STAGES
Barbara and the Camp Dogs
The confident lead singer of a pub rock band, Barbara sets out on a road trip with her cousin Rene to reconnect with their family and see her sick mum. It's written by Alana Valentine, and Leticia Caceres directs a cast including Yovich.
Malthouse Theatre. Today, 6:30pm.
Tickets: $30-$55.
Bookings: (03) 9685 5111 or online.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong
The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society presents the Olivier award-nominated play Peter Pan Goes Wrong. JM Barrie's classic fairytale Peter Pan has been reimagined with comedic disasters, including technical problems and cast conflict.
Sydney Lyric Theatre. Tonight, 7pm.
Tickets: $69.90- $119.90.
Bookings: 1300 795 267 or online.
Kwongkan
Combining contemporary and traditional dance, the Ochre Contemporary Dance Company and the Daksha Sheth Dance Company perform Kwongkan to live music. Created and directed by Mark Howett, this piece explores ancient, present and future cultures where humans struggle to save the planet and themselves.
Fremantle Arts Centre. Tonight and Tomorrow, 7:30pm.
Tickets: $28.60-$51.
Inquiries: (08) 9432 9555 or online.
The Rosie Result
Author Graeme Simsion discusses his new novel, The Rosie Result, which explores the love life of middle-aged autistic (患自闭症的) character Don. Simsion presents the talk alongside clinical psychologist Tony Attwood. The event will be moderated (主持) by autism advocate Barb Cook.
Brisbane Powerhouse. Tonight, 7pm.
Tickets: $30-$57.
Bookings: (07) 3358 8600 or online.
George, once known as "Midnight Memory Maker," had been given away after his original owner, Todd Mathieson, died and his wife, Diane, could no longer care for him. She found a new home for George so that he could continue to race for a number of years.
In September, 2018, George was turned over to the Animal Rescue League (ARL) of Boston. When he arrived at the league's adoption center in Dedham, he was slightly underweight, and in need of medical care. But, overall, he was in good health, the league said.
George recuperated (休养) for a few months in Dedham before being put into foster care. "He was highly intelligent, elegant, well-trained and had clearly known love. He was very engaged with humans," Cordula Robinson, George's foster parent, said in the statement.
Robinson wanted to help George go home. She contacted animal rescue agencies up and down the East Coast to see if anyone recognized him. To her surprise, someone from New Jersey recognized George as once belonging to Todd Mathieson. He was well known and owned a stable in Connecticut, said Michael DeFina, a spokesman for the ARL. George is notable for his distinctive colors, such as white patches on his hooves (蹄子) that look "like socks," DeFina said. They went through show photos to confirm George's identity and contacted his original hostess.
Diane Mathieson was "overwhelmed and ecstatic (欣喜若狂)" about the possibility of reuniting with George.
After 13 years apart, George was transported to his family in Ocala, Florida, where he will enjoy his retirement. "He seems to be walking taller," Diane said.
Here's the list of skiers, who have won four consecutive (连续的) world championships: Nobody.
Well, nobody besides Mikaela Shiffrin, who did it last Saturday in Are, Sweden. The Colorado skier, still just 23, is the best story, really, of this sports winter in the slalom (障碍滑雪).
She pulled it off, despite an illness that challenged her breathing. Shiffrin told NBC after her win that her mother, Eileen, advised her before her second run: You don't have to do this. But Shiffrin told herself what she had told herself many times before: "I just need 60 seconds." So she did it, and she got it. Shiffrin is closing in on her third World Cup overall title. She's ranked No. 1 on the planet in slalom.
In women's skiing, the mountain is now Shiffrin's. She's earned it. Those two (and soon three) World Cup overalls; 56 World Cup individual victories; and, oh yeah, right, three Olympic medals, two of them gold. Shiffrin is already considered a serious threat to Ingemar Stenmark's record of 86 World Cup victories, and Lindsey Vonn's 82, though the 34-year-old surely would have collected more had she not suffered repeated injuries during her career. Of course, Shiffrin may wind up chasing someone else's mark—Austria's brilliant Marcel Hirscher, 29, now has 68 World Cup wins.
At the same time, Shiffrin loathes all the talk about the numbers and records. "People see the records and statistics. They are asking for more, more, more…it looks easy, but it isn't. Nowhere close," Shiffrin wrote. "What I see is training, sleepless nights, pain, doubt, delayed lights, canceled flights, lost luggage, expense, adventure, and some races mixed in there."
That's what happens when you're as good as she is. But nobody's been as good as she is. In a sense, Shiffrin is just getting started. It's very possible she will be at her peak powers when the Winter Olympics arrive in Beijing in 2022.
A Chinese company says it has created a new facial recognition system that can identify people even if they are wearing masks.
Engineers at the Beijing-based Hanwang Technology Ltd. say their system is the first to be created to effectively identify people wearing face masks. A team of 20 people built the system in about a month. The system is based on existing technologies developed over the past 10 years. The process involved adding a collection of about 6 million unmasked faces and a much smaller collection of masked faces.
