As a child I didn't really have fond memories of Christmas. When I was 25 years old, I wanted to1the holiday of Christmas. I particularly had trouble with the Christmas music which was2everywhere. That was why I chose to3on that Christmas Eve. The grocery store I worked in was one of the few that4played Christmas music. But that year I was given the best gift ever — a 5 let me regain my Christmas spirit.
It was the Christmas Eve of 2018 and I was serving as a salesman. Christmas Eve is a time when customers become difficult to6 , as patience can be easily lost in the crowds. Salesmen would find few people7at this time. So I was in8when my shift was over. Later, I boarded a subway car and found a single9at the back of it, far from others. I immediately 10 and sat there.
I hadn't noticed when a man with a loud voice 11 the subway car. When he started to chat with the other passengers, I deliberately (故意地) turned around, showing no12. I wanted to make it clear that I didn't like 13 with him. When the man started singing Jingle Bells, I knew I'd had enough. But slowly the other passengers14, and soon everyone was singing with him. Then, to my 15, I found myself singing as well! With that guy 16 , we sang almost every Christmas song we could remember. Possibly feeling 17 by our singing, passengers from other cars gradually joined us. The fact that our car was full of singing people while others were 18 made me want to laugh.
19none of us had met each other before, I felt we'd 20 a bond of Christmas spirit. Since that Christmas Eve, I have expected Christmas.
From learning about protecting wild animals and natural habitats to reading about the impact of recycling, picture books are perfect for showing kids how to get involved. Here are four of such books.
Thank You, Earth
The author of this book, April Pulley Sayre, has authored many award-winning books for kids, and this one is truly special. It's written in a letter format, thanking the Earth for so many great natural moments and phenomena. You'll find beautiful photography cover to cover, so kids can get an up close look at what they're reading.
Save the Bees
Author and illustrator Bethany has a whole series of "Save the" books, and they all have great lessons for kids. The illustrations are fun and colorful — perfect for young animal lovers who want to learn how to make a difference. On her website, she even has links to free animated audio books, which are a great resource for parents or teachers looking for virtual story time.
The EARTH Book
Todd Parr has always done a lovely job, focusing on simple illustrations and lessons. His distinct style shines through this book, giving kids real ideas they can try in their everyday lives.
It's a good book for even the youngest of environmentalists and perfect for families to read together. Use it to get the conversation going with little ones.
Tall Tall Tree
Describing the wildlife that lives in Northern California's redwood forests, this book turns story time into a counting lesson as young children count all the creatures in the forests. Slightly older readers will also love reciting Anthony D. Frederick's playful rhyme all on their own and learning about the animals of the forest.
Carl Allamby started his car repair business at the tender age of 19. Over the years, it had grown into two shops with 11 workers, but Allamby had become uneasy, longing for something more. Therefore, at the age of 34, he decided to go for his bachelor's degree in business management.
After taking classes part-time over the next five years, Allamby was told he had to take biology to get his degree, which later turned out to be the best thing that ever happened. Biology classes reawakened a childhood dream that he had hidden somewhere deep within himself.
Born in East Cleveland, Ohio, Allamby was raised by his stay-at-home mother and a father who sold home goods door-to-door. His school didn't offer the advanced science classes that might have led him on a premed (医学预科的） path. Even if it had, doing well in school could prove dangerous. "You could get into a lot of trouble just for being the class nerd(讨厌的人)," Allamby said. So he set aside the thoughts of becoming a doctor and started fixing cars instead.
But a different Carl Allamby walked into that biology class at age 39. He was ready to live his dream. With the support of his family he soon decided to skip business school to take science classes. Becoming a doctor was late and he would become a nurse instead, he reasoned. But Allamby's chemistry professor told him "Why not a doctor? You have a great talent for the work. You will go a long way." The professor was right and Allamby did very well.
In 2015, Allamby cut ties with his past, and then he started at Northeast Ohio Medical University. In 2019, Carl Allamby became Carl Allamby, MD. He took a job in emergency medicine at Cleveland Clinic Akron General.
"How many people can do something so brand-new at such a late stage in their life?" he said. "My age and past career are all good reasons why I shouldn't be here. And yet, here I am."
Avoiding unseen food hazards (危害) is the reason people often check the dates on food packaging.
And printed with the month and the year is often one of the following phrases: "best by", "use by", "best if used before", "best if used by", "guaranteed fresh until" and "freeze by".
