"Belittle" was first used by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
Many years ago, Buffon, a French naturalist, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics did not like them. Some critics said, "Buffon is more of a poet than a scientist."
Thomas Jefferson did not like what Buffon had said about the natural wonders of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if they were unimportant.
This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was a naturalist, as well as a farmer, inventor, historian, writer and politician. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.
In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word-belittle. He said. "Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic."
Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in his English language dictionary in 1806, "Belittle-to make somebody or something small, unimportant."
Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle newspaper used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. "He is an honorable man," the paper wrote, "so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please."
In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, "‘Belittle' has no chance of becoming English. And as more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it, the sooner it is forgotten, the better." This expert failed to kill the word. Today, "belittle" is used where the English language is spoken.
My name is Jack. When my family moved to America, we brought not only our luggage, but also our rules, customs and culture in China. One of the rules is that young people should always respect the elders. Unluckily, this rule led to my very first embarrassment(尴尬) in the United States.
I had a part-time job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. One day, when I was serving food to a middle-aged couple, the wife asked me how the food could be served so quickly. I told her that I had made sure they got their food quickly because I always respect the elderly. As soon as I said that, she looked very unhappy. My manager gave me a long lecture about how Americans dislike the word "old". I then walked back and apologized to the lady.
In my hometown in China, people are proud of being old. Not so many people live to be seventy or eighty, and people who reach such an age have the most knowledge and experience. Young people always respect older people because they know they can learn from their rich experience.
However, in the United States, "old" means that a person is going to retire(退休). Here many people try to keep themselves from growing old by doing exercises. When I told the couple in the restaurant that I respect the elderly, they got angry because this caused them to feel they had failed to stay young.
After that, I changed the way I had been with older people. It is not that I don't respect them any more; I still respect them, but now I don't show my feelings through words.
Shining just 12 light-years from Earth, the star Tau Ceti so resembles the sun that it has appeared in numerous science- fiction stories and was the first star astronomers ever searched for signs of intelligent life, half a century ago. In 2012 Tau Ceti grew still more interesting when astronomers reported five possible planets somewhat larger than Earth circling closer to the star than Mars orbits (围绕……运动) the sun—one of which is in the star's habitable zone. Newly released images taken by the Herschel Space Observatory provide even more insight about Tau Ceti's solar system: greater detail about its dust belt.
Dust arises when asteroids and comets (小行星和彗星) crash into one another, so its location reveals where these dust- creating objects—which are too small to be seen directly—orbit a star. In Tau Ceti's case, "it's quite a wide dust belt," says Samantha Lawler of the University of Victoria in British Columbia. As her team reported in November, the belt's inner edge is roughly two to three astronomical units (AUs) from the star, which is the position of our own sun's asteroid belt. (An AU is the distance from Earth to the sun.) Tau Ceti's dust belt extends out to 55 AU, which would be just beyond our system's main Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, the zone of small bodies whose largest member is probably Pluto. Presumably full of asteroids and comets, Tau Ceti's dust belt most likely lacks a planet as large as Jupiter, Lawler says. The gravity of such a massive planet would have driven away most small space rocks.
Within a year a new series of radio telescopes in Chile called ALMA should provide a sharper view of the disk, especially of its inner edge. The ALMA images will help astronomers confirm whether the star's five proposed planets are indeed real. If the disk overlaps the planets' hypothesized (假设的) orbits, then they probably do not exist; they would have kept away most asteroids near the star, removing the source of dust.
If those planets do exist, however, Lawler's team suggests that Tau Ceti's planetary system may resemble what our solar system would have looked like had the four giant planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune- never formed: small planets orbiting close to the star, and nothing but asteroids, comets and dust beyond.
Wood has many great characteristics that make it the perfect building material. It is cheap, durable, easily available, and most importantly, environmentally sustainable. The one thing it is not, is transparent! Now thanks to a team of scientists at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology the material may even be able to add that feature to its already impressive list. Lead researcher Dr.Lars Berglund said he was inspired to create the transparent wood after learning how Japanese researchers had developed a see-through paper for use in flexible display screens for electronic devices. The team began by pulling out the wood's lignin (木质素). The lignin-free wood was then dipped into a polymer (聚合物) and baked at a temperature of 158°F for four hours. The result was a hybrid product that was not only stronger and lighter than the original wood but also, almost transparent. The researchers were able to adjust the level of transparency by varying the amount of the polymer injected and also by changing the thickness of the wood.
