Costa Rica is full of unique animals found nowhere else on Earth. And you could help nurse some of these injured forest animals back to health while you live and volunteer in Costa Rica for up to 10 weeks!
On this all-inclusive volunteer trip, not only do you get to live and volunteer with a trusted wildlife rehabilitation organization in Costa Rica. When you go with Global, you get:
Pre-Departure Guide — Our in-depth pre-departure guide will have all the information you need about your trip & destination, at your fingertips.
Dedicated Trip Coordinator (协调员) — Hand-picked from an experienced team who've been there, done that and ready to guide you through your entire journey.
Accommodation & Meals—Relax in your shared dormitory accommodation on-site, with free Wi-Fi and a community atmosphere, and enjoy nutritious Costa Rican cuisine.
Certificate of Completion—In recognition of your hard work and commitment throughout the experience, and it goes very well with your future CV (简历).
Can you picture it? You spend your days doing various tasks around the conservation area. Anything from repairing enclosures, feeding the animals, maintaining gardens, or taking photos of the animals.
For most people, getting to see one of these animals is a bucket-list experience. Especially if they get to interact and help with the recovery of these injured forest animals. Seeing a cute sloth pick its way through the canopy is one thing. But interacting with a sloth every day, and watching it make progress as it heals from its injuries, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Levon Biss was looking at insects from his garden through an expensive microscope he bought for his son. For fun, they unintentionally placed an insect under the lens (镜头). "It is amazingly beautiful!" they both screamed.
The father had been making a career taking photos for ads. But that experience gave him a new direction. Around the world, insect populations are in decline because of habitat loss and climate change. Biss thought that if people could see what he saw through his son's microscope. they would care more about protecting insects.
So Biss turned to macrophotography: taking close-up pictures of small things, like flowers or insects. His work has attracted attention not just for its unusual beauty but also raises awareness about the need for conservation.
In 2016, Biss showed his first insect project, Microsculpture. The term refers to the features of an insect's exoskeleton (外骨骼), which develops over time as it adapts to its environment.
Biss's pictures exhibit the insects in all their microscopic details. Then he blows up the images until the insects become larger than life, some of them as tall as eight feet, namely nearly 2.5 meters. But each image takes weeks to make. He uses a digital camera with a microscope lens. The camera is fixed on a computerized track, which allows Biss to take a shot, then move the camera by seven microns—a distance equals to about 1/10 the thickness of a human hair—for the next shot. In the end, Biss might take 10,000 shots of an insect. A computer combines these small pictures into a single image.
Biss's latest exhibition is Extinct and Endangered at the American Museum of Natural History. He selected insects that were extinct or endangered, hoping his photos would serve as a better purpose. "I communicate visually," he says, "The way I work is through pictures. But I think it's my duty to shake things up and get people to pay attention."
Thrift stores are a refuge (避难所) for countless items from landing in garbage piles. Value Village, for example, saves more than 650 million pounds of clothing from landfills each year, making it one of the largest recyclers of used garments in the world. Their stores give a second life to 1.8 million pounds of clothes every day, which is equal to 600 mid-sized cars. Almost 100 percent of clothing and textiles are recyclable, yet 85 percent of it ends up in landfills. It's estimated that the average person throws away 70 pounds of clothing a year.
Lindsay Coulter is the so-called "Queen of Green" with the David Suzuki Foundation, educating people on how to live a greener life by making changes around the house. She says that donating and shopping at thrift stores is an excellent way to exercise all three of the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. She says, "Whether it's a purse or a pair of shoes, it's really worth considering going to thrift stores as another point of contact to help reduce your consumption."
Coulter points out that since landfills are air-tight, textiles take longer to break down. "I'd imagine things like an old towel, a rag or an old T-shirt will last a really long time," she says. The beauty of thrift shopping is that the supply is never-ending, so if you don't find what you're looking for one day, it's likely to show up in no time.
One person who knows this quite well is Jodi Jacyk, costume specialist in the theatre and film department at the University of British Columbia. She says the majority of items for the university's productions are purchased second-hand. Because of her shrinking budget, items like clothing and shoes are thrifted from Value Village. "We are constantly thrifting and we re-use costumes for many years. Thrift shopping is a much easier, cheaper way to do things." she says.
The next time you need to lighten your closet, take the opportunity to go thrift shopping to lighten both your carbon footprint and your financial burden at the same time.
A new study involving nearly 50,000 people from four continents offers new insights into identifying the quantity of daily walking steps that will best improve adults' health and longevity (长寿), and whether the ideal number of steps differs across people of different ages. The study represents an effort to develop an evidence-based public health message about the benefits of physical activity. The often-repeated 10,000-step-a-day saying grew out of a decades-old marketing activity for a Japanese pedometer, an instrument measuring how far you walk, with no science to back it up.
Led by physical activity professor Amanda Paluch, an international group of scientists conducted an experiment among adults aged 18 and older. They grouped the nearly 50,000 participants into four comparative groups according to average steps per day. The lowest step group averaged 3,500 steps; the second, 5,800; the third, 7,800; and the fourth, 10,900 steps per day. Among the three higher active groups, there was a 40 — 53% lower risk of death compared to the lowest step group.
More specifically, for adults 60 and older, the risk of early death leveled off at about 6,000 — 8,000 steps per day, meaning that more steps than that provided no additional benefit for longevity, while for adults younger than 60, about 8,000 — 10,000 steps per day.
