Architecture in Rotterdam
Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands, offers anything from unique food to wonderful landscapes. However, it's incredible architecture that makes the city stand out.
Markthal
The building, the scale of which is impressive, is home to almost 100 fresh food stalls (摊位), shop units, restaurants and over 200 apartments. Opened in 2014, it was built near where Rotterdam was first founded in 1270. Besides delicious food, you shouldn't miss its large walls and ceiling covered with images of flying fruits, flowers and insects. This artwork, titled Horn of Plenty and created by the artists Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam, is one of the biggest in the world and covers an area of about 11,000 square meters.
Erasmus Bridge
The bridge stretches over the river Maas, connecting the city center with the neighborhood of Kop van Zuid. Named after the city's famous scholar Desiderius Erasmus, the bridge is 808 meters long and weighs as much as 1,700 adult elephants. The bridge has a nickname—de zwaan (the swan). It does require a bit of imagination to see how this giant piece of steel resembles an actual swan, but if you look at it from above, it becomes a bit clearer.
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Depot
It was born out of a desire to share artworks with as many people as possible and has gained over 150,000 pieces. Open since the summer of 2021, it has given visitors a unique behind-the-scenes look into the world of art conservation, art restoration and museum management. Most importantly, visitors have free access to the rooftop garden, which offers panoramic (全景的) views of the city.
De Rotterdam
De Rotterdam is a building complex of three interconnected towers. Located on the south side of the city, it has 45 floors. It houses commercial office spaces, residential apartments, cafés, restaurants and luxurious hotels. With a total floor space of about 160,000 square meters, it's well-known as the largest group of buildings in the Netherlands.
Linda Brown is a softly-spoken realtor (房地产经纪人) with a passion for helping the homeless. She's moving mountains by combining her understanding of real estate with her kindness-fueled determination to create beautiful permanent homes for disabled homeless people in her community.
In 2020, Mrs. Brown was awarded the Good Neighbor Award. This honor is initiated by The National Association of Realtors in the US. As its website details, working alongside her husband, Dr. David Brown, she has been transforming abandoned mobile homes into villages of tiny homes that offer permanent housing for homeless people who're disabled.
The wish to help homeless people, and restore their dignity and self-worth, as Mrs. Brown explains, had been a joint mission for some years. As local blogger Aaron Nichols shares, the couple ran a local evening drop-in center for local homeless people called Gardening Tree, for almost a decade. This functioned as a shelter where people experiencing homelessness could grab a bite, shower, do laundry and relax.
But they wanted to do more than that. With local individual organizations' help, the couple succeeded in raising almost $5 million, which enabled them to transform unused mobile homes and a deserted trailer park into a small village of tiny homes that opened in 2018. They named the shelter "Eden Village".
As Mrs. Brown revealed in her award acceptance speech about her journey to creating Eden Village, helping homeless people is something personal, "I watched as my homeless friends walked off into the darkness to a hidden, wet and cold camp while we went home to a warm bed. I had to do something."
Today, Eden Village includes a 4,000-square-foot community center offering cooking and laundry facilities, as well as a medical center and community gardens. Additionally, more sites are being developed thanks to the land donated to the nonprofit founded by the Browns. Eden Village 2 and 3 are at the planning stage. In the next six years, Mrs. Brown hopes to create five similar villages housing up to 200 people experiencing homelessness.
A To express her sympathy for her friends.
The invasive species, also called introduced species or foreign species, is any nonnative species that significantly changes or damages the ecosystem it invades. Such species may arrive in new areas through natural migration, but they are often introduced by the activities of other species. Human activities, such as those involved in global commerce and the pet trade, are considered to be the most common ways in which invasive plants, animals, microbes, and other organisms are transported to new habitats.
Most introduced species do not survive extended periods in new habitats, because they do not possess the necessary adaptations to adjust to the challenges posed by their new surroundings. Some introduced species may become invasive when they possess a built-in competitive advantage over native species in invaded areas. They change native food chains and in some cases even get to the top of the food chains, which means the ecosystem lacks natural enemy capable of keeping them in check. Under these circumstances, new arrivals can get the chance to reproduce in large numbers.
The ecological damage that tends to follow such invasions often reduces the ecosystem's biodiversity and causes economic harm to people who depend on the ecosystem's biological resources. Invasive species may be so good at catching preys that victim populations decline over time, and many victim species die out in the affected ecosystem. Other invasive species, in contrast, may prevent native species from obtaining food, living space, or other resources. Over time, invasive species can effectively replace native ones, often forcing the localized extinction of many native species. Invasive plants and animals may also serve as disease carriers that spread parasites (寄生虫) and viruses that may further do harm to the invaded area.
Teenagers whose non-cognitive skills are poorly developed are more likely to suffer from health problems later in life, according to a new research by a group of experts from the University of Manchester.
Rose Atkins of that university, along with her colleagues set out to investigate non-cognitive skills as they are one of the least explored determining factors of health and well-being, despite the fact that evidence surrounding their importance is growing quickly.
These skills are conscientiousness (尽责性), which tells how hardworking, careful and stubborn an adolescent is, and neuroticism (神经质), which shows how worried, unhappy and fearful an adolescent is.
The researchers used data on a group of individuals who were followed throughout their life and carried out statistical analysis to study the relationship between adolescent non-cognitive skills and later-life health. The non-cognitive skills were reported by teachers, based on the behavior of students at age 16.
The study found that individuals whose adolescent conscientiousness is higher deal with stress in adulthood better, and are at a lower risk of some diseases. And individuals whose adolescent neuroticism is higher have a poorer, health related quality of life in adulthood and are at a greater risk of some diseases.
