Activities to Get You Outdoors While Travelling
Many of us would enjoy getting outside and escaping our daily routine with some fresh air while travelling. But where do you start? Try out a few of these activities and you're sure to find a new outdoor hobby to help you enjoy nature on your next holiday.
Horseback Riding
Many people may shy away from this, excusing lack of experience with horses, but most operators have horses for riders of any experience including none if they meet the physical requirements. Horses can take you greater distances in a shorter time, covering areas that would be difficult or inaccessible otherwise.
Fly Fishing
For an excuse to stand in a river enjoying the sounds, smells and scenery of some of the most beautiful places, try fly fishing. Fishing is a perfect activity to enjoy with children, grandparents or whoever. With enough practice, you may even catch a delicious big fish.
Cycling+Mountain Biking
On the path or the road, spending time on a bike allows you to slow down and leisurely take in the scenery around you. Mountain biking can give you the biggest excitement, while road cycling may offer a more peaceful and calming experience. Travel with your bike or rent one at your travelling places, and your possibilities for exploration have already increased.
Rock Climbing
For a more physical and challenging experience outdoors, try your hand at rock climbing. You can get a feel for climbing in a gym, but its real rewards lie in putting those skills to use outside. Many popular travel places have great climbing within one-day trip distance.
My daughter and I collected the empty cans and bottles in our home this morning. We had six full garbage bags later so I knew we would be spending a bit more time at the recycling centre. When we got there, a man and his kids were also doing the morning recycling and were using two of the four machines to recycle their plastic and cans. Luckily, we were able to use the two remaining machines.
Of course, there were others that came, but when they saw the two families with garbage bags full of recycled things, they quickly left. However, one woman came in with just five cans and looked as if she was in a hurry. So I stopped what I was doing and let her in to recycle her cans. Of course, she was grateful, and it felt good to let her go ahead of me. But that was not the whole story.
My daughter and I continued to work through the bags, but the plastic recycling machine stopped working because it was full. My daughter was left with nothing to do. The other family was still using the other two plastic recycling machines, but it seemed that they were almost done. I just told my daughter we would have to wait until they were done. But the man of the other family came through with another act of kindness. He offered to let us go ahead of him. I was really surprised, because we had more than five bottles, but he didn't seem to mind. I happily accepted it.
It was great to give and then to get an act of kindness in turn. It was small. I didn't expect it, but it surely brightened up my day.
Technology has become so advanced that the previously impossible seems to occur on a daily basis. And yet we still have no cure for the common cold.
According to Peter Barlow, a scientist at Edinburgh Napier University in the UK, the main challenge lies in many different types of cold viruses. There are at least 160 types. They change so easily that they quickly become resistant to drugs, or learn to hide from our immune systems. In other words, a single cure isn't likely to work on every type of the cold.
However, researchers from Stanford University have found a possible answer. They discovered a protein that the viruses need. Without it, they can't spread inside your body. To identify the gene(基因) which produces the specific protein needed by the viruses, researchers used a gene-editing technique to test all genes. These modified(改变的) cells were then exposed to a range of viruses, including ones causing the common cold. All the viruses were unable to replicate(复制) inside cells without a gene that produces that specific protein.
Then, they tested genetically modified mice, which were completely unable to produce the protein. The mice were able to live normal lives without the protein. "Lacking that gene protected the mice completely from viral infection," associate professor Jan Carette, from Stanford, told the BBC. "These mice would always die, but they lived through and we saw a very strong reduction in copying viruses and very strong protection. We have identified a fantastic target that all cold viruses require and depend on. Take that away and the virus really has no chance."
Carette said the plan is to find a drug which can temporarily control the protein, instead of producing genetically modified humans.
As data and identity theft becomes more and more common, the market is growing for biometric(生物测量) technologies—like fingerprint scans—to keep others out of private e-spaces. At present, these technologies are still expensive, though.
Researchers from Georgia Tech say that they have come up with a low-cost device that gets around this problem: a smart keyboard. This smart keyboard precisely measures the cadence(节奏) with which one types and the pressure fingers apply to each key. The keyboard could offer a strong layer of security by analyzing things like the force of a user's typing and the time between key presses. These patterns are unique to each person. Thus, the keyboard can determine people's identities, and by extension, whether they should be given access to the computer it's connected to—regardless of whether someone gets the password right.
It also doesn't require a new type of technology that people aren't already familiar with. Everybody uses a keyboard and everybody types differently.
In a study describing the technology, the researchers had 100 volunteers type the word "touch" four times using the smart keyboard. Data collected from the device could be used to recognize different participants based on how they typed, with very low error rates. The researchers say that the keyboard should be pretty straightforward to commercialize and is mostly made of inexpensive, plastic-like parts. The team hopes to make it to market in the near future.
Sleep to Lose Weight
A recent study found that people who sleep less tend to be fat. Experts said it's time to find out if more sleep can fight obesity.
