St Patrick's Day: All You Need to Know About Your Local Parades
Thousands of people will crowd around cities, towns, and villages all over the country on Friday for the annual St Patrick's Day festivities.
Cork
Cork City's St Patrick's Day parade will start at 1p.m, with the event also live-streamed from 12:45 pm for those unable to be there in person. Featuring Cork's long-established bands and hundreds of sports and dance groups, the parade will also have a special multi-cultural focus, in the form of the migrant support group Together Razem.
Limerick
A huge turnout is expected in Limerick on Friday to watch the parade which kicks off at midday from O'Connell's St. Serving as Grand Marshall is Limerick native and star of D'Unbelievables and the Oscar-nominated The Banshees of Inisherin, Jon Kenny, who is looking forward to his "starring role" in this year's celebrations.
Waterford
Following the success of last year's first-ever three-day festival, Waterford City is hoping to top the 2022 celebrations. The fun kicks off with live music in the Cultural Quarter on Thursday night. On Friday, the parade will set off from the Quays at 1p.m, led by Grand Marshall, boxing champion Kelyn Cassidy. The rest of the weekend will be filled with more music, workshops, and dancing, and there will be a fairground for the kids to enjoy.
Clare
Beginning at 11 am from Clare County Council's headquarters, the parade in Ennis will celebrate the commitment of Clare's sporting heroes to their local communities. The parade's hosts are former president of Ennis Rugby (英式橄榄球) Club Jimmy O'Brien, Barefield athlete PJ Purcell, and great-grandniece of Kilnamona boxer Michael McTigue, Aisling Rynne.
English is full of funny expressions that don't always make sense. Idioms are phrases and sentences that do not mean exactly what they say. Even if you know the meaning of each word, you may not understand the idiom because you don't understand the culture behind it. Here are some English idioms based on animals.
When children jump around and act silly, their parents may tell them to stop "monkeying around". To "monkey around" means to do things that are not useful or serious, or to simply waste time.
Many American families have and love pet dogs. But for some unknown reason, Americans use "dog" in a phrase that means to feel unwell. If you are "as sick as a dog", you're really, really sick.
Sometimes you may also hear cats mentioned in conversations, "I told you to keep that secret, but you have just ‘let the cat out of the bag'!" You probably guessed it—that idiom means to reveal a secret or tell facts that were previously unknown.
Dogs and cats don't always get along, but they appear side by side in a commonly used idiom. When it rains heavily, people might say it's "raining cats and dogs".
Heavy rain often ruins people's plans for outdoor activities. But on a lovely day, you can have a picnic. If a swarm (一群) of tiny bugs love your food and start to hover (盘旋) around you, it would be really annoying. That experience perfectly explains why people often tell someone who keeps bothering them to "stop bugging me".
Idioms are very common in both spoken and written English. If you want to have a better understanding of English, you have to learn idioms.
Canada's western provinces are being hit hard by wildfires. Alberta has been hit especially hard. Heavy smoke from the fires has spread far beyond the region.
Alberta has been fighting wildfires for several weeks. Nearby British Columbia and Saskatchewan have also been seriously hit by wildfires. So far, the wildfires in Alberta have burned 8,420 square kilometers of land. Currently, 77 wildfires are still burning in Alberta, and 23 of the fires are considered out of control. That's better than last week. In British Columbia, 89 fires are burning, and 22 are out of control. In British Columbia, about 1,350 square kilometers of land have been burned. Around 2,500 fire fighters have been working to bring the fires under control.
In Alberta, the wildfires have made over 29,000 people homeless. People have also been forced to evacuate in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The fires have created so much smoke that it can be seen from space. The air quality across northwest Canada has been described as Very High Risk. The smoke is even affecting the air quality in several states in the United States. The wildfires have also caused problems for a number of oil and gas companies in Canada. Alberta is famous for producing oil and gas. Many oil companies have been forced to shut down.
Wildfires aren't unusual in western Canada. But generally, the wildfire season begins later in the year. The early fires this year have been made much worse by extremely hot and dry weather. For most of May, a high-pressure weather system has been bringing record temperatures to the area. Many locations in Alberta have never seen higher temperatures than they have this year. The high temperature in Alberta on Sunday was 32.8℃.
The kites in Weifang never disappoint. Every year the Weifang International Kite Festival amazes visitors and netizens (网民) with innovative kites, as "paper birds" of unimaginable designs keep appearing in the sky.
The origin of kites in China can be traced back to the Warring States Period when the great Chinese philosopher Mozi in the State of Lu (part of today's Shandong Province) made the first "wooden kite". Kites didn't actually become popular until the Ming Dynasty. By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, artists specialized in kite making began to appear in Weifang. In 1984, the first Weifang International Kite Festival was held.
Kites were used in China for military purposes at the very beginning. They were made to signal and measure distance, providing intelligence to aid moving large armies across difficult terrain (地形). For example, they can be used to calculate and record wind readings, similar to ship flags at sea. Over time, kites became associated with leisure activities, and were often flown during festivals and holidays.
Today, kite-flying is a popular leisure activity in China, and the Weifang International Kite Festival is one of the largest kite festivals in the world. In 2023, 622 kite artists from 59 countries and regions participated in the event. Compared with previous festivals, the 2023 event was highlighted by many innovations by both veteran (经验丰富的) and young kite makers. Zhang Xiaodong, 74, as a national intangible culture inheritor of Weifang kites, he has attended all 40 festivals. In the early days, he only brought traditional kites to take part in the competitions, but this time, he applied sound and light to make the fairy tale of Chang'e flying to the moon come "alive".
