A. suitable B. unfortunately C. worsen D. afford E. risk F. expensive G. ideally H. provide I. solution J. remain K. concern |
In recent weeks, many parents have realized the difficult truth about school this fall because of COVID-19. Hoping for a better , parents around US. have started organizing "pandemic (流行病) pods," or home schooling pods, for the fall, in which groups of 3 to 10 students learn together in homes under the guidance of the children's parents or a hired teacher.
For parents who can organize and them, pods seem like an easy choice. "I don't believe that the online courses for that age group are . Kids at this age really need that multimodal sensory learning (多模式感官学习). "one parent said.
These pods could families with a schooling choice that feels safe —yet also allows kids to
have fun and build social skills，However, it also has unavoidable shortcoming.
Depending on how the pods are set up, they may offer parents a break. But given that Pods can be a complicated to organize and self-selecting, it is possible that they are most popular among wealthy families, experts say, and may educational inequality.
Another about pods is that families may not know how to minimize Covid risks. Pods shouldn't
have more than five kids ， said Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention expert. When
you add together the teacher and all of the kids' family members, a seemingly small pod ends up including dozens of people, and the more people in it, the greater the for coronavirus exposure (接触). Furthermore families in learning pods shouldn't socialize with people outside the pod unless they wear masks and socially distant, Dr. Popescu said, Pods should have clear rules on wearing masks and washing hands.
Should you listen to music when you work?
Do you like to listen to music when you work?
Ask this question at a party, and you'll probably get 1 responses. Some will say they love it, claiming that it improves their performance; others will say they find it distracting （分散注意力的) and cannot work 2 with music playing in the background.
Interestingly enough, our research has found that both of these viewpoints can be true. It just3 on what sort of work you're doing.
In a recent study, we brought participants into our lab to perform a variety of tasks. They included a（n) 4 task一searching through word lists and crossing out words containing the letter "a" and a more difficult task memorizing word pairs and 5 each word to its partner. Some participants completed all of the tasks in silence, 6 others completed the tasks with instrumental music that was either loud or soft, and either simple or complex, the latter meaning music with more instruments being played. Several key findings 7 from our study.
We found that participants who listened to simple music or no music performed about the same on the easy task. However, participants who listened to 8 music performed best on the easy task.
On the contrary, participants performed worse on the more difficult task when they listened to any music, regardless of complexity or volume, compared to those who didn't listen to any music.
How should we 9 these findings?
We suggest that people have limited mental resources from which both 10 and tasks can draw. We can become 11 and our minds may wander when these resources are not fully used. But we also can become over-excited and 12 when these resources are used up.
Not surprisingly, we typically need to use fewer of our mental resources when we perform ceasy tasks, whereas demanding tasks require more brainpower. However, because we might be less 13 during easier tasks, there is a greater risk of drifting off. Music might give us the extra 14 we need to overcome the monotony （单调)。 However, difficult tasks already demand a lot of our resources. Listening to music can become too much.
So best 15 should appear when we strike a "sweet spot," which may depend on the type of music and the type of task.
Our youngest daughter can be stubborn about receiving gifts, and I told her so.
"Where do you think I get it from?" she asked.
"I'm not stubborn when it comes to receiving gifts, " I said. "I used to be, but not now. "
She has a birthday coming up and we want to get her some new cowboy boots.
Cowboy boots aren't cheap, but we want to do something special and get her something she could use and enjoy for years to come.
But my daughter is pushing back, saying she's happy with her current boots-which are old and worn-out.
I push back, she pushes back, and we become locked in a mother daughter match over stubbornness and how much is too much to spend on a special gif.
She thinks my husband and 1 do too much for her. I used to think the same thing about my parents-my parents weren't rich, but they were generous.
They kept saying they enjoyed giving me gifts, but all I could think about was how much money they were wasting on me.
Years ago. I mentioned to a friend that I thought my mother overdid it when it came to buying gifts for her children.
My friend, closer to my mothers age than mine, looked at me and said, "who are you to tell your mother what she can do?"
I wanted to argue with her, but I didn't. I didn't fully understand it then but I understand it now-now that I'm a grandmother myself.
The longer you live, the more you see how often things go wrong.
Marriages fail, friendships break down, family members become estranged, and accidents and illnesses cut lives short.
There is a brokenness that fills many of our lives. So, when you see life going well, families working hard and growing strong, you want to celebrate.
It took a lot of time for me to understand that giving is an expression of joy, as much as it is an expression of love. I understand where my daughter is coming from, but I also understand where my parents were coming from -a place of pure and simple joy celebrating those moments when life goes well.
For years, the Empire State Building in New York was recognized as the tallest buildings in the world, but in recent decades. my much higher structures have been built. Read on to learn more about four of the tallest skyscrapers existing today.
●Buri Khalifa
Buri Khalifs in Dubai, United Arab Emrates, is currently the tallest building in the world. The tower is part of a new development built on a man-made lake. Burj Khalifa has a distinctive shape so that the windows look out onto the Persian Gulf. A 304-room hotel occupies the lower floors and there is observation deck on the 124th floor. The top floor is home toa private VIP club, closed to anyone except members.
