Sites for free online education enable you to learn courses in your comfortable place. The courses of these websites are offered by top universities. You can learn a specific subject without much investment. These websites offer many videos, articles, and e-books to increase your knowledge.
Coursera
Coursera is a free learning platform that offers MOOCs courses from well-known universities. All courses contain pre-recorded video lectures that you can watch when it is convenient for you. Coursera has programs together with universities that allow you to get a master's degree.
You can explore various college courses without any trouble.
CodeHS
CodeHS is a learning site that's specially designed for students to learn computer science. This web-site provides lesson plans where you can access various resources to learn it. The courses are designed in a way that suits your personal needs. The videos can be viewed online as well as offline.
Khan Academy
This site is useful to match your learning goals. You choose this site to personalize your learning experiences. This free platform can be used for learners and teachers. The resources of this site are available online as well as offline. The content of Khan Academy is available in English, French, German, and more.
Connections Academy
Connections Academy is the best online course website that helps students to learn from home. The courses of this platform are designed for elementary school and middle school. The site provides personalized learning experiences and enables you to easily meet teachers and classmates in the virtual classroom.
Cats have no emotions. At least, that's what my husband once claimed. I argued that my two cats experience emotions. They feel anger, fear, and happiness. He agreed with me, but stuck to his opinion that cats don't feel love. However, my cat, Sebastian, would teach him otherwise.
When my next-door neighbour moved in, he had a cat named Juliet. She was an indoor lady, always watching the environment through the window. Then one day when I accompanied my cat to the backyard for his playtime, Sebastian caught sight of Juliet gazing at him behind the window. It soon became obvious that they were attracted by each other. So every day thereafter, whenever I let Sebastian out, he would rush straight to the backyard next-door and they would sit gazing lovingly at each other through the screen, she inside, and he outside. Even my husband watched in amazement, and he would murmur, "But cats can't feel love…can they?"
Five months later, my neighbour had to move because of work. My heart sank. I wondered how Sebastian would react to Juliet's leaving.
For months after Juliet moved away and the new neighbour moved in, I often caught Sebastian sitting by Juliet's window, looking into the apartment in search of his lady. The new neighbour didn't mind having the "Peeping (偷看) Sebastian" after I explained his reason for being there. Sebastian marked the small area outside that window as his territory. Other male cats were allowed in the backyard, but not near Juliet's window, which he guarded until his death.
Even now, when my husband and I walk through the backyard and see that window, he re-minds me of the lesson Sebastian taught him…that cats do indeed fall in love.
More than a third of the world's population lives in dry lands, areas that experience significant water shortages. Engineers and scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a unique solution to help people in these areas access clean drinking water.
They developed a low-cost gel film (凝胶膜) that can pull water from the air in even the driest climate. Combining two simple ingredients, cellulose and konjac gum, the gel is inexpensive to produce. Just one kilogram of gel can absorb up to six liters of water in a dry climate. For those living in a climate with relative humidity (潮湿), one kilogram of gel can collect up to 13 liters of water a day. As the gel is so inexpensive and easy to make, it may offer a way of providing drinking water to countries with water shortages.
Previously, researchers have harvested fresh water from fog and dew, but that only serves areas with high humidity. Other attempts at pulling water from desert air are typically energy-in-tensive and do not produce much. In fact, this gel is a vast improvement from previous water harvesting technologies. The maximum water harvested has been 5. 87 liters in places with relative humidity. This new gel doubles this amount, uses no energy and is simple to operate and it can be moulded into a shape or size that best suits the user.
"This new work is about practical solutions that people can use to get water in the hottest, driest places on Earth, "said Guihua Yu, professor at the Cockrell School of Engineering. "This could allow millions of people without consistent access to drinking water to have simple, water generating devices at home that they can easily operate. "
"This is not something you need an advanced degree to use," the paper's lead author, You-hong "Nancy" Guo said. "It's straightforward enough that anyone can make it at home if they have the materials." Scientists are planning on making a thicker gel that will increase the yield, making this technology a practicable solution to drought.
By drawing patterns on the surface of a cup of tea, chabaixi, an ancient Chinese tea trick dis-played in a recent TV drama, has gone viral for its apparent similarity with modern latte art (咖啡拉花艺术). However, ten years ago, this distinctive technique was close to disappearing completely. Zhang Zhifeng, a practitioner of chabaixi, found scenes of chabaixi in the drama aroused great interest among ordinary people.
Chabaixi can create endless patterns such as bamboos and mountains or even calligraphy. There are over a dozen steps, from grinding (碾碎) tea for fine powder to pouring boiled water, stirring the mixture for thick froth, and finally drawing the patterns. It is different from making latte because people use clear water as the object to put into the cup instead of milk. But when the water touches the surface of whipped (搅打起泡沫的) tea, it turns into a white color and disappears in 20 minutes. The process before the drawing is known as the tea-making tech-nique, diancha, the quality of which is crucial to whether patterns can be successfully produced later.
"Chabaixi is one of the countless forms of tea-making techniques in China. The importance of chabaixi is that not only this technique is unique in the world, but also it gives us a window into people's lifestyle in the Song Dynasty, a period of time when leisure activities in some ways resemble what we have now, "Zhang said.
