The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics will drive the capital into an Olympic craze. Here's a comprehensive guide.
When is the ceremony?
The opening ceremony kicks off at 8.24 pm on July 26 2024, which happens to be 20.24 if you're using the 24-hour clock.
Where is the ceremony held?
It will take place outdoors, along the banks of the River Seine and even through its waters.It's the first time in the history of the Summer Games that an opening ceremony hasn't been hosted in a stadium, which hugely increases the audience capacity (容量).
What activities are planned during the event?
Around 10,500 athletes from different national delegations(代表团) will gather on boats.By tradition, the Greeks will lead the way. Besides the national anthems ( 国歌), official speeches and symbolic releasing of doves, it's often the artistic performances that stand out the most at Olympic opening ceremonies.
Who is directing the ceremony?
Famous stage director Thomas Jolly has been appointed as the artistic director. The ceremony promises to be an impressive performance, combining theatre, dance, circus and opera. The director has also absorbed stories of people living and working near the river, giving the show a touch of local charm.
Are tickets for the ceremony open to the public?
They are indeed, as 100,000 tickets were put on sale in May 2023, with prices ranging from€90 to a shocking €2,700. Between 300,000 and 500,000 free tickets will be made available. If you don't catch the ceremony in person, you can always watch the whole thing on TV.
Sia Godika was 13 when she noticed the barefoot children of construction workers at a building site near her house in Bangalore, India. "Their feet were bare, dirty, cracked and bleeding," reflects Sia, "They were just walking around that building site like it was an everyday practice for them." And it was in that moment that Sia realized how lucky she herself was.
She went back home and opened her closet doors, seeing shoes piled up high. She headed to her mother's closet next, literally dusting off spiderwebs from some shoes. Then she rushed to give them all away to the barefoot children.
Later that year, with the help of her parents, Sia founded Sole Warriors, a charity organization devoted to providing footwear for those in need, as is clearly shown by its motto: "Donate a sole (鞋底), save a soul." Telephone calls from people who wanted to help came flooding in. For months, Sia stayed up till 2 a. m, contacting people and dealing with related affairs. Now in its fifth year, the organization collects used footwear, repairs it and donates the finished products to people in need. In its first campaign, Sole Warriors gave out 700 pairs of shoes. Today that number stands at around 28, 000, thanks to the hard work of a team of about80 volunteers.
But the oragnisation's growth wasn't without its challenges. When Sia was trying to find a company which was willing to repair and clean up the worn-out shoes free of charge, she faced one difficulty after another before finding a partner in India's Pressto Cobbler. "Being a13-year-old, I did face a lot of bias(偏见) because at my age, people were less willing to hear me out," says Sia.
In recognition of her impact, in 2021 Sia was given the Diana Award, one of the greatest honours a young person can receive for social work. But her work isn't done. "Our goal has always been to touch a million feet," she says.
Tim Cook of Apple and Bob Iger of Disney lead the trend among CEOs to wake early, often before 6 am, a habit shared by two-thirds of American CEOs. This contrasts sharply with the general population, where less than a third rise early. The underlying message is that early rising relates to success.
Bartleby, a columnist, has tried early starts and acknowledges benefits like clearing inboxes and solving problems before the day's mess. A 2012 study supports the benefits of early rising. It finds early risers to be happier and healthier, while night owls often suffer from insufficient sleep, affecting their mood, health, and productivity. The research also indicates that late risers earn 4% less than early risers. What's more, early risers enjoy higher social status, with latecomers often viewed as lazy or undisciplined.
However, rising early has its drawbacks. Early risers might end up working as late as others due to urgent tasks that arise during the day. Moreover, they may become socially dull, missing out on evening socializing. Night owls, by contrast, tend to engage more in social activities.
Changing one's natural sleep pattern is difficult due to genetic (基因的) factors. Bartleby's own attempts to wake early led to too much caffeine consumption. Finally, the best advice might be to accept one's natural rhythm and stop worrying about your body clock. Most people are neither early birds nor night owls, but in between. Many, including Bartleby, get sleepy in the afternoon, too. That is why most offices operate between 9 and 5 and why they ought to have nap rooms.
The UK is now the most overweight nation in Europe and the evidence is all around us. As a doctor, I see it daily in practice, dealing with its complications(并发症) ranging from diabetes and high blood pressure to heart disease and cancer. So what are we doing about it?
Not enough is the honest answer. First, weight management services, such as mental health guidance, surgery and slimming drugs remain very limited. Also, measures taken in consulting rooms are too often centered around scaring people into action: if you don't lose weight you will have a heart attack or develop diabetes.
Scaring the individual is neither helpful nor effective. Becoming more active is beneficial for many reasons, but exercise alone is not a great way to lose weight, not least because you have to run for at least an hour to burn off a beef pie. Drugs and surgery also have their place but are not required for most overweight people. So I prefer to combine proper exercise with a diet for the best result. But which diet?
Often I recommend the low-carb approach, which involves cutting back on sugary drinks and foods, and starches(淀粉) such as rice and bread. I don't believe there is anything magical about the approach but it has a number of benefits: it seems easier to follow than many other approaches, and it helps lower blood sugar levels for the ten million or so people in the UK who already have type 2 diabetes or are at high risk of developing it.
