One day, I visited a shelter with my pet rabbit Soapy. No one smiled a greeting, and they appeared uninterested. One little girl in particular moved like a wisp (纤弱的小东西) in the background. I was told that she had been there for over a month and had not spoken the entire time. Her mother said she had talked at one time but not in recent memory. I didn't want to imagine what could have happened to rob this little girl of the natural curiosity and enthusiasm so natural to childhood.
Spreading a blanket on the floor, I sat down and put Soapy on it. I told the group that Soapy would come to talk to them if they sat on his blanket. Several children did this, including the silent girl. She sat rigidly at the edge of the blanket, staring hard at Soapy. She didn't reach out to him or encourage him in any way. Rather she sat tensely, just staring.
Soapy circled around and finally came to a stop about two inches from her. He quietly reached out and laid his chin on her knee. I was astonished. While a common behavior for dogs, this is not a behavior normally exhibited by a rabbit.
The girl slowly leaned toward Soapy. When her face was within inches of his, she carefully reached out and circled him with her arms. Quietly, she pillowed her head on his back and whispered to him, so softly that no one in the room could hear. Soapy remained motionless.
I looked up and noticed that the shelter workers had stopped talking. Every adult in the room froze in place. Time seemed to have stopped.
The little girl reappeared when I was to leave. I held Soapy out to her. She wrapped him in a big hug and pressed her face against him. Soapy laid his head on the child's shoulder, his breathing slowed, and his eyes closed. As the little girl released her hug and turned away, I thought I saw the beginnings of a faint smile.
The rabbit in his cloud of soft, warm fur had touched something deep in the child. Soapy's innocence and trust appeared to kindle those very same qualities in the little girl. It seems the language of the heart is simple after all.
Free school meals are back in the news. Footballer Marcus Rashford's petition(请愿书) to extend free school meals provision (作眵合) into the school holidays has collected 1.1 million signatures, causing the government to change policy. It has restarted the debate over free school meals by figures forecasting that if the government ends as planned the current£20 top-up (附加款), another 200,000 children will slip into poverty.
The roots of the current school meals system lie in the mid-19th century. In Manchester, independent charities as well as official bodies started to provide free meals for children lacking in nutrition in the 1870s. When education became compulsory later, the extent of the issue became apparent. Proponents of feeding starving children pointed out that it was due to government order that children were in school, not working and contributing to the family food budget, so the government should pay.
Reception was mixed. Then, children rejected foods they weren't used to. Some children were put off brassicas (莽菜类) for life. Finding the balance between cheap and good proved hard. The chief medical officer talked about the lack in calorie value and elements of a well-balanced diet which a needy child does not get at home, such as milk, cheese, eggs, green vegetables, fruit and meat. In 1980, the British government, desperate to cut costs, made provision largely optional and abolished nutritional standards. Over the next 15 years, convenience and cost became the most important.
In the last year, we've seen all of the age-old debates repeated once more. How do we guarantee quality? Who decides what children eat? Who pays? Undemutrition does not just have physical effects, but also affects behavior and ability to learn. It has a lifelong impact. The arguments arm.1 d free school meals seem never to end. But they are hugely important and, until poverty is ended, they will not and should not go away.
"That's awesome," said NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, after he ate a piece of red lettuce (窝笸） that was grown in a special box. "Tastes good," agreed US astronaut Scott Kelly, who is spending one year at the research station. "Kind of like arugula (芝麻菜）)" Kelly added, and then used small bottles to spread olive oil and vinegar on his leaf, much as one might spread ketchup on a hot dog.
NASA says that if space explorers can grow their own food while they are away from the Earth they would be more likely to survive the deep space exploration, which can last months or even years. With no way to resupply a spacecraft making a long journey to and from Mars, the ability to grow food during the trip will be key to survive. "Having the ability for us to grow our own food is a big step in that direction," Kelly said.
Ray Wheeler, NASA's lead scientist for advanced life support activities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, also said fresh foods that contain antioxidants, such as tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce, "could have a positive impact on people's moods and also could provide some protection against radiation in space.
The red romaine lettuce was grown in a special plant-growing box called a Veggie unit, and was flown to space. The seeds are contained in rooting pillows, which come complete with soil and fertilizer. Since water cannot be poured in space, a special irrigation system delivers moisture to the plant pillows from below.
The seeds were "activated" by Kelly on July 8 and grew for 33 days. On Monday, Lindgren used tongs (夹子) to harvest the lettuce from its growing box, before attaching the leaves carefully to a tray. He cleaned them with food-safe bag and shared with other four members.
A previous crop of lettuce was grown in space last year but was not eaten by astronauts. Instead, it underwent-and passed-food safety tests back on Earth.
For decades, doctors have warned patients that too much salt can be bad for the heart. Heart attack has long been considered a grown-up problem. Eating too much salty food when you're young can lead to health problems later.
Salt is made up of two elements: sodium and chlorine (钠和氯）.Dietary guidelines recorrunend that adults and kids aged 9-13 shouldn't consume more than about a teaspoon of sodium daily.
This worries doctors because too much sodium results in the body producing more blood. To pump the extra blood, the heart has to work harder. This causes a rise in blood pressure - a measurement of how stressed the heart is. High blood pressure often leads to heart disease.
