Four winter wonderlands for cold-weather getaways
◆ JW Marriott The Rosseau Muskoka
Beat any holiday stress with the new HydroSpa opening at Muskoka's JW Marriott on Nov. 1. The outdoor water entertainment will be open year-round, offering multiple ways to relax including sea-salt floating pools and hot bathtubs.
Stays from $349 / night
◆ Old Stone Inn Boutique Hotel
This historic inn in Niagara Falls offers multiple ways to relax. There's Winterfest, meals enjoyed in dining domes (穹顶) housed in the inn's private square, and the Alpine Club offering roasted nuts and wine around a fire pit. The property will host its annual holiday market on Nov. 26.
Stays from $249 / night
◆ Dromoland Castle
If you're going to go big—and further away—for New Year's, you may as well go black tie. This grand estate in western Ireland is offering a three - night celebration package, beginning either Dec. 30 or 31. The event on New Year's Eve includes a cocktail reception and six-course dinner. Guests will have access to various activities on the property's 450 acres including hunting and farming.
Stays from $2,051 / night
◆ St. Regis Aspen
Along with access to many ski options, the hotel's guests can expect family-friendly fun during the week leading up to Dec. 25. The workshop here is a craft room where attendees can make everything from toys to gifts by hand. Additional sessions cover winter cooking and house decorating.
Stays from US $899 / night
Honk if You Love Birds
When Ariel Cordova-Rojas rode her bike to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York, last November, she planned to go hiking and bird-watching. Bingo! A mile into her walk, she spotted a gorgeous female mute swan near the water's edge. Cordova-Rojas, 30, who had worked at the Wild Bird Fund rehabilitation center (康复中心) in Manhattan, knew that mute swans can attack people. But as she approached this one, it didn't move.
She was certain that the bird needed medical attention. Cordova-Rojas put her jacket over the bird's head to keep it calm, carefully picked it up, and held it in her arms. And then a thought struck her: What do I do now?
Her best bet was the rehab center, but that was across the East River and clear on the other side of town. How was she going to transport a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? Luckily, some puzzled strangers driving by offered her, her bike, and the swan a lift to a nearby subway station.
On the subway, no one seemed particularly annoyed by the feathered passenger. "One guy", says Cordova-Rojas, "was sitting right in front of me on his phone. I don't know if he noticed there was a swan in front of him."
Cordova-Rojas called the rehab center on the way, and Tristan Higgin, an animal-care manager, picked her up at the subway station and drove bird, bike, and rescuer to the facility. There, staff members determined that the swan might have lead poisoning, caused by swallowing weights used on fishing lines.
The staff got the swan back up on her webbed feet. She even made a boyfriend at the center—another injured swan. Sadly, even with all that TLC, the swan became ill with a bacterial infection. Two months after Cordova-Rojas came to her rescue, she passed away.
It's a disappointing ending, but the real story is just how far some people are willing to go to save a swan in the big city—literally. "In all, Cordova-Rojas traveled two hours by foot, car, and subway," says Higginbotham, "That's the perfect summary of who she is."
Facial recognition cameras are everywhere, including in your smart phone. Many people rely on this technology to unlock their phones, open doors or make quick payments, but there is a problem: Everyone is wearing mask. What a hassle!
Now, tech companies have updated their software. Facial recognition technology can now identify people even if they are wearing a mask.
Beijing-based tech company Hanwang has announced a software which can correctly recognize 95 percent of people wearing masks, Engineering & Technology (E&T) reported. What's the secret? It's all about your eyes.
Marios Savvides, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, US, studies facial recognition technology. "As we get older," he said, "our faces change shape, but not the area around our eyes. It stays the same—even if we put on weight."
Another company has also been working on this kind of software. Tech5 has AI that measures the shape of your face. It also scans your iris (the colored part of your eyes). Tech5 hopes to ignore all of the face below the nose.
Facial recognition software is about more than just unlocking your phone. It's about public safety. Contact-free verification (验证) has become extremely important due to the COVID-19. More than that, facial recognition can be used to fight crime (犯罪). "It can detect crime suspects," said Huang Lei, Hanwang's president. Hanwang's technology is used by police in high-security settings. This means places like government buildings, subway stations and airports. Huang admits one big weakness of this new technology: It fails when people wear both masks and sunglasses. "In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost, but I am convinced that we can overcome the weakness in the future," said Huang.
Do you think alien beings exist somewhere in the universe? It seems like Mars, our closest neighbor, has inspired the most science fiction as the place where aliens are most likely to come from. Recent Mars probes (探测) have shown us that there is no life on that planet—at least not now. But that does not mean that life does not exist elsewhere—after all, the universe is really big. A lot of scientific research is going on in the search for "extraterrestrial life".
