The Best Books of 2020
On Monday, the American Library Association announced the top children's books of 2020. Here are the winners.
Devotion
Author Clare Vanderpool took home the John Newbery Medal for outstanding contribution to children's literature for Moon over Manifest. The book is about a young girl's magical adventures in a small Kansas town, in 1936.
Vanderpool said that she was shocked to learn that she had won. "You grow up reading legendary authors like Madeleine L'Engle, but I never expected to be put in a category with her," Vanderpool told TFK. "It's fabulous."
Picture This
The picture book A Sick Day for Amos McGee won the Randolph Caldecott Medal. The book was illustrated by Erin E. Stead and written by her husband, Philip C. Stead. It tells the story of an elderly zookeeper and the animals that visit him when he's not well enough to go to work.
"I love drawing animals and I love drawing people and I love drawing the emotional connection between animals and people," said Stead.
More Honored Books
The Coretta Scott King award, given to an African-American author and illustrator of "outstanding books for children and young adults," went to Rita Williams-Garcia for One Crazy Summer. Set in 1968, the novel follows three sisters from Brooklyn, New York, who visit their mother, a poet who ran away years ago and lives in California.
The king prize for best-illustrated work went to Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave. The book, which was written by Laban Carrick Hill and illustrated by Bryan Collier, tells the story of a skilled potter who engraved his poems on the clay pots and jars that he made. The enslaved potter, known only as Dave, lived in South Carolina in the 1800s.
I travel a lot, and I find out different "styles" (风格)of directions every time I ask "How can I get to the post office?"
Foreign tourists are often confused(困惑的)in Japan because most streets there don't have names; in Japan, people use landmarks(地标)in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, "Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop. "
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, "Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile. "
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. "How far away is the post office?" you ask. "Oh," they answer, "it's about five minutes from here. ''You say, "Yes, but how many miles away is it?" They don't know.
It's true that a person doesn't know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, Sorry, I have no idea. But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers "I don't know. " People in Yucatan believe that "I don't know" is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!
With the largest population in the world, China has the most mouths to feed on the planet. Consequently, food waste is a great problem in China. It is reported that more than 6% — or 35 million kgs — of the country's total food production is lost before reaching consumers, in the household and warehouse storage, transport and processing sectors. With an ever-growing population, it's imperative to deal with food waste in China.
Thankfully, policies covering food waste have been rapidly emerging in recent years. Since 2010, the Chinese government has selected 100 cities and encouraged them to explore alternative waste management systems. In 2016,China amended(修改) its Solid Waste Law to stop illegal dumping(倾倒) and promote recycling and reuse of waste, including food. Restaurants will soon be charged a fee for the amount of food waste they produce. And China is using a good food waste processing method called anaerobic digestion, a process that transforms organic waste into biogas, which can be used as energy, or turned into biofuel.
Moving forward, policymakers should consider loss and waste reduction to be as important as increasing production. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the current policy system of agricultural subsidisation(补贴) mainly includes price guarantees and subsidies for crops, production materials, seeds and agricultural machinery, which leads to local governments focusing on crop production while paying little attention to the wastage in the supply chain. There should also be increased investment in the construction of new warehouses and special funds for storage, transport, and processing technologies.
If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitting(排放) country in the world, generating about 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. This issue is not location-specific, but an issue that affects every living thing on the planet and should therefore be seen as an essential area to take action in.
Scientists have created a new app designed to identify dangerous mosquitoes based on sounds the insects make. The app, called Abuzz, is aimed at helping fight major diseases spread by mosquitoes.
Haripriya Vaidehi Narayanan is one of the researchers who helped develop the app. Narayanan told VOA that anyone with a mobile phone could use the app to identify mosquitoes. "If they see a mosquito around, they just take out their phone, open up the app, point their phone towards the mosquito and hit the record button," she said. "Then, when the mosquito flaps its wings and starts flying around, it makes that noise, that annoying buzzing noise. That noise is what gets recorded by the Abuzz app." she added.
Many diseases that mosquitoes carry do not have cures or vaccines(疫苗). So, targeting the flying insects is the best way to control them. "The most important step is to know where the mosquitoes are," Narayanan said.
Traditional methods for hunting mosquitoes are costly and can take a very long time. The process also requires labor-intensive trapping as well as trained scientists to identify the insects.
Manu Prakash is a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University and a lead investigator on the project. He says that out of about 3,500 different mosquito species, only about 40 are dangerous to humans. Prakash says the goal of the project was to find out whether the mosquitoes around a person's house are just an annoyance, or whether they are possibly dangerous.