The Weifang kite festival is not only a platform to share kite-making skills, but also a way to enhance friendship between people from different countries. The innovative kites presented in 2023 brought many pleasant surprises to kite lovers all over the world, and brought the people of China and other countries closer. As one netizen put it, "No matter how far away kite lovers go, there is always a ‘thread' in their heart that can pull them together."
To help you understand what 5G is, and what it means to you, we've put together a handy guide here.
What is 5G?
At its most basic level, 5G will be used to make calls, send texts, and to simply get online. But it's going to be significantly faster than previous generations, and could open the door up to a range of exciting new uses.
5G will use new higher radio frequencies to send out data, which are less cluttered(挤了)and carry information much faster. While these higher bands(频段) are faster, they don't carry information as far. That's to say, smaller multiple input and output antennas (天线)will be used—promoting both signals and capacity(容量).
Why is it better than 4G?
5G is expected to be faster than 4G, with some firms claiming it could be as much as 100 times quicker. The fastest 4G networks can deliver 传输)peak(峰值)download speeds of around 300 Mbit/s.In real life, this could allow you to download a full HD film in less than 10 seconds! It means there will be very little—if any—delay when you carry out tasks on a device(设备). While this will help improve things like gaming experiences, it could also pave(为…铺平道路)the way for safer self-driving cars—in which even a short delay could be life-saving.
Finally, 5G will have a larger capacity, meaning networks will be able to deal with several apps at once. Generally, this should mean that devices have a faster, more stable connection.
A．How does 5G work?
B．How will 5G affect you?
C.5G is also expected to have a lower lag(延迟).
D.5G is short for "5th generation mobile network."
E．In comparison, 5G could offer download speeds of over 1 Gb/s.
F．Therefore, the similarity between 5G and 4G technology is huge.
G．This means 5G will support up to 1,000 more devices per meter than 4G.
This morning, my daughter, Helen, and I arrived at a town in Xi'an, China. We came to 1 my husband, James, who had landed a job. We had spent the past four years living in Hong Kong, China, after I 2 my job as a journalist in Sydney. When we saw James, he had never appeared so 3 . He happily kept sharing interesting things with us.
The next day, James was busy with his work. So Helen and I 4 the new town on our own. We were 5 about everything on the street. Crowds of people had a strong 6 to know about us, too. A girl asked Helen, "Where are you from?" Helen began to 7 with her, and soon they seemed to be friends. With curly hair and blue eyes, Helen stood out in the 8 and was very popular. People paid too much attention to us, but they meant 9 .
Walking around, I was 10 by the town. It was a typical Chinese town filled with traditional buildings and red lanterns lining the streets. With such a beautiful area right by our doorstep, I started to feel 11 about the future.
After Helen 12 an international school in Xi'an city, I had a chance to communicate with some parents of different colors during the school run. Before long we became familiar and close, and I made a few13 from all over the world. Regardless of (不管) 14 , we all shared the basic desire to be loved. After several years, our family 15 to Sydney, but I couldn't get China off my mind.
One of the (old) traditional opera forms still (perform) in China, Kunqu Opera was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. It (list) as one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产) by UNESCO in 2001.
Combining songs, graceful body movements, martial arts and dance, Kunqu uses a seemingly endless (various) of gestures to express emotions. Like many traditional Chinese art forms, Kunqu has been faced competition from mass culture and a lack of interest among young people. But the recognition by UNESCO made it possible for Kunqu Opera (experience) a revival. Some artists noted that Kunqu Opera pieces are (close) linked with Chinese literature and the best-known one is The Peony Ravilion (牡丹亭), was written by Ming Dynasty playwright Tang Xianzu.
When "youth version" (青春版) of The Peony Pavilion was put on at universities across China, it gained great popularity among young people. One of the actresses received a note from an audience member after the show, (tell) her how beautiful she was onstage and how beautiful Kunqu was.
内容包括：1.活动时间，地点;2.活动内容;3.活动的意义。
注意：1.写作词数应为80左右;2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：饮食diet，服装costume，习俗custom，节日festival，问答answer questions，游戏环节game sessions
Danilo hurried through the halls of the school for a ceremony. Ahead of him, his dad was emptying a litter bin. Danilo hoped his dad wouldn't see him. He lowered his head, trying to get mixed in the other students. He felt embarrassed that his dad was the school cleaner.
"Good morning, son," his dad said as Danilo passed. Danilo walked faster, pretending not to hear. But the other boys had already noticed.
"Hey, Danilo," a boy called out. "There's your dad, Santos, the school sweeper! Maybe he needs your help." Another boy cut in, mentioning that Santos could do so much more than sweep. He could empty the litter. The boys all laughed.
Danilo couldn't wait to go to middle school next year, where he would not be laughed at. He looked over his shoulder. His dad worked with a smile on his face. How could he ignore such unkind words?
Danilo ran into the meeting hall. Many people were seated, waiting for the school to announce the Teacher of the Year. His best friends, Nathaniel and Frances, had saved a seat for him. They made guesses about whose name was on the plaque(匾). They had many wonderful teachers. Danilo liked all of them. It would be hard for him to pick just one.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.开头已给出。
The time came for the headmaster to announce the Teacher of the Year.
……
Danilo waited regretfully at the edge of the crowd, who were all cheering for Mr. Santos.
