When you think of a national park, you generally picture fresh air and wild animals, right? Well, now you're going to have to add tea shops and something called "the Tube" to your definition, because London, England has signed up to be the first "National Park City. "
London was established by the Romans around 2,000 years ago and has been continually inhabited(居住于)since then. In all that time, however, nobody had the idea to replace all the parks with big box stores or high buildings, which means London already has a much lower urban density(密度)than most of the world's cities. Nowadays about a third of the city is green space.
In July 2019, London announced its willingness to become the world's first National Park City. Now the city is moving toward the goal of achieving 50% green space by the year 2050 by connecting and expanding public parks, greening up unused parking lots and the private yards of existing and new houses, fixing some green roofs on existing buildings and even cutting holes in fences for wildlife to pass through.
"Inspired by the aims and values of our precious rural national parks, the London National Park City is basically about making life better in the capital through both small everyday things and long-term strategic thinking," Daniel Raven-Ellison, who began the campaign to make London a National Park City six years ago, said in a press release. "We've been doing that in London for centuries, which is why London is so green and diverse."
London will have a much easier job achieving this type of green transformation than more densely- urbanized cities like Paris and New York, which have 10% and 27% green space, respectively. But that doesn't mean it's not possible--the National Park City Foundation hopes to employ 25 more cities in addition to London by the year.
In 2025，Glasgow, Scotland and Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England are both currently considering becoming National Park Cities.
Regarded as one of the English language's most gifted poets, John Keats wrote poetry that concentrated on imagery, human nature, and philosophy. Although Keats didn't receive much formal literary education, his own studies and passion brought him much success. Additionally, his own life situation influenced his poetry greatly.
Growing up as a young boy in London in a lower middle-class family, the young John didn't attend a private school, but went to a public one. His teachers and his family's friends regarded him as an optimistic boy who favored playing and fighting much more than minding his studies. After his father's death in the early 1800s, followed by his mother's passing due to tuberculosis (肺结核), he began viewing life differently. He wanted to escape the world and did so by reading anything he could get his hands on.
At around the age of 16, the teenage John Keats began studying under a surgeon so that he too might become a doctor. However, his literary appetite had taken too much of his fancy, especially with his addiction to the poetry of Ehmund Spenser. He was able to have his first full poem published in the Examiner in 1816, entitled O Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell. Within two months in 1817, Keats had written an entire volume of poetry, but was sharply criticized by a magazine. However, the negative response didn't stop his pursuit of rhythm (韵律).
John Keats' next work was Endymion, which was published in May 1818. The story involves a shepherd who falls in love with the moon goddess and leads him on an adventure of one boy's hope to overcome the limitations of being human. Following Engymion, however, he tried something more narrative-based and wrote Isabella. During this time, John Keats began seeing his limitations in poetry due to his own limit in life experiences. He would have to have the "knowledge" associated with his poems. His next work was Hyperion that would attempt to combine all that he learned. However, a bout (发作) with tuberculosis while visiting Italy would keep him from his work and eventually take his life in 1821.
My school appeared on the news last week because we had made an important change in our local area. Our class had planted a large garden in what was once only a vacant lot. It was a lot of work but it was all worth it. I got blisters(水泡) from digging, and we all got insect bites, too.
I learned a lot about gardening and collaboration(合作), and then I learned about the media. Our teacher telephoned the TV station and informed them of what we had accomplished. She spoke with the producer. The producer checked with the directors, but they said there were plenty of stories similar to ours. They wanted to know what was special about our particular garden, since many schools plant them.
The teacher explained that, after going on the Internet to learn about the prairie(大草原), we had made a prairie garden. We had gone to a prairie and gotten seeds from the plants, and then we planted them. We did not water the garden, but we did weed it. We decided to let nature water it with rain, since that was how prairies grew in the past. We sent a picture of the garden to the news station. In the picture, the grass was so high that it stood taller than the fourth grade students.
As a result, the producer sent a reporter to our school. He interviewed the headmaster and asked him many questions about the garden. After that, they interviewed us, and we explained to them what we had learned through this project.
