My 6-year-old granddaughter Caitlin and I stopped at a bakery shop for a chocolate cake. As we were going out the door, a young teenage boy was coming in.
This young man had no hair on the sides of his head and a tuft of (一簇) blue hair on top. His left ear and nose were pierced. And attached(系上) to both of them was a silver chain that ran across half of his face. He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other.
Caitlin, who was walking in front of me, stopped when she saw the teen. I thought she'd be frightened of him.
I was wrong. She backed up against the door and opened it as wide as it would go. I stepped aside and let the boy pass. He smiled and said: "________"
On our way to the car, l talked with Caitlin about holding open the door for the boy. "Were you troubled by the boy's look?" I still wanted to make sure. But the only thing Caitlin noticed about the teen was the fact that his arms were full. "He would have had a hard time to open the door."
l saw the shaved (剃光的) head, the blue hair, the piercings and the chain. She saw a person carrying something under each arm and heading toward a closed door.
In the future. I hope to get on her level and raise mv sights.
① With most people staying at home because of COVID-19, livestreaming(直播) has taken off. It is not only fun and interesting, but has also provided a new stage(舞台) for traditional culture artists.
② On video sites and apps such as Douyin and Bilibili, many traditional artists are trying livestreaming for the first time. Some of them sing Peking Opera, some show their hand-made products, while others perform classical Chinese music.
③ Li Jun is a laosheng (old male role) Peking Opera performer with the Shanghai Jingju Theater Company. During the outbreak, the 59-year-old started livestreaming for the first time. Unlike performing on a formal stage, Li uses everyday places as his stage, including his backyard, study room, and even the kitchen. Besides singing, Li also teaches viewers about Peking Opera in a humorous way.
④ People can ask him questions and get answers directly. "Livestreaming has brought this elegant(高雅的) art down to earth, " one viewer said. "It allows young people to get closer to this traditional art and learn more about it. " Up to now Li has more than 6, 000 fans on Douyin, while one of his videos has received 42, 000 views on Bilibili.
⑤ Other kinds of artists also see livestreaming as a new opportunity. On March 26, the third China Huafu Day, Bilibili livestreamed a fashion show. Performers presented beautiful clothes in traditional Chinese styles, including those from the Wei (220-265), Tang (618-907) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. During the show, viewers not only enjoyed seeing the clothes but also watching how performers use ancient styles of make-up. For example, one blogger taught people how to draw the guiye eyebrow(桂叶眉) which was a typical make-up style during the Tang Dynasty.
⑥ As Guangming Daily noted, livestreaming has created a new way in which traditional culture can be kept alive.
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Reading is getting more popular among young Chinese. A new survey says that 85% of young people in China read at least 1 book last year. The number of young people who are reading has been rising in recent years, especially for teenagers, who read an average (平均) of 11.5 books.
The data (数据) shows that teenagers spend much more time reading from school textbooks to some other reading materials, such as novels, e-books, magazines and so on. But younger children (ages 2-8) are mainly reading for fun. Compared with the past, the time teenagers spend on pleasure reading has dropped.
When it comes to technology and reading, the survey suggests little. It does point out that many parents control the time of electronic reading, mainly because of worrying about increased screen time. However，most Chinese parents are helping their children to develop a reading habit. They are served as examples for their children. More than 70% of Chinese parents spend at least 20 minutes a day reading to their children aged 0 to 8 years old, and visit bookstores with them about three times a year. Data shows that kids and teens who do a lot of reading, compared to those who don't like reading, have more books in the home, and more books bought for them. Their parents read more often, and would like to spare time to read with them.
When was the last time you read a book? If you're one of the countless people who don't develop a habit of reading, you might be missing out. Everything you read fills your head with new information, and you never know when it might be useful. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to deal with any challenge you'll face. Remember that although you might lose something else, knowledge can never be taken away from you.
Now open a book, and feed your soul (心灵).
Bertie knew there was something in the wind. His mother had been sad in recent days, not sick, just strangely sad. The lion had just lain down beside him, his head warm on Bertie's feet when Father cleared his throat and began, "You'll soon be eight, Bertie. A boy needs a proper education. We've found the right place for you, a school near Salisbury in England."
His heat filled with a terrible fear. All Bertie could think of was his white lion "But the lion," he cried, "What about the lion?'
"I'm afraid there's something else I have to tell you," his father said. Looking across at Bertie's mother, he took a deep breath. Then he told Bertie he had met a circus(马戏团)owner from France, who was now in Africa looking for lions to buy. He would come to their farm in a few days.
