Marathon is the supreme discipline of long-distance running. They are not only attractive for top athletes, but also for hobby runners. The choice of events is almost endless. Now we have put together some most breathtakingly beautiful ones that you'll be tempted to run holding a camera.
Ultra-trail Angkor, Cambodia
The newest of a series of Angkor marathons, this endurance test offers 32-km, 64-km and 128-km routes around the famous temples, including Bayon and Angkor Wat. Watch out for monkeys, and the gigantic tree vines that memorably hug some of the great buildings.
Dodo Trail, Mauritius
Crossing rugged coastline and tropical forests, the Dodo Trail is full of wildlife, although the famous dodo bird remains, sadly, extinct. While the demanding 50km Xtreme route covers 828m-high Black River Peak, a beginner-friendly Mini Dodo Trail (10 km) is easier.
Great Ocean Road marathon, Australia
Another well-known scenic coastal drive, southern Australia's Great Ocean Road stages a footrace every May. Neck-ache could be a problem: in one direction lies the scenic South Sea, and in another handsome forest and, if you're lucky, a koala or two. Be warned, however, that the series of steep slopes make this one of the toughest marathons.
Big Five marathon, South Africa
Marathon meets safari at the privately owned Entabeni Game Reserve every June. The start time is dependent on the race-day location of the Big Five members — African elephants, Cape buffalo, lions, leopards and rhinos — as organizers try to guarantee sightings.
It was late on a Thursday evening in Austin, Texas, and I had just finished my shift downtown waiting tables. I hopped into my truck and headed away from the chaos to my own personal oasis, Dan's Depot. It was on a four-lane road that went straight from the heart of Austin to West Texas. Once, Dan's Depot had been outside of the city. But with Austin's population growing and the city's expansion, it was swallowed up by high-rise buildings and skyscrapers.
I've been familiar with Dan's Depot since I played my first show there. Like most waiters in Austin, I'm actually a musician. The woman who welcomes customers is Dan's wife Maude. I slid my truck into the last free spot and headed to the door. "How's it going, Maude?" I asked. "David, I just don't know what we're going to do," she said. "Our contract with the landlord is up for renewal at the end of the month, and he has doubled the rent. Even if we charged twice as much for the snacks and shows, we could never make ends meet."
My heart dropped. On some level, I'd been expecting to hear this news for as long as I'd been coming to Dan's Depot. After all, Dan's Depot was now sandwiched between a shop selling yoga pants to people who could afford personal trainers and a luxury furniture store where even a simple dining chair cost more than $1,000. How could this little live music joint survive with those kinds of neighbors?
"What are you going to do with this place?Are you moving?" I asked.
She shook her head slowly. "I just don't know. Dan and I are not as young as we used to be." I patted her on the shoulder and made my way to the tables near the stage. Memories sprung up in my mind. Most of my musical ideas came to me while I was watching live shows here at Dan's Depot. When the song ended, I got up and went back to Maude.
"How about I run the new Dan's Depot?" I asked her. She stared at me, surprised.
"Hear me out," I said. "I've got enough money to go in with you and Dan as a third partner. I know the Texas music scene in and out, and I can get the best new bands in here every week. We'll move it way down South Congress Avenue, where it's still close enough to be accessible from downtown but the rent is more affordable. And most importantly, this place means a lot to me."
Maude was still staring at me silently. I began to grow uneasy. Had I offended her? I started apologizing. She cut me off with a huge embrace. "Honey, I think that's a fantastic idea."
In the oceans, concrete is the main construction material, accounting for more than 70% of coastal and marine construction such as ports, coastal defense structures and waterfronts. "Concrete is damaging the ocean because, to put it in place, natural ecosystems are destroyed," says Alex Rogers, director of a nonprofit company studying ocean health and raising awareness of global impacts on the marine environment. "Concrete is a conventioal material, and it is low cost. But we should be looking at alternative materials."
