Since you are applying for a visa for a short-term study in the USA, here are a few steps you should take to ensure you can do it smoothly.
You can apply for it if you
●do a short course of study in the USA, such as an English language course or a training course.
●do a short period of research as part of a degree course in the USA.
You must prove that you
●have been offered a place on a course in the USA at an accepted place of study.
●have enough money to support yourself without working or help from public funds.
●can pay for your return or onward journey.
●have permission from your parents or guardian to study in the USA if you are under 18.
You must provide
●proof of the course you're studying, for example, a letter of acceptance from the educational institution — an official headed paper; stating the course's name, duration and cost (including accommodation).
●a current passport or other valid travel identification.
●evidence that you can support yourself during your trip, for example, bank statements or payslips for the last 6 months.
●details of where you intend to stay and your travel plans.
●contact details for at least one parent or guardian in your home country if you're under 18 years old.
You must
●apply online for a short-term study visa.
●have your fingerprints and photograph taken at a visa application centre as part of your application.
●pay £97 for a 6-month visa or £186 for an 11-month visa.
You may
●be allowed to stay an extra 30 days if your total stay in the USA is no more than 6 months.
Have you ever dreamed of meeting top scientists in person? If so, what would you want to ask them?
For Tan Fanglin, a 15-year-old girl from No. 2 High School of East China Normal University in Shanghai, her dream of meeting top scientists has already come true. In October 2019, she attended the World Laureates Forum for a second time, which had attracted 44 Nobel Prize Winners and 21 other world-class award winners. Tan was by far the youngest participant among the scientists invited to be at the meeting of the world's sharpest minds.
Her discovery about the relationship between the Fibonacci sequence (斐波那契数列) and Bézout numbers (贝祖数) has won her many prizes in youth innovation competitions both in Shanghai and elsewhere in China. Her finding has been praised by the famous Canadian mathematician, Professor Rankin, who has been studying the same theme for five years but with no conclusions.
From a very young age, Tan has always been fascinated by mathematics. This is largely because her father, who teaches mathematics in East China Normal University, has a profound impact on her. According to Xu Jun, the head teacher, Tan doesn't take after-school classes or too many extra exercises either. Her mastering of Advanced Mathematics and her good grades in school are thanks to the right study method. Her mother told Guangming Daily that Tan always treats studying and life with a positive state of mind so she can feel happy while studying.
Attending this forum enabled Tan to get more inspiration from top scientists. She even got the opportunity to talk with Gero Miesenbock, the 2019 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize winner. She asked Professor Miesenbock what he considered were the best personal qualities for conducting scientific research. Miesenbock encouraged her not to lose her passion and love for what she does. He said that accepting failures is crucial for researchers. He stressed that people all knew that even Thomas Edison went through hundreds of unsuccessful attempts before finally inventing the light bulb. The words made Tan feel inspired and she promised to keep her curiosity and interests in mathematics and overcome any obstacles in her research.
Do you like shopping? For shopaholics in the UK, the place to head to used to be the “high street”. It was the place where you could find familiar fashion brands and essential everyday items in the centre of a town. But change in our shopping habits has taken its toll on the British high street.
News about shops losing money and shutting is now common. Some city-centre department stores have closed and even long-established retailers (零售商) have reported profit slumps. According to a recent survey, a record 2,481 shops disappeared from UK high streets last year — up by 40 percent.
As the BBC's Emma Simpson writes, things have become a lot harder for traditional retailers in recent years. They have faced rising costs from wages, business rates and the requirement to introduce Europe's new data law. But the biggest threat has come from online shopping. She says “Consumers now spend one in every five pounds online — and if businesses are seeing 20 percent fewer sales on the shop floor, as well as their fixed costs rising, then profit margins will be squeezed.”
While some of us like to window shop — browsing for things to buy, only to purchase them online at a discount — the fact is that, overall, shoppers are making fewer visits to high streets. Eventually, town centres could become like ghost towns. If people aren't out and about shopping, they won't use other services, like cafes, restaurants and cinemas, which leads to job losses. The high street has also suffered from the arrival of big shopping malls, which offer a retail experience under one roof, with free parking, away from the bad weather!
Meanwhile, back on the high street, some shops still exist. Analysts have said it's those that have moved away from traditional retailing that are surviving. These include beauty salons, nail bars and independent coffee shops — but are these kinds of shops enough to keep the British high street open for business?
The UK's first fully solar-powered home, which removes the need to ever receive a gas or electricity bill again, has gone on sale, but it will cost you £1.2 million.
The timber-framed home in Great Glen, Leicestershire, contains a number of “zero-carbon feature” including solar electric energy, triple glazing and rainwater storage. It is entirely heated by underground water-filled tubes that are warmed by solar energy from rooftop panels. The house was designed and built by Caplin Homes and covers two acres of land. The design and construction, down to the materials, were used specifically for their low carbon footprint.
The solar panels on the roof of the five-bedroom house are called hybrids because they collect both electrical and thermal energy. Solar walls preheat incoming air, and an Earth Energy Bank (EEB) and heat pump can store heat, and get it back for use when temperatures drop. The south-facing triple-glazed windows are said to also improve the house's energy management during the winter.