●Shanghai Word Financial Centre
This skyscraper has the highest observation deck in the world, although the building itself is no longer the tallest. Construction stopped between 1998 and 2003 because of the Asian financial crisis, but it was eventually finished in 2008. The most distinctive feature in its design is the geometric opening at the top of the tower.
●International Commerce Centre
This skyscraper in Hong Kong stands on top of Kowloon Station, which gave its name to the original proposal for the building. The tower is not as high as in earlier plans because of regulations that prevented buildings from being taller than the surrounding mountains. A five-star hotel occupies the upper fifteen floors of the building. There is an observation deck on the 100th floor and a number of five-star restaurants on the 101st floor.
●Petronas Tower
These towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, are the tallest twin buildings in the world. They were built on the site of the city's horse-racing tracking and an exclusive shopping centre is located at the base. The towers are connected by a sky bridge on the 41st and 42nd floors, which is the highest two-storey bridge in the word. It is open to the public, but only a limited number of free tickets are given out each day, and visitors are allowed no more than ten minutes on the bridge.
Are we getting more stupid? According to Genld Crabtree, a scientist at Standord University in the US, we are.
You may not want to hear this, but Crabtree believes that human intelligence reached its peak more than 2000 years ago and ever since then has been going downhill. "If an average Greek from 1,000 BC were transported to modern times, he or she would be one of the brightest among us," Crabtree told The Guardian.
At the heart of Crabree's thinking is a simple idea. In the past, intelligence is critical for survival when our ancestors had to avoid dangerous animals and hunt for food. The difference of being smart or stupid is often life or death. However, after the spread of agriculture, when our ancestors began to live in dense farming communities. The need to keep their intelligence in peak. -condition gradually reduced.
This is not hard to understand. Most of the time, pressure is what keeps us going-you need the pressure from your teachers to finish your homework; the pressure of looking pretty encourages you to lose weight when summer comes. And the same is also true of our intelligence -if we think less, we become less smart
These mutaions (变异) are harmful to our intelligence and they were all developed in the past 3. 000 yean. The other evidence that Crabtree holds is in our genes. He found that among the 20000 to 50000 genes that we have that determine human intelligence, there are two or more mutations in each of us.
However, Crabtree's theory has been criticized by some who say that early humans may have better hunting and surviving abilities but people today have developed a more diverse intelligence. For example, paring (用矛刺)a tiger doesn't necessarily require more brainpower than playing chess or writing a poem. Moreover, the power
of modern education means a lot more people have the opportunity to learn nowadays.
"You wouldn't get Stephen Hawking 2, 00 years ago. He just wouldn't exit. " Thomas Hills of the University of Warwick. UK, told Live Science "But now we have people of his intellectual capability doing things and making
Insights(洞察力) that we would never have achieved in our environment of evolutionary adaptation. (进化适应)"
A. The uncertainty about the product has undoubtedly improved sales of these dolls. B. Designer dolls satisfy the spiritual needs of young Chinese consumers. C. She can hardly wait to open the box and is excited to discover inside a limited-edition (限量版) Molly doll. D. However, it will definitely give the pleasure you want, and enjoy collecting it. E. The small toys fit in the palm of your hand and come dressed in cute costumes. F. Have you ever wondered why people build a collection of things? |
Designer Dolls Become Desirable Collectables
Kan Hui, a senior stage set designer based in Beijing, stands in front of a vending machine (自动售货机) in a shopping center. She feeds in the money and a paper box rolls out. Dolls are not just toys for little girls any more. They have become desirable collectables for many young Chinese under the age of thirty.
Molly, a little girl with curly hair, wide eyes and pouting (撅着的) lips, is one of the best-selling- dolls in China Each Molly sells for 59 yuan and there are over one hundred editions of the doll in different series. For doll fans, it is an affordable way to build an "art" collection.
In fact, what has made collecting designer dolls a new phenomenon is the concept of a "blind box". As the name implies, consumers have no idea which specific doll from a series they will get until they open the box. Over 400 million Molly dolls are reported to have been sold throughout the country last year!
Psychologists say that collectors are trying to bring some order and meaning to their lives. That may be true, but I think they do it just because it is fun and sometimes educational. I have a friend who collects beer bottles. He does not recycle them for money. Instead, he has them lined up in neat rows on shelves, and over 200 of them are from more than 30 different countries-a good way to learn about geography.
Collecting Molly dolls is probably a fad (一时的风尚) that will be replaced by another one eventually
be related to without doubt dream of be torn between turn out hold . . . back set foot on have a say tear one's eyes away from |
长城是中国的骄傲，体现了我国古代劳动人民的勤劳与智慧，见证了我国光辉的历史。但近期有人发现游客在长城上刻名字或涂鸦。以一名中国学生的身份写一封信，倡导游客们爱护长城，保护历史古迹。