People think of them as expiration dates, or the date at which a food should go in the trash bin. But the dates have little to do with when food becomes less safe to eat. I am a microbiologist and 1 have studied the spread of bacteria (细菌) in food. A more science-based food dating system could make it easier for people to differentiate foods they can safely eat from those that could be hazardous.
It's reported that in 2020 the average American household spent 12 percent of its income on food, but a lot of the food is simply thrown away, despite being perfectly safe to eat. And nearly 31 percent of all available food is never consumed. The current food dating system may be to blame for the problem.
It's logical to believe that date labels are there for safety reasons, since the USA government enforces rules including printing nutrition and ingredient information on food packaging. The dates on those food packages, however, are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Rather came from food producers.
A food brand may survey consumers in a focus group to pick a "use by" date that is six months after the product was produced because 60 percent of the focus group no longer liked the taste after six months. Smaller manufacturers of a similar food might play copycat and put the same date on their products.
One industry group, the Food Marketing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers Association, suggests that its members mark food "best if used by" to indicate how long the food is safe to eat, and "use by" to indicate when food becomes unsafe. But using these marks is voluntary and often causes consumer confusion.
A joint study by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the National Resources Defense Council recommends the elimination (取消) of dates aimed at consumers. Instead, it suggests manufacturers and distributors use "production" or "pack" dates, along with "sell by" dates, aimed at supermarkets and other retailers. The dates would indicate to retailers the amount of time a product will remain at high quality.
Technology has changed the ways in which we communicate with each other. For many people, the primary form of communicating these days is via instant messaging. When you run out of space or ideas, you just hit the send button or tum it off. There are no silences between the words, literally or figuratively (比喻地).
In real life, getting along with another person takes effort and energy. There are moments when neither person has anything to say. Silence can feel awkward. So too, emotions can arise in real life that are difficult. There are moments when things can get painful with another person. Misunderstandings happen, hard truths are revealed, and feelings can get hurt.
A trend has started to pop up. When difficulty or conflict arises within a relationship, we are simply dropping out of it rather than facing the issue. I hear of this more often in my practice and notice it more in my own life. We come and go, in and out of each other's lives with remarkable ease, as if relationships are not really worth investing in or working for any longer. It makes me wonder if we are simply losing the ability to deal with the messy and uncomfortable parts of life. The result is that we are left with a lot of relationships but not much in the way of nourishing relationships. We have it easy, but we don't have it real.
When we run into conflict with others, the reason we are willing to address the conflict is that we want the relationship and we care about it. Discomfort, awkwardness and challenges are an unavoidable part of being in a relationship with others. We have to remind ourselves that we can wade (涉水) through that messy river to get to the other side where the relationship can be restored. In psychology, we call this process repair. And the relationship that is formed after dealing with the conflict together is actually stronger than if the conflict had not happened.
We will never end up anywhere deeply satisfying by avoiding challenges. Each moment that we are willing to be uncomfortable in a relationship, to live in and through the messiness, is a drop of gold in the relationship itself. The investment in the hard stuff is finally what makes the relationship worth investing in. The willingness to be uncomfortable with something and the value of that something are part of the same circle.
Ed Viesturs grew up in Rockford, Illinois, where the tallest thing on the horizon was the water tower. But on Thursday, Viesturs became the only American to climb to the top of the world's 14 highest mountains.
His last hike was up Mount Annapurna, in Asia's snowcapped Himalayas. At 26,545 feet, its peak is the 10th highest in the world. It is the mountain that inspired him to start climbing.
"It tends to be the trickiest, the most dangerous," said Viesturs. "There's no simple way to climb it. There are threatening avalanches (雪崩) and ice falls that protect the mountain."
In high school, Viesturs read French climber Maurice Herzog's tale of climbing the icy
Annapurna. Herzog's story was of frostbite (冻伤) and difficulty and near-death experiences. Viesturs was hooked right away.
Viesturs got his start on Washington's Mount Rainier in 1977, guiding 扣kes in the summer.
Fifteen years ago, he set out to walk up to the world's highest peaks. Finally, he's done.
The pioneering climber talks about mountains as if they were living creatures that should be treated with respect. "You have to use all of your senses, all of your ab 山 ties to see if the mountain will let you climb it," said Viesturs. "If we have the patience and the respect, and if we're here at the right time, under the right circumstances, they allow us to go up, and allow us to come down."
What's next for a man who can't stop climbing? "I'm going to hug my wife and kids and kind of kick back and enjoy the summer," says Viesturs. But for a man who's climbed the world's 14 tallest mountains, he will probably soon set off on yet another adventure.
