Building with 3D printing technology is sparking widespread interest in the construction industry. Besides reducing waste and our impact on the environment, it can speed up construction from weeks, or months, to days. To see how the technology can change the world around us, here are some projects that highlight bold ideas in 3D print building.
Instant Neighborhood
Community building takes on new meaning with the creation of a neighborhood of 3D printed homes in Tabasco, Mexico, aimed at tackling global homelessness. American non-profit New Story and tech company ICON built each concrete house from start to completion in 24 hours. New Story says its aim is to provide shelter for people without homes around the world.
Nested Housing
Shamballa is the idea of Italian 3D print construction company WASP. This project uses soil and straw to build a home in days that cost only 48 Euros in materials and energy. Its round designs are based on the wasp（黄蜂）nest. Each home features a laboratory with a desktop 3D printer for making furniture, artistic objects and more.
Think Schools
African island state Madagascar is hosting one of the world's most forward-thinking school building projects. Non-profit Thinking Huts is using 3D print technology to provide schools where children have little or no access to education. Schools are built using local materials and low carbon concrete in under a week.
Concrete Steps
Researchers at the Swiss University ETH Zurich used concrete 3D printing to build the 16 metre long curved Striatus footbridge in a couple of days. The project used 500 layers of concrete and 53 hollow blocks， held in place by compression（压缩）. This reduces materials by up to 70 per cent, and the entire bridge can be pulled down and recycled.
When a woman struck up a conversation with an Ontario homeless man, she didn't imagine it would change his life forever.
After it became clear that Brian Bannister was a kind soul who had simply fallen on hard times, Danielle MacDuff offered him a job on her farm.
Bannister was living in a shelter after a terribly challenging life that involved child abuse, overcoming addiction, and the death of his first wife, followed by the death of his second. He said he had given up, but MacDuff's offer cheered up the man and brought the farm a pair of hands that are diligent at work and gentle with MacDuffs children and her animals. "It astonished me. It just came from the heart wit her and I've got to thank her every day," Bannister told CTV News Toronto with tears in his eyes, who added he used to do farm work about 40 years ago.
Every day he gets a ride to the farm where he helps MacDuff's family care for 200 animals including goats, cows, and horses. The friendship that grew over time between the two led MacDuff to set up a GoFundMe to help Brian get back on his feet, which raised nearly CAD $ 10,000 and was able to help him get his first shave and a haircut in two years as well as a new phone. MacDuff also helped organize some provincial financial support for Bannister.
MacDuff said, "If we could get everyone off the street ideally that would be my one wish, but it takes a lot of people to come together and that is what has happened for Brian. I think that's why we've come so far in such a short time. "
A Kenyan citizen has been selected as one of the winners of an international award for pioneering grass-roots efforts to protect iconic（标志性的）wildlife species at the Amboseli National Park, which borders Tanzania. Daniel Leturesh, a grass-roots wildlife conservationist（环保主义者），won the award from the International Fund for Animal
Welfare(IFAW) thanks to his three decades of protecting the natural habitats of iconic species like elephants and rhinoceros.
Leturesh has actively engaged communities to preserve wildlife habitats over the past three decades. "Conservation is hard work, there are many challenges I have faced to win space for animals. Even now we are in a period of drought but I am happy we have managed to get 40 percent of public land for wildlife in the Amboseli region,"Leturesh said in a statement released by IFAW in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
According to IFAW, Leturesh has been engaging local communities to preserve their lands and allow the free movement of wildlife in the Amboseli ecosystem. In addition, Leturesh has secured 26,000 acres for wildlife habitation by persuading 2,600 landowners to rent out their land through international and local conservation groups. Thanks to his continuing efforts, there has not been harmful development of wildlife spreading habitats within the Amboseli ecosystem, said IFAW. Other achievements include the establishment of Kitenden Conservancy which connects Amboseli and West Kilimanjaro wildlife shelters, added IFAW. He represented a local community that signed an agreement that will see landowners benefit from annual rent and ecotourism income, according to IFAW.
James Sawyer, the UK director for IFAW, said that Leturesh's devotion to preserving his native lands for wildlife paved the way for iconic species to boom under threats like habitat loss and climate change. Sawyer added that Leturesh's wildlife conservation model will help stop the decrease of iconic species that are key to sustaining （维持）rural livelihoods through tourism.
Scientists of the University of Antwerp and University of Liège have found how the human brain changes and adapts to weightlessness, after being in space for 6 months.
A child who learns not to drop a glass on the floor is an example of how the brain follows the physical laws of gravity to best function on Earth. Astronauts who go to space station live in a weightless environment, where the brain's rules about gravity are no longer applicable. A new study on brain function in astronauts has found how the brain's organization is changed after a six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The University of Antwerp has been leading this BRAIN-DTI scientific project through the European Space Agency. Magnetic resonance imaging（MRI）（磁共振成像） data were taken from 14 astronauts' brains before and several times after their mission to space. Using a special MRI technique, the researchers collected the astronauts' brain data in a resting condition.
In cooperation with the University of Liège, recent analyses of the brain's activity at rest found how functional connectivity, a marker of how activity in some brain areas is connected with the activity in others, changes in specific regions. "We found that connectivity was altered after spaceflight in regions which support the combination of different types of information, rather than dealing with only one type each time," say Steven Jillings and Floris Wuyts. "Moreover, we found that some of these changed communication patterns remained throughout 8 months of being back on Earth. At the same time, some brain changes returned to the level of how the areas were functioning before the space mission. "
The researchers are excited with the results, though they know it is only the first step in pursuing our understanding of brain communication changes after space travel. For example, we need to understand whether longer time spent in outer space might influence these observations, and whether brain characteristics may be helpful in selecting future astronauts or monitoring them during and after space travel.