Hanwang is now selling two main kinds of products that use the new technology. One performs "single channel" recognition, which is designed to be used at the entrances to buildings. The other product is a "multi-channel" recognition system that uses groups of surveillance cameras (监控摄像头).
"When wearing a mask, the recognition rate can reach about 95 percent, which can ensure that most people can be identified," said Huang Lei, Hanwang's vice president. He added that the system's success rate for people not wearing a mask is about 99.5 percent.
Huang said Hanwang's technology can be used to identify and track people as they move about. He added the system can identify crime suspects, terrorists or make reports or warnings.
However, the new system struggles to identify people wearing both a mask and sunglasses. "In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost. In such cases recognition is tough," Huang said.
It was not immediately clear how people were reacting to the new technology. While some have expressed opposition to such tools, many others seem to have showed interest in the new system and accepted it as a way to deal with the current health emergency — the spread of the novel coronavirus (新型冠状病毒). Huang says he sees the interest likely expanding if the virus continues to spread and the use of face masks increases.
The Internet is a place where we can talk freely. But it is also a place where we pay little attention to a worrying fact.
According to a recent survey by China Youth, more than 76 percent of young people in China said they felt their Chinese language skills have declined.For example, when one sees something funny, one will simply type "hahaha" or use the "cry-laugh" emoji (表情符号). Direct expression rather than words becomes the preferred way to communicate online. Also, copy and paste (粘贴) culture is getting popular among people.Some tend to use a fixed set of sentence patterns, such as "whenever you disagree with each other, you ..."
When we use expressions without thinking, it means we have become too lazy to express our real feelings. If teenagers adopt casual methods of expression like emojis, they could lose the ability to use words properly.
To improve our language skills, we should try to think independently and develop our own language logic.In addition, keep using various words to show our unique feelings.
A. Words are in general being used more.
B. We should also read more works of literature.
C. That is, our language competence is becoming poorer.
D. If this trend continues, it could influence our way of thinking.
E. People can share photos online with little need for digital technology.
F. Some simply pick up expressions from the Internet without much thought.
G. Digital technology and Internet memes (表情包) have changed their communication habits.
I was away from my grandmother when I was eight years old. I missed her1.I was always aware Granny loved us. It was something you could2with your heart. She didn't live in a fancy house or have3things, but I never noticed. It was the little things she gave me that had always4, things like letting me dip my fingers in the sugar bowl or the coffee she let me sip (抿一口)from her cup. She even allowed me to sit on top of her kitchen table as I had those5.
Granny always took the time to explain the6of her weather vane (风向标), hanging on the wall, which7the upcoming weather. How that little wooden boy and girl knew what door to come out of, when it was going to8, amazed me. She also had a vinegar glass bottle that sat high on a shelf. That was9, in my eyes; I asked if I could have the attractive bottle someday. It was given to me in a box after her10. She remembered it even when she was dying; love is like that.
She didn't have much money,11she did something for my brother and me. I will always remember; she saved her pennies in a glass12. I am sure Granny could have used those pennies herself but she saved them to give us when we came to visit. Because I was the oldest I was13dividing the pennies14between my brother and me. "One for you, one for me," I would repeat until the jar was15.
I don't remember how much we collected, nor was the amount16.What counts was the idea that she remembered us, and17us, when we were away from her.
Those18still give me warm feelings on days that I need them. I often wonder, after all those years, when I am19enough to find a penny lying on the ground20, if it could possibly be Granny throwing it to me from heaven.
Bill Gates and his wife have been quite deliberate about the model they've used to raise their three kids,are now 15, 18, and 22 years old. They follow a 1970s "Love and Logic" parenting model. The main idea of their model(base) on the idea that parents should attach importance to controlling emotions (情绪), especially minimizing emotional reactions like shouting or scolding kids.
One of the greatest(benefit) of applying "Love and Logic" is that it helps us learn how to keep our emotions and our tonguescontrol. Aside from controlling hot-blooded parent tempers, the "Love and Logic" model also(stress) the importance of showing unconditional love and admiring kids for who they are, not what they achievedon't achieve. Many highly (success) people struggled with grades as kids. What's most important is that our(child) develop good character, curiosity, and problem-solving skills.
The model pushes parents to focus on asking questions of their kids and getting them thinking about how to solve their own problems, instead of(feed) them answers.
Gates says the "Love and Logic" method is a far cry from the way he grew up, but he knew he wanted to do things(different) with his own kids.
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(＼)划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，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。
It was raining when I went home from school yesterday. I see an old man walking difficultly in the rain without a umbrella. I went up to him and offered to share my umbrella with him. He was very surprising and said "Thank you." When I tried to hold the umbrella to him, I found that she was very tall. I was too short hold the umbrella highly enough. Just when I was wondering what to do, and he took the umbrella. Several minute after we got to the bus stop, his bus came and he got on it. He again thanked me for that I had done. I went home happily.
注意：1）词数100左右，开头与结尾已给出，不计入总词数；
2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Amily,
……
Yours,
Li Hua
