.”
“Furthermore,” he points out, “a lily is a particularly easy flower for a drone to pollinate. To make this more broadly applicable for smaller and more complex flower structures, the drones would need to be particularly agile.”
Still, Joshua Campbell, an expert at the University of Florida, says “Pollination systems are extremely complex and will always require insects. There is no substitute for bees.”
“As for the technology itself, it is a promising new development in existing drone technology,” he added. Yet he still sees some hurdles ahead before drones can be applied on a large scale.
Nowadays people tend to digitalise everything from watches to fridges. It seems you can choose any item labeled as “smart”.However, there are plenty that can be used to reduce emissions and save money.
If you're a part of the digitalisation movement, you might be interested in the concept of smart homes. It means that every element of your house can be controlled from a panel on the wall or your phone.Use your mobile to power them on or off, and you may feel truly modern or truly lazy. Asides from the benefits of living a more comfortable life, this presents an opportunity to cut down on your electrical bills.
Electricity generation today represents 31% of total global fossil fuel use and around 40% of all energy-related CO2 emissions.It is considered as the first step to prevent global climate change. Connect a smart thermometer to the heating and cooling system and set a specific temperature at which the heating begins to work. Doing so, the room will be at a desired temperature when necessary and switches on a power-saving mode when not occupied. Similarly, by installing a CO2 sensor, you can have an automated ventilation (通风) system.
In a 150,000m2 office complex near Munich, called Campeon, energy costs of up to 117,067 Euro were saved after the use of environmental control devices this year. In this way, they are contributing to a large decrease in CO2 emissions. Clearly, smart homes are about much more than just living a comfortable life.
A. It is actually about living a green life.
B. Smart devices have been installed worldwide nowadays.
C. It starts working only when CO2 concentrations reach a certain limit.
D. There seem to be an ocean of such so-called “smart” inventions.
E. Bearing this in mind, measures should be taken to make buildings more energy-efficient.
F. Alternative energy must be discovered before the fossil fuel runs out in the future.
G. This includes basics such as heating and lighting and many other appliances.
It was the biggest night of my life—opening night. Hours of1and daily rehearsals had gone into this production. I had recited my line a thousand times,2that my one sentence would be the highlight of the show.
As a 7-year-old boy, I was3to perform in an actual musical. The night before I had4my costume on the bed: a white shirt, blue jeans, and my handmade necklace. My5was going to be specially done. My lips would be in beautiful red. I was6prepared to be the shining star in my class's performance of the musical One Big Happy Family.
A little time before the play, the backstage was complete7. My friend and I, dressed in our costumes, were giggling. Children were running around madly. Some were8about forgetting lines; others were singing various songs out of tune. It was a big group of9second graders about to make their first performance.
Soon the big moment came, and we all filed onto the stage,10the audience of parents and relatives. The11began, and my second grade class started singing with sweet seven-year-old voices. I sang my little heart12, hoping to make the show as perfect as I d13.
My turn to speak! The kid standing next to me handed over the microphone to me. As I started to speak, I noticed something had gone horribly14—the microphone was not turned on. The blood rushed to my face immediately.15, I turned it over and switched the device on. After saying my line as quickly as possible, I handed the microphone off and I just felt that I had16.
“Everybody is excellent!” the teacher17us in the backstage. “I'm sorry, Miss Alex.” I said to her. “18to be sorry about, Honey.” She smiled to me, “Not every surprise in our life is always so pleasant. You did a good job!”
I felt so19in a minute and I can hardly wait to tell my dad and mum the story of “the unpleasant20”.
Albert Einstein, the genius behind the theory of relativity, has recently been making headlines again. However, this time it is not for a new scientific breakthrough,for a handwritten note he gave a bellboy 95 years ago.
In October 1922, Einstein was delivering a series of lectures in Japanhe received a telegram informing him that he(award) the Nobel Prize for Physics. Though(please) at the news, the Nobel winner decided to continue with his Japanese trip instead of(head) to Stockholm to accept the honor.
While in Tokyo, he pennednote in German, saying “A quiet and humble life will bring more(happy) than the pursuit of success...” Perhaps he had no loose change to tip a bellboy coming to deliver the message, he gave him the note, and told him,“ Maybe if you are lucky, the note(become) more valuable than just a regular tip. ”
Earlier this year, the bellboy's nephew decided to hand it to Jerusalem-based Winner's Auctions (拍卖) and Exhibitions. The note was then put up for auction,might bring the owner a surprising $1.56 milliona European buyer. It was a record for an auction of a document in Israel and the wild-haired scientist deserved it.
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。
Last July, my parents and I went to visit my aunt and uncle. At the day of our flight, we had to wake up very early. When we checked our bag in, we found one of them broken, but fortunate we were on our way on time. My favorite experience was our visit to Mount Rainier, which was nothing like I have expected.
When we left, my aunt lent us sunhats, but I thought it would be very hot. Imagine her surprise when I found the mountain top covering with snow. We walked along a small path beyond the main trails increase our chances of seeing wildlife. Small wild flowers grew up through the snow, underneath that we could hear a small stream. Little animals stood still to avoid from being noticed. It was the most beautiful sight that I had ever seen.
1）自我介绍（包括兴趣和优势）
2）参加这个社团的目的
3）希望被批准
注意：1）词数100左右
2）开头和结尾已给出，但不计入总词数。
Dear Sir or Madam,
I'm Li Hua from Class 1 Grade 1.
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
