With travel and the environment in the news so much lately, you've probably heard the word ecotourism. As travelers become more aware of their effect on the planet and want to do their part to make a difference, ecotourism has really taken off.
What is ecotourism? The definition isn't as hard to determine as you might think. According to the International Ecotourism Society, it is defined as "responsible travel to natural areas that protects the environment and sustains the well-being of the local people." To be simple, it's travel that has a positive effect on a destination's ecology and economy.
Ecotourism lets travelers participate in activities that benefit the environment. For example, travelers can act as citizen scientists in places around the world, including national parks and dive sites, to help do research and collect data. Meanwhile, ecotourism helps local communities to do well and become successful and strong. That can happen in a number of ways, involving some type of financial aspect, from providing jobs to supporting local businesses.
Being a responsible traveler, you'll have a much more satisfying and rewarding experience. Instead of simply visiting tourist attractions and eating at chain restaurants, you can get completely involved in a local culture and really get to know the people who live there. It enriches your own life and opens your mind to new ideas.
Ecotourism is an amazing way to discover the world. Nature is full of wonders everywhere. Being able to get out in a natural area that is protected and largely undeveloped offers a chance to connect with plants and animals you may never see anywhere else. Just be sure to leave it as you found it for future explorers to discover. Get your sneakers ready, pack your bags and head for nature. A big and beautiful world is waiting for you out there.
Have you heard an old saying "The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence"? It means other places often look better, more interesting than the place where you live. "Let's go to KFC for dinner and then watch some Japanese cartoons!" We all know it: more and more Chinese kids love American and Japanese food and movies. Some people worry that young Chinese are beginning to feel that way. They see young Chinese ignoring（忽视）Chinese culture and, instead, buying Japanese cartoon books, watching Korean soap operas and even celebrating western holidays.
Foreign books and soap operas are good, but Chinese writers and actors are just as good. As for holidays, Christmas is nice, but it can never have the meaning for Chinese that Spring Festival has, and the West has nothing to compare with the Mid-Autumn Festival. China has lots of cool things in its culture: calligraphy, Beijing Opera, quick meals on the streets, and even Jay Chou! And let's not forget the part of Chinese culture I like best: its friendliness. Not all countries are as warm as China.
It's good to enjoy other cultures and learn from them, but they can never replace your own culture. It's good to look on the other side of the fence, but make sure you take a good long look. You will find that the grass isn't always greener.
Although some people become worried about that, I don't think they should. Will we get more powerful without learning from other countries? Will Chinese people live more happily without American fast food? Besides, it's fun to learn about different cultures. Chinese kids can learn about other cultures and have fun, but they also need to learn more about their own culture. Be proud of Chinese culture and of being Chinese!
There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as an external (外在的) result or a product that can easily be identified and measured. The worker who gets a rise, the student whose grades improve, and the foreigner who learns a new language--all these examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts．
By contrast, the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way. The process is not the road itself, but rather the attitudes and feelings people have, their caution or courage, as they meet with new experiences and unexpected difficulties. In this process, the journey never really ends; there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept．
In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to face the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may "fail" at first. How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is essential for our ability to grow．Do we see ourselves as quick and curious? If so, we tend to take more changes and be more open to unfamiliar experiences. Do we think we're shy and indecisive? Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and not to take a step until we know the ground is safe. Do we think we are slow to adapt to change or that we're not smart enough to deal with a new challenge? Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all.
These feelings of insecurity and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow. If we do not face or overcome these internal fears and doubt, if we protect ourselves too much, then we stop growing. We become trapped inside a shell of our own making．
In spite of all of the years spent in school preparing to enter the workplace, many recent graduates say that they struggle with the transition from classroom to career world and have difficulty adjusting to life on the job.
Writer and editor Joseph Lewis suggests one reason why this is the case. Lewis believes that most of our school experiences—from childhood through university—are fairly predictable, while life in the working world is far more ambiguous. In school, for example, the pattern stays more or less the same from year to year. In the workplace, however, constant change is the norm, and one has to adapt quickly. A project you are working on this month might suddenly change next month or next week, and it's often hard to anticipate what you'll be doing six to twelve months from now.
