Adnan, a 56-year-old father, wants to make it clear that it's not just mothers who can feel like failures in their home life. "I had the fairytale of what I'd be like as a dad," he says. "When our first child was born, I had images of all this stuff we'd do together. It didn't include pictures of sleepless nights, or every item of clothing being covered in snot and yoghurt."
He also says it doesn't get any easier with more children, because each child will have a different personality requiring different methods of parenting. "There's a fine line between child management, focusing on health and safety, and being a present dad, trying to listen to all their voices, "he says.
"No one explains that you're their protector as well as the person meeting their hygiene (卫生) factors, feeding them, listening to playground politics and building their confidence. You're the person who is the narrative in their head about how great they are."
Adnan says that though he doesn't compare himself with other parents, he still finds it hard to shake the fairytale that is firmly in his head, compared with which he always comes up short. "The continuous refereeing (调解) and the delegate decision-making go beyond anything I've done in the workplace," he says, "I keep asking myself ' Am I equipped to deal with this?' I'm a father, a counsellor (咨询师) and a coach. There's also something about being a parent in your 50 s: you don't have the physicality of your 30s."
Everyone has a phone in their pocket nowadays, but how often do we really use them for their original purpose—to make a call? Telephone culture is disappearing. What brought us to this moment, and what are its effects?
"No one picks up the phone anymore," wrote Alex C. Madrigal on The Atlantic. "The reflex (习惯性动作) of answering—20th-century telephonic culture—is gone."
The shift is of course due in large part to more communication options: Texting with photos, videos, emojis, reaction gifs, links and even voice messages can be a more attractive option.
Texting is light and fun, not nearly as demanding of your attention as a phone call. It can also be done with multiple people at the same time. Social media, email and video calls have also eaten away at traditional phone calls.
In recent years, another reason has caused people to ignore phone calls completely: robocalls. Robocalls are automate (自动化的) messages from organizations verifying (核实) your phone number or telemarketers trying to sell something. Americans received 22.8 billion robocalls halfway through 2020, equaling an annual rate of 45.6 billion, slightly below 2018 numbers, according to YouMail, a robocall protection service and blocking app.
As telephone culture disappears, what is the loss of a singular family phone doing to the family unit? Early landline phones unified family members, whereas mobile phones isolate(隔离) them.
"The shared family phone served as an anchor for home," said Luke Fernandez, a Weber State University computer-science professor and co-author of Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Feelings About Technology, From the Telegraph to Twitter. "With smart phones, we have gained mobility and privacy. But the value of the home has been diminished, as has its ability to guide and monitor family behavior and perhaps connect families more closely," Fernandez said.
Of course, as technology progresses, lives always change for better or for worse. With the loss of telephone culture, families will need to find other ways to unite.
On a dark night, 11-year-old Joe was playing hide-and-seek with his friends in the backyard when he thought he saw Magellan—a huge housecat. However, when the cat suddenly jumped on his head, Joe found it turned out a young cougar. He backed away from the animal, then turned and ran inside the house.
Cougar encounters like this one are becoming increasingly common in the U.S. Most people assume that's because cougar populations are growing, or because the big cats are coming into closer contact with the expanding web of human suburbs. But Professor Robert Wielgus at Washington State University argues that poorly designed hunting policies might be causing an increase in cougar-human conflicts.
Wielgus's research teams have been fitting the big cats with radio collars and monitoring their movements. They find that the cougar population is actually declining rapidly and almost no male cougars are over four years of age. And a study shows that the heavily hunted area has five times as many cougar complaints as the lightly hunted area—even though the density of cougars is about the same in both areas.
Wielgus suspects that hunting policies, which allow older males to be killed to keep cougar populations in check, were the culprit and teenage cougars in the heavily hunted area may be responsible for most of the trouble. To test his theory, he adds two more groups of cougars to the tracking program—one in a heavily hunted area and another in a comparable but lightly hunted area. He concludes that heavy hunting indeed almost wipes out older males and the population structure in the heavily hunted area shifts toward younger animals.
With these findings, Wielgus believes without adults to keep them under control, the disorderly teens are more likely to come into conflict with humans, farm animals and pets.
Wielgus's ideas don't sit well with everyone. "Hunting definitely does cause lots of teenage males to flow in, but I don't yet see solid proof that they are more likely to cause trouble than older cats," says the University of Montana's Robinson. "In many cases, the new arrivals have been squeezed out of remote wilderness habitat and forced into areas where they are more likely to encounter humans. I think humans are primarily responsible for all the interaction you see. We're moving into these areas where cougars and deer are," according to Alldredge, a researcher at the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
We may not understand what makes 18-year-old males more likely than 48-year-old men to do dangerous things, Wielgus says, but we know that the world would be a different place, if teenagers were in charge.
What Can We See in a Logo?
We see hundreds of logos on signs, vehicles, websites, and even on the clothes we wear. All of these logos are designed to attract our attention. They also help us remember a product or service connected to that image.
Researchers gave 85 students a simple assignment to draw the Apple logo purely from memory. Surprisingly, only one student in the study could accurately draw the logo from memory.
Researchers have developed a theory that they think might help to explain this blind spot in our memories.
Logos are typically designed to be simple and easy to recognize with a quick glance. This process is known as "attentional saturation (注意力饱和)." Our brains actually signal us to ignore information we don't think we will need to remember.
