Four of the Most Magical Movies from Your Childhood
Whether it was the enchanting characters, the memorable scenes or simply because it was the first film your mum or dad took you to, these are the movies that have left the most lasting impressions over the decades.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
"I loved it for two reasons. First, it showed a wonderful, loving extended family. I was fascinated by their kitchen setting and the little corner where the boy Charlie slept. Second, inside the chocolate factory was what all children dreamed of. The whole movie transported me from my childhood worries into a fairyland world. " — Margaret McKee
Dumbo
"For a kid who often felt like he didn't fit in, and wasn't good at anything, it was magical to see Dumbo discover his talent and become loved and celebrated. " — Lorraine
The Never-ending Story
"It has to be the most magical movie. The story has everything a young kid can ask for: a great story, a mythical flying dog and an interesting ending. Our family continue to watch it today. " — Aaron Elliott
The Sound of Music
"When I was young, movies were a treat, with lollies, friends and a canvas seat. There was a special one that I did adore, and many times I've gone back for more. The songs, the scenery and the story line always transport me to another time. It is such a classic that my memories of it are so fantastic. " — Joanne Carter
Even when communing with nature we depend on technology for help — but then, so did Thoreau (梭罗) at Walden Pond (瓦尔登湖).
Walking in the same woods yesterday, I let myself wander at random, communing with nature.
I took in beautiful scenery near and far thanks to my progressive-lens eyeglasses. Occasionally I'd pull out my smartphone to take pictures on anything interesting. I recorded an inner monologue with a background of all sounds of the forest. At times, I consulted my smart watch to check on my heartbeat, mileage and calorie burn. Eventually I realized I was quite lost. Not a problem of course. Online maps came to my rescue.
But something bothered me. In what I'd intended as a nature experience, here I was using very high technology to help myself out. This insight triggered a reconsideration of everything that happened during my "nature walk," which had been technologically enhanced every step of the way. I'd been functioning as a man-machine combination: a cyborg.
What would the true naturalist Thoreau think of that? My first thought was that he'd be shocked. But later I did some research. Thoreau enjoyed what his spyglass discovered, like this eagle from his journal:
Lying on the ground with my glass, I could watch him very easily …till I almost lost him in the clouds . . . I think I have got the worth of my glass now that it has revealed to me the white-headed eagle.
Famously, Thoreau always set out equipped with a walking stick, which he used not only for support but also to take measurements of water and snow levels. His hat was also a tool, which he called his "botany-box." And he was prepared even with needles and thread, so when coming out of the woods, he was "the best dressed." Clearly, Thoreau was a bit of a cyborg himself.
Thinking more deeply, I realized we've come a long way from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who walked from necessity and relied on nature's gift. Cyborgs are us.
Typically, a person sitting in the driver's seat of a car opens the door with the hand closest to it. It makes sense since doors are designed to be opened that way. Pull the handle and immediately the door is open. But if you happen to do that at the wrong time, you may create an obstacle (障碍) for a passing cyclist without knowing it. Then the cyclist will be sent falling off the bike, and the car door is likely to be damaged by the fast-moving bicycle.
Obviously the solution is for the person getting out of the vehicle to check for oncoming traffic, but car door design and long-time habits have made the process instinctual. Luckily, there's a simple way to solve the problem: the Dutch reach. In other words, instead of using your left hand, reach for the door latch (门锁) with your right hand. This will force you to turn your body. At least, you'll look into your side view mirror to see whether any car or bike is coming.
"It's just what Dutch people do," said Fred Wegman, the former managing director of the National Institute for Road Safety Research in the Netherlands. "All the Dutch are taught it. It's part of regular driver education. "
The technique dates back about 50 or 60 years, and it was very popular between the 1960s and the 1980s. But it didn't really become known as the Dutch reach until a retired American physician named Michael Charney started the Dutch Reach Project in 2016 in an effort to popularize the practice in the United States and beyond. According to The Times, he was motivated by the death of a 27-year- old who rode into an open car door and died just five blocks from his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Charney's efforts may be paying off. Both Massachusetts and Illinois now include the Dutch reach in their drivers' manuals (手册).
Most people have no idea what to do with their old drugs. Unused or expired(到期的) medicines lying around at home can get into the wrong hands, leading to accidental poisoning or drug overdose. When drugs are flushed or sent to landfill, the medicines can pollute our groundwater, rivers, and streams, threatening human and sea life.
In an effort to find a solution for drugs kept in medicine boxes or waterways, the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration launched its first National Take-Back Day in September 2010. In the drug take-back program, the returned drugs are sent to medical waste incinerators (焚烧炉). However, the process of transporting and burning such waste can release green-house gas emissions that could be potentially greater than those generated if the drugs were poured into landfills.
"But take-back programs are preferred as they reduce the risk of drug misuse and the incineration effectively eliminates the entrance of these medicines into our nation's waters," says Tim Carroll, a spokesperson for the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Perhaps surprisingly, not all unused medicines need to be thrown away. Every year five billion dollars' worth of unexpired medicines end up being deserted in the U. S." We're wasting a lot of medicines which are already paid for," says Anandi Law, a patient engagement specialist . "Millions of U. S. adults skip or delay getting their prescriptions filled due to high costs. We could give them to somebody else who needs it. "
Now, at least 40 states have passed legislation establishing drug donation programs that allow drug manufacturers, medical and long-term care facilities, and sometimes individuals to donate their unused drugs. For example,since its start in 2007, lowa's program, SafeNetRx, has served more than 117,000 patients and redistributed nearly 54-million-dollar worth of medicines and supplies. Georgia's program formally launched in 2018, and it has already filled prescriptions worth over 50 million dollars.
