On one of her trips to New York several years ago, Eudora Welty decided to take a couple of New York friends out to dinner. They settled in at a comfortable East Side cafe and within minutes, another customer was approaching their table.
"Hey, aren't you from Mississippi?" the elegant, white-haired writer remembered being asked by a stranger. "I'm from Mississippi too."
Without a second thought, the woman joined the Welty's table. When her dinner partner showed up, she also pulled up a chair.
"They began telling me all the news of Mississippi," Welty said. "I didn't know what my New York friends were thinking."
Taxis on a rainy New York night are rarer than sunshine. By the time the group got up to leave, it was pouring outside. Welty's new friends immediately sent a waiter to find a cab. Heading back downtown toward her hotel, her big-city friends were amazed at the turn of events that had changed their Big Apple dinner into a Mississippi.
"My friends said: ‘Now we believe your stories,'" Welty added. "And I said: ‘Now you know. These are the people that make me write them.
Beauticians, bartenders, piano players and people with purple hats, Welty's people come from afternoons spent visiting with old friends, from walks through the streets beside her house, from conversations overheard on a bus.
It annoys Welty that, at 78, her left ear has now given out. However, she continues to walk into life and notes the vivid life. Sometimes, sitting on a bus or a train, she hears only a fragment(片段) of a particularly interesting story, yet she quickly takes out a notebook and write something fantastic under her point of pen.
“I honestly have no idea how that cat got up there. It's a hundred—foot—metal pole. There's no way he climbed that thing,”Jim said to the worried woman. It wasn't even her cat, but she was passing by and saw it. immediately calling the fire—station to come to save it. Jim saw a lotof strange things as a fireman, often sad or upsetting things, but this was new.
“I suppose we could get the blanket and see if we can convince the poor cat to jump down. But he doesn't really look too scared…”Jim said to the woman.
“Dave, get overhere!” Jim called over his shoulder to the fire truck driver. Dave walked over and looked where Jim was pointing.
“How'd he get up there?”
Jim shrugged, similarly puzzled.“Do you suppose we could get the blanket and convince him tojump?”
Dave shrugged in response.“I don't seewhy not.”
Jim looked up at the black mass on the top of the flagpole, the Americannag waving proudly beneath him. It was definitely a cat, and heregarded the people gathered below as if they were his subjects(臣民) and he their king, his yellow eyes scanning his surroundings with apparentd is interest.
When the blanket was spread out below the cat, Jim and Davebegan striking the flagpole. The cat lookeddown, and then gazed into the sky as if it were looking for something. Jim and Davefollowed his gaze. Suddenly, out of theclear sky, appeared adark figure. The figures wooped(俯冲) low toward the flag pole. It was aneagle! As it got closer, the cat leaped down the pole swiftly onto the ground, and then got lost in the bushes.
Jim, Dave, and the oldwoman were left with their mouths open. They all agreedit was the best way to get it down.
It's not easy being a teenager— nor is it easy being the parent of a teenager. You can make your child feel angry, hurt, or misunderstood by what you say without realizing it yourself. It is important to give your child the space he needs to grow while gently letting him know that you'll still be there for him when he needs you.
Expect a lot from your child, just not everything. Except for health and safety problems, such as drug use or careless driving; consider everything else open to discussion. If your child is unwilling to discuss something, don't insist he tell you what's on his mind. The more you insist, the more likely that he'll clam up. Instead, let him attempt to solve things by himself. At the same time, remind him that you're always there for him if he seeks advice or help. Show respect for your teenager's privacy (隐私). Never read his mail or listen in on personal conversations.
Teach your teenager that the family phone is for the whole family. If your child talks on the family's telephone for too long, tell him he can talk for 15 minutes, but then he must stay off the phone for at least an equal period of time. This not only frees up the line so that other family members can make and receive calls, but teaches your teenager moderation (节制). Or if you are open to the idea, allow your teenager his own phone that he pays for with his own pocket money or a part-time job.
Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea. People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.
Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea. Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added. She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady that her friends thought they must copy everything she did, they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening. No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess(公爵夫人)found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o'clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born .
We all know about the health benefits of swimming. It offers a great workout for the body—it builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness. If you don't mind getting wet, it can be fun too. Well, many people are fond of it, based on evidence that it can actually be good for us.
Cold-water swimming—sometimes called wild swimming—involves swimming in natural areas including ponds, rivers and the sea. Jumping in gives a short sharp shock to the body, A cold dip might wake you up, but research has found it can have much bigger benefits than that for your body and mind. As well as being good exercise, spending time outdoors and by water improves wellbeing.
One man who suffered constant pain after surgery claimed he was cured by taking a plunge in cold open water. And another swimmer, Sandria Simons, told the BBC "the immersion4 of your body in cold, salt water, just feeling like you're at one with nature if you like, just feels amazing."
But what is it that people are gaining from this chilly experience? Doctors say getting into cold water arouses a stress response, but the more you do it, your reaction to stress is reduced. It's also thought to have a strong anti-inflammatory effect. But there are bigger benefits to this stress-reducing exercise. Some experts believe cold-water swimming helps 'cross-adaptation', where one form of stress prepares the body for another.
So, if you're convinced that this is for you, take advice: approach it with caution, swim with a friend, and maybe start in the summer,
A. but many participants say they get used to it.
B. when the water temperatures are higher!
C. Swimming is good exercise, in part because it is fun.
D. But who would enjoy swimming in water that's ice cold?
E. Cold weather limits the months when ocean or lake swimming is possible.
F. There is much evidence suggesting cold-water swimming's benefits.
G. For example, it also helps reduce the stress of exercising at high altitude.
Last Friday when Jose Rodriguez, a 5-year-old white boy, asked his mother Lydia Rodriguez if he could get his blonde hair cut like his black friend Reddy's, and of course his mother agreed. For a very 1 reason the two pre-school friends decided to 2 their teacher with matching haircuts.
Jose 3 that if he and Reddy had the same haircut, no one would be able to 4 them apart. Reddy apparently thought this trick was 5 as well.
"It is just two 6 boys. Obviously, they see they are different colours, but they just don't care. It is not 7," Rodriguez said. She sees Jose's inability to see a 8 between himself and his friend as a parenting win. "I just taught him to 9 everyone the same," she said.
The teacher played along and 10 she was talking to Jose when Reddy arrived before Jose and told the teacher and his 11he was Jose.
On Monday, Rodriguez 12 the story on the Facebook.78,000 people 13 it and the story has gone viral(疯传). On the post she wrote: "If this isn't proof that 14 and prejudice is something that is 15, I don't know what is. Their 16 is the only difference Jose sees in the two of them. Though Jose loves 17 himself on TV and the Internet, he remains unsure why his haircut became such a big 18."
He still has no idea why people 19 so much," Rodriguez said. "He wanted to 20 Reddy and now he thinks they look the same."
As they walk down the halls during their years together at Shady Side, our boys and girls —— so soon to become men and women —— are learning to think, to work, to question, to be and , towith others, to laugh at their mistakes and to act when comes their way.
Sir William Osler, a famous Canadian doctor, the value of by saying, "No man is really happy a hobby, and it makes precious little what the outside may be."
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 mom and dad are great cooks, but I always enjoy staying at home and having delicious food. I remembered when I was about six, all the kids in my neighborhood wanted hamburgers and chips, but some didn't have money to buy it. So my father tried to make some on the weekend and asked them eat at my home for the free. The kids were very happier. It helped me make lots of friend. Now I often cooking for my parents, and they like my dishes, either. It's really relaxing to sit around a table for my parents, eating and talking together.
⒈学校印象;
⒉校园活动;
⒊学习情况。
注意:⒈词数100左右;
⒉可适当增加细节,使行文连贯。
Dear Jenny,
I am happy to receive your letter.
Yours,
Li Hua