If you want to listen to music today, you have the luxury of simply streaming songs from one of the many online sites. But that was not the case even just two decades ago. Music had to be stored on devices such as cassettes and compact discs that were inserted into players.
On March 6th, Lou Ottens, the inventor of cassette tapes, passed away. Ottens worked for a company called Philips that introduced portable cassettes to the world in 1962. Since then, more than 100 billion cassettes have been sold worldwide!
In 1877,Thomas Alva Edison created the phonograph (留声机) -a device that played recorded sounds from round cylinders. This was followed by the gramophone a decade later. While vinyl records (唱片) were extremely popular, they could easily be scratched or damaged.
By the mid-1930s, a new technology emerged in Germany that dramatically improved sound quality. The magnetic tape used a metal tape covered in magnetic particles. The first use of magnetic tapes was in reel-to-reel (盘式的) tape recorders. These recorders were large, expensive, and difficult to use, which is why mainly professionals in radio stations and recording studios used them.
The story goes that one night, after a frustrating experience with a reel-to-reel recording, Ottens decided to create something that was portable, accessible, and dependable. He even brought along a wooden block in his pocket to represent his goal for the size of the invention! And the cassette tape was born.
But in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when compact disc (CD) players emerged, cassette tapes saw a decline in sales and usage. CDs provided more storage and better audio quality, were less expensive, and overall had a longer lifespan. With the rise of the Internet and streaming music over the past decade, both CDs and cassettes have since become obsolete.
As you can see, music has certainly changed a lot over the past century. We owe it to pioneers like Ottens who made music portable and brought color into our lives!
My story is about my mother's beautiful ball gown. She had carefully wrapped it in tissue paper and placed it in a cardboard box and it was hidden away in a top cupboard. From time to time it would be lifted out of its box and shown to us, and as small girls we would imagine the day when we might be allowed to try it on. That never happened.
The top cupboard where the dress was stored happened to be in my bedroom. One day when I was around the age of nine or ten, I had an urge to try it on. I quickly pulled the gown over my head, easing it down over my girlish frame. My mother's waist must have been extremely tiny as it fitted my waist with little room to spare.
Suddenly, I realized that my mother would be home soon, so I hurriedly undressed but I accidentally spilt a bottle of ink over the bottom of the dress and the lining. I was shocked and scared. I stuffed it into the box and shoved it back onto the wardrobe shelf, never to be tampered with again, and never, never, never to be forgotten. I lived with the dread throughout my teenage years that it would eventually be discovered with traumatic consequences.
The years passed and my mother grew old and became ill.I made the decision that she would come to live in a nursing home near me. As she was leaving Christchurch probably forever, I decided to arrange an afternoon tea with a group of her closest friends. Mom and her friends recalled about their past days. Somehow the conversation turned to the dress and my mother said she never could understand how it got a terrible ink stain on it.
Suddenly, I found myself in front of my mother—red-faced, guilt and shame washing over me. I was sure my mother would have forgiven me, as mothers do, and at last I was released from that awful secret carried deep inside me from my childhood. It was never mentioned again.
Staying up late is a potential battle between parents and kids. But the solution could be as simple as changing your meal time.
Researchers at the University of Surrey, UK, found that delaying meals could help change one of the internal body clocks. Besides a "master" clock in the brain, there are clocks in other parts of the body. They are usually synchronized(同步的)according to factors including light.
During the study, researchers tested 10 participants to study the effect of changing meal times on their body clocks. The participants were given three meals －breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the first stage, participants received breakfast 30 minutes after walking. Lunch and dinner followed, after 5－hour interval(间隔). In the second stage, each meal was delayed by 5 hours. Right after each stage, blood and fat samples were collected.
Results showed that later meal times greatly influenced blood sugar levels. A 5hour delay in meal times caused a 5hour delay in the internal blood sugar rhythms.
The discovery showed that meal times are in line with the body clock that controls blood sugar levels.
This is a small study but the researchers believed the findings could help jet lag sufferers and nightshift workers.
In a study by the University of Surrey in 2013，researchers explored what happened when a person's body was changed from a normal pattern to that of a night－shift worker's.
After people work through the night, over 97 percent of the body's rhythmic genes are disrupted.
These findings explain why we feel so bad following a long flight, or after working at night, according to Simon Archer ，one of the study's researcher.
"It's like living in a house. There's a clock in every room in the house and in all of those rooms those clocks are now disrupted, which of course leads to chaos(混乱)in the household," fellow researcher Der－Jan Dijk told the BBC.
Changing meal times didn't affect the "master" body clock—the one controlling when we get sleepy－but it can reset the body clock that controls blood sugar levels.
This wouldn't necessarily cure jet lag completely, but it might reduce the negative effects.
A study published earlier this year suggested that just a weekend camping trip could be enough to reset our body clocks. And now this latest research shows regular food schedules could play a key part too.
Is It Safe to Eat Snow?
There's nothing quite like a fresh blanket of pure, white snow. Great for sledding, snowballs, fort-building - and maybe even dessert? Before you take a big bite of the white stuff, let's talk about what could be in the flakes (雪片). When it gets cold, moisture (水分) in the air freezes into tiny, beautiful crystals that drift down from the sky.
For example, if snow has been removed from a sidewalk or a street, it might contain rock salt with certain chemicals, which help ice melt at low temperature. Unfortunately, those chemicals can also make you sick if you eat them, so you definitely don't want to eat any snow that's been shoveled (铲掉).
