Different cultures have their unique celebrations of the calendar New Year's traditions. Here are some of famous New Year's traditions around the world.
The Netherlands
Amsterdam hosts one of the world's largest street parties on New Year's Eve. If you attend, buy some oliebollen to eat at mid-night. It is usually believed that eating these deep fried oily balls will drive away evil spirits in the New Year. Dam Square (the craziest), Nieuwmarkt, and Leidseplein host unofficial street parties with music, fireworks and beer tents. Amsterdam's celebration is not for the casual partier: some attendants have compared it to a war zone!
Scotland
Celebrating Hogmanay, which stands for the last day of the year, is a big deal in Scotland. It is so grand that it often overshadows Christmas. Christmas was outlawed by the Church of Scotland for nearly four centuries, and it didn't make a comeback until 1958. Though the holiday has regained its popularity, the New Year Festival of Hogmanay still holds a sacred place in Scottish hearts.
Australia
Sydney Harbor hosts one of the biggest New Year's Eve celebrations in the world. It's mid-summer in the southern part of globe, and thousands of people gather around the Opera House in advance. An air-plane show and a water display open the celebration at 6:00 pm. A family-friendly fireworks show starts at 9:00 pm, while the main attraction-the Harbor Light Parade is at midnight.
The United States
Each year, hundreds of thousands of people flock to New York City to see the Big Apple drop at midnight. This New Year's Eve tradition actually began as a replacement for fireworks, which had been forbidden in New York. In addition to watching balls drop, in other US cities you can watch peaches, giant walleye, and other locally relevant symbols lowered as the clock strikes midnight.
Last Monday, I visited Jalan Besar to find a new fan blade（旋转叶片） for a standing fan that my daughters had broken.
I'd worked in the Jalan Besar area 30 years ago and remembered that there were lots of small hardware shops selling unusual things so I thought that I would have no problem finding a fan blade. However, after walking around for almost an hour, I found out that these shops were no longer around.
When I was ready to give up and go home, I spotted an old-fashioned hardware store. After being greeted by a woman, I explained my predicament. She immediately asked me to show her the broken blade. Out of nowhere, a man who looked to be in his 60s came out.
He asked to see the blade and then disappeared into the shop. He came back with a blade but it did not look the same as what I had in my hand. We compared the two blades and he said that it might work.
I asked him how much it was. He told me that he had taken the blade off an old fan that someone had brought in for repair. He said: "It didn't cost me anything, so why should I charge you for it?" That really touched me. I took the blade home and it work perfectly! My daughters got a "new" fan for nothing.
When I told them this story, they were shocked as they are used to patronizing big modern shops where everything is transactional and the employees go strictly by the book. Not so much my wife. She is almost in her 60s, and said this reminded her of the kind aunties and uncles who used to run small shops and were always ready to help others when she was growing up.
There is a saying about the south-western Chinese province of Guizhou: "Not three feet of flat land, not three days without rain, not a family with three silver coins." But, with the help of a spicy sauce, Tao Huabi, also known as "China's hottest woman", has well and truly opposed this rule.
Born in 1947, the eighth daughter of a poor family in a village of mountainous Guizhou, Tao did not go to school and did not learn to read or write. She spent her childhood hungry, and survived the Great Chinese Famine by eating plant roots, according to a biography on Weibo. When her husband died, she moved to the city of Guiyang and started selling noodles with a sauce that she made herself. She eventually opened the charmingly named Economical Restaurant in the 1990s. When a new highway brought truck drivers to Guiyang, she gave them free jars of the sauce and they spread the word. In 1996, she set a factory up in a house in Guiyang, and a year later Lao Gan Ma Special Flavour Foodstuffs Company was born.
Miranda Brown, professor of Chinese studies at the University of Michigan, who is writing a book on the history of Chinese food, says that in China, Lao Gan Ma's popularity is mainly because her products are natural. Chinese consumers tend to want foods that perfectly mix regional flavors and use ingredients grown from the soil of those regions. And today Lao Gan Ma is also increasingly popular overseas, especially in the US.
According to its website, the company produces 1.3 million bottles daily, helping the historically poor Guizhou achieve 10. 5% growth—the second fastest of every Chinese province that year, and ahead of the national rate of 6.7%.
As for the godmother herself, an article in Yicai Global describes her as the Queen of a "red kingdom" of chili fields.
A new research led by University of Pittsburgh psychologists shows that older adults may be able to prevent declines (衰退) in a certain kind of memory by sticking to regular exercise.
From the study, exercising about three times a week for at least four months is how much people need to obtain the benefits in episodic memory. Episodic memory, which is supported by a part of the brain that's known to benefit from exercise, is the kind that deals with events that happened to you in the past. It's also one of the first to decline with age.
Exercise that gets the heart pumping has shown promise in increasing brain health, and experiments in mice show that it improves memory — but studies looking at the same link in humans have come out mixed.
During the research, the team read 1,279 studies carefully, eventually narrowing them down to just 36 that met specific criteria (标准). Then they used specialized software and no small number of Excel spreadsheets to transform the data into a form where the different studies could be directly compared. That work paid off when they found that pooling together those 36 studies was enough to show that for older adults, exercise can indeed benefit their memory.
Past analyses looking at connections between exercise and memory didn't find one, but the team took several extra steps to give them the best chance of finding a link if one did exist. They limited their search to particular groups and age ranges as well as a specific kind of strict experimental setup. Another key was focusing specifically on episodic memory.
