For families on vacation, a playground provides a welcome break. It can also provide a glimpse into the local culture，from the setup of the park to the ways families interact．Here are the designs that live up to that challenge．
Fruit and Scent Playground, Stockholm
Is there a picky eater on a steady diet of chicken fingers and cheese? Perhaps a trip to Sweden's Fruit and Scent Playground will change his or her culinary(烹饪的)tune. This playground features a banana slide，an orange seesaw，pear huts，a watermelon jungle gym and a pair of cherry swings，all designed by public artist Johan Ferner Strom. Now, who can say you can't play with your food?
Nishi Rokugo Park, Tokyo
Located between central Tokyo and the city of Kawasaki, Nishi Rokugo combines recycled rubber tires(橡胶轮胎)with traditional playground equipment. In total, more than 3,000 tires of different sizes are used to create tunnels, bridges, tall sculptures for climbing and, of course, tire swings. There's little shade, so you can visit here in the early morning or late afternoon for the most comfortable weather, and be sure to wear your play clothes.
Bicentennial Children's Park, Santiago, Chile
Bicentennial Children's playground in Metropolitan Park was built to celebrate 200 years of Chilean independence and improve the lives of Santiago citizens. Dozens of slides are built into the slope, creating a design completely complementary(互为补充的)of the surrounding landscape. Fountains offer some relief from the sun, and ample seating gives parents a place to relax.
In agrarian(农业的), pre-industrial Europe,“you'd want to wake up early, start working with the sunrise, have a break to have the largest meal, and then you'd go back to work,”says Ken Albala, a professor of history at the University of the Pacific.“Later, at 5 or 6, you'd have a smaller supper.”
This comfortable cycle, in which the rhythms of the day helped shape the rhythms of the meals, gave rise to the custom of the large midday meal, eaten with the extended family.“Meals are the foundation of the family,”says Carole Couniban, a professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, “so there was a very important interconnection between eating together and strengthening family ties.”
Since industrialization, maintaining such a slow cultural metabolism has been much harder, with the long midday meal shrinking to whatever could be stuffed into a lunch bucket or bought at a food stand. Certainly, there were benefits. Modern techniques for producing and shipping food led to greater variety and quantity, including a tremendous increase in the amount of animal protein and dairy products available, making us more energetic than our ancestors.
Yet plenty has been lost too, even in cultures that still live to eat. Take Italy. It's no secret that the Mediterranean diet is healthy, but it was also a joy to prepare and eat. Italians, says Counihan, traditionally began the day with a small meal. The big meal came at around 1 p.m. In between the midday meal and a late, smaller dinner came a small snack. Today, when time zones have less and less meaning, there is little tolerance for offices' closing for lunch, and worsening traffic in cities means workers can't make it home and back fast enough anyway. So the formerly small supper after sundown becomes the big meal of the day, the only one at which the family has a chance to get together.“The evening meal carries the full burden that used to be spread over two meals,”says Counihan.
You can tell a lot about people by looking at their hair – not just whether they brush, spray or blow-dry. Scientists have found a way to use hair to figure out where a person is from and where that person has been. The finding could help solve crimes, among other useful applications.
Water is central to the new technique. The liquid makes up more than half an adult human's body weight. Our bodies break water down into hydrogen(氢) and oxygen. Atoms of these two elements end up in our tissues, fingernails, and hair.
But not all water is the same. Hydrogen and oxygen atoms can vary in how much they weigh. In the case of hydrogen, for example, there are three types according to their weights. Each type is called a hydrogen isotope（同位素）. And depending on where you live, tap water contains different isotopes.
Can hair record this information? That's what James R. Ehleringer, an environmental chemist at the University of Utah, wondered. To find it out, he and his colleagues collected hair from hair stylists in 65 cities across the United States. Even though people drink a lot of bottled water these days, the researchers have found that people's hair has the same isotopes as found in local tap water. That's probably because people usually cook their food with the local water.
Authorities can now use the information to analyze hair samples from criminals or crime victims and narrow their search for clues. For example, one hair sample used in Ehleringer's study came from a man who had moved from San Francisco to Salt Lake City. As his hair grew, it reflected his change in location.
The term “to extend an olive（橄榄） branch” means to make an offer of peace or reconciliation(和好). This term has Biblical（圣经的）origins, coming from the section of the Old Testament that deals with the flood; the sign that the flood is over is an olive branch brought back to the ark(方舟) by a dove. Olive branches were also symbols of peace in Ancient Greece and Rome, and they continue to be used in various works of art that are meant to suggest peace.
Some people have suggested that the olive was a very deliberate and well-considered choice as a metaphor(比喻）for peace, because olive trees famously take years to mature. War is typically very hard on the trees because people cannot take the time to nurture them and plant new ones. Therefore, the offer of an olive branch would suggest that someone is tired of war, whether it is an actual war or a falling out between friends.
