Music festivals in Europe
Visiting a festival abroad can be a great reason to travel and a way to experience different cultures. These days there is such a number of choices that it's possible to spend the whole summer watching live music in exciting places. Of course, it's also a chance to meet people from across the world.
Melt! Festival, Germany
This festival takes place on the site of an open air museum for industrial machinery. There's also a lake which can be used for swimming when it's hot. This year's line-up has over 120 different bands(乐队). Around 90% of the people attending the festival are German providing a perfect chance to practise speaking the language.
Exit Festival, Serbia
Set on the banks of the Danube in an old fortress(城堡), the festival began as a way to show people's dissatisfaction with the government. These days it's less political(政治的) but still worries about people who are poor, ill, old, etc and tries to help them. This year's festival will host many famous bands. From electronic music and dance music to hard rock, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Scotland
Set on a Scottish estate(庄园) near Inverness, this year Belladrum will welcome artists from around the world. The most enjoyable part of the weekend is the ceilidh (traditional Scottish dance and party) which is always a lively event. It doesn't even matter if you're a beginner because the band teaches you each dance.
Open'er Festival, Poland
Held in an airfield near the northern city of Gdansk, each year Open'er has a seriously good selection(精选品) of bands. This year is no exception, with many famous bands set to play. Not only are there amazing artists, but both Poland and the festival itself also provide very excellent value for money.
"I have travelled the world for 25 years in search of trouble," admits Dr David Nott in his recent autobiography, War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line. "It is a kind of addiction, a pull I find hard to resist. " This pull has seen him use his surgical skills to help those in need by taking unpaid, month-long breaks from his "day job" as an NHS surgeon in the UK every year to work in conflict zones and disaster areas.
He first worked in Sarajevo in 1993 as a volunteer with the French charity Médecins Sans Froatières. The hospital be worked in had so many holes in its walls caused by bombing and sniper(狙击手) fire that it was called the "Swiss Cheese Hospital". It was his first insight into the terrifying reality of treating patients in a war zone. The hospital suffered power cuts during operations and he and his team were regularly shot at.
But Nott found this exhilarating(令人激动的). "Going to Sarajevo, almost getting killed, I had never felt so wonderful. I really felt as though somebody bad injected me with something. I felt fantastic. I think to skirt death—and then to realize how close you are to death and that you survived it is exciting. And that's the experience I've had many times over. "
This attitude may seem reckless (鲁莽的), but it means that Nott has saved lives in desperate situations. In Gaza in 2014, he decided not to abandon a young girl in the middle of surgery despite being told that the hospital was about to be bombed. He carried on, no bombs fell and the girl survived. He has kept a photograph of them taken together three days later. In Yemen, he operated on the wife of a bomb-maker who had accidentally blown up his own house. Nott found a detonator (雷管) buried in her leg and bad to carefully dispose of it before continuing the operation.
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.
Seagrass meadows (海草床) are wonder plants growing beneath the sea. They feed and shelter sea life and are masterful at storing carbon. Thanks to the assistance of tiger sharks, a huge seagrass meadow in the Bahamas Banks was recently discovered, offering the world a tool to fight climate change.
Seagrass has usually been detected by Earth-orbiting satellites that identify darker patches in the blue water. In this study, tiger sharks were selected as research tools due to their close relation with seagrass ecosystems. They spend 70% of their time in seagrass meadows. The team equipped eight tiger sharks with satellite tags, seven sharks with camera tags, and used a 360-degree camera on a shark for the first time ever.
The data researchers collected was astonishing. The world's largest seagrass ecosystem, measuring at least 66,900 square kilometers, has been discovered. This reflects a 41% increase from previous estimates of global seagrass. Seagrass can capture(捕获) huge quantities of carbon by photosynthesis and stores it on the seafloor. In terms of climate change, this is excellent news; seagrass is 35 times faster at removing carbon than tropical rainforests. When referred to global seagrass carbon stock estimates, the study indicates that seagrass in the Bahamas may contain 19. 2% to 26. 3% of all the carbon stored in seagrass meadows on Earth.
Yet seagrass meadows are rapidly disappearing, with over 92% of meadows in the UK gone, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Scientists are collecting seeds and trying to grow new seagrass meadows through restoration (修复) projects. This new discovery offers optimism and proves the importance of the ocean for healing.
The sharks led us to the seagrass ecosystem in the Bahamas, which we now know is likely the most significant blue carbon sink on the planet. What this discovery shows us is that ocean exploration and research are essential for a healthy future. The untapped potential of the ocean is limitless. These meadows can be protected and can be replicated, offering hope for climate change around the globe.
Coloring books are no longer just for children! In fact adult coloring books are topping bestseller lists. Why have adults decided to start coloring again?
It is to relieve stress and anxiety.
They take on full-time jobs that often demand more than 40 hours a week, equally as part-time jobs, family responsibilities. For many, there just aren't enough hours in the day, which explains why practising mindfulness becomes so popular. It's important to set aside some time to calm the thoughts. Coloring can be an escape from everyday stress.
It is to go back to their childhood.
A trend among adults is to seek out childhood experiences. That's why summer camps for adults are cropping up (大量出现) across the country. A brand new coloring book with bright markers, crayons, and colored pencils provide endless possibilities. Adult coloring books are much more detailed than coloring books for children, but the emotions are similar and allow adults to feel as if they are "a kid again".
