Useful Travel Apps
Traveladvisor Every hotel, restaurant or tourist spot you wish to know about has likely been reviewed and rated here. These numerous, and at times very detailed, travellers' experiences offer handy tips and help avoid common mistakes. Lists like "Top Things to Do In..." ensure that you don't come back with any regrets.
Kayak A comprehensive travel planner, this app lets you search for and book flight tickets, hotels and cars, and even assists in packing. Its predeparture to-do lists, tailored for general, business or romantic travel, ensure that all you need is your bag.
Tripit If you're forever searching for all the confirmation emails for your trips, download this app, which merges(合并) all your travel details into one itinerary(旅行计划). You can access it from several devices, and it syncs(同步) with your phone calendar, too.
Loungebuddy This app advises on the facilities and entry policies for airport lounges across the world, so in one click you can get away from the crowds.
Travel Diary Similar to sending postcards to yourself, this app lets you make diary entries with text and images. You can also export all your entries to a word document: raw material for the travelogue in the making.
Carol Heffernan, a 43-year-old woman from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, regularly felt worn out from working, driving her two kids to school, and taking care of housework. But when COVID-19 hit in March, 2020 and the kids were suddenly home all day and learning remotely, her usual weariness quickly turned into full-on exhaustion. "All the extra responsibility and the mental load—it just added up," she says. "I felt tired, and it wasn't due to lack of sleep."
If there's one thing many of us have in common, it's that we're tired. Doctors even have a name for it: "tired all the time," or TATT for short. The solution isn't always as simple as getting more sleep; nearly a quarter of people who get seven or more hours of rest a night report that they still wake up feeling tired most days.
A few weeks after feeling tired, Heffernan decided to drop everything and go for a walk, which she hadn't done since the pandemic(大流行病)began. "I just wanted to be by myself," she says. "I needed a break." When she returned, she felt recharged and decided to make a habit of it.
Doing something active when you're feeling sluggish(懒洋洋的)will actually increase your energy, but it will not consume the little that you have. In fact, researchers at the University of Georgia found that just ten minutes of low or moderate intensity exercise gave study participants a noticeable energy boost.
In another recent study, people who committed to working out for 20 minutes three times a week increased their energy levels by 20 percent in six weeks." When we don't work out regularly, our muscles can become weakened, so when we do use them in everyday activities, we're more tired," explains Dr Yufang Lin, a physician at the Cleveland Clinic's Center.
Now, Heffernan goes for a daily 45-minute stroll. "It feeds me spiritually, emotionally, and physically," she says. "I have something to look forward to every afternoon. I'm in a better mood. And after putting the kids to bed, I have the energy to stay up and talk to my husband."
Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a partial solution to two of our country's persistent problems: garbage and poverty. It's called the Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking a favor of local snack lovers: Rather than toss your empty chip bags into the trash, donate them so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.
Chip eaters drop off their empty bags from Doritos, Lay's, and other favorites at two locations in Detroit: a print shop and a clothing store, where Oleita and her volunteer helpers collect them. After they sanitize (消毒) the chip bags in soapy hot water, they slice them open, lay them flat, and iron them together. They use padding(填料) and liners(衬垫) from old coats to line the insides.
It takes about four hours to sew a sleeping bag, and each takes around 150 to 300 chip bags, depending on whether they're single-serve or family size. The result is a sleeping bag that is "waterproof, lightweight, and easy to carry around," Oleita told the Detroit News. Since its start in 2020, the Chip Bag Project has collected more than 800, 000 chip bags and, as of(到...为止) last December, created 110 sleeping bags.
Sure, it would be simpler to raise the money to buy new sleeping bags. But that's only half the goal for Oleita-whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria a decade ago with the hope of attaining a better life-and her fellow volunteers. "We are devoted to making an impact not only socially, but environmentally," she said.
And, of course, there's the symbolism of recycling bags that would otherwise land in the trash and using them to help the homeless. It's a powerful reminder that environmental injustice and poverty often go hand in hand. As Oleita said, "I think it's time to show connections between all of these issues.
If you were born in New Zealand，you'll never ever be allowed to buy a pack of cigarettes there. In new legislation(立法) expected to take hold next year，no cigarettes or tobacco products will be available for people to purchase legally in the country. That means anyone who is 14 as of today will never be allowed to buy them in New Zealand. The four-year Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action plan hopes to reduce rates of smoking for older people while completely banning sales for the younger population.