Another problem that graduates entering the workforce encounter is that they are unprepared to think analytically. In school, many students including those in college, spend a lot of time memorizing facts and repeating what they "learned" on tests. But in the workplace employees are often expected to think critically and make decisions about their work, not just follow a supervisor's instructions.
Finally, many recent graduates say that one of the biggest difficulties they face is adapting to teamwork on the job. In some ways, school does prepare one for collaborative nature of the workplace. Learners sit in classes every day with many other students. They must listen to others' opinions, participate at times in group discussions, and learn how to get along outside the classroom. Nevertheless, in school, a student normally works independently to complete most tasks and receives a grade according to how well he or she has done. In the workplace, however, employees must regularly interact with others and are often dependent on their co-workers for their success.
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
These days, it's not unusual to see middle-aged men collecting Star Wars action figures, office workers wearing Hello Kitty accessories, or celebrities like David Beckham playing with Lego bricks. It's becoming more and more common to see adult taking an interest in toys, comic books and the activities that are traditionally associated with children. This phenomenon has given rise to a new word: kidult.
What lies behind the phenomenon? One is about adults' nostalgia (怀旧的) for the carefree days of childhood, and this is especially true with today's fast-paced, stressful lifestyles. Another is about a societal change in recent decades where people are starting families later. As a result, they have more time and money to spend on themselves. Some adults could only window-shop for their dream toys when they were kids, but now they can afford that radio-controlled car or high-priced doll they have always wanted.
Society traditionally disapproves of adults who refuse to put aside childhood interests, viewing the refusal as a sign of social immaturity (不成熟) and irresponsibility. Those who agree with this view sometimes claim that kidults are suffering from the pop-psychology concept known as Peter Pan Syndrome, an anomaly (异常) that people remain emotionally at the level of teenagers.
From the standpoint of kidults, though, this phenomenon is seen as nothing but harmless fun. Kidults insist that having youthful interests keeps them young, happy and creative, and their refusal to conform to society's acceptable tastes shows independent thinking. Besides, they argue that being part of the social trend of delayed adulthood is not purely a personal choice. The real causes include expensive housing, increased educational requirements for employment and poor work opportunities.
Small talk
Small talk is often thought of as unimportant, or perhaps worse, a substitute for real speech and thought in common opinion. Nevertheless, research suggests they will benefit.
One reason for small talk's bad reputation is that it tends, for obvious reasons, to aim for the lowest common denominator (分母). In ritualised dialogue, little information is exchanged. "Hello" signals nothing at all. "How are you?" rarely gets a fully honest answer.
However, linguists call that crucial 4€ hello, talk phatic (交流情感的)Bronislaw Malinowski, who coined the term in the 1920s; explained that in phatic talk "ties of union are created by a mere exchange of words. " If you know literally nothing about someone you can still safely presume they prefer sun to rain, and begin to establish a connection on that basis. If your bus or train is suddenly stuck, an even better opportunity arises. You can be sure your fellow passengers are not happy about it, and a shared grousing session makes them—and you—feel less alone with your inconvenience.
At work, small talk may seem a distraction from what employees are paid to do. But there is a spectrum between empty talk ("Hello"), social talk ("How was your holiday?"), social talk relevant to work ("Is Sarah still on holiday?") and pure business talk ("Has Sarah finished that report?"). A study of government departments in New Zealand by Janet Holmes shows how frequently people switch between those modes, even in brief conversations. That suggests a function beyond filling awkward gaps. Among other things, such chatter can bond equals together in a shared task. She also finds that bosses are more likely to initiate small talks with subordinates than the other round (as well as to cut it off). This is because, even without being told, a good manager realises that it can soften a following instruction.
In the last few decades, scientists have reached a consensus and reported that human beings are causing changes in the earth's climate.