"No! You can't send him to a circus!"" said Bertie." People will come to see him. He'll be shut in a cage. I promised him he never would be. And they will laugh at him. He'd rather die if he loses his pride?" But as Bertie looked across the table at them, he knew their minds were quite made up.
Bertie felt completely hurt. He waited until he head his father's deep breathing next door. With his white lion, he walked downstairs quietly in his pajamas, took down his father's gun from the case and stepped out into the night. He ran and ran till his lags could run no more. As the sum came up over the grassland, he climbed to the top of a hill and sat down, his arms round the lion's neck. The time had come.
"Be wild now," he whispered" "You've got to be wild. Don't ever come home. All my life I'II think of you. I promise I will. "Ha put his head down in the lion's neck. Then, Bertie climbed down the hill and walked away.
When he looked back the lion was still sitting there watching him; but then the lion stood up, yawned, ran down after him. Bertie shouted at him, but he kept coming. He threw sticks. He threw stones. Nothing worked.
There was only one thing left to do. With tears filling his eyes and his mouth, he lifted the gun and fired over the lion's head.
Many cultures have stories of talking trees that give advice as well as warnings to people. Alexander the Great and Marco Polo were said to have visited such a tree in India. New research has found something amazing: it seems that plants can communicate after all.
It has been known for some time that plants use chemicals(化学物质) to communicate with each other. This happens when a plant gets attacked by insects. The plant gives out chemicals from the leaves that are being eaten. This is like a warning, or a call for help. When another plant gets the chemicals, it starts to give out its own, different chemicals. Scientists hope to learn more about this plant warning system, so that we can use it to grow more crops.
More surprisingly, plants also use sound to communicate. People can't hear these sounds, but plants are making them. Some plants make noises with their roots. Some trees make clicking noises when there is not enough water.
Most surprisingly of all, plants have an amazing system of communication that can link nearly every plant in a forest. Scientists call this system the "wood wide web", which is linked underground by fungi(菌类). It links the roots of different plants to each other. It is in some ways similar to the Internet we use. Using the wood wide web, plants can share information and even food with each other. However, it may lead to bad effects. Plants may use it to steal food from each other, or spread chemicals to attack other plants.
Scientists are learning more every day about the secret ways in which plants talk to each other. Who knows? Maybe one day we will know enough about plant communication to be able to "talk" with them ourselves.
①chemicals ②leaves ③sound ④fungi
Picture this: You're surfing on the Internet and suddenly find a website with interesting articles. Some are news stories. They want to share information. Others only look like new stories. In fact, they're advertisements*, or ads. They want to get you to buy something. How do you, the reader, tell the difference between a news story and an ad?
Back when I was growing up, it was easier. We got most of our information from newspapers. Big news stories appeared on the front page, and ads were boxed off and clearly labeled*. But on the Internet, the two often appear together. It can be hard to tell which is which.
That's why my research group did a study. My research team showed kids the home page of a popular digitalmagazine. We asked them to tell us which was a news story and which was an ad.
Most were good at finding some kinds of ads. "It has a coupon* code, a big company logo, and the words 'limited time offer,'" one student wrote about an ad on the site. So what was the problem for kids? Some ads look almost the same as real news stories. They have headlines and information. But they may also have the words "sponsored content". "Sponsored content" is a way of saying that something is an ad. Companies paid money for it to appear so that readers will see their stories, buy their products, and like what the company stands for.
As a reader, you have a right to know who's behind the information. So look for the phrase "sponsored content". (And look carefully. Sometimes, it will be written in small letters.) The Internet is a big sea of information. To use it well, we not only have to know how to swim but also how to stay away from the sharks. Learning to tell the differences between an ad and a news story is an important step to becoming Internet-smart.
Do sugary drinks cause overweight? While we know that sugary drinks have calories (卡路里), which are believed to cause overweight, many questions remain. For example, is soda any better? Do you need a sports drink after going to the gym? Here are the facts to some common misunderstandings.
Misunderstanding 1: Clear soda (无色汽水) is healthier than dark soda.
The truth: The dark color of teeth has something to do with the coloring (着色剂) in soda. Lisa R. Young, a professor of Nutrition at New York University said. But the big difference between clear and dark sodas is the caffeine content (咖啡因含量). Since a bottle of soda, such as Coca-Cola and Sprite (雪碧), has less caffeine than that in a cup of coffee, most soda drinkers probably don't need to worry about what to choose.