Associate health minister Dr. Ayesha Verall, who announced the government's plan, said the country is concentrating on a "smoke-free generation" with this legislation. "We want to make sure young people never start smoking so we will make it an offense to sell or supply smoked tobacco products to new population of youth," said Verall in a statement.
The move comes as New Zealand's health ministry pursues a large-scale crackdown(打压) on tobacco in the country. In April 2021, the country's parliament announced its goal of being smoke-free by 2025, aiming to slowly reduce, phase out, then entirely cut the prospect of smoking. There are already existing barriers to tobacco products in New Zealand, including high taxes and plain packaging on cigarettes.
"Clinical studies have shown that dramatically reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes make it far easier for people to quit," said Verall in parliament. "So the action plan will see New Zealand transition to low-nicotine cigarettes, This is a major change but it is based on clinical research and it is realistic, because with vapes(电子烟) widely available, there is a far less harmful option available for smokers who are addicted to nicotine. While vapes were introduced as a way to reduce cigarette consumption, they remain harmful according to research. Vapes are also particularly appealing to young people, who have long been the target people for the product."
From the dawn of civilization, paper records have been a method of keeping track of important and necessary documentation. A common experience throughout the world's record keeping has been the necessity to ensure that all documents are kept together, and none are lost.
These included tying ribbons through the paper, and melting wax to secure the papers in place. For nearly 600 years, these were the methods used to secure papers.
In 1835, a machine that could mass-produce straight pins was invented by Howe J. L. , an American inventor. Although straight pins （大头针）were originally designed for sewing and tailoring, people began using them as a quick and easy way to secure papers.
In 1899 he patented the device, which consisted of a wire bent into a particularly shaped hoop for the purpose of securing papers.
During this time, however, the paperclip （回形针）was not a widely distributed device. Therefore, the Gem Manufacturing Company of England developed a machine to manufacture and standardize the paperclip design.
Today the paperclip is a famous invention used throughout offices, schoolrooms, and business throughout the world.
A. The next paper invention was that of the straight pin.
B. Before the paper clip, people had to be creative to keep paper together.
C. The humble item only came into popular usage around the mid-19th century.
D. Later, inspired by the straight pin, Norwegian Vaaler J. came up with the idea of the first paperclip.
E. This manufacturing development allowed for the expansion of the modern paperclip worldwide.
F. Being a wonder of simplicity and function, the paperclip remains a standard office supply throughout the world.
G. Therefore, from the early 13th century people had created various methods to ensure documents were kept together.
When Jim Grant spotted black smoke coming out of a building on his way to work.
He 1 his car to call 911. Then he 2 a U-turn, circling back to take another look.
Pulling up to the building, Grant saw flames（火焰）shooting out of a second-floor window. Not seeing or hearing any fire engines 3. Grant rushed to a side 4and ran up the stairs.
On the second floor, he 5 every apartment door. "Get out!" Grant shouted, No one 6and he assumed that people had already 7. Reaching the end of the hallway, though, Grant 8 a half-open door. He kicked it wide open, finding a 9 woman in a wheelchair with a little boy and a tiny baby. "Let's 10 !" he screamed. The woman looked at him in confusion and said something about changing her clothes. Grant didn't wait, clutching（抓牢）the baby to his chest and 11 the boy alongside, Grant ran down the hallway. When he was 12 outside, the only 13 in sight was a policeman. Grant told him about the 14 and they rushed into the smoky building.
Thanks to them, a family was saved from the fire. Grant and the policeman were honored for their 15.
Syed Shams Hassan was born in a town in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, where there is a large Chinese population. (grow) up in such an environment，he naturally has many Chinese friends who share with him China is like.
When came to choosing a country to further his studies, China seemed the obvious choice. In 2014, Hassan traveled to Shanghai (pursue) his bachelor's and master's degrees in pharmacology at Fudan University. As well as knowledge, the Pakistani has also found love. In 2017, Hassan met a Hangzhou native, whom he (marry) two years later.
Apart from Shanghai, Hassan has also been to other cities including Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Nanjing and Qingdao, where he was (amaze) by "the kindness and warmth of Chinese people". This constant interaction with (local) has also taught him more about traditional Chinese medicine and shaped his personal habits.
"The science of traditional Chinese medicine, which has a history of thousands of years, __ (be) complex and attractive. Due to the few side effects that they have the human body, I now turn to traditional Chinese medicine for minor illnesses like coughs and colds," he says.
Looking ahead, Hassan believes (firm) that he can promote greater levels of cooperation between China and Pakistan as a bridge between two cultures.