While scientists have previously created a see-through wood for small-scale applications like computer chips, the transparent wood is the first one being considered for large scale applications. The researchers, who revealed their findings in Bio macromolecules on April 11, picture using the transparent wood in buildings to allow for more natural light, or to create windows that let in the desired amount of light without sacrificing privacy.
Wood that allows light to pass through could lead to a brighter future for homes and buildings. Berglund also thinks the wood could play a significant role in the design of solar panels. The semitransparent material would be able to keep light longer and give it more time to interact with the conductor, thus resulting in better solar efficiency. Additionally, substituting the currently used glass with this new product would help solar energy manufacturers improve their carbon footprint and lower the cost. They are now experimenting with ways to scale up the manufacturing process so that the transparent material is cost-effective to make and easy to use.
The attraction of television is undeniable when it comes to kids. Here are guidelines we created to help us decide what's appropriate for our family: Monitor television time. Choosing good shows isn't a big issue if you're not watching a lot of television, so really the best solution to finding appropriate television is saying, "Go play." Don't trust network ratings. A kid-approved stamp given by a television network is a general guide that doesn't take into account your parenting style and the things your family feels are important. There are plenty of adult cartoon shows on television now, many with highly inappropriate topics. The bottom line is, I want to know what my kids are watching, and if the TV is on my time in our home, I want to first approve of the show ahead of time, and second to watch it with my kids so that I'm aware of anything they might be seeing that needs intervention (干涉).Talk about the show with your kids. As kids get older, we realize that we can't shelter them from every single person/show/behavior that doesn't fit exactly with our values. They're going to hear a swear word from time to time—and might walk into the room while the characters in the romantic comedy we're watching are kissing.
A. If it doesn't feel good, turn it off.
B. And be aware of cartoons!
C. We can talk about what we see, though, using story-lines to teach lessons when possible.
D. The standard for what our kids can watch might be difficult to set.
E. But how do you choose which shows are appropriate for the younger set?
F. Watch TV with them.
G. Still, a little bit of television doesn't hurt and can be fun.
I was so blessed for all the special moments I had with my old mother. Old as she was, she always thought she was 1 me when I took her to the doctor visits, but it was a (n) 2 for me to spend quality time with her.
One day, on the way to a doctor visit, I 3 to a restaurant with a large arcade (游乐场)sign. I 4 some dishes, and it came with fifty tokens (代币)for the arcade games. It was 2：00 p.m. There was almost no 5 for us to choose so the employees made a fresh pizza for us instead.
There was loud music playing and someone 6 like a mouse encouraging the little children to dance. My mother was 7 by the dancing mouse and cheerful music. We 8 as the kids tried to follow the mouse's 9.
After we ate, it was time to 10 those golden tokens. Mom loved playing Skee-Ball and collecting 11.She moved from game to game like a( n) 12.She had fun watching as one machine spat 13 seven tickets again and again! She 14 about the long strand (串)of tickets and placed them around her neck like a( n) 15.We waited for a long while16 my mother tried to decide what to get with her tickets. Finally, she 17 a toy whistle. The man gave her an 18 one for me, so we had fun blowing them together.
I keep that whistle on my desk, a( n ) 19 of a wonderful experience with my mom as we embraced her 20 to make the most of every day.
A lot of people are suffering the stress of their work or study, and it's bad for their health. In order to keep (health), we should know to relax in our daily life. Here (be) two ways to relax as follows.
First, changing (you) mind is what you can do. When you meet some (difficult), you shouldn't think about them all the time, or these things will get much more stressful before. You are supposed (change) your mind and do something that makes you feel better.
Second, (talk) with your friends, parents or someone else is a possible way, though it may not be useful to everyone. Anyway, please have a try; perhaps these ways can help you become (relax).
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：
1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Different students hold different view on whether we should start a blog on the Internet. Some believe it can provide with a colorful stage for students to show their talents. Also, it's nice way to help them relieving pressure. However, other have an opposite opinion over it. They thought managing a blog will take much time and energy. Personally, I do approve of students having their own blogs. Nowadays, the Internet is playing an important part to our life. As high school students, it's necessary to learn and make the most of it. In fact, whether it's good or bad depend on how we employ it. If we can take fully advantage of it but avoid its negative effects, we can surely benefit a lot from it.
1）活动的目的;
2）活动的形式;
3）你的感受。
注意：1）词数80左右；2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；3）作文的开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Tom，
……
Yours，
Li Hua
