To any soldier
I served as a second lieutenant (少尉) in a war thirty years ago. Married for only a year and a half, I missed my wife and baby daughter a lot. In the years before cell phones and Wi-Fi, we had limited opportunities (communicate) with loved ones.
One night while sitting by myself, I investigated the "Any Soldier" mailbox, a cardboard box with letters and packages from Americans. I chose one shoebox-size package. Inside I found about 20 greeting cards children. At the bottom was a letter written by their teacher (explain) how her kids had put the box together and how they supported our efforts in the war. Truly touched at that very moment by this gesture, I decided to write a letter of gratitude. I thanked the teacher for her children had done—its impact on my patriotism, my morale, and, (significantly), my uplifted faith. For security reasons, I was able to sign only my name.
Around 2013, I received a Facebook friend request from a woman with I shared no contacts. I replied that we were friends, I could not accept her request. She responded with one question: "Are you Second Lieutenant Bartholomew?" I replied that I had been at one time.
"Dear sir," she wrote. "We have never met, but thirty years ago I was a second-grade teacher at a school in Ohio and our classroom sent a care package (address) to Any Service Member.' The thank-you letter you composed was framed and it (post) on the wall of the school for more than 20 years. I wanted to again thank you for your service to our country."
We never spoke again, but this gracious teacher strengthened my belief in doing what my mother always taught me: Write thank-you notes— never know how many people your kindness can touch.
|
A. accounted B. commonly C. defined D. determine E. elimination F. emergency G. infectious H. potential I. previously J. suspected K. symptoms |
Measles (麻疹) breaks out in the Northwest
The U.S. is experiencing outbreaks of measles, a disease it had declared eliminated years ago, largely due to a drop in vaccination (接种疫苗) rates in some communities.
An outbreak in Washington state has sickened 23 people this month, mostly children under 10. Local health officials in Clark County, declared a public-health on Friday. They also urged residents to track symptoms and call ahead before heading to medical centers.
State officials announced the of measles from the U.S. in 2000, thanks to a widespread vaccination program. But travelers entering the country with measles, as well as dropping vaccination rates in some states in recent years, has led to a rise in infection. Last year, there were a total of 17 outbreaks, as three or more cases linked together, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York and New Jersey for roughly half of the 2018 cases. The Clark County outbreak began early last week with three confirmed cases and has since grown to 23 confirmed and two more . Of those cases, 20 were unvaccinated and the others are unconfirmed.
Measles is highly ; the virus spreads through the air by coughing or sneezing, the CDC says. Early include a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes, followed by tiny, white spots inside the mouth and the red, bumpy rash (疹子) that people associate with the infection. Children younger than 5 or adults older than 20 are more likely to suffer from complications, according to the CDC.
In order to prevent the further spread of the outbreak, local health officials are posting times and places where residents may have been exposed. They are urging residents who haven't been vaccinated to whether they have been exposed and to take appropriate action.
Keeping it in the family
"You understand grandmother when she talks to you, don't you, darling?" The girl nods. I met her, her Japanese mother and English father on a plane to Japan. The parents were eager to 1 their experience of bringing up their daughter bilingually (使用双语地) in London. It isn't easy: the husband does not speak Japanese, so the child hears the language only from her mother, who has come to 2 that the girl will reply in English. This can be painful. Not sharing your first language with loved ones is hard. Not passing it on to your own child can be especially tough. Many immigrant parents feel a sense of 3.
Children learn languages easily, but this doesn't mean that 4 exposure is enough. They must hear a language quite a bit to understand it—and use it often to be able to speak it comfortably. This is mental work, and a child who doesn't have an intention to speak a language will often avoid it. So languages often die when parents move abroad. In the past, governments discouraged immigrant families from keeping their languages. These days, officials tend to be 5; some even see a valuable resource in immigrants' language abilities. Yet many factors ensure that children still lose their parents' languages, or never learn them. A big one is institutional 6. A child's time spent with a second language is time not spent on their first. So teachers often discourage parents from speaking their languages to their children. Parents often 7 obey, worried about their children's education. This is a(n) 8, for children really can master two languages or even more. Research does indeed suggest their vocabulary in each language may be somewhat smaller for a while, but other studies hint at intellectual advantages among bilinguals. They may be more skillful at complex tasks, better at maintaining attention.
