It was summer 2019 in Aurora, Colorado, when CBS News first met Finn Lanning, a math teacher, and Damien, his student who always stood out.
Lanning was astonished when Damien told him he was not coming back to 1. He sat Damien down and found out what his story was. He learned that Damien had a 2 in heart and was in foster (寄养) care because social services couldn't find a foster family willing and able to meet his medical needs. He was 3 to leave school and move into a hospital.
But the real 4 was that Damien needed a transplant desperately. A lot of times it's 5 to get a transplant if someone doesn't have a stable home to return to after surgery.
"It 6 me like a ton of bricks. I mean, you just can't sit across from somebody you care about and hear them say something like that and know that you have room to help," Lanning said. That's how Lanning became a foster parent. He 7 Damien even though he'd been a confirmed bachelor (单身汉) who delighted in his childlessness.
They got along smoothly, although Damien refused to get too excited. "I'm afraid the bubbles will burst one day. It's kind of bad thinking about that, but some people actually do that. Like, they'll be happy with you one day and then just kick you out the next," Damien said. Lanning told him he's not going anywhere, 8 Damien believes it or not.
In the nearly two years since CBS News shared their story, Damien was able to get a transplant and he's a much 9 15-year-old. "It's like a dream come true," Damien said.
It's proof that sometimes 10 do end happily ever after.
Levi Strauss was the first man to begin producing special, strong trousers for working people. He made these trousers from a fabric called "denim"—a tough fabric probably came from a town named Nimes in France. Many people now think the English word "denim" comes from the (France) words "de Nimes", which means "from Nimes". Later, Strauss added special metal buttons to the trousers to make them even (strong) and they immediately became very popular.
An email invitation is an electronic means of sending an invite to a person or a group of people (come) to a particular event. It is the technological version of sending an invitation mail. Most people turn to this method because of various reasons. One of them is cost-effectiveness. Unlike the (tradition) invitation, you have to spend a considerable amount of money to print invitations plus an additional cost to send them. By using formal email in PDF, all you need is a digital graphic print, typewritten words, and internet to send to everyone.
Among the summer's television hits in 2020 in China (be) "Sisters Who Make Waves". The show involved 30 female celebrities over the age of 30 (compete) for a spot in a five-member band. Viewers watched them train, perform and live together. Five hundred (woman), picked at random, got to vote for their favourite. Within three days of its airing in June, over 300 million watched the first episode on Mango TV, a streaming app (own) by the state television net work of Hunan, a central province.
Thank you. It's my great honor to be given this award.
You cannot imagine that I have always been a late starter. Years ago, when I was 16, I took an important exam — GCE (General Certificate of Education), which turned out to be a failure. My dad was reading my report card and saw that my position in class was 29th, but the number in class was 29. It meant that I had achieved the distinction of being bottom of my class.
I wasn't lazy, and I was really trying. You can picture how I felt. Dad put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You can only do the best you can, but whatever you decide to do, make sure you love it." He was a really sweet guy and a great man. I knew his attempt to hide his disappointment with some of his encouraging words. I was depressed for a week, but his advice was a wake-up call.
Fortunately I love working with my hands, and I was good at two things: woodwork and art, and I really loved to draw and paint. I was quite talented. Dad strongly encouraged me to go to art school, which in those days wasn't the obvious place that a father would suggest.
So I got into Hartlepool College of Art. The college was a revelation (出乎意料), the passionate teachers there, who were extremely interested in the students, not just tolerating them but actually engaging with them. It was a world apart from my schooling until then. It's extraordinary what an enthusiastic teacher can do, drawing the student out, lighting independence, and encouraging a design of your own future, rather than waiting for something to happen. I'm honored to have become one of these passionate teachers years later.
My teachers inspired me, and thanks to my dad, here I am tonight. I think I should mention all the talents I have worked with over time, and to my kids and my wife Giannina, thank you.
Thank you for this great award. I shall find a very special place for it.
William had worked hard to pass the exams to enter high school. When the term began, however, his father told him that there was no money to pay for his school fees because of the summer drought. Still, William wanted to learn.
He made the village library his school. One day, he found a book called Using Energy. On the book's cover was a picture of windmills, tall steel towers with blades (叶片) spinning like giant fans. He learned that wind—something of which his hometown had plenty—could produce electricity.
