Four Winter Spots
Here are four spots around the world worth a winter trip.
Christmas Island, Australia
On Christmas Day of 1643, Captain William Mynors sailed past this tropical (热带的) island 224 miles south of Java and named it, of course, "Christmas". Consisting of rainforest, sand beaches, coral reefs and one oceanic mountain, two thirds of this 52-square-mile island is a national park, home to pipistrelles, flying foxes, endangered seabirds and sea turtles. Many of the 2,000 local people celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year every year.
Quito, Ecuador
In Quito, the sun always sets at six. As the second biggest city in Ecuador and the second highest capital in the world, Quito makes a convenient access point to the Amazon rainforest, the thrill-seekers' paradise. In only three hours, travelers can travel from the best-preserved historical city center in Latin America to the land of giant tortoises, lava lizards and blue-footed boobies.
Sun Peaks, Canada
Snowshoeing, dogsledding and storm-watching all make British Columbia a favorite winter destination. But if you're planning on skiing, ski-biking or snow-limo-riding, please head for Sun Peaks, Canada's second largest ski area.
Lijiang, China
A winter trip to the southwest Chinese province of Yunnan promises mild, dry and sunny weather—excellent conditions for skiing the trails of China's highest ski resort, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Home to plenty of wildlife and 400 types of trees, the mountain is located about 10 miles from the UNESCO World Heritage Old Town of Lijiang, an important center for the fascinating Naxi people whose 1,000-year-old Dongba characters are the only living pictographic (象形文字的) writing system worldwide today.
Jack London, one of America's major writers of adventure tales, was born in California in 1876. During his life, London worked at many jobs. His broad life experiences would become the background for his writing.
London loved to read. As a teenager, he spent many hours educating himself at the Oakland, California, public library. He attended college at the University of California at Berkeley, but he stayed for only six months. He thought Berkeley was "not lively enough" and wanted to do something more exciting.
London wrote stories about working people and the hard times they had making a living. He knew their problems first hand. He worked as a sailor, farmer, factory employee, railroad worker, and gold prospector, to name just a few of his many jobs.
London grew up near the waterfront in Oakland. He loved the water. When he was fifteen years old, he bought a small sailboat called a sloop. Later he sailed to Japan on a schooner, which is a much larger sailing boat. Like many people of the time, London caught the Klondike Gold Rush Fever. In 1897, he headed for Alaska. He didn't find gold, but he discovered something even more valuable. He discovered that people enjoyed listening to the stories he made up with his vivid imagination. London entertained the miners with story after story. Later, using his experiences during the Gold Rush, he created many more colorful stories.
London resolved to live a full, exciting life. He once said, "I would rather be a superb meteor (流星), every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet." Each day, he pushed himself. Once London determined that he was going to be a writer, nothing could stop him. His goal was to write at least one thousand words every day. He refused to stop even when he was sick. In eighteen years, the writer published fifty-one books and hundreds of articles. He was the best-selling and highest-paid author of his day. Many people also considered him to be the best writer. White Fang and The Call of the Wild are his most famous stories and are about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. Readers can enjoy Jack London's energy and his talent for telling wonderful stories each time they open one of his novels.
The "30 by 30" campaign to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030, supported by more than 70 nations, is known mostly for ambition and few achievements so far. Just 7% of the seas are protected and only 2.7% are highly protected.
Setting aside nearly a third of the oceans, the fishers say, is an idea developing nations in South America and elsewhere can hardly afford. That argument against a large expansion of sea protected areas is heard around the world, and the gap between conservationists and fishers has grown wider as fish population declines and the appetite for seafood grows along with the global population.
Research published recently aims to dramatically change that situation. The study suggests that protecting 30% of the oceans not only could restore biodiversity to ocean habitats, it could also increase the annual global catch by eight million tons about 10% of the catch today. After all, the only way to get more food from the ocean is to protect more. And, as a bonus, it would provide a "cheap, natural solution" to climate change by reducing the amount of seafloor carbon emitted (排放) into the seas by fishing trawlers (拖网渔船).