The researchers conclude that policies to improve adolescent conscientiousness and reduce adolescent neuroticism would offer the most long-term health benefits to those with the poo-rest health, "There is a growing body of evidence that suggests school-based interventions to improve non-cognitive skills can have lasting positive effects on important life outcomes," said Rose. "Extra-curricular activities and work experience have also been shown to improve these skills. Having a greater focus on the improvement of non-cognitive skills at both primary and secondary school levels would be a positive policy decision, However, these skills are also determined by factors like family income, parental education, and parental investment. There-tore, more complex public policy is needed to reduce social inequality."
Work from Anywhere Movement
For a lot of us, working from wherever we wanted was a bit of a dream. It would mean we'd be able to visit family and not take holiday days. But suddenly that "dream" of not working in the office became a reality for many. Working from home over the last years has proven that it isn't always necessary for teams to physically be together and there is more flexibility.
An obvious benefit for many employers is reduced costs. With a widespread workforce, there's no need to have an office big enough for everyone. They also save on travel costs, as meetings that once "needed" to be done face-to-face can now be done online. With the work from anywhere movement, employers can hire global talents. They're not restricted to people living nearby.
In an ever changing and developing working world, offering benefits like this could be what makes a company stand out from another for a specific candidate.
For many employees, working from anywhere supports mental health. Imagine ending a particularly stressful meeting. Rather than going back to your office desk, you step out your door and have a coffee in the sun or walk along a beach. In Addition, working from anywhere allows you to have a better work-life balance. It lets you travel to see family, watch your daughter's soccer game, and go to the little bakery—all while being paid.
A. But it's not only about money.
B. However, every coin has two sides.
C. It decreases stress and other concerns.
D. Your time is spent on the things that matter.
E. There are a lot of benefits for companies and workers.
F. Offering remote job positions makes a company more competitive.
G. Offices are increasingly where you go to put the company into company.
Every year I'd read over 2,000 college applications from students all over the world. It is quite 1 to choose whom to admit. 2 , in the chaos of SAT scores and recommendations, one 3 is always irresistible in a candidate：kindness.
The most surprising4 of kindness I've ever5 came from a student who had excellent scores and a supportive recommendation from his college counselor(顾问). Even with these qualifications,he might not have6 . But one letter of recommendation caught my eye. It was from a school security7 . Letters of recommendation are typically written by people like former presidents,celebrities,and Olympic athletes.
The security guard wrote that he supported this student's admission because of his8 . This young man was the only person in the school who knew the names of every member of the guard staff. He turned off lights in empty rooms, consistently9 the hallway monitor each morning and tidied up the classroom after his peers left school10 nobody was watching. This student, the security guard wrote, had a(n)11 respect for every person at the school, regardless of position, popularity or power.
It gave us a12 onto a student's life in the moments when nothing"counted". That student was admitted by unanimous(一致的)vote of the admissions committee.
Next year there might be a flood of security guard recommendations13 this essay. But if it means students will start paying as much14 to the people who clean their classrooms as they do to their principals and teachers,I'm happy to help start that15 .
Discoveries made during the latest excavation of Pit No.1 at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, have allowed Chinese archaeologists to gain more insight into the world-famous Terracotta Warriors and their weapons were made.
According to a recent report archaeologists (restore) more than 140 Terracotta Warriors. They discovered that the arms of these figures were created separately and then attached to the bodies and covered in a layer of fine clay. The carving of fine details was completed the arms were attached. (additional), the pit has yielded a variety of weapons, including long-range attack weapons, shields for defense, as well as drums and drumsticks used for commanding soldiers.
"The Terracotta Warriors used a very special mechanism to connect pieces together. Such (wise) was unique to China," Lv Qiuxia, expert on ancient Chinese art, told the Global Times on Wednesday. Lv added that the way the warriors were made differed based on their social status and class. "When (analyze) how they were made, we noticed that the warriors were divided into different classes. This contributes to research the burial culture of the Terracotta Warriors." the expert noted.
Through excavations, Chinese researchers have established the types and arrangement of weapons (use) by the Terracotta Warriors as well as the formations and patterns of the (mystery) underground army.
Jack couldn't believe it when he saw them. The trainers (运动鞋) were on top of a cardboard box, next to a pile of rubbish bins. And they look really good and brand new. He peered inside the trainers and found they were just his size. Jack cried out, "Why would anyone throw them away?" Anna shrugged. Anna was his best friend, but Jack didn't expect her to understand. She knew that he liked running and she even helped by timing him when he ran around the park. But Jack didn't just like running—he was crazy about it.
He unzipped his school bag and put the trainers into his bag. "It's the Area Cross-Country Championships in two weeks," he said. "I'll never do well in my worn old trainers. These will give me a chance."
Anna nodded. She knew how important the Championships were to Jack. Five runners were selected from each school in the area. Jack hadn't been chosen, but then one of the runners had gone to hospital. So they picked Jack to be his replacement in the race. Jack knew he had no chance of beating Beadle, the best runner in the school. However, he would be happy if he just did okay in the race—he didn't want to let himself down.
Much to their surprise, something unusual happened when Jack put on the trainers. Usually Jack set out at a light jog at first when he practised running. But this time he reached top speed straight away. He didn't plan it—it just happened. It felt as if he was running on air. He zoomed round the park and kept picking up sped. In fact he just had to relax and the trainers did the running. However, Anna felt really upset. She knew no pair of normal trainers could make such a difference. Anna shook her head, "You shouldn't wear them in the race. It won't be YOU who wins, will it? Anyone could win if they wore those trainers." But Jack wouldn't listen. "I won't give them up. These trainers are my only chance to win that Championship. I don't need your help!" he shouted. With that he turned and ran off like a speeding train.
注意：1、读写词数应为150左右；2、请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
He was even faster with each practice, but he didn't feel happy.
……
It was time for the big race and the organizer called the runners to the starting line.
