A At a university. B. At a ticket office. C. On the telephone.
Bring It On:The Musical
Bitingly relevant and inspired by the hit film of the same name, Bring It On takes audiences on a high-flying journey that is filled with the complexities of friendship, forgiveness and self-definition.
Uniting some of the freshest and funniest creative minds on Broadway, Bring It On features an original story by Tony Award winner Jeff Whitty, music and lyrics by Tony Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, and music supervision by Tony and Grammy Award winner Alex Lacamoire. The production is directed and staged by Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler. It was proposed as a candidate for the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Campbell, the main character, is a cheer-leading star at Truman High School and her senior year should prove the most joyful — she's been named captain of the team! However, an unexpected redistricting has forced her to spend her final year of high school at the neighboring Jackson High School. Despite challenges, Campbell befriends the school's dance crew. Together with their headstrong and hardworking leader, Danielle, they form a powerful team for the ultimate competition — the National Championships.
The show's name alone will fill the seats, and audience's word of mouth will pack the house. With a colorful variety of characters and an exciting fresh sound, Bring It On is sure to be everything that you hoped for.
18 years ago, a 14-year-old boy from Kasungu district in Malawi was forced to drop out of school for lack of fees. At the same time, a severe famine was destroying his village, claiming people's lives and leaving desperation in its wake.
This was a situation to break the strongest of minds but William Kamkwamba did not give up. Young as he was, he knew that education was where his future lay. He found hope in the library and feasted on the knowledge that he harvested from its books. It was there that he came across a science textbook entitled Using Energy. He learned that he could generate electricity using wind. The youngster realized that, if mastered, this power could help his village in exceptional ways.
Armed with determination and an iron will, the teenager set out to build a windmill out of random materials from a scrapyard (垃圾场). Though his outside world was collapsing to dust, the youngster did not hesitate about his purpose. He defended himself from all doubt and criticism. He worked tirelessly until his dream of bringing electricity to his village became reality. Soon, he was caught in the center of media attention that took him to new places that he would never have stepped on without his invention.
In his village, the dust has not settled yet and the winds of change continue to blow across the land. Windmills pump water to irrigate crops, sweeping away another period of hunger. William's former primary school boasts new and stronger buildings, thanks to the help of well-wishers and the villagers' united efforts.
What seemed like a hopeless situation has been turned into an inspirational story that motivates each and every one of us, persuading us that no misfortune is set in stone. William refused to be a school drop-out forever. He sought solutions for his problems and continued fighting even when the going got tough. He was able to rise above poverty to become a graduate from one of America's best universities, Dartmouth College.
Lord Norman Foster, renowned as one of the world's foremost architects, has devoted decades to redefining the concept of tall buildings. "What we've done is create a sense of identify drawn from real needs," Foster said. "It's not a fashionable idea, but generated from the realities we were in." His masterpiece includes iconic structures such as the HSBC building in Hong Kong. Now, he's set his sights on Qatar.
Currently nearing completion and set to reach a height of 301 meters, Foster's Lusail Towers are ready to claim the title of Qatar's tallest buildings. Lusail Towers are intended to serve as a center for Qatar's financial institutions, with four distinctive blocks, two standing at 70 stories and two at 50 stories.
But the construction itself wasn't all plain sailing. To address the unique challenges presented by Qatar's hot climate, Foster's team had to depart from the materials commonly used in skyscrapers in cooler countries — part of what Foster called a decades-long quest to "reinvent the tall building." The design combines advanced shading with ventilation (通风), while the towers' surfaces are coated with "marine-grade" aluminum (铝) that wraps around the buildings, protecting the glass from strong sunlight while maintaining the views and still letting in natural light. Central to the project are special shading fins (鳍), which not only optimize views and natural lighting for occupants but reduce solar radiation by 70% compared to traditional all-glass towers.
While the towers are ready to become a recognizable landmark for Lusail, Foster believes that a city's skyline reflects what lies beneath the surface. It was crucial to integrate the towers into a "low-scale master plan." They are strategically positioned on top of a subway line and at the end of a commercial avenue linking the waterfront (滨水区) to the nearby football stadium. According to Foster, the ground features of the plaza will play a significant role in the objective of transforming the area into a lively public space for the future.
An ancient, interdependent relationship that contributes to food systems and ecosystem stability across the globe could be changing.
Many flowering plants can self-pollinate (自花传粉), or transfer pollen between their own blossoms for seed generation and reproduction, but most of these plants have relied on pollinators such as butterflies and bees to reproduce. Now — during declines reported in many pollinator populations — a new study on the evolution of one flower species' mating system has revealed a remarkable change that could worsen the challenges faced by the plants' insect partners.
The flowers reproductive evolution may be linked to environmental changes such as habitat destruction and rapid ongoing decreases in pollinator biodiversity, according to Samson Acoca-Pidolle, who led the study published December 19 in the journal New Phytologist.
Comparing seeds of wild field pansies (三色堇) collected decades ago in France with the plants' modern descendants. Acoca-Pidolle and his colleagues discovered that today's flowers are smaller and produce less nectar (花蜜) as a result of increased self-pollination, which has direct impacts on pollinator behavior.The pansies of the past self-fertilized less and attracted far more pollinators than those of the present, according to the study.
"It seems that it's only traits (特性) that are involved in plant-pollinator interaction that are evolving, " said Acoca-Pidolle. The changes could restrict the plants' ability to adapt to future environmental changes and have implications for "all of floral biodiversity" — potentially decreasing flowering plants' genetic, species and ecosystem variation.