When mosquitoes move their wings up and down, they produce buzzing sounds. But each kind of mosquito makes a slightly different buzzing noise. The app records these sounds. Users of the app can get an answer by recording as little as one or two seconds of the buzzing sound. The app compares this recording to a collection of other recordings. It then predicts which species of mosquito it is most likely to be.
By making use of mosquito information worldwide, the app can help build maps of where dangerous mosquitoes are. This can help scientists and health officials identify areas where disease is likely to break out and where to target mosquito control.
Teachers are influential by nature and often take advantage of opportunities to teach life lessons when they present themselves. Students are too pure and innocent to know what's really going on. In many cases sharing these life lessons can have a far greater impact than teaching standard-based content.
★
Those who work the hardest typically achieve the most. Teachers understand that some students are more naturally gifted than others, but even the most gifted students will not achieve much if they are lazy. It is absurd to dream about success if you are not willing to work hard.
★You Have the Greatest Control of Your Destiny.
Many people believe that their destiny is determined by the situation they inherited at birth. Every person instinctively controls his own destiny once a certain age is reached. Teachers fight this misconception all the time.
★Cooperating Benefits Everyone.
Teamwork is a valuable skill taught in schools. Schools often provide the first opportunities for children to cooperate with other children who may be different. Working together is necessary for both team and individual success. Students must be taught that each individual part working together makes the team successful.
Just like the well-known phrase say, "" You only have to reflect on your own time in school under their guidance to realize how positive or negative experiences can stick with you for the rest of your life.
A. Hard Work Pays Off.
B. Decisions Lead to Consequences.
C. Nothing could be further from the truth.
D. Teachers don't impact for a year, but for a lifetime.
E. Teachers can have a huge influence on their students.
F. Life lessons taught by teachers have made a meaningful impact on them.
G. However, if one part quits or does not perform adequately, everyone will fail.
My mother used to ask me, "What is the most important part of the body?" Through the years I would 1 the correct answer. When I was younger, I thought 2 was very important to us as humans, so I said, "My ears, Mummy. " She said, "No. Many people are 3. But you keep thinking about it and I will ask you again soon. "
Several years passed before she asked me again. Since making my first 4. I had often thought over the question. So this time I told her, Mummy, it must be our eyes. " She looked at me and said, "You are 5 fast. but the answer is not correct because there are many people who are blind. "
6 the years, mother asked me a couple more 7 and always her response to my answers was, "No. but you are getting 8 every year, my child. " Then last year, my Grandpa 9. Everybody was heartbroken. Everybody was crying. My mother looked at me when it was our 10 to say our final good-bye to Grandpa. She asked me, "Do you know the most important body part yet, my dear?"
I was 11 when she was asking me this now. I always thought this was a 12 between her and me. She saw the 13 on my face and told me, "This question is very important. It shows that you have really 14 your life. " I saw her eyes well up with tears. She said, "My dear, the most important body part is your 15. " I asked, "Is it because they hold up your head?" She replied, "No, it is 16 on them a crying friend or loved one can rest their head. I only hope that you have enough 17 and friends that you will have a shoulder to cry 18 when you need it." Then and there I understood the most important body part is not a 19 one. It is sympathetic(同情的) to the pain of 20.
Coffee is probably world's least expensive success power tool to increase focus, drive and even the life span. (fortunate) we may not be enjoying its benefits or pleasure too much longer. According to ecologists, there is a good chance the varieties of coffee we drink today (be) extinct in 20 or 30 years. The problem, of course, is the pace of climate change.
Coffee is a crop that is only grown in a thin band (call) the "coffee belt" close to equator(赤道),which is extremely vulnerable(易受…伤害的)to climate change. If the air is too hot too cold, it prevents the growth of coffee plant. Climate change also creates (environment) stress, which spreads pests and plant diseases Almost all the coffee grown in the world today is one of two species, arabica or robuasta, both of might be wiped out in this way. There are other species existing only in Ethiopia, country that climate change is happening. In other words, climate change is eating away the root source that we might turn to replacement species.
What to do? Well, take the time (enjoy) each cup of coffee you drink.
Last Saturday I went to the library as usually. At about noon, I was enjoying my reading near a lake while suddenly I hear someone crying for help. I went to see what was happened. I was shocking to find a little child struggling in the water in the distance while many peoples were standing by without doing anything. Without any hesitation (犹豫), I had pushed through the crowd as I took off my coat, but jumped into the water quickly. I managed to reach him and carried him back to safety. To his great relief, the kid was saved. I was proud what I had done. I hope everyone can give a hand when someone else is in need.
注意：1）词数100左右；2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯
My weekend
