As an old saying in China goes, "The days of the Sanjiu period are the coldest days." "Sanjiu period" , which is in Minor Cold, refers to the third nine-day period (the l9th to the 27th day) after the day of the Winter Solstice(冬至). There are many different customs related to Minor Cold in China.
Eating hotpot
During Minor Cold people should eat some hot food to benefit the body and defend against the cold weather. Winter is the best time to have hotpot and braised mutton with soy sauce. But it is important to notice that too much spicy food may cause health problems.
Eating huangyacai
In Tianjin, there is a custom to have huangyacai, a kind of Chinese cabbage, during Minor Cold. There are large amounts of vitamins A and B in huangyacai. As huangyacai is fresh and tender, it is fit for frying, roasting and braising.
Eating glutinous rice (糯米饭)
According to tradition, the Cantonese eat glutinous rice in the morning during Minor Cold. Cantonese people add some fried preserved pork, sausages and peanuts and mix them into the rice.
Eating vegetable rice
In ancient times, people in Nanjing took Minor Cold quite seriously, but as time went by, the celebration of Minor Cold gradually disappeared. However, the custom of eating vegetable rice is still followed today. The rice is steamed and is unspeakably delicious. Among the ingredients (原料), aijiaohuang (a kind of green vegetable), sausages and salted duck are the specialties in Nanjing.
When I was in middle school, I was on a family vacation in Washington DC. I found there was a homeless man down the street.
On our final day in the city, when my parents went for an evening walk, I went out of our hotel room and ran down the street to the homeless man.
He looked at me, surely not expecting anything from a middle school girl. I asked him what he wanted to have for dinner. He replied "Bread and water". I ran into the store and bought a big bag of bread and a bottle of water. I ran back with a smile on my face and handed the bag and the bottle to him. His smile has been in my mind ever since.
I came back to the hotel room and when my parents returned, my dad told me he had a story for me. He asked if I remembered the homeless man down the street from our hotel and I shyly nodded. He then told me a story. As they were returning from their walk, they saw the homeless man was sharing a bag full of food with other homeless people around. They were all smiling and laughing as they ate.
I smiled at my dad but I have never told him to this day the other half of the story. Till today, I still haven't forgotten that man's smile but I wish I had the courage to do this more often. One small kind action can begin a ripple effect(连锁反应)of kindness. So please，share a smile and do something kind for the people in need.
In 1969, watching the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon on TV from his parents' farm in Canada, Chris Hadfield was amazed and excited. On that day, at only nine years old, Chris made the most important decision of his life: He was going to be an astronaut.
There wasn't even a training program in Canada to become an astronaut; but Chris was determined. He spent a great deal of time studying and fixing engines. After school he joined the Canadian army where he learned to fly many different types of planes. Chris did a lot of research for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States and had special training. Finally, in 1995, he rode his first rocket into space.
Chris became the first Canadian astronaut to walk in space, and went on a number of space missions throughout his career. The most memorable was his five-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS) as commander, between December 2012 and May 2013. He posted on social media thousands of photos of Earth and videos of himself explaining how things work in zero gravity. His followers could watch him sleeping, brushing his teeth, washing his hands, or preparing "space" snacks in zero gravity, which turned him into a social media phenomenon.
Today, Chris travels the world giving talks about his work. He once said, "Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you'd be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become.
Press your fingers into the back of your head, just above your neck. If you feel a small bony bump (突起), you may find evidence of human evolution (进化): it could be your body responding to common smartphone use in the 21st century.
According to a recent study, published in Scientific Reports, more young people have bony bumps at the base of their skulls, right above the neck. Medical professionals call them enlarged external occipital protuberances (EEOPs, 枕外隆突).
Australian health scientist David Shahar, the author of the study, told the BBC that he's seen more and more patients with EEOPs over the past ten years. Together with other researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, they examined 1,200 skull x-rays from people aged 18–30. They also measured the bumps and noted each person's posture. They found that one in four people had developed these growths. This led to their theory that smartphones are the cause.
According to their research, looking down at our phones adds stress onto the top of our spines (脊柱). To prevent damage to our spines, Shahar believes our bodies add fresh bony bump to help reduce the extra stress.
Most of the EEOPs measured just a few millimeters. However, several subjects were found with EEOPs as large as 30 mm.
In his report, Shahar said the results "highlighted the need" for prevention. In other words, we need to change our posture while using our phones.
Many people assume our bones are solid and unmoving once we reach adulthood. In reality, they are alive and covered with blood vessels (血管), which allows them to develop in unique ways for each person.
Aside from EEOPs, other noticeable recent changes in human bodies include shrinking jaws, narrower elbows and generally smaller skeletons. The human body is adapting to modern life, so who knows what people in the future might look like?
If you do not use your arms or your legs for some time, they become weak; when you start using them again, they slowly become strong again. Everybody knows this, and nobody would think of questioning this fact.
