The recent few weeks have been the perfect time for a good book and here are some good ones that allow readers to get completely lost in another world.
Watch Me Disappear
If you like mysteries with family drama, Janelle Brown's best-selling thriller is for you, The story follows a wealthy wife and mom who goes on a hike and never returns. Her lonely husband and teenage daughter, Olive (who's dealing with her own problems), are confused with sorrow while trying to find out what happens.
The Boy from the Woods
If you pick up one of Harlan Coben's books, you won't be able to put it down. His misty stories keep readers fascinated. The Boy from the Woods, is sure to satisfy fans of his twisty, heart-racing plots filled with interesting and exciting atmosphere. This is the book to read if you love masterful surprises.
How to Walk Away
Katherine Center's best-selling novel follows a young woman, Margaret, with her perfect fiance, a pilot who takes her on a upsetting flight that changes her life forever. Readers adore Margaret's wisdom and humor as she faces a changed world and figures out what love really looks like.
The Last One Left
This novel, first published in 1967, still attracts readers decades later. Novelist Dean Koontz wrote the introduction to the recent edition, where he describes reading each of John D. MacDonald's novels" at least three times, some of them twice that often. "This is your next read if you want to be swept away by a master of mystery and excitement.
Two women going on a journey to green their city is the best way to describe the founders of Utility, Portland's low-waste and reuse company. It started in January 2019 and opened its first retail shop in April. Its founders, Rebecca Rottman and Nadine Appenbrink, are deeply committed to sustainability and supporters of zero waste.
They started Utility as a second job for both and as a personal journey, looking for clean products that didn't come in plastic. Their goal is to reduce the amount of single-use plastics by allowing people to bring their own reusable containers when they buy environmental friendly home and personal care items.
Every week the women teamed up with local stores to sell their goods and to refill products for returning customers. Now they are operating only online for pickup or local delivery in the Portland area. It is really easy, the company said. Just shop online and choose a container. Then select pickup or delivery. The products include all-natural dish bar soap and a wide variety of plastic-free kitchen tools.
While not completely zero waste, Utility is striving to get extremely close. Appenbrink said, "We are all on a journey. And we want to be as approachable as possible. Utility is to raise awareness about this lifestyle." They are focused on careful growth because Utility will never ship products because of the carbon footprint involved in shipping.
There are zero waste stores in other communities, like Clean Kilo in Birmingham UK, but they are real brick and mortar (实体的) buildings. Utility's concept is so simple that it can be followed almost anywhere. Zero waste markets are the way to the circular economy that is needed to stop plastic waste, reduce our carbon footprint and have a sustainable future.
Biofuels (生物燃料), gained from plants and animal matter, are a key solution to the environmental problems caused by fuels like coal. "Bioalcohol (生物酒精) is the most common biofuel and is produced by sugars found in materials such as corn. With some engine redesigned, it can be used directly by cars, buses, etc. ," says Professor Daniel Tan, "12 percent of transport fuel could come from biofuels, especially bioalcohol, by 2030. "
But a 2016 study of biofuels said, "Bioalcohol presently is mostly produced with food crops. Altogether, the environmentally-friendly biofuels rely on about 2-3 percent of the global water and land used for agriculture, which could feed a large number of hungry people. "
Energy experts have therefore been trying to deal with the problem. Recent research led by an international team found that the agave (龙舌兰) plant might offer a way out. This plant tends to be the right bioalcohol source to supersede others such as sugarcane (甘蔗) and corn.
Daniel Tan explains that the agave can be grown in unfavorable conditions and is not a major food crop. "It can grow in areas that lack water and rainfall without being watered by farmers, and it does not compete with food crops or put demands on limited water. This kind of useful plant is recently being grown in Australia. It can survive Australia's hot summers," he says.
The study finds that sugarcane produces just a little more fuel per square meter each year than the agave. However, the agave outperforms sugarcane in a range of areas, including pollution to the earth, and water using. The agave uses 69 percent less water than sugarcane and 46 percent less water than corn for the same amount of fuel produced. As for corn，it produces less fuel per square meter each year than the agave.
However, Daniel Tan states: "The first generation of bioalcohol from the agave recently faces a big competition from oil, whose recent low price makes it far more attractive to customers. Without some policy support from the government, bioalcohol production from the agave faces big challenges. "
Singapore researchers say they have developed a form of electronic skin that can create a sense of touch. They hope their invention will give people with prosthetic hands (假肢手) the ability to identify different objects.
The skin device measures 1 square centimeter. The system contains 100 small sensors that attempt to recreate things like texture (质地), temperature and even pain. The researchers call the device Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin, or ACES, which can process information faster than humans' nervous system. Machine learning methods trained the device to recognize 20 to 30 different textures. It can even correctly read Braille letters most of the time, the researchers say.
The system does not require the users' movement to work. Humans need to slide to feel texture. But in this case the skin, with just a single touch, is able to detect textures of different roughness.
A demonstration showed that the device could identify the difference between a soft ball and a solid plastic one. "When you lose your sense of touch, you essentially become numb and prosthetic users face that problem, " said Benjamin Tee, leader of the research team. "So by recreating an artificial version of the skin, for their prosthetic devices, they can hold a hand and feel the warmth and feel that it is soft."