Even without those side effects, 9, a bilingual child's connection to another culture is a good thing in itself. How to 10? When both parents share the native language, the strategy is often to speak that at home, and the national language outside. But when they have 11 languages, perhaps the most common approach is "one parent, one language". Francois Grosjean, a language expert from Switzerland, 12 the necessity. He recommends reserving occasions on which the only language that may be spoken is the one that needs 13. Sabine Little, a language expert at the University of Sheffield, puts the emphasis elsewhere. Making the native language yet another task 14 by parents can lead to rejection, she argues. She recommends letting the child form their own 15 connection to the language, for languages are not just another thing to be drilled into a young mind, but a matter of the heart.
The bus screamed to a stop in Nazareth, Israel. Five Australian backpackers boarded and struck up a conversation with me. They asked typical travelers' questions—where was I going and why was I traveling alone? My plan was to travel with a friend of a friend, I explained, but when I called her that morning, she didn't pick up and I had no other way to reach her. My stomach was in knots, but I decided to head out anyway, thinking I might run into her if I traveled to Tiberius, where we had planned to go together.
"Why don't you travel with us?" one of the backpackers offered. They were experienced adventurers who would work for a few months, save, then travel for as long as they could. Their current plan was to explore the Middle East and Europe in three months while working in London.
It seemed risky to travel with strangers, but my instinct said yes. For the next two weeks, I explored Israel with the backpackers and learned to trust my instincts in all types of new and interesting situations. When they hook a ride, I took the bus, but when they wanted to steal into the King David Hotel's swimming pool, I led the way. The world opened up to me because I chose to travel alone. I joined complete strangers, who become close friends. Years later, one couple from the backpacking group even flew from Sydney to Phoenix to be in my wedding. The trip was such a special experience that it gave me confidence in all areas of my life. Since then, I've backpacked alone across South Africa, sky-dived from 12,000 feet in New Zealand and even moved across the U.S. with no job lined up.
On my third day wandering in Israel with my new friends, I bumped into the woman I was supposed to meet. Though I was happy she was all right, I was grateful she hadn't picked up the phone.
Is it wrong—either grammatically or in terms of style—to mix the simple past tense with the past perfect in one sentence? To give an example, the following seems a bit heavy and awkward to me: "There had been a time when she had been happier.' I prefer: 'There had been a time when she was happier.' Any thoughts?
—ALEX
I think the second version is the correct one—it's shorter and clearer. Rather than focusing on tenses, focus on the clean, short sentence. If something seems heavy and awkward to you, the writer—then it probably is. Always short sentences.
—DIANA
I have constructed texts for a range of children's picture books all based on working profession: bus driver, postman, footballer, cleaner, teacher, policeman to list a few. I've listed about thirty professions so far. I thought of titling them as Mr Bus Driver, Mr Postman and so on. Would I be infringing (侵权) the Mr Men titles if I did or should I think of something else?
—RAJIV
The Mr Men stories are based on characteristics, not on jobs—Mr Lazy, Mr Noisy, etc—so they bear no relation to your projects. However, you will come under fire from gender equality supporters—every job you list could equally be done by a woman. No teacher and few parents would find work useful if it implies that all professions are open only to men. I advise you to look at modern children's books in a library or bookshop.
—DIANA
Studies show that older people tend to remember the positive things in life rather than the negative things, while younger people remember the positive and negative equally well. The dominant psychological theory to explain this is that older people are aware of their limited time left, so they prioritize positive emotional experiences. But about a decade ago, I worked with biologist Robert Trivers on his idea that there was an evolutionary basis for older people's increased positive outlook. Our research took us in the fascinating direction of exploring how the body uses its energy.
When our ancestors needed more energy than usual, perhaps while being chased by a tiger, they had to get that energy from somewhere in the body. Could they borrow it from the brain? That organ uses 20 percent of our metabolic (新陈代谢) output, whether we are solving math problems or watching television reruns. Due to this constant energy requirement, borrowing energy from the brain when our need surpasses the available supply is not an option. Perhaps we could borrow energy from our muscles. Because we use far more muscle energy when we are active than when at rest, in principle, we could borrow energy when we are sitting. But the problem is that most of the energy-demanding emergencies of our ancestors required a muscular response. There was no way to borrow energy from our muscles during an emergency because relaxing when a tiger showed up was not an effective response. This brings us to our immune system, which, when strong, protects us from many illnesses and diseases. Like the brain, the immune system works at great metabolic cost, but largely in the service of keeping us healthy in the future. We have an enormous number of immune cells coursing through our body, a momentary break from production is fine. So, when our body needs extra energy, one of the places it goes is our immune function. When you're being chased by a tiger, you don't need to waste energy making immune cells to fight off tomorrow's cold. What you need is to shift all available energy resources to your legs, with the hope that you will live to experience another cough or sneeze.