He couldn't help picturing his own windmill in mind, but collecting the parts and tools he needed would take months. In a junkyard, he dug through piles of used metal, old cars, and worn-out tractors, searching for anything that might help him construct his machine. He made four-foot-long blades from plastic pipe, which he melted over a fire, flattened out, and hardened with bamboo poles.
Earning some money, he paid a blacksmith to attach the piston (活塞) to the pedal sprocket (踏板链轮) of an old bicycle frame. This would be the axle (轮轴) of the windmill. When the wind blew, the spinning blades would turn the bicycle wheel and spin a small dynamo (发电机), donated by his friend.
When he had collected all the parts, William began putting them together. He fixed the blades to the tractor fan he found, using washers (垫圈) he'd made from bottle caps. Next he pushed the fan onto the piston joint to the bicycle frame. With the help of his two best friends, William built a 16-foot-tall tower from trunks of trees and lifted the ninety-pound windmill to the top.
The big moments eventually came. He climbed up the tower and connected two wires that held a small bulb. As the wind whipped around him, the blades began to turn, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The light bulb flickered (闪烁), then flashed to life. The crowd cheered from below. "Wachitabwina (well done)!"
William's machine now powered his house. And the story of the boy who'd built a power-generating windmill to rescue his family from the drought spread across the Internet.
According to statistics published by the BPI (Buying Power Index) a couple of months ago, digital streaming (流媒体) now accounts for 80 percent of the music consumption in the UK. Despite the incredible growth of online streaming platforms like iTunes, Apple Music and Tidal over the past 15 years, a more traditional medium has also seen a return of interest and sales in the music industry. In 2020, almost one in five of all albums purchased in the UK is vinyl (黑胶唱片), and it has once again become the most popular physical musical medium.
With digital streaming so easy and convenient, why are so many people drawn to traditional records? Some experts claim that vinyl is a physical medium for experiencing music, something tangible (有形的) to hold and own. For most people, having something tangible and interacting with it gives depth to the experience of music. Listening to an album and touching it the way the artist intended can make them feel more connected to the music and the artist. Records are physical products that can be not only displayed but also gifted, shared, traded and passed down through generations.
Sound quality is another hot topic. A lot of music lovers feel that the analogue sound (模拟声音) vinyl offers is superior to modern digital audio, particularly with regards to the compressed formats streaming platforms use. There's a common belief that old-school analogue audio has a warmer, fuller sound than digitised music. For vinyl followers, the very defect traditional recorders often have, such as the familiar crackle (劈啪作响) when the record starts, bring the music to life in a different way.
There's a ritualistic aspect to vinyl that a lot of people are drawn to, too. The act of putting a record on—carefully removing the record from the sleeve, placing it on the record player and gently dropping the needle on the right groove (凹槽)—is a more assiduous (一丝不苟的), mindful way of engaging with music. When you're listening to vinyl, you can't tap a button and go about your day while the streaming service provides hours of music. You need to stay close to the record player to move the needle and flip the record over.
It's clear that the vinyl interest is well underway, and vinyl records are truly making a comeback. In an increasingly digital society, there's something to be said for analogue experiences. Perhaps one of the great things about being alive in the 21st century is our ability to have the best of both worlds—the timeless appeal of physical records alongside the easy access to vast music libraries that streaming offers.
A medical capsule robot is a small, often pill-sized device that can do planned movement inside the body after being swallowed or surgically inserted. Most models use wireless electronics or magnets or a combination of the two to control the movement of the capsule. Such devices have been equipped with cameras to allow observation and diagnosis, with sensors that "feel," and even with mechanical needles that administer drugs.
But in practice, Biomechatronics engineer Pietro Valdastri has found that developing capsule models from scratch (从头开始) is costly, time-consuming and requires advanced skills. "The problem was we had to do them from scratch every time," said Valdastri in an interview. "And other research groups were redeveloping those same modules from scratch, which didn't make sense."
Since most of the capsules have the same parts of components: a microprocessor, communication submodules, an energy source, sensors, and actuators (致动器), Valdastri and his team made the modular platform in which the pieces work in concert and can be interchanged with ease. They also developed a flexible board on which the component parts are snapped in like Legos. The board can be folded to fit the body of the capsule, down to about 14 mm. Additionally, they compiled (编译) a library of components that designers could choose from, enabling hundreds of different combinations. They arranged it all in a free online system. Designers can take the available designs or adapt them to their specific needs.
