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take action, in the face of, by contrast, come one's way, be based on, compared to, devote oneself to, focus on, put off, weigh up |
We sometimes find (we) worrying about our future. We can take action (shape) it or we just have to accept comes our way. (have) plans in place for the future can't guarantee they will become reality. Ernest Hemingway and Arthur Conan Doyle shared same ambitious and energetic approach to life but their careers (unfold) in contrasting ways. Having set his goal, Hemingway wrote novels and short stories based on his (person) experiences in different places. The old man and the sea helped him win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Nobel Prize literature. By contrast, Doyle was better known for Sherlock Holmes than his historical novels, was his main ambition. They had different (path) to success, so we should be prepared for the unexpected, no matter what might happen.
Noelle Stevenson has always been a fan of science fiction and fantasy. As a kid, she loved it all: the epic space battles, the magic, the quests that seemed larger than life. But there was a problem with her favorite childhood stories, like Star Wars and The Lord of The Rings series. "I never quite saw myself reflected in them," Stevenson says, "certainly not at the heart of the story." She wanted a female version of Luke Skywalker and Lord Sauron.
Stevenson began her career as a comic (漫画) writer. In 2015, her graphic novel Nimona was a National Book Awards finalist and her series Lumberjanes won two Eisner Awards. When Netflix and DreamWorks wanted to reboot (重启) SheRa: Princess of Power—an epic showdown between magical princesses and an evil alien invader—Stevenson was all in.
She kept much of the original show's action and adventure—the reboot takes place on the planet Etheria, and one of the princesses who is trying to stop the evil Horde army from taking over is named Adora. She grew up behind enemy lines, taken from her home by the Horde and raised as a soldier. But eventually, Adora realizes the atrocities the Horde has committed against the Etherians and leaves to join the rebellion (叛乱), and she quickly finds a magical sword that transforms her into a giant warrior princess named SheRa.
Stevenson did make one small but important change to the show: Its name. The Netflix and DreamWorks version is SheRa and the PRINCESSES of Power. All the princesses are important.
The Notre Dame fire has been put out, but its spire and a large portion of its wooden roof have been damaged. The terrible destruction causes a sudden sharp pain to people around the world. On Chinese social media network WeChat a common comment on the disaster is: "What a pity that we cannot see the damaged parts of the wonder anymore."
But the good news is that there is at least one way of seeing them, namely via a video game called Assassin's Creed: Unity. In this game, the player can travel to one city after another and enter the buildings exactly like what they are in reality, and see Notre Dame as it was before the fire. Further, with virtual reality technology, which is already quite mature, one can even look around the undamaged Notre Dame as if it is still there. Maybe digital technology could help to better protect architectural cultural heritage.
The idea of digitizing ancient buildings, making digital models of them so their data can be saved, dates back to the 1990s and the necessary technology has continued to advance since then. By scanning the ancient buildings with lasers, building 3D models with multiple images, as well as measuring everything precisely, engineers can make a copy as accurate as the real one.
As computers and smartphones are hugely popular, the digital replica (复制品) has great use value. First, it allows tourists to feel the cultural relics without touching them, which helps protect them. The virtual tour of Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu Province is a good example of this as tourists can view the paintings without standing near them. Furthermore, it can make the digitized cultural relics more famous by spreading awareness about them via the Internet. In 2000, a virtual tour of the Great Wall became very popular at the Hannover World Expo, which increased the number of foreign tourists visiting the site in the following years. Above all, it preserves all the information of the cultural relics. Even if the original ones are damaged one day, people can still know what they were like and can build a replica if desired.
Of course, however precise a model is, it is not the original. Time is the biggest threat to a country's architectural heritage, which will always become ruins with the passing of time. Maybe we will have better technologies in the future, but the digital technology offers a practical way to preserve architectural cultural heritage at the moment.
The small town of Rjukan in Norway is situated between several mountains and does not get direct sunlight from late September to midMarch—nearly six months out of the year.
"Of course, we1it when the sun is shining", says Karin Ro, who works for the town's tourism office. "We see the sky is 2, but down in the valley it's darker—it's like on a 3 day."
But that changed when a system of hightech 4 was introduced to reflect sunlight from neighboring peaks (山峰) into the valley below. Wednesday, residents (居民) of Rjukan 5 their very first ray of winter sunshine: A row of reflective boards on a nearby mountainside were put to 6. The mirrors are controlled by a computer that 7 them to turn along with the sun throughout the day and to close during windy weather. They reflect a concentrated beam (束) of light onto the town's central 8, creating an area of sunlight roughly 600 square meters. When the light 9, Rjukan residents gathered together.
"People have been sitting there and standing there and taking 10 of each other, " Ro says. "The town square was totally 11. I think almost all the people in the town were there." The 3, 500 residents cannot all enjoy the sunshine at the same time. 12, the new light feels like more than enough for the town's 13 residents.
"It's not very 14, " she says, "but it is enough when we are 15."