Misunderstanding 2: If you need caffeine to cheer you up, you should choose an energy drink rather than coffee.
The truth: There are more sugar than caffeine in energy drinks such as Red Bull (红牛). Energy drinks may be easier to drink. But a cup of coffee has between 95 and 200 milligrams (毫克) of caffeine while Red Bull has about 80mg per the same amount, according to US medical research group Mayo Clinic.
Misunderstanding 3: If you go to the gym, you need a sports drink.
The truth: It would be easy to think that you need a sports drink any time you sweat (出汗).
But the truth is that the energy in your body won't be used up until you've done more than an hour of training. So you only need to drink some water after a 45-minute exercise on the running machine.
It was an old apartment, in which many parts are made of wood, and there was a huge risk of fire. Fire Department asked the residents (居民) to move out, but none would, because they were poor and had nowhere to go. Singermary and her husband had lived here for some years.
In their sweet dreams, the building was on fire. Wooden staircases (楼梯), wooden windows and wooden floors were burning. The fire became bigger and bigger, the residents ran for their lives. When half of the population had got themselves out, the wooden staircases collapsed (倒塌). The remaining residents rushed to the roof of the third floor, which had not been touched by the flames yet, waiting for the fireman to rescue (解救) them. Firemen did arrive in a short while. But the fire engines (消防车) could not reach the building, as the alley (小巷) was too narrow and it was too dark. The situation was critical, and there was no time to lose. The firemen placed a few cushions (垫子) on the floor and got some quilts from the nearby houses. Then they asked the people on the burning building to jump on the cushions after they had shown how. A man jumped down, buttock (臀部) touching the cushions, uninjured. Another person jumped down, uninjured ...They jumped one after another, all safe.
Finally Singermary became the only one on the roof, hesitating (犹豫) while the fire was soaring and the flames would soon take down the roof. People shouted, "Jump, jump!" Singermary jumped, but she jumped head down with open arms. People were greatly shocked. How could she do such a jump? She would kill herself in that way! Luckily, the cushions were very thick, she did not die, but injured seriously, saying with what strength she got, "Please take me to hospital!" She was having a baby. That was why she had jumped head down. That was mother's love! People were deeply moved.
Imagine climbing the three highest mountains in Britain. Now, imagine climbing all the three in 24 hours. That's what Rebecca Shedden, a British schoolgirl did and she's only eight years old. She is one of the youngest people who have arrived on top of Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis, the three highest mountains in Britain.
Rebecca and her dad finished the climb, a total of about 11, 000 feet(3, 353 meters), in 23 hours and 15 minutes. That includes the time spent driving to each mountain: a distance of 500 miles.
Climbing isn't new to this schoolgirl. She took her first trip up a mountain in her dad's backpack when she was just six months old!
"One of the best parts about this climb was Scafell Pike, " said Rebecca. "I've never walked in the dark before, and it was fun seeing all the sheep's eyes as they ran around in the dark. "
Rebecca brought along food, water, a medical kit, a hat, a map, a lamp, a camera to take photos and even a mobile phone in case something went wrong. Along the way, she and her dad had fun by making up mountain songs. "All my friends like to stay inside playing computer games, but I like being outdoors best, "says Rebecca. Rebecca also enjoys swimming and skiing.
The young climber doesn't plan to stay on flat land for long. She wants to climb Mount Kilimanjaro（乞力马扎罗山）, the tallest mountain in Africa. "And I would like to climb Mount Qomolangma one day, too. " she said.
My 6-year-old granddaughter Caitlin and I stopped at a bakery shop for a chocolate cake. As we were going out the door, a young teenage boy was coming in.
This young man had no hair on the sides of his head and a tuft of (一簇) blue hair on top. His left ear and nose were pierced. And attached (系上) to both of them was a silver chain that ran across half of his face. He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other.
Caitlin, who was walking in front of me, stopped when she saw the teen. I thought she'd be frightened of him.
I was wrong. She backed up against the door and opened it as wide as it would go. I stepped aside and let the boy pass. He smiled and said: "________________"
On our way to the car, I talked with Caitlin about holding open the door for the boy. "Were you troubled by the boy's look?" I still wanted to make sure. But the only thing Caitlin noticed about the teen was the fact that his arms were full. "He would have had a hard time to open the door."
I saw the shaved (剃光的) head, the blue hair, the piercings and the chain. She saw a person carrying something under each arm and heading toward a closed door.
In the future, I hope to get on her level and raise my sights.