That night, we watched the news, and there we were. The news reporter told our story. It was only two minutes long, but it was us. We were famous. All that work, all those blisters, it was worth it. We knew that when we saw the garden every day, but now we knew that the whole city thought so, too.
Concern about extinction—the permanent loss of a species—motivates a wide variety of people to take action to protect animal species at risk of dying out. Animal protection and animal rights are familiar themes associated with the field of environmental activism. Certainly, endangered animals suffer no lack of support.
Surprisingly, some of the most endangered plants are species that, up until recently, were used by humans as necessary food crops.
In order to maximize productivity, farmers have chosen to focus on a handful of highyield crops that can be harvested efficiently. At one time, the number of plant species used by humans to meet their nutritional requirements numbered above 7，000. Now, it is around 150. Some experts even claim that humans actually rely on just twelve species of plants for most of their food.
A single food crop generally contains several species, which may be further divided into hundreds of varieties, but these varieties are quickly disappearing. Eighty percent of the corn varieties grown in Mexico in 1930 have disappeared.Ninety percent of the 10，000 wheat varieties cultivated in China 1949 are no longer used.
Crop diversity is a factor that ensures the continuation of certain beneficial natural processes in ecosystems—the cycling of nutrients, management of pests, and maintenance of water quality. Clearly, there is an urgent need to preserve the plant's irreplaceable crop diversity before it is lost completely.
A. You probably want to know the exact approach to protecting endangered plants.
B. Also, crop diversity provides the necessary gene pool to supply crops with a variety of traits(特点).
C. Threatened by current shortsighted farming techniques, crop diversity has shrunk dramatically.
D. However, endangered plants are defended by few.
E. Examples of losses in crop diversity have been recorded worldwide.
F. The permanent loss of plant species represents a huge threat to humanity.
G. Thanks to modern farming techniques, many countries have taken measures to protect them.
On Saturday, Juliet and Darcy, 17-year-old friends, were enjoying sunshine at Furness Park when they noticed a man fall down on the sidewalk. They hurried to1 the man.
Darcy felt 2 he was going to die in front of them. She took a closer 3. Then she observed his chest not going up and down, which meant he wasn't 4.
The girls knew they needed to 5 help. While Darcy stayed with the 6 man, Juliet ran to nearby homes and began ringing doorbells, but no one 7. "I am really afraid he is going to die without help," Darcy said 8.
Juliet continued to run for help. She finally found some men fixing a car and told them the 9. But they didn't 10 what the girl said at first. They asked, "Is what you said a joke?" And she answered, "No, call 911 right now."
The repairmen got it and then 11 CPR (心肺复苏术) on the unconscious man until doctors arrived and used a defibrillator (电击器) to restart his 12. Doctors said the man was in critical condition and should be 13 to hospital.
A doctor said, "To their 14, the two girls take fast action which is called ‘a chain of survival', which can save the 15 of a patient in a dangerous situation."
"What the two girls did was quite 16," said another doctor. "They jumped into action to try to save a(n) 17, and they didn't give up until that task was 18." But doctors didn't get the girls' names at that time, so they launched a(n) 19 to the public to find them.
Finally, the two girls were found and praised for helping save a man's life on the weekend. "We were brave," Darcy said. "We got a bit scared in the beginning, but later we realized 20 won't help the man."
Complete the passage with the correct forms of words.
There are (current) six Disneyland Theme Parks in the world: Walt Disney World Resort (near Orlando, Florida), Disneyland Resort (Anaheim, California) Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney Resort Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort. Disneyland was the brainchild of Walt Disney (1901-1966), who wanted to provide a place for families to amuse (they). He also had the problem that many people wanted to visit The Walt Disney Studios when they (tour) southern California, but as The Walt Disney Studios at the time focused nearly entirely on (make) animated films and had no sound stages, (costume), or sets, there was very little to show visitors except a few men in small rooms hunched over drawing boards. After Disneyland Resort had been in (operate) for several years, Walt Disney realised that the area around the park did not offer enough room for further expansion, and thus fulfil all his many dreams for the park, included a futuristic planned community. For this reason, he began building Walt Disney World Resort in Florida as vacation destination. However, Disney died of lung cancer before it could (finish), and only a part of his final dream was ever realised.
