Books open doors in our minds. Here are 4 must-read books especially for novel lovers, and you should read them at least once in your life.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
It is the story of the unlikely and complicated friendship between Amir, the son of a wealthy merchant, and Hassan, the son of his father's servant until cultural and class differences and the war tear them apart. It's a story about the long shadows that family secrets cast across decades, the enduring love of friendship, and the transformative power of forgiveness.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
This Newbery award-winning novel tells the story of Annemarie, a Danish girl growing up in World War Ⅱ Copenhagen with her best friend, Ellen, who happens to be Jewish. When Annemarie learns that the Nazis are inflicting (迫害) on the Jewish people, she and her family make every effort to protect Ellen and her parents, as well as countless other Jews. Lowry's novel is a powerful reminder that cultural and religious differences are no divide between true friends.
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
When 11 year-old orphan Anne Shirley goes to live with the middle-aged brother and sister Matthew and Manila Cuthbert, she discovers that there's been some mistake and that they had actually wanted to adopt a boy. This is a heartwarming story of love and friendship and a reminder that sometimes life not working out the way we want it to is actually the best thing that can happen.
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
It tells the story of a little boy who falls to Earth from an asteroid after visiting several other asteroids to try to understand mankind. The Little Prince is an allegory (寓言) about the foolishness of man and man's tendency toward self-destruction through violence, as well as a heartwarming tale of the transformative power of friendship and trust.
This spring Steve Stuttard reunited with an unusual friend: Mrs. Mallard, a duck that nested in the flowerpot on his ninth-story apartment balcony in Manchester, UK, last year. Upon her return, she laid 11 eggs in the same flowerpot filled with grass.
"I know ducks have strange routines when it comes to nesting, and if they have a successful site, they will return to it," says Stuttard, a bird lover since childhood.
Stottard used skills learned in the Navy to create a jackstay (稳定锁) with a red rope and a bucket. Those skills came in handy last year when he quickly and safely transported Mrs. Mallard's seven ducklings (小鸭子) down once they hatched.
"Getting the ducklings down isn't as simple as a ride in the elevator. It's crucial not to hurt the bond between the ducklings and Mrs. Mallard," Stuttard says.
However, Stuttard faced more of a challenge this year. He had four additional eggs and high winds. He also had a new global audience heavily invested in the fate of the ducklings.
Emma Newman, Stuttard's daughter, updates about his preparation for this year's nesting, which took off on Twitter. "I've been absolutely bombarded with messages,'' Newman says. "I actually can't keep up because thousands of people are following the story. Whenever I tweet about it, I get several hundred replies a second sometimes."
On Tuesday morning when two ducklings poked (探出) their heads out of the flowerpot, the wind was awful. Stuttard waited and kept watching. Fortunately, late in the afternoon, Mrs. Mallard finally made her move. This was Stuttard's clue to get to work.
Stuttard picked Mrs. Mallard up and threw her off the balcony, and she flew off. Immediately, he placed the ducklings in the bucket one by one. Then, he used his jackstay to carefully lower the bucket. "Within two, three minutes from when I walked out on the balcony, Mrs. Mallard was swimming away with her family," Stuttard says.
Nobody likes to fail. It makes people feel embarrassed and discouraged. What's worse, it may cause major professional or personal trouble and lead to negativity. Basically, failure is no fun for most people. However, a vast body of research tells us that failure provides us with a chance to grow and develop, increases adaptability, and helps protect against anxiety.
It's hard to change the mindset (心态) of a lifetime. But even if we still can't get over the broken marriage or the failed College Entrance Examination or the work presentation that went fearfully wrong, it might not be too late for our kids.
Christy Pennison, a professional consultant, says she works with an increasing number of kids and teens who show significant anxiety around a fear of failure. She said, "We want to protect our children, and we want them to live happy and meaningful lives, so we frequently tell them the harm of failure and ask them to avoid failure. The children experiencing internal and sometimes external pressure think they shouldn't fail. Meanwhile, we always have high expectations of them. So when they don't live up to a certain standard, or things don't go according to the plans, they will feel upset and anxious."
Pennison argues that failures, are often the hidden learning chances that can help people develop positive qualities, like persistence, focus, flexibility, patience, and positive self-image.
So what can parents do to help their children embrace (拥抱) failure instead of avoiding it at all costs? Pennison suggests directing praise towards the effort, not the result. "This allows children to build confidence in themselves," she explains. "Acknowledging the effort can give children permission to try new things without a fear of failure. And the bigger picture is that the development of the mindset—-‘I'd rather try and fail than not try at all.'—-helps them keep a belief in themselves, and expands their world of possibilities." As Pennison points out, we all fail, but how we get up after we fail is what matters.
① Praise kids' every achievement.
② Make kids embrace a bright mindset.
③ Focus on the process of kids' effort.
④ Expand kids' knowledge about the world.
⑤ Encourage kids to make new attempts.
Researchers in Australia have confirmed the discovery of Australia's largest dinosaur species ever found. Australotitan cooperensis was about 80 to 100 feet long and 16 to 21 feet tall at its bottom. It weighed somewhere between 25 and 81 tons.
