Summer Nights 2022 - The Blue Room Theatre
Summer Nights is a program of theatre and performance held every year at the Blue Room Theatre during Perth's Summer Festival Season. Information about some of the shows included in Summer Nights 2022 is listed below.
Conversations with a Fish
Ages: 14 years and older
Dates: Thursday, 27 January 2022 to Thursday, 3 February 2022
Running Time: 70 minutes
Ticket Prices: Early Bird $21.00, Full Price $28.00, Concession (减价票) $23.00
Show Summary:
A fish faces different existential dilemmas (困境) relating to human experience. What happens? You decide.
107
Ages: 15 years and older
Dates: Thursday, 27 January 2022 to Saturday, 5 February 2022
Running Time: 90 minutes
Ticket Prices: Early Bird $23.00, Full Price $30.00, Concession $25.00
Show Summary:
Four students, four girls of colour, four young people just try to get through high school and figure out their place in the world.
She's Terribly Greedy
Ages: 15 years and older
Dates: Thursday, 27 January 2022 to Thursday, 3 February 2022
Running Time: 50 minutes
Ticket Prices: Early Bird $21.00, Full Price $28.00, Concession $23.00
Show Summary:
20-year-old Ellenore looks at a feast (盛宴), each plate a different future calling out to her － and she wants everything. She wants to wear every dress hanging in her closet. She wants every possible version of herself. Yet here she stands, looking at her future, and can't choose.
Utopia
Ages: 16 years and older
Dates: Tuesday, 8 February 2022 to Saturday, 12 February 2022
Running Time: 45 minutes
Ticket Prices: Early Bird $18.00, Full Price $25.00, Concession $20.00
Show Summary:
Utopia is a work of anger, despair and resilience (适应力) ... an expression from a young man watching horrors (可怕的经历) unfold in his homeland Afghanistan and across the world.
A librarian, Jennifer Williams's mother read to her three children every day. "Not until we went to kindergarten (幼儿园)," Williams said. "Until we went to college."
When Williams, now 54, became a primary school teacher in Danville, Virginia, she wanted her students to fall in love with reading just as she had. But she realized that some kids had limited access (使用的机会) to books.
"It's very obvious to teachers of young children which kids are read to versus kids who are not," she said. To Williams, the solution (解决办法) was simple: Give kids books. In 2017, as part of an event called Engage Danville, she gave away 900 used children's books over three days. Most people would be satisfied with that. Most.
"My husband was like, `Wow, congratulations,' and I was like, `Well, anybody can do that,' " she said. "I told him, 'I want to give away a million books.'"
It sounds like an unreachable number, but as Williams posted on Facebook: "Don't complain in the bleachers (露天看台) if you aren't willing to work hard out on the field."
So she got to work, first by roping in friends to donate books or money to buy books. "I've lived in this town for 35 years," she said. "My community has come together and said, 'You've always helped us, now let us help you.'"
Before long, as news of Williams' s project spread, strangers started leaving books on her front porch (门廊). As quickly as the books come in, Williams gives them to local schools and little free libraries in Danville.
In the four years she' s been doing all this, the Book Lady, as Williams has come to be known, has given away more than 78,000 books - only 922,000 more to reach her goal! And she' s not slowing down. It's too important for kids with few options.
"Reading can take you anywhere," she said. "You can travel in time and space. If you can read, you can learn almost anything."
Early reports on COVID-19 compared what was developing to the "Spanish Flu", an influenza pandemic (流感大流行) just over 100 years earlier. And yet, I grew up never having heard my parents speak of it or their experiences! I had questions about it, but no answers since my parents are no longer with us. I thought to myself, "I don't want this kind of thing to happen to the younger generation in my family in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic."
One day in December 2020, 1 had an idea of a family quilt (被子) documenting our family's experience of the pandemic. The idea excited me because I've always loved quilting. Also, I really wanted something creative to do during lockdown.
I ran the idea by my family members - my four adult children and their spouses (配偶) (with invitations also to my eight grandchildren). They all gave it some thought and said "Go for it!"
So, I asked each person to create a square to express their views on and experiences of the pandemic. We did some brainstorming together. I ordered the cloth and quilting supplies we needed. And we found a good local shop that did a great job printing photos and other designs onto cloth. Each family unit contributed a few completed squares for a total of 20 squares. The quilt covers three generations: the youngest family member is 17 this year, and I'm the oldest at 83. It took us almost four months from the time I imagined it to the day I finished sewing (缝) it up.
Once the pandemic has ended, I will sew the end date and any other key information onto the inside of the quilt. It may not be as skilled as some of my earlier work － I hadn't made a quilt in a long time! － but it's certainly one of the most creative and exciting things I've done, already serving the cause of bringing our family closer together.
The Amazon rainforest is as pristine (处于原始状态的) a place as most people can imagine, but even there, the effects of a changing climate are playing out. Previous research found that some birds in the Amazon are experiencing drops that may be related to climate change. Now, new research suggests that as the Amazon's dry season has gotten hotter, some species are starting to evolve (进化).