In the study, an international team of 26 scientists analyzed the world's unprotected ocean waters to calculate which are threatened by overfishing, habitat destruction, and release of carbon. The team then mapped locations globally where protections would provide the greatest benefits to fish resources, biodiversity and climate.
The findings can be used by nations to address the three related aspects separately or in combination. Fully addressing all three will require that at least 30% of the oceans be protected, but nations can still realize significant protections by focusing on key areas, and global cooperation to strategically locate protected areas can be nearly twice as effective as individual nations working alone.
What kind of potato chips would you create, and what would you name it, if you wanted to sell the product to pregnant women?
This was the task that marketing professors Kelly Herd and Ravi Mehta presented to more than 200 adults, in a study of how emotion impacts creativity. The participants were divided evenly into two groups. Group A were simply given the assignment without any extra instructions. Group B were told to take a few minutes, before beginning the task, to imagine how the customer would feel while eating the snack.
The amateur product designers came up with different potato chip ideas and descriptions, but the most creative were: Pickles-and-ice-cream chips, Sushi chips, and Margarita-for-Mom chips. The most creative ideas came from the group that had thought about how the consumer would feel before starting the task. "I think it is fascinating to see the result—the empathy (同理心) has great influence in maximizing creativity," Herd says. "This is one of those areas of psychology that hasn't been clarified yet for marketers: how does thinking of others' feelings affect those who are creating new work?"
"We've shown that empathy can change the way in which you think," Herd says. "We've looked at it in a somewhat narrow context of product design, but it appears that amazing things, such as imagining how someone else feels, can have a huge impact on creativity in general." Herd and Mehta conducted five separate experiments, including asking participants to design a child's toy, select materials for a new kind of food for kids, and redesign a grocery cart for the elderly. And these experiments provided more evidence for their finding.
The researchers believe the initial focus on others' feelings creates the ability to consider issues from diverse points of view. The ability to "shift avenues of thought" while perceiving and processing information is a benefit to creativity.
"An interesting trend in marketing now is that large companies are developing new ideas for products and services from their customers' suggestions," says Herd. This year alone, more than half of consumer goods manufacturers say they will get 75% of their innovation and research and development capabilities from crowd-sourcing (众包).
In an ultra-competitive marketplace, few companies will survive for long without innovation and new products, Herd says. In fact, a 2016 study published in Business News Daily found that 82% of company executives interviewed believe there is a strong connection between creativity and business results.
Art is all around us. It can be found everywhere, including fancy galleries, people's living rooms, and on the sides of buildings. So, why is art important?
It promotes expression and creativity. As humans, we're naturally drawn to art as a form of expression and communication. It's a way for them to express themselves before they're able to speak. In fact, participation in the arts may even assist kids with language, motor skills, and visual learning development.
. When someone applies for a job, there are certain skills they need to have like data analysis or bookkeeping. However, many employers also understand the very important need for the skills which are hard to measure and often difficult to define. Some examples include a person's ability to adapt to change, think creatively, or collaborate with team members.
It provides historical context. . This is why people dedicate their lives to studying cave art, Shakespearean plays, and so much more. When we take the time to dive into art created in the past, we can learn about other generations and eras. We can study art to find out what those before us were facing and how they overcame it. .
In therapy (疗法) settings, art also provides an opportunity for digging deeper and expressing emotions that are difficult to discuss. . In one important study, children between 6 and 12 were asked to draw a house as a distraction after thinking about something upsetting. This group was able to improve their mood when compared with children who were instructed to draw the negative event or simply copy another drawing.
A. These are its major benefits.
B. Children love to draw, sing, and dance.
C. It helps all of us develop necessary soft skills.
D. How does it have an impact on our life?
E. Similarly, future generations will learn about our current events by the art we leave behind.
F. Art and human history go hand-in-hand.
G. It can help people lift their spirits.
Getting accepted to Harvard Law School was a feeling that Rehan Staton will never forget.