The first of the creature' bones were dug out back in 2006 and 2007, but only now, after years of analysis, have researchers been able to confirm that the bones are from the largest dinosaur in Australia. "It's taken this long because it's such a complex piece of work. You have to take the bones out of the ground and prepare the fossils arid then you study them and compare them against all other species of dinosaurs worldwide," says Scott Hocknull, a paleontologist (古生物学者) at the Queensland Museum.
Diego Pol, head of paleontology in Argentina, says these large dinosaurs were probably living in vast spaces across a connected land including what is now South America, Antarctica and Australia. "This means that if we go to Antarctica and dig into the right rocks, most likely we will find supergiant dinosaurs too. So I found that super exciting."
As part of its research, the Australian team used new 3D-scanning technology to scan the bones from Australotitan and compare them with those of similar species. Both Australian and Argentine researchers agree that the new technology has opened doors for sharing information. Previously, paleontologists might have needed to fly across the world to look at fossils in person, Pol says the super-high resolution (分辨率) that now exists is "like having the real bone in your computer."
"Discoveries like this are just the tip of the iceberg," Hocknull said in the statement "Our ultimate goal is to find more evidence that tells the changing story of Queensland, hundreds of millions of years in the making. A grand story all scientists, museums and tourists will be interested in."
2050 seems a long way away, but it is not impossible to predict the future though. With the speed we are moving now so many amazing things are going to happen in the future.Let's start our predictions.
The Internet will be free for everyone.
The Internet is really a key driver these days.There have already been attempts like Facebook's Free Basics. Though it hasn't happened yet, there is a very strong possibility that the Internet will be free for everyone in the future.
With the increasing population, it is not very hard to predict that common methods of transportation will not be enough. There will be much heavier traffic on the road. So in this case personal airplanes will be a handy method of transportation for common people. Of course, there will be proper air traffic control for these personal airplanes.
Most cancers will be treated successfully.
It will be a huge achievement in the history of medical science. Many studies are already showing a trend (趋势) towards this.
Humans will live on other planets.
There will be great achievements in space research.We will receive more intelligent signals from space. Chances are we will be able to find the next Earth-like planet.
A. But it is not free for everyone yet.
B. So where is technology going in the future?
C. The world's population will cross 9.6 billion.
D. What do you think of my predictions of 2050?
E. In the year 2050, humans will be able to live on Mars.
F. Personal airplanes will be used widely for short journeys.
G. The number of deaths caused by cancers will be greatly reduced.
Seventh-grade Carson Kropfl is an inventor, business owner and environmental activist. He created a company called Locker board. His story is1that necessity is truly the mother of invention.
Carson enjoys the excitement of surfing and skateboarding. For years, he liked to use his skateboard to go to2. But he was3that his school locker was too small to store his board.
As a student, he could not change the size of his4, but he realized he could5the shape of his skateboard. And, from that small6, a business was born. Carson first just made a7skateboard in the shape of a square for himself. Then he made his first8at school's dining hall, where he put a few skateboards on a table and his schoolmates started buying them up.
In less than two years, Carson has sold about 700 skateboards. But not all the9goes to Carson. Some money goes to a nonprofit group that10the health and well-being of the ocean. He11one dollar for every Locker board sold to Ocean Unite because they12on ocean conservation. Carson's hometown sits along a13coastal area of the Pacific Ocean. And Carson, the surfer, wants the ocean to14that way.
The young business owner says he is not exactly sure what he will do when he grows up. But he sure will stay15, traveling the world and supporting ocean conservation.
A second crew of three astronauts are heading for China's Tianhe space station module after the(success) launch of the Shenzhou-13 mission Friday.
Astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu will be busy during (they) six months in orbit. They'll spend a lot of time(test) and validating (验证) technologies that will allow China to finish construction of the new space station,is called Tiangong ("Heavenly Palace"). That station will consist of three modules; the other two(expect) to launch toward the 54-foot-long (16.6 meters) Tianhe next year.
For example, the Shenzhou 13 crew will move the robotic Tianzhou 2 cargo(货物) spacecraft from one Tianhe docking(对接) port to another using the module's robotic arm, Chinese officials said. Tianzhou 2(arrive) at Tianhe in May, delivering supplies for the Shenzhou 12 crew.
Zhai, Wang and Ye will also conduct a variety of(experiment) onboard Tianhe, including work(design) to advance space medicine and scientists' understanding of microgravity physics. And researchers on the ground will keep close tabs (监视) on the trio's health, to learnhow long-duration spaceflight affects people(mental) and physically. The crew will also conduct two or three spacewalks during the Shenzhou 13 mission.
Just like spoken language, body languagefrom culture to culture. The crucial thing is using body language in a way that isto the culture you are in. For example, making eye contact—looking into someone's eyes—in some countries is a way tointerest. In other countries, by contrast, eye contact is not always of. For example, in many Middle Eastern countries, men and women are not socially permitted to make eye contact. In Japan, it mayrespect to look down when talking to an older person.