Great holidays in Europe!
Do you like the beach but want a bit more?
Then come on an Active Beach holiday at one of our centers in Greece, Turkey or Croatia. All the centers are near beautiful beaches and all offer sailing, windsurfing or waterskiing with our excellent instructors. For a change from the water, you can also book a short trip to a nearby village and visit the colorful markets or eat in a local restaurant. At the end of the day, relax in your hotel room or dance the night away at one of our open-air clubs.
Who was King Arthur? Where did he live?
Join us on a five-day UK Road Trip holiday. Imagine life hundreds of years ago as we visit ancient Stonehenge, Roman Bath and Tintagel Castle, the home of King Arthur. Learn the history of these interesting places from your guide as you travel in one of our famous blue coaches. In the evenings we stop at some of the best youth hostels in the country. They have everything you need you don t even need to pack a sleeping bag!
Are you bored with the usual holidays? Do you want to do something you really enjoy?
Then Fame Camp is for you! Spend a week at Hightree House in Yorkshire and learn how to play the piano, violin and guitar! Bring your tent and stay at a campsite near the house. At the end of the week try your new skills in a live performance.
How many countries can you see in 21days?
On our Explore Europe holiday, you can see ten! Learn about them from our best guides as you watch them go past from the window of an air-conditioned coach and stay at some of Europe's top campsites on the way. Of course, we'll also have time to do the important things such as visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the historic Sistine Chapel in Vatican and eating apple ѕtrudеl іn Vіеnnа.
For more information about any of these holidays, call 0845 333 4523 or visit www.comewithusuk.com.
Any foreigner who has tried to learn Chinese can tell how hard it is to master the tones required to speak and understand. And anyone who has tried to learn to play the violin or other instruments can report similar challenges.
Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese. Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience，researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills draw on the same parts of the brain that help people discover changes in pitch(音调).
One of the study's authors，Nina Kraus，said the findings suggested that studying music "actually tunes our sensory system" .This means that schools that want children to do well in languages should hesitate before cutting music programs，Dr. Kraus said. She said music training might also help children with language problems.
Mandarin(普通话)speakers have been shown to have a more complex encoding(编码) of pitch patterns in their brains than English speakers do. This is because in Mandarin and other Asian languages，pitch plays a central role. A singlesyllable word can have several meanings depending on how it is intoned.
For this study，the researchers looked at 20 nonChinese speaking volunteers，half with no musical background and half who have studied an instrument for at least six years.
As they were shown a movie，the volunteers also heard an audio tape of the Mandarin word “mi” in three of its meanings: squint，bewilder and rice. The researchers recorded activities in their brain stems to see how well they were processing the sounds. Those with a music background showed much more brain activities in response to the Chinese sounds.
The lead author of the study，Patrick C.M. Wong，said it might work both ways. It appears that native speakers of tonal languages may do better at learning instruments.
An idea that started in Seattle's public library has spread throughout America and beyond. The concept is simple: help to build a sense of community in a city by getting everyone to read the same book at the same time.
In addition to encouraging reading as a pursuit (追求) to be enjoyed by all, the program allows strangers to communicate by discussing the book on the bus, as well as promoting reading as an experience to be shared in families and schools. The idea came from Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl who launched (发起)the "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book" project in 1998. Her original program used author visits, study guides and book discussion groups to bring people together with a book, but the idea has since expanded to many other American cities, and even to Hong Kong.
In Chicago, the mayor(市长)appeared on television to announce the choice of To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book in the "One Book, One Chicago" program. As a result, reading clubs and neighbourhood groups sprang up around the city. Across the US, stories emerged of parents and children reading to each other at night and strangers chatting away on the bus about plot and character.
The only problem arose in New York, where local readers could not decide on one book to represent the huge and diverse population. This may show that the idea works best in medium-sized cities or large towns, where a greater sense of unity(一致)can be achieved. Or it may show that New Yorkers rather missed the point, putting all their energy and passion into the choice of the book rather than discussion about a book itself.
Ultimately as Nancy points out, the level of success is not measured by how many people read a book, but by how many people are enriched by the process or have enjoyed speaking to someone with whom they would not otherwise have shared a word.
Skeptics are a strange lot. Some of them refuse to admit the serious threat of human activities to the environment, and they are tired of people who disagree with them. Those people, say skeptics, spread nothing but bad news about the environment. The “eco-guilt” brought on by the discouraging news about our planet gives rise to the popularity of skeptics as people search for more comforting worldviews.
Perhaps that explains why a new book by Bjorn Lomborg received so much popularity. That book, The Skeptic Environmentalist, declares that it measures the “real state of the world” as fine. Of course, another explanation is the deep pockets of some big businesses with special interests. Indeed, Mr. Lomborg's views are similar to those of some Industry-funded organizations, which start huge activities through the media to confuse the public about issues like global warming.
So it was strange to see Mr. Lomborg's book go largely unchallenged in the media though his beliefs were contrary to most scientific opinions. One national newspaper in Canada ran a number of articles and reviews full of words of praise, even with the conclusion that “After Lomborg, the environmental movement will begin to die down.”