A kid with high blood pressure is more likely to become a grown-up with high blood pressure.
British researchers recently found that kids who eat less salt also drink fewer sugary soft drinks. Drinking fewer fiz巧（碳酸）drinks makes kids less likely to gain weight, become obese and develop high blood pressure.
A recent study found that a growing number of kids in the US are suffering from kidney stones(肾结石) .This painful condition usually affects people aged over 40. Now, kids as young as five are getting it.
Cutting down on salt can be hard, but you can retrain yourself to prefer less salty food. The best way to reduce the amount of sodium you eat is to make changes gradually. Switch to fresh foods instead of canned and bottled versions. And go easy on the condiments (调味品) .You might also want to start reading nutrition labels. You may be surprised to learn that there are 1,150 mg of sodium in a double cheeseburger, and over 2,000 mg in many frozen meals.
A. Salt isn't the only cause of diseases.
B. The average American eats twice this amount.
C. Salt can affect more than just your heart and weight.
D. Reducing salt might also help stop childhood obesity.
E. But new research suggests that salt is starting to affect children.
F. Start by adding half as much salt to your dinner as you normally do.
G. Cutting down on salt now can lower a person's risk of heart disease.
Bobby the mountain climber was famous for his attempts to climb the big snowy mountain. He had tried it at least thirty times, but had always failed halfway.
For the sake of1Bobby to try again, Old Peeper, the town optician ( 眼镜商), who bore witness to his2, presented him with a pair of 3sunglasses. "If it starts clouding over or if your feet start hurting, put on these glasses. They'll help you." Bobby accepted the gift without giving it much4,but when his feet started5again he remembered his words and put on the glasses. Then 6 came as usual in the form of cloud cover, but seemingly not so thick this time. So Bobby7climbing, leaving the clouds behind, forgetting 8and finally arriving at the summit. It was9worth it. His feeling of triumph was10, almost as magnificent as that wonderful11. The mountain below was surrounded by a dense sea of clouds. Bobby didn't remember the clouds being as12as that, so he looked more closely at the sunglasses, and13everything.
Peeper had carved a light14on the lenses, in the form of the snow-covered summit. It was made in such a way that you could only15it if you looked upwards. Peeper had understood that whenever Bobby lost sight of his16, he would similarly lose sight of his dream, and his17to continue would weaken.
Bobby realized that the only obstacle to reaching the summit had been his own18.When he could no longer see the top of the mountain, the problems19. He thanked Peeper for using that little20to help him see that his aims were not impossible, and that they were still there, where they had always been.
On Sina Weibo, Actress Ma Sichun's name has recently been trending. Ma appeared in the(five) season of a variety show, Roast. The audience was astonished that she was overweight. She looks totally different from her slim appearance in You Are My Hero, (release) on March 11, in which Ma plays a doctor.
People are wondering what happened to Ma. In a video, she publicly admitted that she has been suffering from depressionhadn't realized that it was a disease. Since she was a child, pressure from family and school life taught her to be careful. She was alsovictim of bullying in senior high school. After(step) into showbiz (演艺圈），Ma tried to get rid of accusations of nepotism(裙带关系) because her aunt is well-known actress Jiang Wenli.
For a long time, Ma(stick) in a cycle of depression. But now, she has learned to cope. "I've learned how to make peace with myself and the past," Ma said in an interview with GQ Lab. "I'm(true) making an attempt to be more open-mmded and(courage)," she added.
Standing on the stage of Roast, Ma played jokes about remarksher overweight brought about by taking medicine. She even encouraged those suffering from depression in the video. "Go to a doctor and receive treatment. Only when(face) it can you accept yourself."
1）短片内容；
2）放映时间、地点；
3）欢迎大家加入英语社。
注意：
1）词数 80 左右；
2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Last Christmas my elder sister Jane got a unicvcle (独轮脚踏车） she had requested. I thought it kind of strange, wondering why she would want something like that. She did 远 and practice for a while, but eventually stopped.
Curious, I tried it, finding it very hard and thinking it impossible for a weak girl like me to learn. Since the dining room of our old house had low beams (屋梁），I used them like monkey bars to匹型蓝riding, which helped a lot. Because I thought it was really fun, I practiced every spare moment I had, teaching myself to go forwards, backwards and to turn. Practicing was something I loved to do in my spare time, but it did get discouraging when I fell. After months of practicing, I finally made it.
One morning, our teacher Maria excitedly announced that a school talent show was to be held to raise money for 生型辽She encouraged my classmates to sign up for it. I'm not always best in front of a crowd, which was why I was very nervous when I meant to put on my performance by doing a hula hoop (圈) and riding a unicycle on stage. But I overcame my fear and entered myself for the talent show, for which I practiced a lot in case I should mess up.
My routine (整套动作) was to do the hula hoop from my neck, down to my stomach, then to my knees. After that, I was to ride my unicycle forwards and backwards on 型坚. Lastly I would do the hula hoop while riding the unicycle. I was to do all this accompanied by my carefully selected music. I wondered what people from my seventh grade would think of my performance. With my friends inspiring me, I built up my confidence. On the night of the show, many people found out there was going to be a unicycle performance, so more came, even the headmaster.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
There was tremendous applause when the curtain rose.
Paragraph 2:
When I got home, I couldn't wait to check my mobile phone left at home.
