We may not be aware of it, but ordinary family homes in the U.S. and the rest of the world are not energy-efficient.
Most of their energy goes to heating and cooling, and a lot of it is wasted, as warm air and cool air escape through fireplace chimneys and thin or poorly fitting windows and doors. A passive house loses almost none."Imagine a thermos(保温瓶),"said housing developer Brendan O'Neill."You have insulation(隔绝) everywhere, and it's basically completely sealed. And so the idea is to build a house like a thermos. So the windows are sealed. There's insulation completely surrounding the building. We make it as sealed as possible."
A 147-square-meter passive house, presented by O'Neill Development Corp. as a demonstration unit just outside Washington, was brought to the site in two boxes. "Once it's set and put together, it takes about four weeks to complete the outside construction, to put down carpets," O'Neill said. "If everything is set in place, you put a house like this together in about four months.”The total cost of building it was $325,000, or about 17 percent more than constructing an ordinary house. But its utility(公用事业) bill is only around $20 monthly, or one-tenth the amount for the average house of the same size.
While passive houses have been around for a long time, the idea has never taken root in the U.S. There was no driving force to push it.
However, David Peabody, an architect who designs passive houses said, "I think climate change is now becoming a larger issue. And I think building standards are catching on to that. So people are becoming more aware of energy."Peabody said the cost of building passive houses could come down."What really makes sense for truly affordable housing," he said, "is to build multi-storey buildings."
O. Henry, born in Greensboro, North Carolina, was the pen name of William Sydney Porter. His father, Algernon Sydney Porter, was a physician. When William was three years old, his mother died, and he was raised by his grandmother and aunt. William was a good reader, but at the age of fifteen he left school, and worked in a drug store and later on a Texas farm. After that, he moved to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including that of bank clerk. After moving to Austin, Texas, in 1882, he married.
In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The Rolling Stone. When the weekly failed, he joined The Houston Post as a reporter and columnist (专栏作家) . In 1897 he was put into prison over some financial (财务的) dealings. While in prison, William started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking(1899), appeared in McClure's Magazine. After serving three years of the five years' sentence，he changed his name to O. Henry, hoping to forget his bitter past.
O. Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, and also published the stories in other magazines. His first collection, Cabbages and Kings, appeared in 1904. Many other works quickly followed, such as The Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room. O. Henry's best- known work is The Ransom of Red Chief. His stories always have surprising endings. He published 10 collections and over 600 short stories during his lifetime.
O. Henry's last years were shadowed by drinking, ill health, and financial problems. In 1907, he experienced a failed marriage. In 1910, O. Henry died after an illness.
① He moved to New York City.
② He joined The Houston Post.
③ Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking came out.
④ The Furnished Room came out.
⑤ Cabbages and Kings appeared.
Sixteen years ago, I learned an important life lesson in the back of a New York City taxi.
I was on my way to Grand Central Station, and we were driving in the right lane when a black car suddenly sped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My driver fit the brakes hard, skidded, and missed the other car by a few inches. The driver of the other car, the man who had just nearly caused a huge accident, started shouting at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at him. He was really friendly!
“Why did you just do that?” I asked him. “This guy almost destroyed your car and could have sent us to the hospital!”
This was when my taxi driver told me what I now call “the Law of Garbage Trucks”.
“Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of anger, and full of disappointment,” he said. “As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it, and if you let them do, they'll dump it on you. So when someone wants to dump on you, just smile, wave, wish them will, and move on. You'll be happier because of what you have done.”
I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and dump it on other people—at work, at home, or on the street? It was on that day that I said, “I'm not going to dump anymore.”
Shellharbour City Library provides a range of Library Special Needs Services for people who are unable to access our library service in the usual way. As long as you live in Shellharbour City, we'll provide a full range of library services and resources including:
● Large printed and ordinary printed books
● Talking books on tape and CD
● DVDs and music CDs
● Magazines
● Reference and information requests
You will be asked to complete a "Statement of Need" application form which must be signed by a medical professional.
Home delivery service
Let us know what you like to read and we will choose the resources for you. Our staff will deliver the resources to your home for free. We also provide a service where we can choose the resources for you or someone instead of you choose the things from the library. You can also choose the resources you need personally.