Living a joyful life does not mean denying painful emotions. Instead, it means cultivating a mindset（心态）that prefers an optimistic view of the world. At the same time, it means developing healthy ways to deal with difficult emotions. Here are five reasons why joy is a powerful life choice.
Joy Improves Physical Health. In recent years, science continues to prove the link between emotional wellbeing and physical health. According to a study in BMC Cancer, researchers found that happiness and optimism may protect against breast cancer.
Joyful People are More Productive. Research by Harvard Business Review found that people who work with a positive mindset may improve work performance on nearly every level including productivity, creativity, and commitment.
. If you want to improve the relationships in your life, become a happier person. Positive psychology experts say that cultivating happiness through daily habits builds healthier relationships. When you have a positive outlook, you tend to approach the people in your life from a place of gratitude and love. This helps the other feel more valued.
Joy Boosts Creativity. Perhaps the typical miserable image of artists has led some to feel that misery may inspire art, yet this is not the recipe for creativity.
According to Scientific American, happy people are open to all sorts of ideas, and people are most creative when they are in a good mood.
Joy Creates More Joy!Well, it is also true with joy. When you surround yourself with positive people, you experience more happiness in your own life. By spending more time with happy people, you may feel happier, which inspires even more joy in those you meet!
A. Joy strengthens relationships.
B. Joy determines the quality of life.
C. The same goes for heart disease.
D. You have probably heard the phrase "misery loves company. "
E. Making joy a priority can pay off when it comes to your career.
F. Clinic practices show that cancer patients can be cured.
G. If you really want to inspire your creative side, you should inspire joy.
The Nigerian girls ran a great race in the women's 4 x 100m relay final at the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. They came from 5th position in the last 50 meters of the race to a(n)1 position at the finish line. Mary Onyali2 and crossed the line alongside a French competitor. Everyone in the stadium that day had3 that the French girl had won, except the Nigerian girls.
The4 of the race was re-run on the screen. The first two places for Gold and Silver were not5 ,but the third place was not clear. Both girls had crossed the line at about the same time. The last meter was replayed in6 motion. Frame（帧）by frame, the pictures moved and were7 at the very end to reveal less than a hair's breadth of a gap between Mary Onyali and the French athlete.
The Nigerian girls saw this and8 what had just happened. They had just become the first female medalists in Nigeria's Olympic history! There was a(n)9 inside the Barcelona Stadium. The stands burst into thunderous applause, cheers10 the girls as they raced around the stadium for their earned11 lap（圈）. Anyone watching the celebrations would12 have thought they were not the winner in that race, and that they were in third-place.
Those pictures of the celebration by the Nigerian girls have become one of the most13 in Olympic history, demonstrating in living color the spirit of the Olympics and of sport, that winning is14 only coming 'first' in an event. This is a fundamental 15 ,not just in sports, but in all of life.
TikTok on Thursday began letting users post videos up to three minutes in length to stay ahead of competitors. TikTok(believe) to have one billion users worldwide including more than 100 million in the United States, and is(especial) popular with young smartphone users.
"longer videos, creators will be able to create new or expanded types of content on TikTok, with the flexibility of a bit more space," product manager Drew Kirchhoff said in a post.
TikTok, is owned by China-based ByteDance, remains one of the world's most popular social media appsfaces competitors such as YouTube and others. Facebook-owned Instagram will be experimenting with video features(ride)the hot trend, chief Adam Mosseri said in a Twitter post. Video sharing and viewing is driving a lot of(grow) at online platforms, and Instagram needs to "lean into" it more, according to Mosseri. "We are no longerphoto-sharing app,"Mosseri said in a video(share) at Twitter. "There is some serious competition now. TikTok is huge; YouTube is even (big),and there are lots of other upstarts as well. "
Today was the finals of the Dance Competition. Our team of five had me as the lead dancer; then there was Grace, my best friend and Eric, a dance lover who is a master in perfecting our choreography（编舞）；and two talented twins，with such flexibility and grace on the stage that one cannot take their eyes off them.
We had found a perfect coach for our team. Jackie, a cousin of Eric's, worked in a dance school. She was a bit hesitant at first, but quickly agreed when she saw the progress we had made so far.
In the dressing rooms, there were so many other competitors preparing for their performance, rushing here and there.
Grace and I had changed into our costumes and were putting on our shoes when Eric murmured, " Who are they?"
We turned to follow his stare, among many people, four beautiful girls along with a lean boy had just walked in.
"They're first-rate!" cried Grace, "more like fashion models. "
They sure were. A look at the list of competitors told me they were from "Tweekverse", the most famous dance school in the whole country.
Jackie came up behind us, "Guys, it's time, come on. Let's go!"
"Oooh，do you get the vibe（氛围）？"Grace was excited. I could understand her，I didn't feel any less thrilled.
When we entered the concert hall, my jaw literally just dropped. It was massive. There were so many people. The four judges, who were seated at a large panel, did look very serious.
The competition started. The first performances were brilliant. One team had the neon（霓虹）theme，in which they wore shine-in-the-dark costumes and the whole place was dark. I was attracted to their impressive display. Obviously, everybody was. The judges' cards displayed the scores. They were marking out of ten.
The next performances were even better, but for us, they became more competitive. The group from Tweekverse was the best. Their costumes, charming faces and fascinating performance impressed everyone.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
It was our turn next.
I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the final score-9. 5 on the screen.