Those alternatives might already be here. Among them is a substance called ECOncrete. It produces bio-enhancing concrete products intended to protect coastlines and marine resources. This is achieved by using a mixture made almost entirely of by-products and recycled materials, and is thus nearly carbon neutral. The overall result is a low-carbon concrete.
Furthermore, unlike traditional concrete, which is highly alkaline (碱性的), the specially designed concrete has a PH value near to that of sea water, which helps to promote the growth of marine species such as crabs,clams, mussels, and oysters. ECOncrete is already in use across eight countries and six different areas.
However, Beth Strain, a project leader for Australia's National Center for Coasts and Climate, says the evidence for the concrete as a better surface for marine organisms is very mixed. "It can be location specific. We did an experiment in 13 harbors around the world with the same type of concrete surface complexity. Largely, the results were positive, but in Penang, Malaysia, for example, using the concrete that would theorectically preserve moisture (水分) and be better for organisms to survive made no difference." Strain thinks this is because of the area's typhoons, which make the area very wet already, so the features of the concrete aren't a big help. "There is a degree of difference and each location has its own environmental chanllenges," says Strain.
Nevertheless, from multiple perspectives, it appears that nature-based solutions are definitely the way forward.
That's not a continuation to "The Terminator." It's the latest result of research among scientists at Harvard and the University of Vermont. These xenobots, named for the African frog Xenopus laevis, could move around and display collective behavior.
The researchers took stem cells from the skin of frog and put them in salt water, where they came together into balls with a covering of cilia (纤毛), which are similar to small hairs and enable the organisms to move. The scientists noticed that these organisms, xenobots, would collect any particles (粒子) placed in the dish to make piles. They started to wonder whether the tiny robots would do the same thing with individual stem cells, so they conducted a test.
Knowing that xenobots' shapes affect their behavior, the researchers tried to figure out which form would help the organism to reproduce repeatedly. They discovered that a "C" shape seemed to be the best. The C-shaped xenobots gathered individual stem cells into groups, which became xenobots of their own. This type of reproduction is based on the organisms' movement, rather than growing and then forming a new being as other animals and plants do.
Xenobots are on an unusual line between living organisms and robots. They are organisms because they are made of stem cells and can reproduce. But they are also robots because they can move on their own and perform physical labor. Although most robots are made of metal, robots are given the definition not by their material, but by what they can do.
Before now, Kriegman, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, said, "no one has been using living materials as self-moving, self-powered robots." The researchers hope that the xenobots can help them better understand the process of reproduction — a fundamental quality of life — and how to control it. Faced with a world full of self-reproducing problems, such as Covid-19, Kriegman said studying xenobots could lead scientists closer to solutions.
Parents showing off their children has long been popular on social media. It is found that videos with children receive three times as many views as other videos. Nine-year-old Ryan Kaji, star of the Ryan's World channel, topped Forbes' 2020 list of highest-paid YouTubers, making an estimated $29.5 million from his content and product lines.
Influencer parents and kids across a host of platforms can gain millions of online followers and land profitable sponsorships. Some family influencers get paid directly by brands for endorsing (代言) their products. And many more earn income by receiving ad revenues (收益).
A look at the comments section of almost any website proves the internet is often a very ugly place. And while the business of family social media is big and growing, there are as yet few meaningful safeguards for kids' privacy and safety, both from media companies like YouTube and from existing law.
Leah Plunkett, assistant dean for learning experience and technology at Harvard Law School said, "In many cases, the kids who wind up in ‘commercial sharenting' are too young to understand what's going on. If there is content going out about the children when they are three years old, they may be pretty uncomfortable with it when they are 13. And that content is not going to go away." Dr. Sarah Domoff, who directs the Family Health Lab at Central Michigan University also says parental oversharing may be damaging.
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A. The pursuit of internet fame and dollars may pose serious potential dangers to the kids on social media. B. Some sell their own branded products directly to viewers. C. They can't give any type of permission or know involvement. D. Some parents have already started to reconsider sharenting. E. All of the problems have experts on children's rights and development worried. F. "Sharenting" has now become an increasingly professionalized business. G. Embarrassing a child publicly can make children ashamed of the parents. |
My children gifted me a stainless steel coffee plunger (咖啡壶). I couldn't1to use it, looking forward to coffee making for a peaceful day.