You should never take small bites on any snow near bird feeders or animal tracks. , squirrels, birds, neighborhood dogs for example, it may carry something not safe to you. Brown snow is off limits for the same reason you wouldn't want to taste a mud pie. And if that snow looks yellow, well, let's just say it's unlikely to be lemon-flavored.
OK, so what about freshly fallen snow? But actually, because snow can take in pollutants on the way down, the first hour or two of a snowfall acts like a brush for the air. Scientists have found that new snow can contain strange stuff including pesticides, ashes and even dirt.
All of these things are found at extremely low levels. That means it's technically safe to eat. But it's also good to know that if you just wait a few hours and then have a meal on the snow that piles up midway through a storm, you'll have the best chance of eating nothing more than pure, frozen, sky water. !
A. Snow is mostly water
B. Let's take a close look
C. Try not to have any taste of the snow
D. But snow can also contain other substances
E. Because snow can act like a pathway for animals
F. One bite and you'll be hoping spring never comes
G. That should be the safest, yummiest frozen water to eat
I wandered in the park. The park bench was1as I sat down to read beneath the long, straggly (蔓延的) branches of an old willow tree. I was disappointed by life with2 reason to frown, for the world was intent on dragging me down.
As if that weren't enough to ruin my day, a young boy out of 3approached me, all tired from play. He stood right before me and said with great excitement, "Look what I found!"
In his hand was a flower, and what a 4 sight, with its petals(花瓣) all worn — not enough rain, or too little light. I 5a small smile, wanting him to take his dead flower and leave, and then.
But instead of leaving he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his nose and declared with surprise, "It surely smells pretty and it's beautiful, too. That's why I picked it; here, it's for you."
The weed before me was dying or dead. Not brilliant colors, orange, yellow or red. But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I reached for the flower, and replied, "Just what I need."
But 6 him placing the flower in my hand, he held it mid-air without 7 or plan. It was then that I noticed for the very first time, that young boy could not see: he was blind.
My voice8, and tears shone like the sun as I thanked him for picking the very best one. "You're welcome," he smiled, and then ran off to play, not 9 of the impact he'd had on my day.
I sat there and wondered how he 10 to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree. How did he 11 my difficult situation? 12from his heart, he'd been blessed with true 13.
At last I could see, through the eyes of a blind child, the problem was not with the 14; the problem was me. And for all of those times I myself had been 15, I vowed(发誓) to see beauty, and appreciate every second that's mine.
I held that wilted(枯萎) flower up to my nose and breathed in the fragrance of a beautiful rose and smiled as that young boy.
If you're someone who looks in the mirror every day and focuses only on any small flaw (瑕疵), you're not alone. For many people, struggling with image issues (形象问题) is a (continue) battle.
"How hostile (恶意的) is the world to( attract) girls?" became a popular topic on Sina Weibo. Many girls shared their (person) experiences. One talked about how her friends would often cut her image out of group pictures because she was too fat. What became clear (be) that this feeling was all too common. Another girl couldn't accept herself said that she didn't even answer the door without wearing makeup first.
What causes this anxiety among young people? Greater time spent online means greater exposure to advertisements (show) "paper-thin waists" or "chopstick legs", which makes young people anxious and leads to a complete misunderstanding about beauty. Girls often feel pressure to live up an impossible standard, doubting their faces were too big or something.
The anxiety over looks and shape has pushed some people into physical and mental illness. Some people even go through surgery just (achieve) what they believe society considers "beautiful". But beauty doesn't come from makeup or thinner waist. The fact that every person is different is something to be celebrated.
Teddy was a bear of habit. Every morning he woke up at the same time, stretched, scratched, and yawned(打哈欠). Every morning the bees in his yard delivered three jars of honey so that Teddy ate the same breakfast he'd eaten since he was a hairy baby: toast with honey and tea with extra honey.
Next came his daily routine: practicing the rolling skill and running errands(做杂事). At night he'd read, and then have one last cup of honey tea before bed.
Life was sweet. Until one morning...
One morning something abnormal had happened. There was no honey. The bees had gone on strike!
Teddy's breakfast wasn't the same without honey. Without his honey tea, he couldn't practice rolling, or run errands, or read at night. Teddy became deeply discouraged.
Just then he heard someone say, "Hey, you! In the fur coat!" It was a very small bee with a very loud voice. "We need to talk!" said the bee.
"Talk? Hmmph!" complained Teddy. "I let you all live in my yard. All I ask for is a few jars of honey. You should be grateful rather than strike!"
"A few jars?" said the bee. "Buddy, we deliver three jars of honey to you every day, every month, every year! Do the maths, Einstein."
"The hive(蜂巢) is in ruins!" the bee continued. "It's all we can do to keep the walls from falling in! The roof leaks! Wind blows through the holes!"
The bee showed Teddy the garden. "Look!" the bee said. "Weeds everywhere. We have to fly miles away to find enough flowers to make our honey. So we voted to strike."
"You are taking us for granted." the bee declared. "You want honey? We won't come back unless things have changed. It's up to you, bear." And with that, the very small bee flew off.
The thought of losing his honey upset Teddy greatly. He sat down to think about the situation.
"Maybe I've been too selfish." Teddy said to himself, "I've never thought about what the bees need.
How can I make this right?"
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:
Soon Teddy had an idea of what to do.
Paragraph 2
Spring came and Teddy was expecting the bees.
