— I'm tired of my job. There are endless problems to deal with.
— I had my computer repaired yesterday, but it work again.
— !
Happy Maggie
During my childhood I experienced greater hardships than most people go through in a lifetime. In my short 17 years of life, I have been1five divorces of my parents. Having a new stepmother or stepfather every few years was2, but the constant moving was worse. My father's cancer diagnosis3 me apart, and his two heart attacks and4 with diabetes put a huge pressure on the family. By age 13, I was5and emotionally scarred. I felt like I had no one to6and that nothing would ever get better. Then I met Maggie, and my attitude towards life changed.
For many summers, I 7 at a horse-riding camp for people with special needs. We taught children and adults specialized skills8their abilities. For example, we would teach a child with autism(自闭症)9skills, or a child with cerebral palsy(脑瘫) strength-building exercise. Each volunteer was10a specific child during eight weeks. A few weeks later, I was asked to11 another volunteer who was sick. That was the day my12 on life changed forever.
As I began to work with her, I looked through her file to get more information, which was 13. She had been physically abused as a newborn and throughout her infancy. Her birth parents14her so badly that they caused her a serious brain injury by the age of two. Her skull had been broken, however, the amazing thing about Maggie was her15attitude.
When I met Maggie, she was 12, and she would say16but "I'm happy!" If you asked her" How old are you?", "I'm happy" she replied each time. Everyone at the camp17her "Happy Maggie".
My life growing up was a huge struggle, 18Maggie taught me not to get in the way of happiness. Nothing bad in life should be enough to change19I am. She gave me20. If I learned anything from Maggie, it would be, no matter what, be happy.
Wondering what to see and do in India in November? November is an excellent month to visit India. Here are the best festivals in November, 2018 in India.
International Yoga and Music Festival
Organized by Nada Yoga School every year since 2008, the International Yoga and Music Festival features 50 of the best professional yoga teachers Ayurvedic（印度草药按摩）doctors， dancers, musicians, and philosophers from Rishikesh and abroad. Free classes and lectures are held with topics including yoga, Ayurveda, philosophy, and Indian classical music. There's an Indian classical music concert in the evenings as well.
Time: November 1-7, 2018. Location: Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.
Wangala Festival
Also known as the 100 Drum Wangala Festival this is the biggest harvest festival of Meghalaya's Garo tribe in northeast India. Held in honor of the Sun God of fertility, the festival marks the end of the seeding season and agricultural year. It's celebrated by the beating of drums, blowing horns, and traditional dancing.
Time: November 6, 2018. Location: Garo Hills, Meghalaya. Bandra Wine Festival
Being popular with local people for six years, the Bandra Wine Festival is a fun opportunity to sample the best wines in India. In addition to tasting wine, there are market stalls, food stalls, live music in the evenings, and dancing.
Time: November 7-8, 2018.
Location: D'Monte Park, Bandra West, Mumbai.
Pushkar Balloon Festival
The International Hot Air Ballooning Festival is an added attraction at the Pushkar Camel Fair. Similar to the Taj Balloon Festival in Agra, it's hosted by Sky Waltz, and features hot air balloons from around the world and a Night Glow Music Concert. Accommodation and balloon flight packages are offered to visitors.
Time: November 21-23, 2018. Location: Pushkar, Rajasthan.
I took down the violin I made in the past two months, and walked towards the farmland outside. The violin shined in the sunlight, and I admitted, unwillingly, that it looked good. But I knew it was a mockery (笑柄) of my failure to find beauty.
“What makes a violin beautiful?”
I first asked this question as a three-year-old child and now again as a teenager. When I listened to a violin for the first time, I was so astonished by its beauty that I imagined a fairy living in the wooden frame. But fairies faded when I grew older. I wanted a reasonable answer to the question.
I referred to Professor Ruan, my violin teacher, who introduced the violin to me 14 years ago. This 85-year-old man rhapsodized about (热烈赞美)the legend of Antonio Stradivari. “His violins are the most beautiful works human has ever crafted.” “Make a violin with your own hands," Professor Ruan suggested, "When you play it, you'll know.”
However, when Professor Ruan introduced to me a violin workshop, what I saw was far from my expectation. In front of me was a fat worker, shirtless and sunburned, soon to become my master. What shocked me most was that the “master” knew nearly nothing about music. His rough hands had been tending crops, not instruments, for most of his life.
Two months later, standing outside the workshop, I was disappointed. Yes, I just finished or copied a Stradivarius violin. But I didn't find beauty in it. Then I remembered Professor Ruan's words, "When you play it, you'll know.” So I closed my eyes, and focused on where my fingers and strings touched. Music flowed suddenly so beautifully that for a moment I doubted my own ears. Slowly I opened my eyes, and with surprise found the fairy of my childhood fantasy dancing to my music — the two-year-old daughter of the master.
Professor Ruan was right. I didn't find beauty until I played music with the violin, because beauty isn't in the instrument itself. It's just here, deep down, in ourselves.