As I poured my first cup of coffee, the plunger spilled (洒出) all over the table.2no one was around to see my disappointed face! I kept trying, but each morning would see me3the coffee. Then I realized that if I poured very slowly there would be no spilling. This was at first a very4experience. My normal5was to rush through breakfast so that I could get on with my day.
But6I learned not only to pour slowly but to enjoy the7: the smell, the taste, and the stillness of a new day. It helped me to8on whether there were other areas of my life I was rushing through. Most of life, it seemed.
I started to leave extra time to do even the most9tasks. When shop owners would10for keeping me waiting, I'd say, "Not a problem, I'm not in a hurry."11hanging out washing became pleasurable when listening to the birds singing in the trees became part of my12. Besides, one of my favorite experiences was spending time with strangers. We sat on the steps, with a cup of coffee in hand, listening to each other's stories. It was one of the13things about living in a busy city, as if the world slowed to a14we could both handle.
Stillness and quietness not only slow the pace of life, but also15the soul, helping us to enjoy the world's small pleasures.
To celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, an underwater dance performance titled Pray was aired on Henan TV on the first day of the holiday. The video features the goddess of Luo River—a beautiful and elegant character (depict) by poet Cao Zhi during the Three Kingdoms period. Her story has been the inspiration for(count) contemporary artists, who have portrayed the goddess through various art forms, movies and dance dramas.
The reason why the video, which runs for around two minutes, (create) such an impression and generated such a wave of (public), is that it was shot underwater. The dancer He Haohao, former synchronized swimmer (花样游泳运动员), recreated the elegance of this ancient Chinese goddess.
It is not the first time that Henan TV Station has gained attention with its charming videos (highlight) traditional Chinese culture. On Feb 13, a dance piece, titled A Tang Dynasty Banquet, (stage) during a gala to mark the Spring Festival, and has since gone viral on social media.
director Guo Jiyong said, he, along with his team, spent 26 hours over three days underwater filming the video. "The purpose behind all of my work is to help people see how beautiful Chinese culture (genuine) is. Presenting it underwater in this way offers a fresh perspective," Guo says.
With a broad smile on her lips, 13-year-old Sirin rushed to her mom to show off her new painting. But Mom raised her eyebrows with eyes wide open, and spoke in an impatient tone, "No time, baby. Right now I am busy with an important talk. Just wait for some time, OK?" Holding her oil painting, she frowned, and then searched for her dad.
"Dad, see what I have done," Sirin announced aloud in a thrilling voice. Her dad turned around while adjusting his tie, grinned at her, and showed his thumbs up!
Immediately, blowing her two cheeks, Sirin replied angrily, "Dad, you haven't seen it yet." He smiled at her saying, "No time, baby. I will see it later." He just patted her back lovingly, kissed her forehead, and rushed for his office.
She was not a kid to be pleased with simple gesture or smile. She stood there for a few seconds, and then stormed off to her own bedroom. Hot air was blowing from her nose; her face turned into apple red. She threw the painting on the table, opened the door with great strength and threw herself on her bed.
"Why is everybody so busy?" She recalled thousands of incidents that hurt her in kindergarten, primary school and even in middle school too! She assumed at least her own family members would give some values to her thoughts, but they were no exception. Unconsciously, her eyes were filled with tears.
The knocking sound on the door put a sudden brake to her thought. Her mom was calling her for dinner. Sirin deliberately came late to join them. She kept silent and didn't look at anyone, scratching the table mat with her nail. Her mom was puzzled at the unusual behavior. Suddenly, the morning incident clicked in her mind. Softly, she asked, "Honey, did I do anything wrong?"
注意：
1）续写词数应为150左右；
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
At this very moment, Sirin could no longer resist her anger.
Paragraph 2:
When back from school the next day, Sirin was surprised to see her beautifully—decorated painting on the wall.
