The best fantasy books offer readers the perfect escape into another world. Looking for the best fantasy books? Check out our picks of the most exciting new fantasy fiction in 2021.
The House of Always by Jenn Lyons
The House of Always is the fourth book in Jenn Lyons' fantasy series A Chorus of Dragons, which The New York Times described as "a larger-than-life adventure story about thieves, wizards(巫师) and kings".
Witchshadow by Susan Dennard
Susan Dennard's bestselling fantasy series continues— with the story of Iseult, the Threadwitch.
The Witchlands have been close to war, and in the fourth book in this fantasy series,it arrives. Iseult has found Safi at last, but their reunion is brief. For Iseult to stay alive, she must flee (逃离)Cartorra while Safi remains. And though Iseult has plans to save her friend, they willrequire her to summon (召 唤) magic more dangerous than anything she has ever faced before.
The Ever After by Amanda Hocking
Ulla Tulin is on a journey to uncover her past in the third fantasy book in Amanda Hocking's Omte Origins trilogy (三部曲). In this final adventure, Ulla fights to recover her lost memories in time to battle the consequences of opening the bridge to Alfheim, the lost First City.
We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal
The sequel (续 集) to Hafsah Faizal sbestselling fantasy novel sees Zafira and Nasir determined to finish their mission to restore magic to the kingdom. But time is running out, and if order is to be restored sacrifices (牺牲) will have to be made .
An Irish designer is hoping to save her island's bees by creating special hives (蜂箱) grown from mushrooms. In the world Top20 for the James Dyson Award, the hive, called Econooc, has been designed specifically by Niamh Damery to save the Irish black bee, as well as getting more people involved in environmental protection. Decreasing bee populations in Ireland are the result of habitat loss or pesticide (杀虫剂)use as is common elsewhere.
Econooc simulates(模仿) the hollow (洞) of a tree where black bees tend to build their hives in order to shelter themselves, their food, and their young from the rain. A landing pad through which owners can watch bee activity in and out of the hive is made from recycled plastic, while the belts that tie it to the tree are old car seat belts, making it almost totally recycled.
Damery also worked to create a calendar, which will be included in every hive and each month educates the owner on the different plants growing in that period that require Irish black bees for pollination (授粉), as well as what exactly is happening inside the hive during that season.
In addition, once the month is finished, the owner can tear the calendar's bottom part off, which is filled with wildflower seeds, and place it under an inch of soil in their garden to further aid in the efforts to save black bees and other Irish pollinators.
Damery was inspired by her father and grandfather, who both kept bees. She said: "I hope Econooc will encourage more people to think about nature and solutions we can find to ensure the survival of bees in the future. "
You run into the grocery store to pick up one bottle of water. You get what you need, head to the front, and choose the line that looks fastest.
You chose wrong. People who you swear got in other lines long after you are already checked out and off to the parking lot. Why does this always seem to happen to you? It turns out, it's just math working against you; chances are, the other line really is faster.
Grocery stores try to have enough employees at checkout to get all their customers through with minimum delay. But sometimes, as on a Sunday afternoon, the system gets particularly busy. Any small interruption—a price check, a chatty customer—can have downstream effects, holding up an entire line.
If there are three lines in the store, delays will happen randomly at different registers. Think about the probability: The chances of your line being the fastest are only one in three. So it's not just in your mind: Another line probably is moving faster.
Researchers have a good way to deal with this problem. Make all customers stand in one long, snaking line—called a serpentine line —and serve each person at the front with the next available register. With three registers, this method is much faster than the traditional approach. This is what they do at most banks and fast-food restaurants. With a serpentine line, a long delay at one register won't unfairly punish the people who lined up behind it. Instead, it will slow down everyone a little bit but speed up checkout overall.
So why don't most places encourage serpentine lines? It takes many registers to keep one line moving quickly, and some stores can't afford the space or manpower. So wherever your next wait may be: Good luck.
It's like something out of a dream and is being called the second most important discovery since the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb (陵墓)—an ancient lost city has been found near the famous Valley of the Kings.
Excavations (挖掘) began in September 2020 about 300miles south of Cairo, and before long "to the team's great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions". These are the words of famed Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, who posted a statement of the discovery on Facebook.
It's the largest-ever lost city to be uncovered in Egypt, dating back to one of the most powerful pharaohs (法老) to rule during the kingdom's golden age, Amenhotep III.
Hawass described the city ruled by Amenhotep III from 1391 BCE to1353 BCE alongside his son, the equally famous Akhenaten, as being in "a good condition of preservation (保存状况), with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life".
