Whether you seek culture, community, or comfort food in America, these amazing festivals prove that small towns from coast to coast know how to throw big celebration.
Tulip Time
Go: May in Holland, Michigan
There's no better place to celebrate Michigan's Dutch Heritage than a town called Holland, where six million tulips are planted in private fields, city parks, and other gardens around town. First introduced in 1929, Tulip Time draws a half million visitors and features eight days of events, including three parades, an arts-and-crafts show, carnival rides, fireworks, and plenty of Dutch food tastings.
Texas SandFest
Go: April in Port Aransas, Texas
Since 1997, this artistic sand festival attracts talented amateurs and master sculptors alike to beautiful beaches of Port Aransas. A three-day event typically held over a weekend in late April, SandFest features parades, live music, entertainment, food, and sand sculpting lessons.
Burlington Steamboat Days
Go: June in Burlington, Iowa
Going strong for over 55 years, the four-day Burlington Steamboat Days draws an impressive lineup of musical headliners and new artists to this small town. Over the years, attendees have been treated to performances by Louie Armstrong, Lady Antebellum, Blake Shelton, and more. In addition to music, there are carnival games and parades, as well as a golf tournament.
National Balloon Classic
Go: July-August in Indianola, Iowa
Every summer since 1976, the small town has put on one of the largest festivals in the Midwest. The weeklong National Balloon Classic features twice-daily flights of more than 100 colorful hot-air balloons, skydiving demonstrations, and balloon rides. There's also live music, food vendors, and a kid's play area.
One-year-old Tallulah turned purple and stopped moving after the sweet became stuck in her throat. Her mum Leigh-Anne said the drama began during a visit to her grandma's house when her grandparents gave her older kids some sweets.
"Then at about 4:45 pm, Tallulah started to choke—we all went into a panic."
"It seemed like it went on for ages. Not one of us knew what to do."
"I rang an ambulance while my grandma and granddad tried to get the sweet to come up."
"Tallulah was panicking at first but then she started to go purple—she almost had no oxygen left in her."
With her daughter limp (无力的) and time running out, Leigh—Anne knew she couldn't afford to wait for the ambulance to arrive.
"The only thing I could think was to go out into the street." She said.
"I rushed out and screamed for someone to help while my grandma rushed out crying with Tallulah."
At exactly the moment, Caitlin, who is studying public services at Redcar College, was passing by Queen Street. She said, "I was waiting to go to work when I heard someone screaming for help, so I ran straight over."
The 17-year-old girl added, "Something just clicked and I went into auto mode. The little girl was completely limp, so I checked her airways and tilted (使倾斜) her over and started hitting her back. I turned her round and tapped on her chest, then after what felt like forever she coughed up the sweet and spat it out.
As soon as she started crying I felt a huge relief. I was just so pleased I was able to help."
Caitlin was taught her lifesaving skills when she joined the Army Cadets four years ago.
Learning other languages, you discover how to say the same thing in many different ways. In English we say "goodnight". In Hebrew people say ליילה טוב. In Vietnamese, people say "Chúc ngǔ ngon", which means "have a delicious sleep". When I think about the word "delicious" I think of pizza, chocolate and ice-cream. I don't think about going to sleep. So depending on the language, different phrases will improve your creativity and force you to think about how to say things in a different way.
Studying a new language, you will notice that you have to lean a new sense of humour that comes along with the culture of that language. Sometimes, jokes that work in English won't work in French or Japanese. But sometimes things that nobody would laugh in English work in Vietnamese. I learned this when I performed stand-up comedy in Vietnam. A lot of my non-Vietnamese speaking friends would ask me to translate the jokes for them, but when I translated back to English, no one laughed.
When you learn a new language you have to learn a lot of vocabulary, new grammar structures, idioms, and much more besides. Doing this, you have to learn memorization tactics (策略). These could be flashcards, using recall methods, or building a memory palace. Whatever tactic you use, it will strengthen your creativity.
Next time you meet someone who speaks several languages, before you think that they have something special going on in their brain, take a step back and think. Maybe they do. But maybe they've got that special thing because they've made the effort to learn several languages. And effort is something we can all give.
Scientists have already studied how dogs respond to people's behavior and speech. But researchers are just scratching the surface of human-cat interactions. House eats do appear to respond to the expressions on people's faces. Cats can also tell different human voices. But can cats recognize their own names?
Saito, a psychologist at Sophia University in Tokyo, and her colleagues decided to find the answer. They asked the owners of 77 cats to say four nouns of similar length followed by the cat's name Cats gradually lost interest with each random (随机的) noun. But when the owner said a cat's name, the cats reacted strong. They moved their ears, head or tail, changed their back paw position. And, of course, they meowed.