Before chabaixi was discovered by TV audiences, the technique was listed as part of China's Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017, after it was recovered by Zhang Zhifeng, who spent nearly 30 years studying and researching the origins and making of tea, but for him it was all worth-while.
"This technique is key to the tea culture of the Song Dynasty, and it would be a shame to let it fade. This technique must be passed on to the next generations so they can understand its history," Zhang said.
Meaningful Ways to Celebrate the New Year
It's been said that the New Year sets the intention for the entire year to come. Here are some meaningful ideas for celebrating this New Year.
Write a letter to yourself. In it, you can list things like what your biggest dreams are right now, the things we are most afraid of, the things that are flowing in your life and how you hope you will feel as you read the letter in one year.
Release a floating lantern. In many cultures, it's considered good luck to release a lantern into the sky. With a few simple tools you can make your own lantern, and can even write on the outside some of the old patterns you are ready to release from your life.
Alone time is unbelievably important for processing, reflecting and connecting with yourself. And if you cannot decide what celebration feels right for you this New Year's Eve, you may simply enjoy your own company. Have a solo dance party, order favorite carryout, do an at-home yoga practice and take a candlelit bubble bath. Give yourself the gift of quality time, and find enjoyment and ease in the company you keep, even in the empty moments.
List the things you are grateful for. There's no truer way to find delight in this very moment than to count your blessings. As you look back on an entire year, you're sure to discover a treasure of miracles just waiting to be illuminated (照亮) and treasured. So take some time to come up with your own gratitude list for 2023.
A. Begin one of your goals.
B. Enjoy your own company.
C. Fill yourself from the inside out.
D. It is a symbol of your problems and worries floating away.
E. There is just so much to be thankful for, if only we have eyes to see.
F. Just observe the world around you, from the smallest leaves to the limitless sky above.
G. If you miss the good old days, it can be wonderful to write a letter to your future self.
Lenore Skenazy is a New York journalist. When she wrote about how she had left her nine-year-old son in central New York and let him take the subway home alone, she caused a(n) 1media storm.Her son，lzzy，whose2the expedition (出行) had been, was happy with the experience. He arrived home safely, 3about his independence. He had been begging for weeks to be4out on his own and to travel unsupervised (无人监督的). Ms Skenazy gave Izzy a subway map, twenty dollars and some5in case he needed to make a phone call. But Ms Skenazy's actions landed her in a huge6. Although many came out to7her, she was labeled "America's worst mom" by others. "My son had simply done what most people my age had done8when they were his age: gone somewhere on his own, without a security detail," she wrote9. "The problem with this dangerous idea is that overprotectiveness is a 10in itself. A child who thinks he can't do anything11eventually can't. "
So, are we living in a risk-averse (风险规避的) culture where we limit our children＇s ability to 12danger by never allowing them to take reasonable13? Does Western society give its children too much14? Or did Ms Skenazy's actions15her son in unnecessary danger? What do you think?
Hua Weiguang, retired teacher from Tongliao, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is a photography enthusiast.
A decade ago, the arrival of tree planters (catch) Hua's attention and the photos of the tree planters 58. (take) by Hua are evidence of the (remark) transformation of the land. In those photos, hats, scarves and goggles, for the workers fighting desertification, are basic necessities to protect them the wind and sand. There was no way to avoid the brutal summer heat in the land so the workers had to lie down on the ground or curl up in the narrow shade of their cars to cool off. And they also had to eat their lunch amid the blowing sands, taking in the small pieces of sand with their food.
"we don't fool the tree, it won't fool you. You take it (serious), and then it behaves in the same way to you. You put efforts to make it live, and the tree lives up to your (expect), "the planters say.
China's forest resources have increased by over 70 million hectares in the past decade, (rank) first in the world. One tree after another, a green Great Wall has been built.
Brush by brush, a green field (paint) over the yellow sandy land up to now.
1）活动的相关内容；
2）鼓励与期待。
注意：1）词数80左右；
2）格式已给出，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：中国让我没想到 My China Surprise
Dear Miriam,
……
Yours
Li Hua
On a cold windy day, a poor boy tried to pay his way through school by selling goods door to door. Wandering on the street, he was not a successful seller. What's worse, he found that he only had one dime (十分硬币) left. His empty stomach reminded him constantly that for days he hadn't eaten anything. He had no choice but to beg for a meal at the next house. Hesitantly he knocked at the door, thinking about what to say when it opened. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. "What can I do for you?" asked the young woman. The boy paused for a while. "Would you please give me some…a drink of water?" the boy dared not look directly into her eyes. She looked at the bony boy and thought he might need something to give him energy so she brought him a glass of milk. His head rising and small hands taking the cup, he drank it up slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?" "You don't owe me any-thing, " she replied with a warm smile on her face. "My mother has taught me never to accept pay for a kindness." Deeply moved, he said sincerely, "Then I shall thank you from the bottom of my heart. "As Howard Kelly left that house, not only did he feel stronger physically, but it also in-creased his faith in the whole human race. As a matter of fact, he was about to give up and quit before that point.
Years later the young woman became critically ill. However, the local doctors were unable to give the effective medical treatment. Finally they sent her to a hospital in the big city, where specialists can be called in to cure her rare disease. Among those famous specialists, Dr Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately, he rose and went down through the hospital hall into her room.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
Dressed in his doctor's gown, he went in to see her.
……
The bill was sent to her room.