In the last 50 years, gases pumped into the Earth's atmosphere by the factories and vehicles have been speeding up the process of global warming and affecting our climate. Global warming refers to an average increase in the Earth's surface temperature that, in turn, leads to climate change. If we continue to produce carbon dioxide and other gases in such huge quantities, we are expecting severe consequences. Recent reports have warned that global warming will cause terrible climate change, including more frequent floods and droughts. Serious disease will spread and industries that rely on nature will be badly affected. Increasing temperatures will also cause the polar ice to melt, raising sea levels and flooding many islands and cities. How can we stop these disasters from happening?
Governments all over the world should take on the responsibility, but this is no easy task. Some governments express reservations about whether global warming is really caused by human activities Many people believe that they are simply not prepared to give up the amount of money they make from industry to save the Earth.
But why wait for governments to take action? Experts say that each person should play his part They suggest making small changes like taking public transport, recycling low-flow showerheads, and buying light bulbs that use less energy. Even simple things like using recycled paper or switching off the light when you leave a room can help. If we add up all these small changes made by everyone worldwide, they won't be such small changes. They could be the changes that save our future
The Benefits of Spring Cleaning
You may well have heard of the term "spring cleaning": the act of giving your house a deep clean in the spring months. Even though, for many of us, that ritual of a once-a-year intense cleaning of dirt and grime (污垢) is dying out, some of us still practise it. However, there could be a good reason the tradition isn't as popular as it was.
The spring months are associated with new life and warmth—a complete contrast to the cold, gloomy winter that preceded. For protection against the freezing weather outside, people would seal their doors and windows as best they could to keep the heat in. In a time when many houses had fireplaces, open fires would produce smoke and soot, coating rooms with layers of muck and gunk. (脏脏的东西).
It therefore made sense for people to start cleaning in the spring, when the weather was warmer and windows opened, to freshen up their houses, mopping the floors and cleaning the walls. However, open fires are no longer commonplace nowadays, with people preferring central heating to dirty smoke. And it's not just the way of heating our homes that has changed. In the past, cleaning was designated to specific times and days, as simple chores like washing clothes took a long time. The rise of modern conveniences such as the washing machine means that tasks are quicker and more efficient.
However, psychologists such as Dr. Jonathan Fader, argue that the mental health benefits of clearing the house of mess mean that a spring clean is hugely positive. The perception of your house being messy can cause the stress hormone cortisol to rise.
So, while the tradition is still there, and it's nice to have a big clean of dirt once in a while, it is no longer as necessary--or limited to just the spring. That said, the psychological benefits of having a tidy home means that a once-a-year clean of unnecessary items, rather than dirt, can make you feel much better.
World Languages Threatened
Many world languages may become extinct due to economic growth, a new study suggests. A study led by Tatsuya Amano at the University of Cambridge revealed that 25 percent of the world's languages are threatened. After identifying where the endangered languages were, the researchers looked for any environmental and social or economic factors those languages might have in common, such as rugged terrain(崎岖地形)or rapid population growth." We found that at the global scale, language speaker declines are strongly linked to economic growth—that is, declines are particularly occurring in economically developed regions, "Amano said.
"We showed that this is a global phenomenon, which I think is the most important in our findings, "Amano said. "" So economically developed countries with many languages, such as the United States and Australia, need immediate attention if their languages are to be conserved. "
Economic growth may endanger languages for a variety of reasons. For instance, speakers of endangered languages may view another more dominant language as offering economic opportunities and integration into mainstream society, and thus abandon their own languages.
There are other important factors that might endanger languages, the researchers said. For instance, policies regarding how languages are used and taught in schools" can be very different among countries and even within each country, and these factors may explain more detailed patterns in language endangerment, "Amano said. "But it was almost impossible to collect such information at the global scale for this study. This will be the next step for our project. ""
Amano suggested it could be possible to forecast future threats to linguistic diversity. "There exists detailed information on projected future changes in the environment, economies and climates, "Amano said. "Using such information, together with the findings of this study and further analysis, we would like to understand what will happen to the world's languages, where it will happen and which languages will be threatened in particular. "