With that much larger pool of participants, the team was able to show a link between exercise and episodic memory. The team also found the greatest effects of exercise in those who hadn't yet experienced any cognitive (认知的) decline.
If you've got a lot of information coming at you, or you need to pick up a new skill in a short time, no worries. . To help you do it, we've put together a list of things you can do to improve your ability to learn quickly and effectively.
The right mindset can help you learn more effectively. Try to remind yourself that you're learning something to improve your knowledge and skills. Think about all of the benefits that come with it. Avoid worst-case thinking and focus on the possible positive outcomes (结果). It can make a huge difference.
Test yourself as often as you can.
It's a great way to figure out what you need to learn. Go through the information you're trying to learn and ask yourself questions about the material. If you answer correctly, great!
. If you have access to practice tests, use them to challenge your memory. The more you test yourself, the more confident you'll be that you know the information.
Practice a task in different ways to learn more quickly.
Changing the way you practice can help you improve. If you're trying to learn a task or skill, practice is super important and one of the most effective ways to get better. . Instead, try mixing it up and practicing a different way each time, which can help your mind strengthen your memories, making you learn more quickly.
Exercise regularly.
It'll improve both your health and your memory. Studies show that regular periods of exercise can significantly improve your memory. Try to get at least 30 minutes each day. Use exercise as a healthy way to take a break from your studies, which will also actually help with your recall. Try out a group fitness class, go for a run or bike ride, or lift some weights.
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A. Use mental images to help remember things. B. Keep a positive attitude when you're learning. C. If not, find the right answer and try to remember it. D. But don't just practice the same way over and over. E. Do anything that you feel comfortable doing — just get active! F. If you test yourself regularly, you will remember what you're learning better. G. The good news is that you can use some strategies to improve your learning ability. |
When the host announce that my choir (合唱队) won the second place of the World Choir Game, I couldn't believe what I heard. All the1 that we made was worthwhile. Through this unforgettable experience, I2 much.
In the semi-finals, we were supposed to sing four songs. When we played the third song, I suddenly heard an unexpected3 —a girl in the alto(女低音) got quick. The other students in the alto were4 by the girl and were getting quicker and quicker. Our choir's leader, Mrs Lee noticed it and5 used her hand to keep time, but she6 .
After the song the smile on Mrs Lee's face froze and some of our members turned and tried to find the person who first got7 . My mind was blank, but quickly I realized the only thing we could do was to8 the performance. Then with a smile, Mrs Lee became a9 again, who seemed to have totally forgot what we had done. We sang the10 song as usual.
After the competition, I was11 . Just because of one person's fault, the whole choir must afford the fact that we might lose the game. I cried, but then I found nothing would change no matter how hard we12 the girl who played poorly.13 , I came to her, encouraged her and practiced the whole melody with her. In the finals, we got the medal because of our14 performance.
Never blame a person when she makes a mistake, but help her to solve the problem when you are struggling toward the same goal. No matter what you will experience with others in the future, successes or failures, laughter or tears, these will surely become your precious treasure and15 .
Throughout history, mankind have been working hard on the space(explore) to learn more about the universe though it was thought (possible) before the mid-20th century. However, so many scientists were determined to make the human dream to explore space realized. With the first satellite launched and orbiting around Earth successfully, Yuri became the first astronaut(send) into space in 1961. After that, American astronaut Neil Armstrong succeeded in stepping onto the moon. Although the failure of Challenger was (disappoint), human beings went on with their desire to explore the universe.
(follow) Russia and America, China became the third country in the world to send humans into space (independent) in 2003, Yang Liwei successfully orbited Earth. Since then, China(make) great progress in exploring space. Shenzhou 6 and 7 were sent into space, the Tiangong 2 docked with Tianzhou 1, and Chang'e 4 landed on the moon.
Exploring space has already madedifference and has provided the world many different benefits. Therefore, it should continue so as to provide new and better solutions to people's problems.
One summer afternoon, when I was about eight years of age, I was looking at a beautiful rainbow that, bending from the sky, seemed to be losing itself in a thick wood about a quarter of a mile distant.
"Do you know, Gracie," said my brother, who was just recovering from a severe illness, weak and tired, "that if you should go to the end of the rainbow, you would find there precious treasures?"
"Is it truly so?" I asked.
"Truly so," answered my brother, with a smile but a very serious face.
Now, I was a simple-hearted child who believed everything that was told to me; so, without another word, I rushed out toward the wood. My brother called after me as loudly as he was able to, but I did not take any notice of him.
I cared nothing for the wet grass, on and on I ran. I was so sure that I knew just where that rainbow ended. But when I reached the cedars (雪松林), the end of the rainbow was not there!
Abruptly I saw it shining down among the trees a little farther off; so on and on I struggled, through the thick bushes, till I came within the sound of a stream. I reached the bank of the stream, and I could see it a little way off on the other side. I crossed the stream on a fallen tree, and still ran on, though my muscles were aching and my knees shaking.
Suddenly I met in my way a large porcupine (豪猪). I ran away from him as fast as my tired feet would carry me. In my flight and hurry I forgot to keep my eye on the rainbow, and when, at last, I remembered and looked for it, it was nowhere in sight!
When I saw that it was indeed gone, I burst into tears, for I had lost all my treasures, and had nothing but muddy feet and a wet and torn dress. So I set out for home.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为 150 左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
But I soon found that my troubles had only begun._
Paragraph 2:
At last I heard my own name called.