Such one-sided views should have immediately been challenged. But only a different review appeared in Nature, a respected science magazine with specific readership. The review remarked that Mr. Lomborg's “preference for unexamined materials is incredible(不可信的)”.
A critical (批判的)eye is valuable, and the media should present information in such a way that could allow people to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, that is often inaccessible as blocked by the desire to be shocking or to defend some special interests. People might become half-blinded before a world partially exhibited by the media. That's a shame, because matters concerning the health of the planet are far too important to be treated lightly.
On December 22, 2016 I landed in the land of the “American Dream.” Here is one of the things I've struggled with during my almost one year in the States.
My uncle and aunt joked that I brought rain from Saigon to America. Saigon, where I come from, is the old name of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Vietnam is a tropical country where it rains most of the year. Before going to the U.S., actually, I had no idea what to expect about its weather, but the big rain on my arrival gave me the first expectation of what the weather here might be like.
California is known for having a great climate — more sunshine, cooler in summer and warmer in winter. However, having been here for a pretty long while now, I have experienced various forms of climate in California.
Most of the time I was living in Silicon Valley, where the weather is a bit colder than where I study in Orange County. But I was really surprised to find chill-to-the-bone weather in San Francisco — a big shift from Silicon Valley in only about an hour's drive. How strange!
The worst is that I get n runny nose whenever I wake up in the morning. Because I am allergic to the cold and windy weathers, I keep sneezing badly, and even more badly if I get caught in the cold. I think that my body needs more time to get used to this climate, but as many people said, I am luckier to be in California where I don't have to fight with extreme weathers as in other states.
A. I am sensitive to weather change.
B. Such strange weather has affected my health.
C. So the amount of rain this year is considered unusual.
D. LAX airport in California welcomed me with a big rain.
E. So I quickly get used to the unchangeable climate in California.
F. The weather varies widely depending on where you are in the state.
G. Since then, I have discovered tons of dilemmas about life in America.
One evening, Catherine was at home as usual. As her1swung between what she was going to do with her life and their dinner plans for the evening, she was unexpectedly2by an urgent call from her sister “Get over here! Turn on NBC and check these guys out. They are just like you….” One Facebook message and a phone interview later, Catherine3herself on a bus with 8 strangers in the middle of the sweltering desert heat of Utah, picking up trash and4awareness about zero-waste and climate change.
With a deep5of the environment and a desire to make a6, Catherine, Davey, and a group of self7“environmental pick-up artists” went on a coast to coast road side trash pick-up. As they walked, sometimes only80.9 miles in an entire day, they 9 and steadily made their way across the United States for three years, picking up a total of 201,678 pounds of trash.
Catherine and Davey10with us wonderful stories of hope and inspiration that fueled their11to continue their journey. After spending weeks silently12how she would have enough13to fly home for their two-week spring break, Catherine found a blank, unidentified envelope14with $850 cash in the desert. Just enough to get her home and back. After their bus15outside of Denver, they unexpectedly got16and arrived in Yosemite National Park three weeks later, just in time for the “Yosemite Facelift” where17from all over the state came together with a18of cleaning up trash all over the park.
Being at the right place at the right time became almost normal, and they realized that much of what they 19was more than just a coincidence. Together, their team learned to simply 20themselves to their task, and surrender to the journey.
From the first day I arrived in Kunming, I had my understanding of China (change). Far from being narrow-minded and hostile to (foreign), people came up to talk to me the first time I went out on the street. It happened to be all in Chinese, so I didn't understand much, it did cause me to rethink my assumptions.
As my Chinese improved, this continued throughout my stay, from my landlord introducing me to people who could help us learn Chinese to (get) to know the couple who ran a noodle restaurant nearby.
If you're interested in other people, their culture, and their language, they'll be(friend) to you. China isn't exception.
Don't judge a country by its media coverage, (especial) some Western media, which have much prejudice.
I saw a very different kind of China with my own eyes. Kunming, I lived for most of my stay, wasn't much polluted. I had frank conversations with Chinese people about almost everything.
Still China (develop), but the economic growth means that most people (see) their living standards improve rapidly in the last 20 years. People I spoke with were generally optimistic about the future.
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 Laura,
Thanks for letting us to stay at your seaside house. Now, you might have heard from your neighbors about which happened on Saturday evening. When I was out a walk, my younger son, Tom, played football before your house. He made so many noise that the neighbors got quite angrily. Even worse, Tom broke one of the window of Mr. Wilson's house. Tom and I apologized to all the neighbors for the unhappy happenings, but promised to have the broken window repair soon. Tom said that we would not do such silly things any more. I am glad that your neighbors had forgiven us. They are really nice people.
Yours,
Betty
内容要点： 1）表示歉意； 2）理由:去机场接从法国回来的舅舅；
3）询问:是否有录音，以便补听讲座。
注意：1）词数：100词左右；
2）可根据内容要点适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Miss Morgan,
Yours,
Li Hua
