Vivo City—Gallery for Lifestyle
As one of the largest iconic retail and lifestyle destinations that offer an exciting mix of ever evolving, refreshing, and new-to-market brands and concepts, Vivo City has been voted as the best shopping mall in Singapore in the Expat Living Readers' Choice Awards 2023. It features wide, open spaces for waterfront entertainment and relaxation, and whenever you need a short break, there is Sky Park with rooftop water feature from where you can enjoy views of Sentosa and catch a breath or two.
Timings: Open from 10 a.m.—10 p.m. daily.
Haji Lane—Boutiques Street
For an extraordinary experience of the city's greatest boutique shopping down one of the narrowest streets in Singapore, Haji Lane is the perfect place to be. This narrow alley is lined with cafés, yoga studios, old-school Egyptian restaurants and boutiques by up-and-coming designers. Although this is not high-street luxury, you can definitely find some good-quality gifts here.
Timings: Most of the stores in Haji Lane open around 12 noon and close by 9 p.m.
Clarke Quay—Shopping forFashionistas
Apart from the fancy waterfront restaurants, there are also a great range of fashion boutiques, independent arts and crafts shops along this breathtaking riverside place. Being home to high-end brands from across the world, Clarke Quay is one of the most frequented tourist spots in the city.
Timings: Open from 10 a.m.—12 midnight.
IMM—Home and Clothing
Owned by Capita Land Mall Trust, The International Merchandising Mart Mall, also known as IMM Mall, is an outlet centre in Jurong East, Singapore. You can enjoy fashion shows while shopping. IMM is now Singapore's largest outlet mall with 100 outlet stores amongst more than 220 stores, offering 80% discount of local brands all year round, such as 6ixty8ight and Charles & Keith. Aside from the local branded stores, this is one-stop mall specializing in interior furniture, including home renewal essentials, furnishings and fittings.
Timings: Open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
In the scenic coastal city of Cornwall, Lizzi Larbalestier has become a beacon of hope for marine (海洋的) wildlife. As a committed volunteer for British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), her journey began with transforming her Airbnb, an online platform that allows people to rent out their homes or accommodations to travelers, into a temporary shelter for injured seals. This effort came as the result of the increasing incidents of marine animals suffering from human-related injuries and the lack of specialized care facilities in the region.
Recognizing the urgent need for a more permanent solution, Lizzi, alongside her husband and a team of committed volunteers, established a fully equipped seal hospital. This facility, now in its third year of operation, has expanded its capacity to ten pens and is prepared to recover around 100 seals annually. The hospital caters to a variety of cases: seals injured by boats or caught in fishing gear (用具), young pups separated from their mothers, and young seals weakened by poor nutrition. Each animal receives personalized care, ranging from basic first aid to extensive recovery programs. After initial treatment, seals are often moved to larger recovery centers for further care before their release back into the wild.
Lizzi's commitment to marine conservation extends beyond seal rescue. She is an active participant in environmental campaigns like Surfers Against Sewage and Ghostnetbuster. Her tireless efforts were recognized when she received the Animal Action Award from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Lizzi owes the success of BDMLR's operations to the collective effort of all volunteers, emphasizing the importance of teamwork in achieving their conservation goals.
The BDMLR team also reacts to emergencies involving other marine wildlife, like whales and dolphins. Lizzi recalls several successful operations, including the rescue of stranded (搁浅的) dolphins and a turtle that required specialized care.
Lizzi's story is not just about rescuing marine animals; it's a proof of the power of community involvement and the impact of individuals on environmental conservation.
New research indicates that physical activity lowers cardiovascular (心血管的) disease risk in part by reducing stress-related signals in the brain.
In the study, which was led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), people with stress-related conditions such as depression experienced the most cardiovascular benefits from physical activity.
To assess the mechanisms (机制) underlying the psychological and cardiovascular disease benefits of physical activity, Ahmed Tawakol, MD, an investigator and cardiologist in the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at MGH, and his colleagues analyzed medical records and other information of 50,359 participants from the Mass General Brigham Biobank who completed a physical activity survey. A subset of 774 participants also underwent brain imaging tests and measurements of stress-related brain activity.
