Explorers Camp
•Full day camp for kids aged 5-13.
•Monday-Friday, July 8-26, 9am-4pm.
Week 1 | July 8-12
Week 2 | July 15-19
Week 3 | July 22-26
•Register for a single week or multiple weeks.
•Fees: $365 per week.
•The last day to cancel registration and receive a full refund (退款) is June 15.
Camp Structure
The day is divided into two thematic sessions per age group. Campers have a three-hour morning class engaging with a morning theme (9am to 12 noon) and a one-hour lunch break, followed by another three-hour class engaging with an afternoon theme (1pm to 4pm). Snack periods are held throughout the day. All campers should bring their own bagged lunch and snacks.
Camp Content
Explorers Camp organizes engaging arts, history and science-related activities in every! class, and focuses on a range of topics that emphasize active learning, exploration and, most of all, fun! All camp sessions are created with age-appropriate activities that are tailored to the multiple ways that kids learn.
Camp Staff
Campers enjoy a staff-to-child ratio ranging from 1:4 to 1:7 depending on the age group. Instructors are passionate educators who are experts in their fields and have undergone training and a background check.
Live with roommates? Have friends and family around you? Chances are that if you're looking to live a more sustainable lifestyle, not everyone around you will be ready to jump on that bandwagon.
I experienced this when I started switching to a zero waste lifestyle five years ago, as I was living with my parents, and I continue to experience this with my husband, as he is not completely zero waste like me. I've learned a few things along the way though, which I hope you'll find encouraging if you're doing your best to figure out how you can make the change in a not-always-supportive household.
Zero waste was a radical lifestyle movement a few years back. I remember showing my parents a video of Bea Johnson, sharing how cool I thought it would be to buy groceries with jars, and have so little trash! A few days later, I came back with my first jars of zero waste groceries, and my dad commented on how silly it was for me to carry jars everywhere. It came off as a bit discouraging.
Yet as the months of reducing waste continued, I did what I could that was within my own reach. I had my own bedroom, so I worked on removing things I didn't need. Since I had my own toiletries (洗漱用品), I was able to start personalising my routine to be more sustainable. I also offered to cook every so often, so I portioned out a bit of the cupboard for my own zero waste groceries. Perhaps your household won't entirely make the switch, but you may have some control over your own personal spaces to make the changes you desire.
As you make your lifestyle changes, you may find yourself wanting to speak up for yourself if others comment on what you're doing, which can turn itself into a whole household debate. If you have individuals who are not on board, your words probably won't do much and can often leave you feeling more discouraged.
So here is my advice: Lead by action.
A machine can now not only beat you at chess, it can also outperform you in debate. Last week, in a public debate in San Francisco, a software program called Project Debater beat its human opponents, including Noa Ovadia, Israel's former national debating champion.
Brilliant though it is, Project Debater has some weaknesses. It takes sentences from its library of documents and prebuilt arguments and strings them together. This can lead to the kinds of errors no human would make. Such wrinkles will no doubt be ironed out, yet they also point to a fundamental problem. As Kristian Hammond, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Northwestern University, put it: "There's never a stage at which the system knows what it's talking about."
What Hammond is referring to is the question of meaning, and meaning is central to what distinguishes the least intelligent of humans from the most intelligent of machines. A computer works with symbols. Its program specifies a set of rules to transform one string of symbols into another. But it does not specify what those symbols mean. Indeed, to a computer, meaning is irrelevant. Humans, in thinking, talking, reading and writing, also work with symbols. But for humans, meaning is everything. When we communicate, we communicate meaning. What matters is not just the outside of a string of symbols, but the inside too, not just how they are arranged but what they mean.
Meaning emerges through a process of social interaction, not of computation, interaction that shapes the content of the symbols in our heads. The rules that assign meaning lie not just inside our heads, but also outside, in society, in social memory, social conventions and social relations. It is this that distinguishes humans from machines. And that's why, however astonishing Project Debater may seem, the tradition that began with Socrates and Confucius will not end with artificial intelligence.
According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the number of solar panels installed(安装)has grown rapidly in the past decade, and it has to grow even faster to meet climate goals. But all of that growth will take up a lot of space, and though more and more people accept the concept of solar energy, few like large solar panels to be installed near them.
Solar developers want to put up panels as quickly and cheaply as possible, so they haven't given much thought to what they put under them. Often, they'll end up filling the area with small stones and using chemicals to control weeds. The result is that many communities, especially in farming regions, see solar farms as destroyers of the soil.
"Solar projects need to be good neighbors," says Jordan Macknick, the head of the Innovative Site Preparation and Impact Reductions on the Environment(InSPIRE)project. "They need to be protectors of the land and contribute to the agricultural economy." InSPIRE is investigating practical approaches to "low-impact" solar development, which focuses on establishing and operating solar farms in a way that is kinder to the land. One of the easiest low-impact solar strategies is providing habitat for pollinators(传粉昆虫).
Habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change have caused dramatic declines in pollinator populations over the past couple of decades, which has damaged the U.S. agricultural economy. Over 28 states have passed laws related to pollinator habitat protection and pesticide use. Conservation organizations put out pollinator-friendliness guidelines for home gardens, businesses, schools, cities—and now there are guidelines for solar farms.
Over the past few years, many solar farm developers have transformed the space under their solar panels into a shelter for various kinds of pollinators, resulting in soil improvement and carbon reduction. "These pollinator-friendly solar farms can have a valuable impact on everything that's going on in the landscape," says Macknick.