Nowadays, the most popular method to keep fit is doing more exercise and eating less. Some people even take weight-loss drugs to keep slim, which is unhealthy and harmful to your body. " As a result, we've failed to recognise the value of good sleep," said a physician.
Men sleep an average of 27 minutes less than women, and overweight and fat patients sleep less than patients with normal weights. In general, fat people just sleep about 1.8 hours less a week than those with normal weights. Only an extra 20 minutes of sleep per night contributes to a lower BODY MASS INDEX(身体质量指数).
We caution that this study does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between limited sleep and fatness. Therefore, let's stay thin by sleeping more!
Here are some other advantages of sleeping more.
·You'll learn better.
This isn't just for children. Adults who get enough sleep also do better on tests of short-term memory.
.
After getting enough sleep, you will find yourself feeling happy and delighted.
·Lower stress.
. With that people can better control their blood pressure.
A. Better mood.
B. You will be energised.
C. Sleep can definitely reduce levels of stress.
D. We've put so much emphasis on diet and exercise.
E. The study is intended to offer a healthy way to help people sleep longer.
F. The experts suggest that major extensions of sleep time may not be necessary.
G. However, investigations of successful weight loss by sleeping more help prove such a connection.
Last year, I had a hard time: I was 1 by all the colleges I applied to. It's not that I was a bad student. So when I got turned down, I got into a 2 . I thought there was only one path to 3 , and I wasn't on it. While all my friends had many choices, I was left 4
what future I could have.
When my panic 5 , I signed in a community college. I wasn't excited. I thought the incompetent teachers would 6 their students' sleep in class. I was so wrong. The 7 of my professors were so poetic, and my classmates were 8 , who could figure out all kinds of difficult things.
I decided to give myself a year of 9 . Aside from general education, I took a range of classes. I know it seemed like some 10
classes, but it allowed me to know about what I want. I used to have this idea that I had to rush to 11 a certain level of success by a certain age. But a year of community college has taught me to 12 , and to recognise that things take time to 13 . I still hope to transfer to a four-year 14 next year, but now I am a more mature person.
Being around the classmates has made me realise that I'm not late
15 . There's more than one way to get to where you want to go.
As a famous productive poet, Lu You from the Song Dynasty wrote more than 20,000 poems in his lifetime. The reason Lu You could write so much poetry was that he was talented, but more
(important), he also lived a long life. According to historical records, he lived to be 85 years old, the (long) living poet in the Song Dynasty.
However, Lu You was weak when he was a child. Lu You joined the military as adviser in his middle ages and
(start) to exercise his body and learn martial arts. After training for two years, Lu You could shoot down a flying eagle (use) a bow and arrow, and he could even kill a tiger.
During his later years, Lu You started the body building
(call) chosho, or shouts, a long and loud cry. Chosho was quite popular in ancient (time), which was not roaring or whistling, but a
(skill) health method. When ancient people did chosho, they opened their body, breathed in deep and then breathed out in rhyme.
Chosho can relax your body and put you in a good mood.
Lu You, chosho helped him get rid of diseases and medicine.
I sat in the breakfast corner with my four-year-old son, Matthew, trying to ignore the ache in my stomach. I was still recovering from a surgery. I hoped for strength and happiness. But the future seemed so hopeless. I'd always wanted five or six kids. Three surgeries later, that dream would never come true.
Matthew jumped up from his spot on the kitchen floor. "Bird!" he shouted, rushing to the sliding door. Sure enough, there was a white dove(鸽子) seated on a rubber tree. It sat there for a few moments, and then flew away. I'd never seen one in our neighbourhood before.
When I dragged myself to the kitchen the next morning, the dove was back. This time it was with a mate carrying twigs(嫩枝). "Look, Matthew," I said, pointing to the tree. "They're going to make a nest." The doves flew in and out of the courtyard all the week, building on the top of the rubber tree. Matthew could hardly contain his excitement. Every morning, he'd run into the kitchen and take his spot by the sliding door, talking to the birds while they worked. As much as I was grieving(感到悲伤), I couldn't help but look forward to the doves' visits too. We watched their progress as if it were a real-life soap opera unfolding before us. I'd do the cooking and for a moment, my pain disappeared, replaced by joy.
Then it all went wrong. The courtyard was a safe enough spot for a nest, but the rubber tree's broad, thin leaves were far from stable. One night, a strong wind blew through, throwing the doves' nest to the ground. I heard the twigs break apart. Nothing good ever lasts. I wouldn't blame the doves if they never came back. But they returned. And they paid no attention to the pile of sticks that had once been their nest. They started again from scratch(从头开始), though the wind destroyed all their hard work. The next day, and the next, they renewed their efforts, as if nothing had happened.
注意：
1)续写词数应为150左右;
2)请按如下格式作答。
I knew I had to do something.
"The birds were back!" Matthew announced.