Think about it—why should the seven billion people on this little planet be the only living beings in the universe? It would, in fact, seem reasonable that this is not the case. So scientific research in this matter is based around the idea of finding other planets that have environments that can support life —environments similar to the Earth. The search is on for the evidence of the existence, or earlier existence of life: from very wise beings to simple organisms.
So far, there have been a number of theories as to which planetary bodies may have an atmosphere that can support such life and therefore deserve closer attention. As for places within our own Milky Way Galaxy, it has been assumed over the decades that Mars and Venus, as well as some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, may have been hosts for life. Now, as technologies have improved and we can obtain measurements of the composition of the atmosphere on extra-solar planets, the chances of finding "alien" life forms are increasing.
There has been a theory that some of the planets in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Gliese 581 may be able to support life. In 2007, scientists discovered exoplanet Gliese 581c—and felt that its atmosphere was most suitable for supporting life. But further research revealed that it would not. Now, attention has been turned to Gliese 581d, at the outer edge of the star's habitable zone. The main standards for deciding whether a planetary body can be life-supporting are atmospheric conditions which allow the existence of water. Gliese 581 is about 20.4 light years away from the Earth, so even if life does exist there, the distance would mean that communication would be unlikely.
Having said this—who says alien life forms (if they exist) need water?
Regular jogging (慢跑) can reduce your risk of health problems. If you're new to jogging, getting started can seem a little difficult. .
Fuel your body 2 hours before jogging
Eat a healthy meal rich in fruit and vegetables before jogging. . It will also help muscle grow and repair. If you're jogging for weight loss, try increasing your intake of fruit and vegetables. Reduce your intake of sugary food and drinks.
Warm up for 5 minutes before jogging
It's very important to warm up before you jog. . Some good warm-up exercises include doing knee lifts, side-stepping and climbing stairs. You may have heard that it's important to stretch (拉伸) before you run, but stretching before exercise can put additional strain (拉紧) on your muscles. Therefore, focus on warming up before jogging.
Most people think how far and how long you run has to do with patience and a strong will. However, having the proper running form plays an important role in jogging. To make the most of your jogging, remember to keep your head straight and your muscles relaxed, avoid lifting your knees too high, and touch the ground lightly with the middle of your foot.
Cool down after your jogging
After jogging, you can avoid strain on your heart and muscles by doing cool-down exercise. Finish your jog with 5～10 minutes of walking. , You should do deep stretches and hold each stretch for 15～30 seconds.
A. Breathe regularly as you jog
B. Practise proper forms while jogging
C. Healthy food can give you enough energy
D. Then do some gentle stretches to relax your muscles
E. Spend at least 5 minutes doing a warm-up before jogging
F. However, if you plan ahead, you'll see the benefits of jogging
G. You can try the following steps to form your healthy jogging habit
Have you seen people who take pictures of food for more than 10 minutes before eating? My friend Stella is such an example. Every time we went to a restaurant she would not take a bite until all the dishes we 1 were on the table. Then she would spend five minutes in 2 the dishes in a seemingly random (随意的) but in fact 3 order. Then the most important part: taking pictures. After that, she would choose one of the 4 and click in the filter app. The food eventually looked 10 times more delicious than it really was, but we had no 5 to really enjoy it—it all went cold, actually Stella's real life is much less elegant（优雅的）. For example, she hates to wash the dishes, so she leaves them in the sink for days.
Many people care too much about others' opinions and try too hard to 6 others. They find it hard to be 7 and to accept themselves, and thus they are afraid to show their 8 life on social media. What they are trying to prove is 9 what they lack in reality. But this will not bring any 10 to reality, as they still 11 the same old pattern of life.
If they really want an elegant life, they should put more 12 into achieving it 13 fabricating it. Being more confident, 14 themselves and trying their best to be better are much more meaningful than 15 their life on social media.
It is a terrible time for the world's tigers. There (be) once a lot of these animals throughout eastern and southern Asia. , wild tigers now only live in small areas of India, China, eastern Russia, and a few other countries.
As people change forests into cities and farms, tigers have lost their living areas. Besides, illegal (非法的) hunting of wild animals is another major threat (威胁) to (they) survival. People sometimes hunt (endanger) animals, like the tiger, to illegally sell their body parts medicine and even food. Some people even pay high prices (buy) tiger bones or other animal parts in the black market.
A lot of people think that tigers body parts can really be used to heal (治愈) people. For more than 3,000 years, Chinese medicine has used those to treat (sick). Followers of this type medicine believe that (eat) the animal's body parts will help people in treating diseases. It is believed a key to protecting the world's wild tigers is to put an end to the illegal hunting of them. To achieve that, more police should (train) to catch hunters.
注意： 1）词数 80 左右；2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear John,