All the technologies are controlled by a control system, which monitors the inside and outside temperatures, how much energy is being received by the solar panels, and the heat levels in the EE domestic hot water tank. Due to its low energy design, the Solar House is expected to only require heat from the EEB for about 10 weeks of the year.
For £1.2 million, buyers also get two garages. Estate agent (房地产经纪人) Anthony Fox said the possibility of no utility bills was a big draw for potential owners: the idea is that your bills pretty much disappear and the house is self-sustaining and self-sufficient. That was a big aspect for most of the people who came to have a look around. “We had a lot of interest on the open day. There were some strong considerations to buy there and then. Everyone was very keen to learn how the house worked.” He added.
We know that too much of the wrong kind of food can be bad for our health, but for some people having a food allergy, eating certain things can actually be harmful. Now it is seemingly affecting more and more of us.
An allergy is caused by the immune system fighting substances in the environment, known as allergens, that it should see as harmless. It means people have to spend their lives following strict dietary restrictions and worrying about the ingredients of everything they consume. We often hear about people having allergies to dairy products and to peanuts. Last year a teenager died after suffering a fatal allergic reaction from eating a baguette containing sesame seeds.
Research has found that this problem is particularly affecting children. Dr Alexandra Santos from King's College London says food allergy now affects about 7 percent of children in the UK, and 9 percent of those in Australia.
Dr Santos says, the increase in allergies is not simply the effect of society becoming more aware of them and better at diagnosing them. She adds that possible factors are pollution, dietary changes and less exposure to bacteria, which change how our immune systems respond.
A. So what might be the cause?
B. It seems to be more environmental.
C. Similarly, food allergic reaction is deadly.
D. This led to a call for better food-labeling laws.
E. Besides, more adults are suffering from food allergies.
F. However, food allergies can cause life-threatening reactions.
G. More and more of them are having allergic reactions to certain foodstuffs.
On a bright Sunday morning, Damian Languell was sleeping soundly at home in Wade, Maine, the US. The sound that woke him at 8:15 was so 1 that he assumed it came from inside his house. As he got up to 2 , he heard another sound, this one coming most definitely from 3 . Looking out of his bedroom window, he 4 a tree engulfed in smoke about 500 yards away. A car was wrapped around the tree's base, and its engine was 5 .
Seeing that, he immediately 6 buckets of water and ran to the crash site. Up close, the 7 looked worse. The car was 8 nearly in two, and the tree was where the driver's seat ought to have been, as if 9 there. He thought that no one should have survived this 10 , and yet there was 16-year-old Thompson, still 11 with his terrified face pressed against the driver's side window in visible 12 . Languell tried stopping the fire with his buckets of water with no success. When the 13 got into the front seats, he realized he had to get the boy out of there as soon as possible.
14 , Languell tried to open the back door, but he failed. He grabbed a stone beside the tree and 15 the back door. This time, it 16 and the back door was opened and Languell crawled in. Thompson was struggling to get free when Languell noticed how bad his legs were. Using a pocket knife, Languell sawed through Thompson's 17. Now that Thompson was free of restraints (束缚), Languell pulled him out of a rear window, and then 18 him to safety before the car was entirely surrounded by flames.
Then Languell called a (n) 19 as Thompson suffered severely. Thompson thanked Languell for saving him, regardless of his own safety. Soon, the doctors arrived and Languell felt 20.
China's TikTok, which (take) the world by storm in the past three years, is working its magic in its home nation, too.
In the annual report of (it) parent company ByteDance this week, the Chinese version of TikTok, (call) Douyin, has accumulated 400 million daily active users. This is an (impress) growth for the addictive video app, had 250 million daily active users in January last year.
The report not only describes the user behavior and trends but also illustrates the cultural difference China and the US. For example, knowledge-based content is (extreme) popular in China, and less so in the US. Also, in the US, it seems that it's mostly teenagers who are creating the dances, but in China those who produce the most dance videos are users born in 1960s.
With Douyin, users can record videos, edit them and share them online. It is a great way (spend) the leisure time browsing these funny videos. Now, Douyin has established itself as one of the largest knowledge, culture and art (platform) in China.
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。
My mother is a ordinary woman with extraordinary ability. Poor as my family is, but with my mother's constant care and love, I feel warmly and happy. She always thinks of others first and never complains anything in her life, viewed life with an optimistic attitude. Also, she is a teacher with a good sense of humor and makes her students interest in English study. She shows great patient to those naughty ones, who also gives great comments on her in return. My mother always tries his best to deal with things perfectly. I hope I can be as good as my mother when I grow up. How a hero she is in my mind!
明信片，邀请你加入WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)的暑期项目。你对此非常感兴趣，请你写一封回信给他表示祝贺，并了解相关信息。 
Dear Li Hua,
How excited I am when I'm accepted as a volunteer of WCS! You know I have been saving the abandoned animals. So in this upcoming summer. I can do more to help the lovely animals and even the endangered ones. And I really expect you to join us! I am sure we will make a difference to nature and people!
Yours,
Jim
注意：1）词数100左右；2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Jim,
……
Looking forward to your reply!
Yours,
Li Hua