Over a median follow-up of 10 years, 12.9% of participants developed cardiovascular disease. Participants who met physical activity recommendations had a 23% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared with those not meeting these recommendations. Individuals with higher levels of physical activity also tended to have lower stress-related brain activity.
Significantly, reductions in stress-related brain activity were driven by gains in function in the prefrontal cortex (前额叶皮质), a part of the brain involved in executive (执行的) function (i.e. decision making and impulse control). It is known to control stress centers of the brain.
As an extension of this finding, the researchers found in a group of 50,359 participants that the cardiovascular benefit of exercise was substantially greater among participants who would be expected to have higher stress-related brain activity, such as those with pre-existing depression.
Analyses accounted for other lifestyle variables and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Moreover, reductions in stress-related brain signals partially accounted for physical activity's cardiovascular benefit.
"Physical activity was roughly twice as effective in lowering cardiovascular disease risk among those with depression. Effects on the brain's stress-related activity may explain this novel observation," said Tawakol, who is the senior author of the study.
ChatGPT appears to have better "bedside manners" than some doctors—at least when their written advice is rated for quality and empathy (同理心), a study has shown.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, used data from social news website Reddit's Ask Does forum, in which members can post medical questions answered by verified healthcare professionals. The team randomly sampled 195 exchanges from Ask Does where a verified doctor responded to a public question. The original questions were then posed to the AI language model ChatGPT, which was asked to respond. Finally, a panel of three licensed healthcare professionals, who did not know whether the response came from a human physician or ChatGPT, rated the answers for quality and empathy.
Overall, the panel preferred ChatGPT's answers to those given by a human 79 percent of the time. ChatGPT responses were also rated good or very good quality 79 percent of the time, compared with 22 percent of doctors' responses, and 45 percent of the ChatGPT answers were rated empathic or very empathic compared with just 5 percent of doctors' replies.
Christopher Longhurst, of UC San Diego Health, said:"These results suggest that tools like ChatGPT can efficiently draft high-quality, personalized medical advice for review by clinicians, and we are beginning that process at UCSD Health."
Professor James Davenport, of the University of Bath, who was not involved in the research, said: "The paper does not say that ChatGPT can replace doctors, but does, quite reasonably, call for further research into whether and how ChatGPT can assist physicians in response generation."
Some noted that, given ChatGPT was specifically designed to be likable, it was not surprising that it wrote texts that came across as empathic. It also tended to give longer, chattier answers than human doctors, which could have played a role in its higher ratings. Others cautioned against relying on language models for factual information due to their tendency to generate made-up "facts".
How to Study More Effectively
No matter whether you are preparing for some specific course, a professional degree, or an entrance exam, it's important to maximize study time and improve the efficiency of study.
You can use a calendar, an app, or a pinboard time table to draft a schedule that works best for you. Include the study time, sleep, and the socializing time in the schedule. Make sure you give yourself more time than you think you need, especially if it's a subject you struggle with.
You can also cut your study time into short sessions. Your most productive studying typically occurs within the first 25 to 30 minutes of hitting books, so try to study in 30 minutes, and take a 5 to10 minutes' break, so that you are able to absorb and consolidate the information. .
Studying isn't only spending hours and hours on list of what you think will be on an exam or quiz. This can be done through a six-step approach: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. You should focus on a method that will help you achieve a higher level of learning. The higher levels of learning focus on asking questions such as what if, how and why rather than where, what and who.
Research shows that being tested is not only useful in evaluating how well you have learned something but also valuable for avoiding future mistakes. Answering questions unsuccessfully can help you understand concepts better. If your professor offers you practice exams, take them home and learn from them. Understand why you got certain questions wrong and others right. Force each other to expand answers in order to understand the material better.
Following the suggestions to study more effectively will mean shorter and more efficient study sessions, and eventually, better grades!