With gas prices rising and airport security lines snaking longer than ever, why not book your next domestic vacation on a train? Compared to other alternatives, it's comfortable and relaxing. Here is some advice on how to make a trip by rail as pleasant as possible.
Plan ahead. Most long-distance trains, especially the sleeping car accommodations, sell out very quickly. But no matter when you travel, it's a good idea to make your reservations at least 90 days in advance.
Use a travel agent. Consider turning your travel plan over to a travel agent and letting him double-check all the details, make suggestions, and then handle the actual reservations. A good one can sometimes find you discounted tickets. Then you won't have to walk through several cars on a moving train three times a day for your meals.
Bring a blanket. When you're riding on trains, you won't be provided with a blanket for free, even if your trip is an overnight one. In the summer in particular, the air conditioning can make them quite cold.
Arrive early. Most trains operate just once a day and some run only three times a week, so missing yours can be a disaster. Note: The times listed on the schedules are departure times, not arrival times.
Have fun. Read a book, knit, do a crossword puzzle, or simply watch the world unfold outside the window. To calculate your speed as you do, divide 3,600(the number of seconds in an hour) by the number of seconds it takes you to travel one mile(the distance between two mileposts). If it takes the train 53 seconds to travel one mile, you're going 67.92 mph.
A. Train trips aren't for impatient types.
B. You'll have views from both sides of the train.
C. The temperature on rail cars is often hard to control.
D. That's particularly true during busy summer months.
E. You might have to wait longer than 24 hours to catch the next one.
F. Chances are the cost will be a lot less than the cost of one bedroom.
G. He may also book you in a sleeping car that's right next to the diner.
The sun was beginning to sink as I set off into the Harenna Forest. I was on my way to 1 a unique honey harvest. Here, in south-east Ethiopia, hand-carved beehives(蜂箱)are placed in the 2. Reaching them to get the honey is difficult—and often 3 .
I 4 beekeeper Ziyad over a wide stretch of grassland before entering a thick jungle. Ziyad began preparations. He 5 handfuls of damp tree leaves, wrapped them with string, and 6 the bunch to create a torch(火把). Then, with one end of a rope tied to his waist and the other end around the trunk of a tree, Ziyad began 7 . He stopped every few minutes to move the 8 higher up the tree trunk.
9 , Ziyad got close to the hive which was around 20 metres above the ground. Sitting on a branch, he 10 towards it and blew smoke from his torch into a tiny hole in the hive. Suddenly, Ziyad let out a sharp cry. Within seconds, he'd 11 the trunk and was back on the ground.
It was too 12 to collect the honey. A cool summer had delayed 13 . Baby bees were still in the honeycombs(蜂巢). The adult bees were 14 and kept attacking as Ziyad escaped from the tree. He had to wait for the right 15 to go back up.
During China's dynastic period, emperors planned the city of Beijing arranged the residential areas according to social classes. The term "hutong", (original) meaning "water well" in Mongolian, appeared first during the Yuan Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, the center was the Forbidden City, (surround)in concentric(同心的)circles by the Inner City and Outer City. Citizens of higher social classes (permit) to live closer to the center of the circles. The large siheyuan of these high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen often (feature)beautifully carved and painted roof beams and pillars(柱子). The hutongs they formed were orderly, lined by (space) homes and walled gardens. Farther from the center lived the commoners and laborers. Their siheyuan were far smaller in scale and (simple) in design and decoration, and the hutongs were narrower.
Hutongs represent an important cultural element of the city of Beijing. Thanks to Beijing's long history capital of China, almost every hutong has its stories, and some are even associated with historic (event). In contrast to the court life and upper-class culture represented by the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven, the hutongs reflect culture of grassroots Beijingers.
1）活动的过程；
2）收获与感想。
注意：
1）写作词数应为80左右；
2）请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
Getting to Know the Plants Around Us
I was invited to a cookout on an old friend's farm in western Washington. I parked my car outside the farm and walked past a milking house which had apparently not been used in many years. A noise at a window caught my attention, so I entered it. It was a hummingbird (蜂鸟), desperately trying to escape. She was covered in spider-webs (蛛网) and was barely able to move her wings. She ceased her struggle the instant I picked her up.
With the bird in my cupped hand, I looked around to see how she had gotten in. The broken window glass was the likely answer. I stuffed a piece of cloth into the hole and took her outside, closing the door securely behind me.
When I opened my hand, the bird did not fly away; she sat looking at me with her bright eyes. I removed the sticky spider-webs that covered her head and wings. Still, she made no attempt to fly. Perhaps she had been struggling against the window too long and was too tired? Or too thirsty?
As I carried her up the blackberry-lined path toward my car where I kept a water bottle, she began to move. I stopped, and she soon took wing but did not immediately fly away.
Hovering (悬停), she approached within six inches of my face. For a very long moment, this tiny creature looked into my eyes, turning her head from side to side. Then she flew quickly out of sight.
During the cookout, I told my hosts about the hummingbird incident. They promised to fix the window. As I was departing, my friends walked me to my car. I was standing by the car when a hummingbird flew to the center of our group and began hovering. She turned from person to person until she came to me. She again looked directly into my eyes, then let out a squeaking call and was gone. For a moment, all were speechless. Then someone said, "She must have come to say goodbye."
注意：
1）续写词数应为 150 左右；
2）请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
A few weeks later, I went to the farm again.
……
I was just about to leave when the hummingbird appeared.