"All of these efforts are still relatively new," Carroll says. "We still have a long way to go until households change their habits."
Is Managing Kids' Screen Time a Good Idea?
Screen time is a big topic of conversation in today's households, particularly during the pandemic when online education hours have multiplied for many students. . They hope to spare their kids from the countless challenges that technology can bring. Yet the challenges of screen time overuse seldom come from kids' devices themselves, but rather from the tense relationships that technology can bring to families. . But technology has positive benefits too. Since every child and family is different, managing screen time calls for joint family decision-making.
If parents believe they can manage a child's screen time through adolescence, they are not only fooling themselves but also inviting relationship trouble with their teens. It is a myth to think that parents can or should manage their kids' screen time through authoritarian restrictions, even during elementary school. . When children are left out of those decisions, they often become less communicative with parents and siblings. This is the opposite of what parents want to achieve.
. From early ages, children are quite capable of understanding that a good life involves awareness and balance. Just as they learn right from wrong, and good from bad, they can also learn to use technology in healthy ways. Learning how to regulate oneself and develop healthy behaviors is one of the primary tasks of childhood and adolescence. What happens when an adult tries to regulate a child is that the child misses out on the opportunity to learn for themselves. Enforced restrictions can also make children feel helpless and less confident.
To be clear, this article is not suggesting that families never use apps or trackers, or that there should be no restrictions on screen time. . Parents should give voice to children and involve them in the planning and decision-making process.
A. Of course, there are websites that are unhealthy for kids to access.
B. The alternative is to involve children in decisions that govern screen time.
C. However, every family needs a family media plan between family members.
D. The goal is to see, hear, feel, and understand how children view screen time.
E. To manage children's screen time, parents have invested in apps and trackers.
F. To get children involved, parents should trust and develop kids' self-awareness.
G. What it is suggesting is that parents look at managing screen time in a different way.
The world's youngest DJ who is just two years old has thousands of fans thanks to his ability. Oratilwe Hlongwane, whose DJ name is AJ, is 1 learning to put together words, but the baby is already able to 2 and play music from a laptop and has become famous in South Africa. His abilities have even 3 him special appearances, with fans 4 to hear his bass-heavy house music.
His recent 5 at a supermarket in his home of Johannesburg 6 a large crowd as he moved his head to the 7, with large headphones around his neck. His mother, Refiloe Marumo, 8 his success to his father Glen Hlongwane's decision to buy an iPad for his then unborn son. Mr. Hlongwane, a gymnastics coach and 9 DJ, had planned to download some educational apps for the child as well as a DJ app for himself.
A mobile phone recording of him playing music was shared online and the youngster now has nearly 25,000 Facebook 10. However, some people 11 his parents of abusing and making money from their child's ability. Mr. Hlongwane said he would not "12 his kid" and said he wasn't allowed to play in clubs or at parties 13 his age. The parents also insisted that they would not 14 their son to be a DJ when he grows up, but said they believed his interest in electronic equipment would probably decide his future. Mr. Hlongwane added, "I can see a 15 Bill Gates here."
In 2017, eleven million deaths worldwide were linked to people eating diets high sugar, salt and processed meat. Those foods were partly (blame) for heart disease, cancer and diabetes, a new study found.
The findings was reported in the publication The Lancet. Researchers considered 15 dietary elements, from they found that the consumption of foods such as nuts and seeds, milk and whole grains on average too low.
"The poor diet is responsible for more deaths than other risk factor in the world," said Chris Murray, (direct) of the Institute for Health Metrics (指标) and evaluation at the University of Washington, which led the work. The study found people ate only 12 percent of the (recommend) amount of nuts and seeds — an average intake of 3 grams a day. For good health, experts propose that everyone (consume) 21 grams of nuts and seeds every day.
Another study published in January suggested "ideal diet" for the health of people and the planet, which would include a doubling of the consumption of nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Such a diet would also include (reduce) the amount of meat and sugar consumed by half.
内容要点如下:
1)自我介绍;2)你的梦想;
3)说明理由(至少两点);4)如何实现。
注意:
1)词数80左右,文章开头和结束语已给出,不计入总词数;
2)可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
Good evening, everyone!
……
That's all. Thank you for your listening.
It was not uncommon to see a person like me in an amusement park, who held purses, cellphones and sunglasses while others enjoyed themselves riding roller coasters. I admitted their courage, but refused to challenge myself.
One day when we were at the Happy Amusement Park in Seattle, my friends tried to get me to ride a roller coaster. But the click, click, click of the cars climbing up the tracks made me scared. The stop at the top, before falling with people's screams, seemed terrible.
My friends were still trying to persuade me, and I was saying no as usual, when I suddenly saw a familiar face, one I had never seen in real life. It was Raine, a popular young tennis star at the top of her game, who was my heroine. I pulled out a pen and the only paper that I could find and walked to her.
She was making her way through a rope that led to a ride called the Loudest Scream. I was running fast because I didn't want to miss the chance to meet her face to face, but I was also a bit nervous. So I waited at the exit to calm down and get closer to her as she came off the ride.
Several minutes later, she got out from the exit, laughing and talking with her brother. I focused on her walking toward me. She walked past. It was more difficult to talk to a star than I thought, but I had to take the chance. I called her name, not very confidently, but more like a question, "Raine?" She turned around. Our eyes actually met. "Would you mind signing for me?" I asked, handing the pen and paper toward her. Her hand wrote over the paper and she said, "You are the first person who has recognized me in the park so let's take a roller coaster together."
Paragraph 1:
Her warm invitation actually filled me with mixed feelings.
Paragraph 2:
My friend came up and asked, "Are you sure you will take the Loudest Scream?"