When someone says that he has a good memory, he really means that he keeps his memory in practice by exercising it regularly, either consciously or unconsciously. When someone else says that his memory is poor, he really means that he does not give it enough opportunity to become strong. One of them exercises his arms and legs by playing tennis, while the other sits in a chair or a motor car all day.
If a friend complains that his arms are weak, we know that it is his own fault. But if he tells us that he has a poor memory, many of us think that his parents are to blame, or that he is just unlucky, and few of us realize that it is just as much his own fault as if it was his arms or legs that were weak. But all of us can, if we have ordinary bodies and brains, improve our strength and our memory by the same means — practice.
Have you ever noticed that people who cannot read or write usually have better memories than those who can? It's because those who cannot read or write have to remember things. They cannot write them down in a little notebook and they have to remember dates, time and prices, names, songs and stories, so their memory is being exercised the whole time .
A．Why is this?
B．What do you think of it?
C．Someone else says that he is poor in health.
D．The position is exactly the same as that of two people.
E．So if you want a good memory, practice remembering.
F．Not all of us can become extremely strong or extremely clever.
G．Yet many people do not seem to know that the memory works in the same way.
My parents announced I was getting my own room. I was so excited. 1 , my new bedroom was down in the dark basement, and basements are scary places when you're only five years old. So I was a little 2 until I knew my grandmother would live next to me. She 3 completely and offered to let me sleep with her.
It worked out well for both of us for a while. I could even 4 that her snoring (打鼾) was lovely. But soon my parents 5 , and they were not happy. They wanted me to learn to 6 by myself. Of course, I screamed and threw temper tantrums (使性子). It didn't 7 . At last, I went back to my own room. However, I was fearful. So when I 8 my parents had fallen asleep, I got up and walked as quietly as I could into Grandma's bedroom.
In the morning, Grandma shook me awake and said 9 that I needed to get back to my room before my parents got up. I ran back to my room just in time as I heard 10 upstairs. My wonderful grandmother 11 me while we lived there. She 12 to patiently wake me up every morning to go back to my own bed. Because of her, I never had to sleep by myself.
A year later, we moved to a different house. My mom told me that I would 13 a room with my grandmother. I was 14 ! Mom said I didn't have to go to sleep 15 with Grandma anymore.
It is (advice) to remember that journalists may have different priorities,would influence how they report an event. Let's take the two news reports on the Henderson Tower fire an example. We can see that the first news report pays more attention to the rescue efforts,the second talks more about deaths and injuries. When we read more than one report, we come to understand an event in a (comprehensive) way.
Even if news reports are written from basically the same perspective, they may contradict each other in terms of factual details, as events in the real world are usually complicated and constant) changing. When we come across fact) differences, we should not rush to the conclusion that one of the news reports gives false information., check when the reports were written. News reports written at different stages of an event could contain different information as new facts are brought to light. Another aspect worth) of mention is that journalists may approach information they get from research or interviews differently. Suppose emergency services' estimates of the number of deaths vary between 5 and 9, journalists may choose to present the minimum, the maximum or something in between in their news reports. Therefore,check) different sources enables us to draw a more informed conclusion.
要求：1.词数100左右；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文流畅；3.开头及结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Mr.Wang，
……
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours,
Li Hua
I'd had a rather stressful day at work. It didn't help that I'd also had another argument with my teenaged daughter that morning. By the time I arrived home, I eagerly anticipated（期盼）getting my evening walk to clear my mind. It was getting cloudier and I could tell that rain was coming. No problem. I would be home long before the liquid sunshine fell.
The intense walk worked off much of my energy. I slowed my pace, but a quick glance down shocked me. The cutest Jack Russell Terrier had appeared out of nowhere and was keeping pace beside me. I knelt to pet her, delighted to discover that her ears were so soft that she reminded me of my childhood dog. She had the same coloring as Lucky — white with a large black spot on her back and side, brown face, and white nose.
"Where did you come from, little one?" She was not wearing a collar or identification tags. I remembered seeing a Terrier when I drove into the neighborhood a few hours earlier. It had darted（突然行进）into the street in front of my car, but I had assumed she lived in the area. She must be the same dog.
I continued my walk, thinking she would find her way home on her own. The little stray continued to keep pace, walking next to me as if we were age-old companions. When I looked around, I was not surprised that, other than the dog, I was alone on this dreary（沉闷的）night. The sky had already darkened. I was worried. If I left her out there, she might be hit by a car. I wondered if I should just take her home.
The timing was ironic（讽刺的）. My sixteen-year-old daughter, Megan, wanted another pet. Our family dog, Daisy, had slowed considerably in her old age, and Megan hoped we would adopt a younger, livelier dog. We had resisted her requests, since she would be leaving for college in a couple of years. Besides, Megan and I had not exactly seen eye-to-eye earlier that day. I didn't want it to seem as if I was rewarding her after yet another argument.
The heavens opening and rain pouring, I made my decision. …… The neighbor offered to give me a spare leash（遛狗绳）, and I accepted gratefully. |