"So, what we saw was this continuing reduction in risk as the number of steps increases until it levels off. Interestingly, the study found little explicit association with walking speed, Paluch says.
The new study supports and expands findings from another study led by Paluch before which found that walking at least 7,000 steps a day reduced middle-aged people's risk of early death, "There's a lot of evidence suggesting that moving even a little more is beneficial particularly for those who are doing very little activity," Paluch says. "More steps per day are better for your health."
Perhaps you've stopped doing what you want because you're afraid of what others think of you. You feel that you must do what they expect and that you must meet their expectations, otherwise you'll lose their approval. If this is the case, it's time to start working on your self-esteem (自尊). .
Think about yourself, about what you really like and are interested in. You must lead your life independently. You must do what you want without being affected by what others think. , because you've always done everything to gain the approval of others. You need to get out of that zone, move to new places, and explore your full potential.
By surrounding yourself with people who think like you, you'll realize that you don't feel judged. Then, you'll start doing what you really want. Your new friends will integrate into your life and you'll also keep your genuine friends. On the other hand, those who are always ready to see the negative and question what you' re trying to do will gradually fade away.
To overcome your fear of what others think and of their non-approval, you should start talking about your plans. . By talking to them, you'll be able to organize your plans and ideas. You'll feel confident in yourself and you'll be able to go on your new path without any fear.
. You'll find barriers along your way. However, you must trust in yourself and seek the necessary strength to move forward. People in your environment often don't understand what you do no matter how much you explain it, so ignore them.
A. However, you might feel afraid to do it B. There is no need to think about what you want C. You don't have to change your circle of friends D. Then, you'll be able to do what you want freely E. Your life belongs to you, as well as your actions F. It's unavoidable that not everything will be plain sailing G. For instance, you could share your intention with your friends |
My husband and I were enjoying wandering through the stores in a shopping center. We went into a shop that sold 1 items in hopes of finding a few last-minute 2 gifts. The pleasant smell of handmade soaps teased our noses as we walked through the door.
As I walked through the store, I 3 a wooden plaque (牌匾) hanging on a wall. I turned to 4 and nodded my head "yes" at the 5 on the plaque. Moving on, I enjoyed looking at other items some salesmen dressed in Santa Clauses in the store carried. 6 , I found myself being 7 back to the plaque.
Standing in front of the plaque, I felt like a child who, when 8 through the sandpit (沙坑), finds some 9 treasure: a shining coin or a lost toy. Here among the other handmade items, I found a very 10 , yet heart-touching treasure hidden in a message. A message I needed.
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to11 in the rain."
How often in our daily lives have we put conditions on our 12 ? When we get the house 13 off, then we can be happy. When things 14 with the kids, then we'll be able to do more together. There is so little joy for the here and now in the uncertainties of the whens and thens.
Looking at the plaque, I found 15 unknowingly live the plaque's message. I slipped off my 16 in a light rain and began walking 17 through the water. Maybe my neighbors thought that I had lost my last wisdom, but I don't 18 . For in that moment, I was alive. I wasn't 19 about bills, the future or any other day-to-day cares.
The plaque now hangs in my living room. I walk past many times each day and 20 pause to ask myself: "So, am I dancing in the rain?"
I think I am. I know I try to. One step at a time, I am learning to dance in the rain.
The wide application of artificial intelligence (AI) in our (life) is creating waves. Three universities in Australia have adopted seems like a landmark policy. The three institutions are allowing students to use Al when taking assessments, although under strict conditions. Professor Romy Lawson said, "Instead of (ban) students from using such programs, we aim to assist academic staff and students (use) digital tools to support learning."
The Internet is filled AI text generators that can write essays that look authentic enough to fool examiners. AI is causing huge challenges to exam (equal). It is the biggest destructor since calculators (allow) into math tests several years ago. The latest dilemma for educators comes from a language-processing tool (call) ChatGPT. This can produce (high) authentic human-like content on any subject in seconds. It has caused fears that students will use it to write essays.
Doctor Vitomir Kovanovic from the University of South Australia said that teachers needed to embrace AI. He said, "Teachers needed to accept AI. It is popular and useful that you cannot stop it. The alternative is the Middle Ages — going to pen and paper. Universities need to change with the times." he added, "It's like having a driving school, but teaching people how to ride horses."
增加： 在缺词处加一个漏字符号 (^) 并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除： 把多余的词用斜线 (\) 划掉。
修改： 在错的词下划一横线, 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意： 1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词; 2. 只允许修改10处, 多者 (从第11处起) 不计分。
A week before Earth Day, posters were put up around our school, called upon us to join in the actions for an even green earth. Our class came up with the idea to make better use of used materials after a heatedly brainstorm. We bring worn-out clothes and empty plastic bottles to our classroom, or turned those into dolls and small vases. We went to a nearby neighborhood and gave it away to the people there that weekend. All were very happy with those unexpected gift, especially little kids and elderly people. We did so very well that we invited to share our idea and experience with all the students of our school. We are proud of us and believe we can do more for a better world.
注意： 1. 词数100词左右; 2. 可适当增加细节, 使行文连贯。
Dear Sir or Madam,
Wish all my best regards.
Yours Sincerely
Li Hua