"Many foreigners searched for this city and never found it,"he added. "We began our work searching for the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun, because the temples of both Horemheb and Ay (two other pharaohs) were found in this area. "
Featuring walls in every direction, a rarity in ancient Egypt, the workplaces of craftsmen (工匠), such as brick-makers, glazers, and jewelers, have been discovered. Other areas for baking and storing food were also discovered, and the archaeologists determined that there would have been many workers there at one time —likely for festivals and other important ceremonies.
"The discovery of the Lost City will give us a rare look into the life of the Ancient Egyptians when Egypt was at its wealthiest," said Betsy Brian, an archaeologist at Johns Hopkins University.
At the start of the 20th century, an American engineer named John Elfreth Watkins made predictions about life today. His predictions about slowing population growth, mobile phones and increasing height were close to the mark. But he was wrong in one prediction:
Today, in Australia, most children on average fall 2, 000 steps short of the physical activity they need to avoid being overweight. In the early 1970s, 40 per cent of children walked to school, while in 2010, it was as low as 15 per cent.
Families are pressed for time, many with both parents working to pay for their house, often working hours not of their choosing, living in car-dependent neighborhoods with limited public transport.
The other side of the coin is equally a deprivation(匮乏): for health and well-being, as well as And for parents there are lost opportunities to walk and talk with their young scholar about their day.
Most parents will have eagerly asked their child about their day, only to meet with a "good", quickly followed by "I'm hungry". This is also my experience as a mother. But somewhere over the daily walk more about my son's day comes out. This is the unexpected and rare parental opportunity to hear more.
Many primary schools support walking school-bus routes (路线), with days of regular, parent-accompanied walks. It can be tough to begin and takes a little planning—running shoes by the front door, lunches made the night before, umbrellas on rainy days and hats on hot ones—but it's certainly worth trying.
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A. People wouldn't walk to work everyday. B. I hear him making sense of friendship and its limits. C. Everybody would walk 10 miles a day. D. My son has a good time at school. E. Doing just one of these a few times a week is better than nothing. F. The decline is not because we have all become lazy. G. Lost opportunities for children to get to know their local surroundings. |
About five weeks ago, I noticed the skin of our pet lizard(蜥蜴) was growing dusty. It1me.2later, our lizard3from its tank with its old skin flowing behind it.
I didn't think about it much until a morning when I4my favorite teapot off the table. It burst into hundreds of pieces. As I5the mess, I wondered6we had been breaking so many things over the months.
The destruction started three months ago. It was my husband's birthday. He had just7his job. The uncertainty was wearing on us, so I wanted to do something8.
"Let's make a cake for Dad!" I cried.
My kids screamed with9. We baked, iced and sprinkled for most of the day. Candles on the cake! Balloons on the walls! Flowers on the table! Before my husband came back home, my daughter climbed up to10a glass vase from a high shelf. It fell and11beside the cake. She sobbed12as I threw the cake away.
Three days ago, we watched the Michael Jordan documentary(纪录片) series The Last Dance. The poignancy(酸楚) of Jordan retiring from his beloved basketball to play baseball and what had pushed him to make such a tough decision took me by surprise. As I watched him13his basketball uniform and replace it with a baseball uniform, I saw him leaving
14the layer that no longer served him, just as our lizard had.15of them chose the moment that had transformed them. But they had to live with who they were after everything was different. I16that we have to learn to leave the17behind.
The beginning of change is18. The19is tiring. Damage changes us before we are ready. Jordan said that no matter how it ends, it starts with20. With our tender, hopeful skin, that is where we begin.
Whatever your nationality —Chinese, American or (India)for example —the chances are that at least one of your favourite pop songs (sing) in English. When you learn that one out of every eight albums (sell) around the world is recorded by British bands, this may not be too(surprise). After all, it has often been said that English is the unofficial language of popular music.
Many non-English speaking acts today often re-record their songs from their original language English. But (have) to record a song in English in order to be successful may not be necessary for much longer.
The IFPI, organization that represents the recorded music industry worldwide, announced that the best-selling digital (数字的) single in 2018 was Camila Cabello's Havana. Musicians from Puerto Rico and China singing in their own language also made the top ten.
With streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music becoming (increasing) popular, it is much easier for musicians and bands do not sing in English to develop a large local following. As they share their favourite songs across the world, music is becoming even more international and the English language (receive)many challenges to being the unofficial language of popular music.
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 family was at a resort in Bass Lake to enjoy the snow. After a first night's stay, when we got to the parking lot the next morning, we noticed that all the cars covered in snow due on snowfall the previous night. We take off the snow from the front and rear sides and window of our car. where my family was getting in the car, I started to removing the snow from the neighboring car. I cleared my front view glass and stuck a Smile card under the viper. I felt delighting to do this, no matter what small the act seemed.
注意：1）词数100左右；
2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3）信的开头和结尾己为你写好，不计入总词数。
Dear Tom,
Yours truly,
Li Hua