These findings mean that cats join the ranks of animals that have shown some sort of response in experiments to the names people give them. Those animals include dogs, dolphins, apes and parrots. It's hard to compare across species, though. Some dogs, for example, can tell the difference between hundreds of human words.
The study makes a strong case that cats are perfectly capable of recognizing their own names. Getting a treat or hugs as a reward is part of how cats learn to recognize a name. However, owners may also use their cat's name in a negative setting, like yelling at Fluffy to get off the stove. As a result, cats can probably learn to associate these familiar utterances with good and bad experiences, Saito notes. And that might not be great for cat-human relations. So only using a cats name in a positive context and using a different term in a negative context could help cats and humans communicate more clearly.
So cats may recognize their names. But will they come when called? Don't get your hopes up.
"Road trip!" The words paint pictures of the open highway, views rolling out before the driver, adventure and freedom. On a road trip travelers are able to stop along the way to see various attractions and taste some local specialties before moving on. , but a certain amount of planning is still required for everything to work out.
There are two basic ways to plan a road trip. The first is the organized trip, in which the travelers decide their route in advance, plan stopping points along the way, look for hotels in particular towns, and make reservations in advance. . For these folks, the open-ended method may be preferable. For this kind, the travelers just plan the route and stop at will, staying overnight wherever they are when they are too tired to drive any further.
. This includes taking the car to a mechanic beforehand and having the oil changed and the fluids checked and topped off. A standard first-aid kit (装备) should also be carried including all the drugs needed for the duration of a road trip as well as a car charger for the cellphone.
, so travelers may want to bring their favorite snacks, as well as a pillow for rest time and hotel use. Small coolers are readily available, and a "blue ice" block will fit inside nicely to keep drinks cool. Finally, a traveler should always take along an atlas or road map and extra cash, along with a couple of dollars in change. .
A. It is certainly a relaxing way to travel
B. Comfort is also important on a road trip
C. A big consideration for any road trip is safety
D. Some travelers find pre-planned stops a bit too limiting
E. One advantage is that they know where they will be staying
F. Travelers should always prepare for emergencies on a road trip
G. Following these guidelines should help make a trouble-free road trip
A 9-year-old boy was having a bad day, and an even worse birthday, until a police officer came to the rescue.
"I was 1," said officer Austin Lynema, "and saw Thomas running down the sidewalk trying to catch up to his 2, crying. When I stopped my car and asked him if he had any 3, he just shook his head."
He was nervous when Lynema first 4 him. In a child's whisper, Thomas said "I am 5 because I don't catch the school bus and I really want to attend 6 on time as usual." Thomas was a straight-A student and had never 7 a day of school.
On that late February day, Lynema 8 that Thomas was worried for another 9: It was his birthday. "Thomas told me that he didn't think anybody else would 10 to his birthday party" said Lynema, "because his family had just 11 to the US from Tanzania".
Lynema decided to 12 Thomas by attending his party. "I knock at the 13 and he comes out and sees me." said Lynema. "He's 14 up and down, smiling and he can't believe that I 15 was able to show up." But no one else did.
The story 16 the local news and has had 17 results. Lynema has now received cards and 18 for Thomas birthday from as far away as California.
"As a(n) 19, you will see thousands of people and most of the time you don't ever 20 these people again," Lynema said. "But I'm glad that I get to see Thomas again and again."
She spent years and recording their daily activities. Since her childhood she had wanted to work with animals in their own environment. ,this was not easy. When she first arrived in Gombe in 1960, it was unusual for a woman in the forest.
Not that Charlie's own life was ! I He was born in a poor family in 1889. His parents were both poor music hall . You may find astonishing that Charlie was taught to sing as soon as she could speak.
The theme park you are probably most familiar is Disneyland. It can in several parts of the world. It will bring you into magical world and make your dreams come true, you are travelling through space, visiting a pirate ship or meeting your favourite fairy tale or Disney cartoon character.
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：⒈每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
⒉只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
This morning, I flew a kite with Mary in the Peoples Park. We were sure to have much fun so we got a nice kite and it was a lovely day.
I began to fly kite. Once it went up into the sky, I began to run very fastly, and hoped it would go higher and higher. Then suddenly I felt anything wrong. Looked up into the sky, I was disappointed to find the kite got broken. At no time the broken kite and ropes fell over me. What a fool! I sat on the grass, feeling rather ashamed of what I had done it.
Then Mary comforts me, saying, "Now, you know that makes a kite fly high. It's patience and skills."
⑴描述你注意到的身体语言；⑵询问情况并表达关心；⑶表示愿意提供帮助。
注意：
⒈100词左右；⒉可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Alice,
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