Staton had a stable life growing up until his mother 1 the family and moved out of the county when he was 8. His father then worked multiple jobs to 2 Rehan and his older brother, but the family struggled 3. They often had no food or electricity.
Rehan's academics significantly suffered. As his grade 4, he channeled his energy into sports. He was 5 in boxing and won national and international competitions which he hoped would become his way out of 6. However, his dreams were 7 when he suffered a shoulder injury in the 12th grade.
Rean's poor grades as a senior resulted in him being 8 by every college he applied to. So he took a job at Bates Trucking and Trash, 9 rubbish and cleaning dustbins.
Rather than add to his despair, the job marked a 10 point. His co-workers found his 11, uplifted him and urged him to go back to school. Finally he was 12 to Bowie State University. By the end of his second year, Rehan decided he wanted to go to 13 school.
Rehan was 14 for the support he got from his co-workers. "It was the first time in my life that a group of individuals had really just 15 me, and told me I was intelligent."
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony (hold) on February 4, 2022, the same day as "Beginning of Spring"—the first of 24 solar terms on China's lunar calendar (阴历)— (represent) the organizers' wish for friends around the world to welcome a new spring together.
At 8 p.m. on the big screen of the National Stadium, the countdown of the Chinese "24 Solar Terms" was being played, (accompany) by the imagery of changing seasons, showing how the Chinese (live) in harmony with nature and the world since ancient times. A fantastic ceremony, featured Chinese festival culture and a technology-enhanced visual spectacle (景象), took the world's breath away as the opening of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games was declared, making Beijing the first city in the world to host both Summer and Winter (edition) of the Olympics. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach expressed his gratitude to China making the Winter Olympic Games happen in a safe way for everyone, The ceremony was characterized by engaging with the general public and (diverse), with some performers coming from schools and grassroots arts groups, and teenagers accounted for 95% of the performers at the ceremony.
"This ceremony is equally (impress) as the one in 2008," Exarchos, CEO of OBS, said. the Winter Olympics show is the Chinese people's confidence, pride, love and affection for the people of the world—our great philosophy and values.
One Saturday afternoon, I was watching TV in the living room with my grandma when a blinding flash of lightning flashed across the sky, followed by a deafening sound, and the pictures on TV disappeared with that sound. Before I realized what had happened, a gray-white shadow rushed in through the open window and flew over my head. Bang! It hit the wall and slid off to the floor. Shaking with fear, I approached it cautiously and saw that it was a pigeon. It looked at me in fear, trying to open its wings and struggling its feet, but apparently powerless.
So I called my grandma and immediately set out to give it a helping hand. Taking it in my hands, I felt a few drops of warmth on my hands. It was blood! I gently spread its wings and there were a few red feathers inside. "Don't worry. We'll get it out alive," Grandma said to me. Then she got the first-aid kit. With some cotton, we dried the blood, cleaned the wound and then put it under a hairdryer to dry. All went smoothly, for the pigeon had no strength left to resist. There happened to be an empty birdcage at home, so I put it in gently and added a little water and some grains.
For the next few days, the moment I got home from school, I would run to feed the pigeon. And Grandma helped a lot, tidying up the cage daily. Little by little, its strength returned. One evening, I fed it with the biscuit I was eating. It enjoyed it! One week later, its wound almost healed; its feathers grew and it became brave. Whenever I sat at the table eating biscuits, it looked up at me, cooing (咕咕地叫) constantly. To my joy, I could also reach into the cage to touch it. When I gently fingered its head, it playfully pecked (啄) at me. Finally it completely recovered. But every time I was with it, it seemed restless in the cage. To make it happy and pretty, I tied an orange string around its leg.
注意：1）续写词数应为150左右；
2）请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
One day, however, when I returned home, Grandma met me at the door, looking embarrassed.
……
Sure enough, I saw a pigeon flying into the house the next afternoon!