Tee said his idea for the device came from the movie Star Wars, when character Luke Skywalker loses his right hand and it is replaced with a robotic one. In the film, the new hand is able to experience touch sensations just like the real one.
The artificial skin technology is still going through experiments and development. But Tee said there had already been a lot of interest in the system, especially from the medical community. Tee said similar inventions that his team has developed include see-through skin that can repair itself when torn and a material for wearable electronic devices that gives off light.
A writing club is a group consisting of writers who meet together to share and comment on manuscripts (手稿). People who write stories, poetry, or even non-fiction articles can join a writing club. But the usual site is in a library, bookstore, private home, or a school.
Joining a club allows writers to understand the challenges of being a writer. And members of a writing club can receive constructive criticism (评论) from their fellow writers so that they can learn how to make their articles stronger. Moreover, commenting on other writers' manuscripts allows them to see what makes a writing piece interesting or boring.
If a writer wants to become a member of a writing club, he can find one by contacting the public library or a local university. Many writing groups will advertise for new members in local newspapers as well.
But sometimes, no matter how a writer has tried, he may still experience extreme difficulties finding a writing group to join or finding a writing group suitable for him. He only needs to advertise for desired members by posting online, placing an ad in local newspapers, etc.
For many writers, the journey of writing is demanding. For example, writing can be troubled by lack of inspiration. So joining a group of writers can be the ideal way a writer can improve his writing skills and assist others with their manuscripts.
A. And writing can be a lonely task.
B. There are many benefits of joining a writing club.
C. Members of a writing club should know each other.
D. If that happens, the writer can start his own club.
E. Joining a writing club has advantages and disadvantages.
F. It's also possible to find writing clubs on the Internet.
G. A writing club can have meetings just anywhere.
My mother has taught kindergarten for 39 years. She used to collect and wash old tennis balls. 1 my father drilled holes in each one. Once my dad finished them，the balls would fit 2 onto the feet of a standard school chair and 3 the annoying noise that let out every time kids moved the chairs. When you are in 4 of a classroom filled with kids who have never been to school before and turning them into students, the little things 5.
One day, a boy was transferred (转学) into my mom's 6. He had a long record of misbehavior, including eight suspensions (暂时停学) from his 7 school. His teacher still remembered being 8 about how he would influence her classroom. However, my mother welcomed him with a smile and kindly 9 the rules and expectations for her class. The next day, he 10 directions with, "What are you going to do if I don't do it?" My mother still smiled at him. She explained that she was there to help him and 11 he could do well. Day after day, she praised everything he did that was 12. It was a few tiring months but well worth the 13. He gradually turned into one of the best students that year.
By 14 a loving heart with right classroom management measures, teachers can do 15 in a single school year.
After traveling through space for seven months, China's Tianwen-1 probe has reached Mars and (success) entered its orbit on Wednesday — bringing it one step (close) to landing on the surface.
Tianwen-1, name means "Quest for Heavenly Truth", consists of an orbiter, lander and a six-wheeled rover. The spacecraft (launch) last July along with two other international Mars missions, is scheduled to land on the planet's surface in May or June. It is tasked with gathering information about Mars' geological structure, atmosphere, environment and soil, as well as (search) for signs of water.
With Tianwen-1, China is the first nation (attempt) to send both an orbiter and a rover on its first homegrown Mars mission. contrast, NASA sent multiple orbiters to Mars before ever attempting a landing, since pulling off the landing is far more difficult task.
The Chinese rover (expect) to function for about three months on the planet. It marks a milestone for China's deep-space (explore) of Mars, according to the CNSA. China is also planning to launch a permanent space station by 2022, and is looking at sending astronauts to the moon-possibly in the 2030s.
Mrs. Peterson was my tenth-grade biology teacher, a cool woman in her late twenties. She has taught us for several months. She was an easygoing and nice teacher that loved to walk into our heart and often cared about us. And she had a wonderful way of making the most boring lessons fun. All of these made her popular with all of us students.
On a Tuesday morning, early before the biology class, we were seated in the classroom as usual, waiting for the coming of Mrs. Peterson. To our surprise, it was a teacher we were not familiar with that stepped into our class. She wore white tennis shoes and thick glasses. "Hi, everyone. I am Mrs. Ferguson," she introduced herself. And then she added, "From now on, I'll teach you biology. Mrs. Peterson has had her baby, and she couldn't return to teaching this year. "
Hearing the unexpected news, all of us immediately felt upset and missed Mrs. Peterson. During Mrs. Ferguson's first class given to us, clearly we were not as active as before. And actually, during Mrs. Ferguson's several following classes, we still remained inactive. One reason was that there seemed to be a thick wall standing between Mrs. Ferguson and us.
I was a basketball cheerleader of our school. One day after school and a long cheerleading practice, my friend Alex and I were looking for a place to fix our hair before attending the tryout (选拔) for cheerleaders in a national basketball game. When walking past Mrs. Ferguson's room, we were surprised to see her at her desk grading papers. Seeing us look at her, she said with a smile, "Hi, girls, can I help you?"
Hearing it, we stopped. "We're just looking for a place to plug in (给…接通电源) our hair-fixing-tool, "I said. She probably considered we were vain (自负的) and stupid cheerleaders.
注意：
1）续写的词数应为150左右；
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Thinking of that, my face felt hot.
……
When we were to leave, Mrs. Ferguson said, "Can I watch your tryout?"