Talking books and captioned(标字幕的)videos
The library can provide talking books for people who are unable to use printed books because of eye diseases. You don't have to miss out on reading any more when you can borrow talking books from the library. If you have limited hearing which prevents you from enjoying movies, we can provide captioned videos for you at no charge.
Languages besides English
We can provide books in a range of languages besides English. If possible, we will request these items from the State Library of NSW, Australia.
How to join?
Contact the Library Special Needs Coordinator to register（登记）or discuss if you are eligible (合适的) for any of the services we provide — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 9 am — 5 pm. Call 4297 2522 for more information.
You know that eating healthy, staying active, and solving a few brain games can help keep your memory. But the following lesser-known habits work wonders too.
⒈
When we sit with our shoulders bent forward, this defeated position actually causes us to feel anxious or depressed — which makes it harder to think clearly and remember things. Conversely (反过来), straight upright posture apparently improves memory because it boosts blood and oxygen flow to the brain.
⒉ Exercise — Once
Having trouble remembering faces? In a study, pictures of faces were shown to
older folks after they pedal a stationary (静止的) bike at an intense pace or simply sit on a self-pedaling bike. On average, people remembered the faces better after the intense exercise. What's more, the memory gains after a single workout were similar to the gains after 3 months of regular exercise.
⒊ Limit TV
Every parent and grandparent has heard that too much screen time can hurt a child's cognitive development. According to a study, people (aged 50 or older) who watched more than 3. 5 hours of TV a day for 6 years experienced a greater drop in verbal memory test scores than those who watched less.
⒋ Draw aimlessly
A research shows those who drew the words remembered the most when recalling words. That's because while some parts of the brain about getting memory back become worse as people grow older, the picture processing regions usually don't.
⒌ Walk Backward
Walk back! Backward motion — whether real, imagined, or watched — helps people remember the information better than sitting still and, in most cases, better than forward motion. It may be that moving backward in space mentally helps us move back in time to the moment we learned something.
A. Sit Tall.
B. Stand Straight.
C. Start more workouts.
D. Sweat for physical training.
E. Thus sketching can help adults keep their memory sharp.
F. But what about those at the other end of their life span?
G. Next time you're trying to recall something, don't just think back.
The Hand
Thanksgiving Day was coming. The first grade teacher gave her class a fun assignment—to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.
Douglas was the teacher's true child of misery, frail (脆弱的) and unhappy. While other children1at the playground, Douglas would like2close by her side. When3to draw a picture of something for which Douglas was thankful, he drew a hand. Nothing else. Just an empty hand.
His abstract image (抽象图)4the imagination of his classmates.5hand could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because farmers raise turkeys.6suggested a police officer, because the police protect and care for people. Still others guessed it was the hand of God,7God feeds us.
When the children8on to other assignments, the teacher paused9Douglas' desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was.
The little boy looked away and muttered, "It's…"
10aside a tear, the teacher went on with her work.
China successfully landed the Chang'e 4 lunar probe (月球探测器) on the far side of the moon on January 3, 2019, becoming the only country in history (touch) the lunar surface unseen by those on Earth. The far side of the moon has been seen and mapped (previous) by astronauts of the Apollo missions. But it is the first time that the moon's far side(set) foot on by spacecraft, and the successful landing of Chang'e 4 is seen as a major milestone in space(explore).
The Chang'e 4 spacecraft consiststwo parts: a lander and a rover (巡视器). Representing China's(new) step in the lunar probe project of all time, it landed at 10: 26 am of Beijing time. Then it sent back a photo of the landing place.(shoot) through cameras on the probe's lander, the photo marks the world's first image taken on the surface of the far side of the moon. One of the photos published by the China National Space Administration shows the placeChang'e 4's rover — named Yutu 2 — will be heading hours later forpurpose of conducting further research. The name Chang'e has its roots in the Chinese goddess of the moon. In the ancient tale, Chang'e(fly) to the heavens and landed on the moon as her final resting place.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号(/\)，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。
My village lie in the mountains in southwest China. Although the climate and landscape are pleased, people lead a tough life there. At the beginning of the 21stcentury, the government began to attach great importance to its development, under the influence of that, people's living condition began to improve. A lot of roads were built and plenty of trade centers were newly found, which made them convenient to develop economy. What's more, great many students were admitted into famous universities. In a word, thank to the government's support, great changes have been taken place in the past few years. My village takes up a new look now.
注意：①词数100左右；②可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
My dream job