Solving the obesity (肥胖) problem involves not only supporting and encouraging the individual, but also changing public health and government policy. Efforts are being made and change is already under way.
There are many tough talks we need to have in our daily lives. When we do have them, it's likely that we end up yelling at each other. That is because our brains treat having our ideas attacked in the same way our body is being attacked. Follow the tips below and you will find a way out.
Prepare ahead
Are you trying to persuade the other person to accept your viewpoint or solve a problem? It's important to understand why you want to have the conversation in the first place. Then practice your message. When you begin, explain that you'd like to start by hearing the other person's point. This relieves tension and shows that you're on the same team.
Actively listen
Wait patiently for someone to finish their sentence. Don't interrupt. Really listen.. For example: "I heard you say you're upset because you think our group dragged the class down in this activity. Am I right?" Then ask deeper questions that get at the person's values. A good example: "What led you to feel so strongly about this?"
Slow it down
Speak slower. If you need a longer break, explain that the conversation isn't going the way you'd hoped and ask to continue it later. Then offer to take some action to further educate yourself on the subject before your next conversation. This builds trust.
Discuss next steps
Ask the other person how he or she wants to move forward. And remember, it's OK to disagree. People are giving you the gift of their time even if they disagree with you. The goal is not to "win" the conversation, but to communicate important, if difficult, information in a way the other person can process and be heard themselves.
A. And ask if you heard it correctly.
B. Try to remember what the speaker said.
C. If things get heated, take some deep breaths.
D. Thank the person for his or her willingness to talk.
E. Write it down and practise it in a calm tone of voice.
F. How can we carry out a tough conversation smoothly?
G. What helps us win a conversation when we feel threatened?
The fire raced through Lahaina so fast that it destroyed more than 2,200 buildings, most of them homes. It left more than 7,000 people without their 1 .
As the fire was 2 nearer that afternoon, Kalyn Lepre, a 36-year-old designer, grabbed her wallet and drove out of town. She lost everything else in her house including seven surfboards. Lepre surfed almost every day; surfing was a source of 3 and a means to maintain her 4 health. Seeing her surfboards reduced to a pile of fibers was5 .
Jud Lau shared the feeling. The 53-year-old Maui native has been 6 the waves since he was a teenager and building surfboards for the last 15 years. "Surfing is a healing thing for surfers—getting in the 7 , connecting to Mother Nature. A surfboard is part of your whole being — 8 in Hawaii, where surfing 9 ,"he says.
So he realized he could help the surfers who had lost their boards. Lau started by connecting people who wanted to 10 extra boards. Friends in California collected another boards and shipped them to Lau for him to give them away.
But many surfers, like Lepre, used custom(定制的) boards designed to 11 their size or the type of waves they ride. So Lau raised cash donations to cover the cost of 12 for making custom boards and contributed his labor.
Lepre 13 him what she'd lost, and Lau carefully built it in his studio. It's a high-performance board with a sunset fading from yellow to orange.
"I cried when I saw it," says Lepre, emotion 14 in her voice. "Just getting back in the water was one of the most powerful 15 of my life. Jud gifted me back mental healing as well as physical pleasure."
Many people hold a memory of kites. It could be a sunny spring day in a rural landscape with family members. With the wind (pick) up, the fly er runs fast until the kite rises high into the sky and dances in the air. Kites (be) close to people's daily lives since they were invented.
Many literati (文人) liked to make kites as gifts for their families and friends. One of the most famous kite lovers in history is Cao Xueqin, literary giant of the Qing Dynasty who wrote the (high) influential novel Dream of the Red Chamber. In the book, kite flying (describe) as an amusement of the big family of the time and used as symbols of the characters' destinies(命运).
Cao wrote another book in his later years collected the kite-making techniques of both southern and northern China, using (illustrate) to help readers understand and remember them. writing the book, Cao's main wish was to help people struggling financially acquire a skill (support) themselves.
Kites are attached to the Chinese cultural values (associate) with happiness and optimism. This is why the thin string linking us to kites and culture has been passed down to this day.
1.介绍活动;
2.发出邀请。
注意：
1.写作词数应为80个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear Vincent,
Yours,
Li Hua
My husband and I flew to the USA from China to visit our daughter. One day we decided to visit Cape Cod, a beautiful bay, which was about three hours drive from Boston where we lived. Our daughter drove us there in the morning. As she was in a hurry to catch a plane, we decided to return by train in the evening. So our daughter wrote down the address just in case we should get lost before she left.
We spent a wonderful day in Cape Cod, enjoying the golden beaches, fresh seafood, and elegant shops. The weather was perfect, and we even took a short boat tour to explore the coastline. When the sun began setting, we were tired but content. We took the train and arrived at Boston at six. I thought the Boston rail station was close to our home and my husband has a keen sense of direction. There should be no problem! So I blindly followed him, without knowing where we were heading.
However, we found ourselves to be just going round in a ma ze (迷宫), with our home nowhere in sight! Being a Sunday, the roads were deserted with not many people walking around. We passed several closed shops and empty sidewalks, which only added to our growing sense of unease. We did find a few but initially were a bit hesitant to ask strangers for directions. It was getting darker. After circling the same block multiple times, we started getting worried. Turning a corner, we suddenly caught sight of a convenience store with dim light coming out the door.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为100 左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Overcoming the unease of talking to strangers, we stepped out towards the store.