For the new study, researchers studied 77 non-migratory species over a 40-year period. They reported in the journal Science Advances that 36 species have lost weight, as much as 2 percent of their body weight every ten years since
1980. Meanwhile, all the species became smaller in body size, while a third grew longer wings.
The researchers themselves are unsure what advantage the wing length changes give the birds, but smaller birds may have an easier time keeping cool. In general, smaller animals have a larger ratio (比例) of surface area to body size, so they dissipate more heat faster than a bigger animal. Less available food, such as fruit or insects, in dryer weather might lead to smaller body size.
"Think about a fighter plane. It has short wings and is heavy. It has to go really fast to stay high in the air, so it uses up plenty of energy," says ecologist Vtek Jirinec, who led the new study, while a glider (滑翔机) almost uses no power to stay high in the air, because it's got these long wings, and it's light."
For those who wonder why a small body change in a small homebody bird should matter, Jirinec points to how our actions have effects we don't always see － such as changing the size and shape of animals half a world away.
"We think of Amazonia as a pristine place, full of life, untouched by people, away from deforestation," Jirinec says. "But it looks like no, not necessarily."
You see people making big life changes, like going to medical school at 45, because they couldn't imagine being an accountant (会计师) for 20 more years. It seems magical, like one day they just decided to make it happen. For some people, it might work that way. In truth, it takes years of thinking and planning. I've figured out how to streamline things a bit. You may want to try it yourself.
First, accept the uncertainty of life. As much as we don't like to admit it, life is uncertain. If you doubt me, go back 10 years and ask yourself where you thought you'd be now. I doubt it looks exactly like you planned.
Second, be open to possibilities. Many times, we know we want to do something, but we don't know what "it" is. Explore a bit. Brainstorm.
Then, once you decide on something, it's time to plan a bit. As you meet different difficulties, make sure you spend time questioning your assumptions (设想). Maybe something you always considered true is nothing more than someone else's opinion.
Finally, as paths (路线) open, head down them. Don't worry if you experience false starts. Almost all of the stories readers shared with me about doing life-changing things involved changing plans, disappointment and lots of hard work. But in the end, it was worth it.
A. That might seem a bit obvious.
B. At this point, difficulties start to show up.
C. We never know exactly where it will take us.
D. It stops you from just making big life changes.
E. However, most of the time, it's much less magical.
F. Allow things to come up and be open to new ideas.
G. There will be plenty of those, and you may only need a quick course correction.
When I began to let my boys, Jason and Justin, stay alone after school, I told them to call my office and tell me when they arrived home from school. After that, they were 1 to call in an emergency. I explained to them that I was 2 work and could not be 3 phone calls every few minutes. Yet over and over the 4 would ring with both of them trying to explain to me at the same time what the other had done wrong. We would go over the 5 again, and the calls might 6 for a while.
The real topper came the day I was called out of a meeting with the 7 that my son was on the telephone with an emergency. Of course, my heart raced, and I 8 for my phone. I answered, only to have Jason tell me that we had no 9 in the house. As my heart stopped racing, I 10 that there was plenty of food in the house. "But we have no chips," he responded. 11 in the eyes of a boy, when you have no potato chips, you have no food. At the time I was not very 12 him, and by the time I hung up, he was aware of my displeasure.
Over the years, as my sons have grown up, the 13 of that phone call brings laughter to my heart. I guess it is 14 for us moms to remember that adults and children may have very different 15 on what makes an emergency.
Chess is a game of make-believe kings and queens, pawns and rooks. For 12-year-old Andre, chess is more just a game.
He uses what he learned on the chessboard in real life, like, think before you move. He's just one of the students from some of Los Angeles' toughest neighborhoods (learn) to play.
Damen Fletcher, learned how to play chess at age 13, grew up in Compton. After leaving the city (attend) college, he came home to find his (child) friends struggling.
"Some of (they) had even fallen into prison (牢狱). I just wondered, 'Why did I have such a different result?' And it was chess," he said.
He started Train of Thought to help kids of all (age) find their inner king or queen.
"Every game of chess is 75 to 100 moves, and every single move that your opponent (对手) makes presents new problem for you to solve," he said.
So, how does Fletcher teach a 5-year-old how to play chess?
"We have a really (interest) story that we use to help kids － that age set up a chessboard for the first time," Fletcher said. "It goes: the king and the queen got married. They (ride) on horses to their castle (城堡) and had eight children."
注意：1. 词数80左右；2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Jacob,
Yours,
Li Hua
There was a young boy at a beautiful beach digging sands using his plastic tools. While his other friends were playing the whole time, the little boy spent his day creating his sandcastle. He even made a moat (护城河) using a spoon, a bridge with a stick and walls for his castle.
After a whole long day, he finished his dream sandcastle until the waves washed his hard work. Holding back his tears, the boy didn't get mad and instead decided to study the waves that destroyed his creation.
The boy was aware of the tide and saw it a couple of times already.
Basically, no matter where you are, the waves of life will always find you.
续写要求：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。