"Instead of redeveloping all the modules from scratch, people with limited technological experience can use our modules to build their own capsule robots in clinical use and focus on their innovation," Valdastri said.
Now, the team has designed a capsule equipped with a surgical clip to stop internal bleeding. Researchers at Scotland's Royal Infirmary of Edinburg have also expressed interest in using the system to make a crawling capsule that takes images of the colon(结肠). One research group, led by professors at the Institute of Digestive Disease of the Chinese University of HongKong, is making a swimming capsule equipped with a camera that pushes itself through the stomach.
One limitation of Valdastri's system is that it's only for designing models. Researchers can confirm their hypotheses (假设) and do first design using the platform, but will need to move to a custom approach to develop their capsules further and make them practical for clinical use.
The Case for Classics
Many high schoolers complain when they look at a course syllabus (大纲) for Chinese and see literary assignments that include The Story Of The Stone and other pieces of classic literature. But there are some good reasons why reading the classics is an important part of a 21st century education.
As students explore texts that were written hundreds of years before, they peer through a window into the world as it was in those days. Being able to hear those voices from the past is a privilege young people should be grateful to have.
Furthermore, as students examine classic works, they begin to see the fabric of history from a different perspective. Absorbed with their own daily activities, most teens rarely think about the fact that human civilization has been around for a long time. The experiences and perspectives of those people can provide important insights into the challenges that teenagers face today. The wording and style may have changed, but the underlying themes that stir the heart, including love, loss, courage, revolution, and humor, are as true today as they were for the authors of these early works.
One of the most important reasons to study classic literature, however, is to expand one's mind. To illustrate this, a group of scientists gathered volunteers who agreed to have their brains scanned while reading phrases from classic literature in both their original form and in modern translations. The result of the study showed a significant increase in the brain activity of people reading the original texts.
It connects students to the history and values of the broader human community. It challenges their minds with the ideas and words of people who came before them. Therefore, if today's teens are going to grow as readers, writers, and critical thinkers, it is essential that classic literature remains a part of their education.
A. Clearly, that's why it is so important.
B. Classic literature is important in a high school education.
C. These were things that were on people's minds at that time.
D. Students often wonder why they have to study "ancient" writing.
E. Reading writings from long ago can be like stepping into a time machine.
F. Nor do they realize their lives are connected to the lives of the ancient people.
G. Learning to appreciate an unfamiliar style of writing can stretch the brain and help it grow stronger.
Teenagers are learning new communication skills every day. It is important for them to have opportunities to network, or to meet and get to know new people. Online networking, which is very popular with teens today, makes short, superficial connections. But offline networking better encourages meaningful connections that will increase hope, develop skills, and open avenues to career opportunity. Teens need to practice more offline networking. It will prepare them to be confident face-to-face communicators in the real world.
A survey of almost 7,000 teens was conducted in 2019 by three Swiss researchers, and they found that teens were spending too much time on social networking sites. So, they suggested that teens should spend more time with others in real life. It not only contributes to a stronger sense of identity and a happier mood, but also gives us the chance to share happiness with other people. In other words, offline networking seems to actually benefit a teen's emotional health.
Face-to-face communication also gives teens an opportunity to learn to read people. Everyone communicates in person differently than communicating over the phone, through texting, or in online posts. Being face-to-face requires a person to think and respond more quickly—without the safety net of a delete key.
And much of our communication is nonverbal anyway. Facial expressions, gestures, and vocal tones are just a few examples. Teens need to have face-to-face interactions so they can learn to read these nonverbal cues(暗示), which are sometimes even more important than the words a person is saying. A time will come when the teen will need to enter the job market, and this usually means a face-to-face interaction, including interacting naturally with customers, hearing and understanding their words as well as their nonverbal cues in many different kinds of businesses.
Offline networking is important because it can improve a teenager's well-being and help prepare him for the future. That's why every teen should spend time practicing real-world interactions.
Hearing and understanding what a person is saying is necessarily involved in communication, so people get less from nonverbal expressions.
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Dear Chris，
……
Yours,
Li Hua