A. You can quiz yourself whenever possible.
B. Creating a schedule is the first and most important thing to maximize your study time.
C. It is important to study in a smart way and go the extra mile.
D. You are more likely to do well before a quiz when you have time to review.
E. Study with friends or classmates and question each other on the material.
F. Effective studying starts with the right attitude.
G. This is why a certain balance should be made and studying time should be cut into shorter sessions.
I love and enjoy playing the piano. So when the recital (音乐演奏会) was 1 , I was disappointed. I had expected it for long and already 2 my best songs.
However, Mom turned this 3 into something worthwhile. "You should 4 at Carriage House Manor. I'm sure the 5 there would really appreciate the music." To me, this was a win-win situation because not only would I play more songs, but I have the chance to 6 the residents, some of whom tragically didn't have families.
The much-anticipated day 7 arrived. Stepping into the dining area, I saw several gray-haired people seemingly enjoying a dinner and the 8 . Despite on-going conversations at tables, 9 still hung like a dark cloud in the room. After introductions, I sat down in front of the piano, butterflies in my stomach. But my 10 melted away as I played on.
The dinner hour flew by. One woman got up and began to cheerfully 11 to the beat of the 12 while others snapped their fingers (打响指). I was 13 to see how music brought big smiles to their faces.
Calling off the recital was a blessing because it led us to 14 the gift of music with those who needed it most. Go spread 15 whenever possible.
In an age of rapidly growing urbanization, rooftop farming has emerged as a sustainable response the challenge of creating green space in cities. This innovative practice transforms rooftops into mini farms, where vegetables, fruits, and even flowers (plant), providing local residents with fresh produce and adding a touch of nature to urban environments.
Rooftop farming, also (refer) to as vertical agriculture, is more than just a trend; it's a step towards environmental conservation. Green roofs with vegetation help to absorb sunlight and release moisture, cooling the air and reducing the demand for air conditioning, in turn lessens energy (consume) and carbon emission. Meanwhile, rooftop farms serve as educational platforms, (teach) city dwellers about sustainable agriculture practices and the importance of (local) sourced food.
With urban populations continuing to grow, rooftop farming encourages community engagement promotes healthier lifestyles by providing access to fresh and organic produce. When we look towards future where environmental consciousness and sustainable practices become increasingly vital, rooftop farming stands as a testament to our ability to cultivate more than just food—we cultivate hope for a (green) and more resilient (可迅速恢复的) world.
注意： 1. 写作词数应为80左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
参考词汇 中国传统技艺 traditional Chinese folk art 剪纸paper-cutting
Dear Jim,
……
Yours,
Li Hua
Living in the shadow of my two elder sisters at college who already had their lives planned out since they were little, I was always undecided about everything. As a teenager, I was fickle (反复无常的). I would like one thing for a week and then hate it the next. But I was constantly searching for the beginning of the rainbow. Changing my dream from a vet to an astronaut, I thought there were various options available to me. However, my parents would shake their heads and repeatedly asked me such questions as, "Why can't you be more like your sisters? What are you going to do with your life? Aren't you interested in anything at all?" After a couple of shrugs (耸肩), my parents usually stopped talking. I was not sure if they gave up or anticipated my dull reactions. I often responded, "I couldn't answer all of your questions now."
Actually, my parents just had high expectations that never seemed to be fulfilled. Plus, like other parents, they just wanted to give the best to me and expected me to achieve success. The arguments with my parents seemed childish. One day, my mother made her thoughts clear, "Your grades aren't high enough. No schools are going to want you, dear. We didn't pay so much money for nothing." Hesitating for a while, I said, "No matter what you say, I believe I will enter a good college." Still, I let my emotions control myself.
Certainly, I had never planned not to go to college. After another debate with my mom, I decided to make a change. No longer would I sit back and let my parents mistake me for a bad boy. It was time to take action.
I knew it was a crucial year at high school. Releasing my feelings, I began to collect all the knowledge I had learned and review it with all my heart. I didn't argue with my parents any more, but instead turned to my sisters for help and tried my best to study. Finally, I took the national college entrance examination with ease and confidence.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A few days later, I received a call from my school, saying my college acceptance letter had arrived.
……
My parents excitedly said behind me, "Well, open the envelope!" ……