In Ancient Greek and Roman times, people would offer actual olive branches. In Rome, for example, defeated armies traditionally carried olive branches to indicate that they were giving in, and the Greeks used them into weddings and other ceremonies. In the modern era, the branch is usually metaphorical, rather than actual, not least because the plants can be a bit difficult to obtain.
Many people agree that peace negotiations at all levels of society are a good idea. Between nations, obviously, it is important to extend an olive branch to ensure mutual safety and to help the world run more smoothly. This act can also be important on a personal level, as resolving conflict and learning to get along with others is viewed as an important life skill in many cultures.
At some point in their lives, many people will be advised to extend an olive branch to settle a dispute or resolve an issue. Some people believe that it takes an immense amount of courage to take this action, as it often comes with an admission of wrongdoing and regret.
I had been staring at the white walls of the video game store for about 2 hours since lunch. It was a very 1 day. I glanced at the table in front of the store, and my heart 2. It was the donation table for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda and even though I had donated what I could, I 3 felt sad whenever I saw the people on the TV suffering.I was broken out of my 4 when the doors got open. Customers, 5 !
She was a small girl about 10 or 11. Her mother was accompanying her with a few plastic bags. I 6 her mom. When I was selling cigarettes on the street, I saw her selling clothes she7herself at the market.
The daughter just had a 8 and her mom finally had 9 money to buy a PS3 and some games.
The girl half-jogged, half-skipped to my counter. She 10 her backpack and pulled out a console(操纵板). Her mom handed me the bag full of games.
“Can I 11 this?”
“Sure sweetie, no problem.”
I inspected the console and the games, and nothing was opened. According to our 12 , I returned the 13 to the mom. She handed it to the girl. And the girl ran off as fast as her little feet could take her. I was about to ask when the mom, seeing my 14 , explained, “She wants to sell her birthday 15 , so she can donate to the 16 .”
She was 17to give up what was supposed to be hers and gave to those 18 . That's real generosity out there.
19 I was watching her talking to the girl at the donations table, I was reminded that even though there are a lot of 20 people in the world, there are still those people just like that little girl.
How to Manage Your Phone's Data Use
Smart phones give you access to a wealth of information and media, but most networks put a limit on the amount of data you can use each month. A typical phone contract includes a data allowance of between 500MB and 10GB per month. You see, your usage can mount up surprisingly quickly – watching a film on the phone is about 700MB in SD, an hour of streaming TV is around 500MB or 60-140MB for the same of radio, chatting on Skype for an hour is around 40MB.
If possible, wait until you can connect to free Wi-Fi before using your phone's data features.
When you are on the road, use your car's GPS, not your phone, to find the way. But maps are preloaded in a GPS, making this free to use.
Many of these are funded by ads that pop up on your screen. Every ad has to download through your network, using up your data allowance.
If you regularly need to use a lot of data on your phone, consider a data-compressing(压缩) app, such as Onavo(www.onavo.com). So you use less of your monthly allowance. You may have to subscribe to such compression services, so you'll need to weigh up whether it's worth the cost.
A. The more data, the higher the monthly cost. B. Remember to use free Wi-Fi anywhere you go. C. Try these tips to better manage your data use. D. It compresses data before it is fed to your phone. E. But you might end up paying more than expected. F. The phone has to download map data as you move. G. Be careful of how many “free” games you play on the phone. |
Of the three major drinks of the world—tea, coffee and cocoa—tea is consumed by the (large) number of people.
China is the homeland of tea. Human cultivation of tea plants dates back to two thousand years ago. Tea from China, along her silk and porcelain, began to be known to the world more than a thousand years ago and since then it (be) an important Chinese export.
At present more than forty countries in the world grow tea with Asian countries， (produce) 90% of the world's total output. All tea trees in other countries have their origin directly or indirectly in China. The word for tea leaves or tea as drink in many countries are derivatives(衍生物)from the Chinese character “cha”. The Russians call it “cha'i”, sounds like “chaye”(tea leaves) as it is pronounced in northern China, and the English word “tea” sounds similar to the pronunciation of (it) counterpart（对应物） in Xiamen. The Japanese character for tea is written (exact) the same as it is in Chinese, though (pronounce) with a slight difference. The habit of tea drinking spread to Japan in the 6th century, but it was not introduced to Europe and America till the 17th and 18th centuries. Now the number of tea (drink) in the world is still on the increase.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删减：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错词下面划一横线，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。
Last Friday, our school organized us to a fire station, what we had expected for several day. When we got there, the fire-fighters welcomed us but led us into an exhibition hall. There one of them delivered the lecture on fire control to us. After that, they show us how to operate a fire extinguisher, and even gave our chances to practise using it. Now, I dare say I can use it skillful! On our way home, we couldn't help to talking about what we had experienced. We felt very happy and excited because we had gained so many knowledge about fire control and known what to do an emergency.