"This may increase the pollinator decline and cause a negative feedback cycle," study coauthor Pierre-Olivier Cheptou told CNN." If plants produce less nectar, there will be less food available to pollinators, which will in turn accelerate the rate at which the animals' numbers decrease", he explained.
"The major message is that we are currently seeing the evolutionary breakdown of plant pollinators in the wild," said Cheptou, an evolutionary ecologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and professor at the University of Montpellier.
Things To Remember On Your First Solo Travel Adventure
If you've ever thought about just taking a trip yourself instead of waiting for someone to join you, you're not alone. However, do you count yourself among the many who have tried it? If you're planning your own solo trip, here are four important things to keep in mind.
Since you're traveling solo, how you choose to explore it is entirely up to you. This is your chance to do whatever you want whenever you want because this time, you're running the show.
Don't be afraid to talk to random people. Though there is someone who poses a threat, it's important to remember that not everyone is out to get you. That's because you're a novelty, a person from another country who is visiting theirs. Therefore, instead of putting on your headphones or instantly seeing them as weirdos, use this spontaneous chat as a chance to meet the locals or get recommendations for things to do during your trip.
It's okay to have bad days. It happens and it's completely okay to take some time to process whatever it is you're feeling. Take yourself to a movie or spend the day dong something relaxing like writing in your journal or reading on the beach.
It's okay to start small. Start by doing a staycation in another part of town, spending a few days in a new locale a bus or train ride away. Just do whatever you're comfortable with and see how it all feels for you.
A. You are the boss of your own adventure. B. You need to make an unusual travel choice. C. It's no secret that solo travel is on the rise. D. Sometimes things can go incredibly wrong. E. People like you simply don't know how to start. F. Most of the time people are just curious and try to be friendly. G. Remember, your first solo trip doesn't have to be to a whole other continent. |
One day, hundreds of people were stuck in traffic on the highway in below-freezing temperatures due to a snowstorm. With the conditions making it 1 for rescue workers to help, many were trapped overnight with no access to 2 .
But one stuck driver found a 3 spot in the despair. As she was sitting in her car fearing the 4 , Casey Holihan and her husband, John Noe, 5 a bread truck just ahead of them in the jam. Willing to try just about anything, they called the customer service number listed on the back of the truck and left a 6 begging for the driver to open the back and 7 bread to the hungry passengers around them. It was a last-ditch effort, and the couple wasn't very8 about getting a response. But to their9 they soon received a phone call from the company's owner, Chuck Paterakis, with the news that he was 10 the truck's driver to open up and pass out loaves of bread from his cargo. Overjoyed by the news, Holihan and Noe 11 the truck's driver to bring much-needed things to the cars around them.
The simple loaves of bread were surely a ray of 12 in an impossibly disturbing situation. Holihan herself calls it "one of the 13 moments" she's ever witnessed. This company could have made a(n) 14 from the bread but instead chose to help the people around them. That is just so incredible that someone chose 15 over profit, especially in a situation where people were so desperate.
The Year of the Dragon comes with inspiration for creativity and the power to bring big ideas life.
Designer Wang Zijian's Dragon Out of Water, a creative tea infuser (泡茶器),shines on the wall at the exhibition of the winning works of the 2024 Global Zodiac Design Competition at the Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchange Center. (it) cute dragon design and special function are bound to appeal to young consumers. "It's unique product, and we expect a positive response from young customers," Wang told Beijing Review.
The item belongs to China Chic, or guochao, also (know) as "national wave", refers to products of all sorts including traditional Chinese cultural elements. These products (embrace) by the country's younger generations in recent years. According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, Gen Z (account) for 74 percent of consumers of China Chic goods in 2022, and the search volume of China Chic products has increased five times over the past decade.
As a young designer, Wang hopes (capture) young consumers with his creative interpretation of dragons. "I've been(thorough) studying the dragon's historical connotations (言外之意) and the (psychology) characteristics of Gen Z consumers," the 34-year-old designer told Beijing Review.
注意：1.写作词数应为80左右;2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
My First Experience in Career
"Anybody have a bandage (绷带)?" a voice echoed down the dorm hallway. That was a common scene frequently happening in our first week at college when we were all experiencing "forgot-this-or-that." I had forgot to bring snacks for late-night hunger. Some poor girl in the dorm had apparently forgotten bandages. We all felt a little displaced.
Several months before, I sat at my high school graduation party admiring my gifts and battling waves of post-high school emotions. The usual and beloved inspirational books were lying in disorder around my feet, silently announcing the wealth of wisdom they wished to share. A small pile of personal checks lay nearby. Laundry items, desk supplies, sewing things - all well-intentioned and well-received. They would demonstrate their givers' thoughtfulness over and over during my college career.
But one gift struck me as strange. I frowned when I opened it. A first aid kit? Inside it were a small packet of pills pain-killers, creams, ointments (药膏), an insect sprayer (喷雾), a tape, pads of gauze (纱布)and bandages. Who would give that as a gift? "You'll need that once you're at school," Mom pointed out. "You won't have to chase down the campus nurse for every cough. "I shrugged at this thought.
Not long after, in August, I packed my life into a borrowed truck and slipped the first-aid kit in with my luggage. I barely thought about it once I reached campus, busy unpacking, book-buying, scheduling and meeting new friends.
One day, I was peacefully sitting in my room, absorbed in preparing my studies. The quiet atmosphere was suddenly broken by a sharp scream, "Anybody have a bandage? Emily got her arm burnt!" The voice echoed through the dormitory hall, instantly throwing residents into a state of confusion and alarm.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右; 2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
I remembered my little first-aid kit.
Paragraph 2:
Years later, I received a party invitation from a young friend who was graduating from high school.