Even though the brain is accustomed to ignoring unnecessary details, it is also programmed for recognition. This constant exposure leads to something scientists refer to as gist (梗概) memory. It means that our brain remembers the basic idea without all of the details. This general sense of memory has its own benefits. In fact, familiarity with a popular logo can even make people feel more comfortable about purchasing or using certain products.
Logos are everywhere we look today. A fancy design or a thoughtful color combination may be a good start for a logo concept, but there are other factors to consider. A clever design may be interesting, but most people will forget the details—especially if our brains have anything to say about it.
A. This may be inspiring to logo designers.
B. People will know the product behind the logo.
C. So why is it so difficult for people to recall the details of images?
D. Yet the frequent exposure to these logos can actually make our brains overlook them.
E. When we see images such as logos over and over again, we become familiar with them.
F. Logo designers need to know that people will only remember what they believe is worthwhile.
G. However, recently research supports the idea that remembering what a logo looks like is a very difficult task.
Ciudad Perdida, Colombia's "Lost City" is older than Machu Picchu（马丘比丘古城）. There are no trains or buses allowing of1travels to reach its ruins. The chance of getting to this remote place is merely 2on foot: a tiring hike lasting several days nonstop.
Despite this, I couldn't 3the opportunity to visit Ciudad Perdida. Twelve other hikers and I went there in 4with a licensed guide. The dirt path, which5through towering palms and dangling vines（藤蔓）, proved6 right from the start. It's suggested that hikers have good physical7, as the journey is difficult. Horses helped to carry basic8 like food to the cottages where we would sleep. Along the way we also met the9. They have been left undisturbed for centuries and there's a deep10between them and the land.
The next morning, we were off early to11the heat, but high temperatures and muscle pain had already12 by the time we reached the final stage—1, 200 stone steps to13. Finally, my eyes rested on the splendid scene that had14the hard journey to Ciudad Perdida, 15lifting my painful body up the long flight of stairs.
I looked down and 16at the beautiful site below. We were among a handful of other groups visiting, which seemed like17compared to other crowded tourist attractions. While the return trip included18 the mental barrier of having already achieved our goal, the experience is the one I would do19. It is the difficulty that makes the journey a more20 one. Earned views are always better.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a health care system in which patients (treat) with natural plant, animal, and mineral remedies (药物). It is assumed, for a person to be healthy, yin and yang forces should he in balance. Imbalance causes illness or injury. TCM is about (restore) the balance between yin and yang forces in patients. It has been a major part of traditional Chinese culture and continues to play vital role in medical treatment in China today.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 80 percent of the world's population depends for its primary health care needs medicines from plants and animals. This is especially true in countries where traditional medicines are (wide) used.
Increasingly, however, modern medicines also contain substances from animals and plants. Given growing populations, increasing wealth, and the spreading (popular) of natural remedies around the world, the demand for these medicines and remedies (rise) now. The rising demand, (combine) with reduced habitat, has caused an alarming increase in the number of plant and animal species used for medicinal purposes at risk for many years. For instance, TCM uses about 1,000 plant and 36 animal species, including the tiger, rhinoceros, and sea horse, are all in danger.
假定你是李华，你所在的学校要征集一封英文感谢信，以致意奋战在抗击新型冠状病毒肺炎第一线的医护人员，请你根据下列要点写一封信用于投稿。
1）表达谢意；
2）个人感受；
3）表达信心。
注意：1）词数120左右；
2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3）开头语和结束语已为你写好。
参考词汇：流行病epidemic 疫情 epidemic situation 新型冠状病毒 novel coronavirus
Dear medical workers，
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
At dawn, Taylor opened her sleepy eyes and looked out of the window at the foggy field below. "NO!" she cried, now fully awake. Buttermilk the cow was in Mama's daisy patch (雏菊地) .
I must have forgotten to lock the gate last night, Taylor thought as she pulled a sweater over her head. Mama was planning to sell daisy bouquets (花束) at the fair next week, but Buttermilk was eating the flowers.
Taylor hurried outside and grabbed the lead rope on the wall. "Why can't you stay in the field?" she called to Buttermilk as she headed across the yard to the daisy patch.
Buttermilk still stood there chewing flowers. Annoyed, Taylor thought to herself, "When I grew up, I'll be an artist and paint pictures all day. I'll never own a cow. Too much trouble." Just as Taylor was about to throw the lead rope onto Buttermilk's collar, the family dog, Red, rounded the corner of the house. Startled, Buttermilk took off, tearing through the daisies and across the yard. She finally ran through the open gate and into the field.
"Thank goodness!" Taylor said as she closed the gate and secured the lock.
She turned to look at the flower garden, where most of the daisies were either eaten or trampled (踩踏).
Mama came out of the house. "What's going on?" she asked. She looked sadly at her garden.
"I forgot to lock the gate," Taylor said. "I'm so sorry."
"I know you are" Mama sighed and gave Taylor a hug. "You learned an important lesson today."
Taylor's heart was heavy as she went back into the house. She had to think of a way to make it up to her mother.
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:
Suddenly, a painting on the wall caught Taylor's eye.
Paragraph 2:
The morning of the fair, Taylor came downstairs to invite Mama to see the surprise.