Adults are constantly staring at screens: Desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, TVS, etc. Whether for business or personal use, it has become very difficult to "put down". Even some readers have e-readers and tablets to consume books, magazines, and newspapers. Of course, to truly realize the benefit of stepping away from the devices for a period of time, you can't constantly be checking them while you color! Turn them off and leave them in another room.
A. Adults lead busy, tiring lives.
B. Coloring books are expensive.
C. It is to put down the technology.
D. Here are 3 reasons to let you deeply understand it.
E. Perhaps nothing is more equal to childhood than a coloring book.
F. It is to practise the patience and improve their relation with children.
G. An adult coloring book provides a great outlet to escape from all of the screens.
Many of us dream of making all the difference—earning a lot of money. A great scientist has achieved that big success and 1 all the money to help others. Professor Nicola Curtin of the Newcastle University successfully 2 a new drug for cancer, but when the time came for her big 3 , she chose to give some of the profits away to help needy people to make their life better.
The drug Rubraca is the 4 of 30 years of research and helps people who have a gene known to lead to an increasing 5 of breast cancer. Rubraca helps target the cancerous cells so as to repair their DNA and finally 6 tumour cells(肿瘤细胞). The Newcastle University 7 rights of the medication(药物) for $40. 8 million to a company, which is a large sum of money. Instead of treating herself, Curtin used her $1. 2 million share to 8 The Curtin PARP (Passionate About Realising Your Potential) Fund.
The fund 9 to help the disabled, the homeless, and anyone experiencing a disadvantage. It helps them to develop the skills to 10 difficulties so that they can get education or employment. "Those people's 11 makes me think about life. I have already had everything that I need in life but there are many people who are leading a hard life. 12 , through The Curtin PARP Fund, I want to leave a(n) 13 legacy(遗赠) by helping them master the basic skills for life. And I feel 14 of what I have done, "said Curtin.
What Curtin has done tells us that we can help others in many 15 by using our talent, and by reaching out and offering much assistance, etc.
Does Takeaway Exist in Ancient China?
As early as in the Song Dynasty, "takeout" services were already available. In Zhang Zeduan's popular painting Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, there is a restaurant boy who has just come out of the shop with "to-go boxes" in his left hand and tableware (餐具) in his right, still (wear) the shop apron and seeming to deliver the food somewhere. That image (believe) to be a reflection of the original takeaway boy.
In ancient times, there were three ways to order food. The first is servant order. Send a family retainer( 仆人) to go to a restaurant and make order. When the food is ready, there is someone who (particular) delivers the food to the customer's home, and then gets paid. The second is agreed delivery. Sign a long-term (agree) with the restaurant. The store, every agreed day, will pack the food well and send it to the customer's home. The last one is door-to-door selling. The sellers from restaurants sell the food door to door, especially in the entertainment places like theatres, are crowded with many people.
The to-go box, wenpan (warm tray), (consist) of two layers of porcelain. When (use), hot water is injected into the interlayer of the plate (keep) the dishes warm. In this way, the dish is still warm when it arrives at the customer's home.
John Post at 12-8-2018 20:08
Hi, everyone. I'm a Senior 3 student and trying my best to prepare for the college entrance examination. Now I have huge study pressure. How do I reduce the pressure? What should I do?
写作要点:
1. 结合自己的学校生活谈谈压力的弊端；
2. 给John提出缓解压力的具体建议(至少两条)。
注意：
1. 词数100左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear John,
Miss Lee was an English teacher in an international school. She had many years of over-seas teaching experience. She had a weekly English music broadcast where she played different English songs. She found it a very good way to benefit her students in English study. What's more, it did improve the relationship between her and her students.
In order to carry it forward, Miss Lee tried to get her students to recommend English songs to her for the broadcast. The students were very enthusiastic about it, and they were actively involved in it. They tried their best to find good English songs for her. The activity was becoming more and more popular among students and teachers. The time for English song recommendation became the moment everyone was looking forward to.
When broadcasting, she usually announced who recommended the song and then played it during lunch time. Of course, if a song was chosen to be played, the person who recommended it also felt very proud.
Miss Lee tried to give every student a chance to share themselves through their music, including one disagreeable student, Chris. He chose to sit in the back of the classroom alone and constantly couldn't concentrate on study. Most of the other teachers and students found it difficult to communicate with him. However, Miss Lee knew that he just needed a friend, or at least someone he could connect with.
One day, Miss Lee called him into her office and said, "Chris, please think of a song you like that has some beautiful English words, and I'll play it on the broadcast for you." Chris agreed happily because he felt being valued.
Chris eventually recommended a song. Miss Lee couldn't like the song too much. She put it in on the broadcast as scheduled and made sure to announce Chris's name, so everyone knew that he recommended such a great song. As the song rang, Chris cheered loudly, "It's my song." Then he sang along with it, and he sang amazingly well. From then on, Miss Lee would ask Chris to lead the other classmates to sing an English song before class. She exactly felt him warming up to her.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Playing the song Chris recommended completely changed his life.
Miss Lee even recommended Chris to participate in the annual school song contest.