As a result, our immune system evolved to run in maximum amounts when we're happy, but to slow down dramatically when we're not. With this background in mind, Trivers supposed that older people evolved a strategy of turning this relationship on its head, becoming more focused on the positive things in life in an effort to enhance their immune functioning. This was helped along by their knowing much more about the world than younger adults, so they can deal with some of the unpleasant things in life more easily.
Spacewalk!
Most people don't know that the anniversary of an important event in space exploration occurred last month. On March 18, 1965, spaceman Aleksi Leonov became the first human to complete an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) or spacewalk. It marked the first time that a human was able to leave a spacecraft and operate in the emptiness of space. It is a dangerous procedure, but one that is vital for the success of manned space missions.
In space, a spacesuit must protect people from extreme cold and heat, provide air to breathe, and remove extra carbon dioxide. Too much of it, and the spacesuit becomes firm and difficult to move in. Too little of it, and astronauts can become dangerously sick after returning to their spacecraft.
Astronauts now perform complex jobs in the emptiness of space in modern spacesuits. They have logged many hours repairing and upgrading equipment on satellites during EVAs. On July 20th, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon for the first time. There is no atmosphere on the moon, but there is gravity—about 17 percent of Earth's, which means Neil needed a special suit for walking on the moon's surface. Suits for the moon are equipped for exploration far from any vehicles, including tough boots that can resist cuts from the rough surface while walking. But sharp rocks weren't the only danger to astronauts.
The moon surface is covered with a fine and flour-like dust which consists of small particles (颗粒) left over from the numerous meteorite (陨石) strikes on the moon. When astronauts would leave the moon's gravity, the dust on their suits began floating all over. It got into delicate equipment inside the spacecraft and the astronaut's eyes and lungs. As different space agencies plan for returning people to the moon, new EVA suit designs will have to take something else into account. Keeping astronauts safe also means keeping their suits clean.
A. However, EVAs don't just happen in empty space.
B. It sticks to everything, eventually causing joints and seals to fail.
C. Spacesuits also have to maintain ideal air pressure during a spacewalk.
D. Unfortunately, most people have no idea about space exploration or spacesuits.
E. Without the ability to work in space, we are unable to keep our space programs functional.
F. There are a few things that must be taken into account to make an EVA both safe and effective
Holding Parents Responsible—An Unfair Punishment
The rise in teen crime suggests that some parents are failing at their parental tasks. To correct the problem, lawmakers in some states require parents to serve jail time. They hope that this punishment will motivate parents to take their responsibilities seriously.
Despite public support for parental responsibility laws, many people think that the laws are unfair. They suggest that parents should not be punished for the criminal acts of their children, unless it can be shown there is a related fault on the parents' part. For example, if young teenagers are arrested for drinking alcohol supplied by parents, then parents should be held responsible because they helped the teenagers break the law. People who oppose parental responsibility laws also believe that punishing parents is unlikely to create a change in the kids' behavior. These people argue that parents may not be at fault. The children of good parents can fall in with the wrong kids and get into trouble, they say. Worse yet, if mom is in jail, there may be no one at all to control her kid. That lack of control may then lead to more crime.
The unfortunate fact is that jailing a mom or dad punishes the rest of the family. The jailed parent cannot work to help feed the family or pay the rent. A parent who is sent to jail for the crimes of a teenager may also be fired from a job for missing too much work. Furthermore, little evidence exists to support the idea that the threat of punishment improves a parents' ability to control a teenager. The problem is that some teens cannot be controlled by their parents, even if the parents try hard to control them. These struggling parents are not ignoring their parental responsibilities. Opponents of parental responsibility laws say that parents who are in this situation need help, not a jail sentence.
假如你是明启中学的学生李华。为丰富学生的在校生活，你校学生会计划开设一个活动室，向学生征询如何布置的建议。请你给学生会主席王平写一份电子邮件，邮件必须包括:
你的建议或设想
你的理由