The best-known example of external( 外部的)influence causing language change is the "Americanization" of world culture, which has caused English words to appear in city streets all over the world. The effect is most noticeable in pop music. Foreign groups often record in English, and the words are picked up and repeated in the same language everywhere, even by children who otherwise have little or no command of the language. I once met a Brazilian child of about ten who could count 'one, two, three', but only by adding the words 'o'clock, four o'clock rock 'at the end.
Some people are often strongly critical of the influence of English on their language — especially when an English word replaces a traditional word. In 1977, France passed a law banning the use of English words in official situations if an equivalent( 意义相同的)French expression existed — but the law seemed to be honored more in the breaking than in the observing. Some other countries have considered introducing a similar law despite the evidence that such laws have very little effect, and that the arrival of loan words( 外来词) can greatly enrich a language (as indeed in the case of English itself, which has a long history of welcoming foreign words).
However, not everyone is critical. In particular, commercial firms and advertisers are well aware of the potential selling power that the use of English vocabulary can bring. In Japan, English is even used in television commercials, despite the fact that the majority of viewers would not understand exactly what was being said: the excellence implied by the mere use of English is apparently enough to command the strategy to the advertisers.
Most of the influence of English is upon the vocabulary of foreign languages, but surveys are slowly bringing to light several cases where word order or word structure has been affected. Sentences of the type “The book sells well”, using an active construction for a passive meaning, have begun to appear in Danish (Bogen soelger godt). Several languages keep the English plural ending when they make use of a loan word, and do not translate it into the native form, e.g. drinks. There are many other such cases.
Are we alone in the universe? A team of scientists announced on January 6, 2015 that they had identified eight planets beyond our solar system, three or four of which orbit in their stars' "Goldilocks Zone" — the region where temperatures are not too hot or too cold for water, which is a necessary ingredient for life as we know it, to exist liquid form. This may be good news for people hoping that Earth is not the only inhabited world in the universe.
The scientists, led by Dr. Guilermo Torres of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, made the discoveries using data collected by the planet-seeking Kepler telescope.
NASA launched Kepler in 2009. Since then, the telescope has identified more than 1,000 planets outside of our solar system. Torres and his team analyzed the data about the eight newly discovered world to determine which ones are most likely to be similar to our Earth.
Among the new discoveries, the scientists say the planets called Kepler438b and 442b are the closest to Earth. Kepler 438b is just about 10% larger than our planet, and gets 40% more of its energy from its star than Earth receives from the Sun. Temperatures there would be about 140 degrees. Kepler 442b is about 33% larger than Earth, but receives 30% less energy from its star. That would make it a potentially chillier world than our own. Torres says it is possible for life to exist and survive in either of those temperatures, but for that to happen, these planets would need to have another key ingredient for life: a heat-trapping atmosphere like Earth's.
While these findings add to the possibility that life exists beyond Earth, Torres cautions against drawing conclusions, “We are not claiming they are inhabited,” he says. In fact, these planets are so far away that the scientists cannot observe them directly, which can be explanation for why for now it remains unknown whether these planets contain life. But the discovery of planets in their stars' habitable zones suggests that somewhere out there, some form of alien life may have taken hold.
Every person has a history of pain and tragedy that includes regret from the situation. At times, it's often hard to explain that pain to someone else. The challenge with a tragedy is the lack of support from someone.
This has often been my challenge when I try to explain what occurred to me. When I was younger, I was a victim of a tragic accident that changed my life both academically and emotionally. At sixteen months old, due to the neglect of my babysitter I fell off the bed. The injury was so severe that I was rushed to the emergency room and the doctors explained to my mom that I suffered from a blood clot (血块) located on the left side of the brain.
I was later diagnosed with what is known as a traumatic brain injury (外伤性脑损伤)．This accident affects my long term memory and testing ability. I often struggle with understanding information related to school and feel frustrated that I will not pass my tests. The pressure of school is so much, since I must always work harder than most students.
I become easily disappointed that I study a lot but often flunk or re-take tests. It is hard to imagine, because in my mind I feel prepared for the work; however, the test results do not connect with the information in my brain. Although I always don't pass my tests, I feel like this injury encourages me to work and shows me that I can be confident when it comes to the future. For example, I have been able to maintain my grades, been employed for over a year at a local restaurant, and obtained my driver's license. I look forward to attending college, getting married, raising a family, and being a success. I will continue to live my life to the fullest and prove that an injury does not limit my life journey.
⑴介绍你校文化节（如中国传统文化活动及文化展示，如春节等 ）；
⑵介绍你校科技节（如科技活动及其成果展示，如智能机器人竞赛等 ）；
⑶活动的意义并希望她有机会来你校参加活动。
注意：
⑴词数不少于 100；
⑵可适当加入细节，使内容充实、行文连贯；
⑶开头已给出，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：Culture Festival 文化节 Science and Technology Festival 科技节
Dear Mrs. Green,
Yours,
Li Jin
