Four Most Popular Books
Emily's House
by Amy Belding Brown
Margaret Maher works as the servant in the family home of poet Emily Dickinson, cleaning, cooking, and defending her hostess from prying (窥探) eyes. Margaret's special voice brings this novel to life; it's a viewpoint full of honesty, humor, and clever observations.
All In
by Billie Jean King
The tennis champion writes about her life with self-awareness, while not underplaying her role as a trailblazer (先驱) for women's rights. She isn't satisfied with her younger self for feeling a need to hide her sexual identity to safeguard her career, and touches on the damage that
secret caused.
Pastoral Song
by James Rebanks
English sheep farmer and writer James Rebanks offers a sustainable method for raising animals, preserving habitat, caring for the environment, and helping small farmers all at the same time.
Agatha of Little Neon
by Claire Luchette
This is a novel about desire and sisterhood, figuring out how you fit in (or don't), and the unexpected friends who help you find your truest self.
Agatha is one of four young nuns (修女), who tend to the residents of Little Neon, a house in Rhode Island. She has lived every day of the last nine years with her sisters: they work together, laugh together and pray together. Their world is contained within the little house they share. The four of them are devoted to Mother Roberta and to their quiet, purposeful life.
At almost every Olympic Games, one athlete is named as the greatest star, and good-natured debates follow for years to come. Usually, there's no certainty about who is really the most memorable one.
But in 1948, everyone who attended the London Olympic Games agreed on who was the greatest legend: Fanny Blankers-Koen, a 30-year-old Dutch housewife.
Before the Games, many people suggested she was too old to succeed, while others said she should stay at home with her children. When she arrived at the track, she pointed at one of them and said simply, "I'll show you."
And she did it.
Fanny Blankers-Koen won the 100m race with ease. With an Olympic gold medal to her name, she wanted to give up and return home because she missed her children so much. But her husband, Jan Blankers, who was also her coach, asked her to stay. The hurdles (跨栏) gold came next, followed by a championship in the 200m, which she won by 0.7 seconds — a huge margin (差额) that has not been matched since.
Blankers-Koen celebrated those victories with a big shopping tour, and only arrived back at the stadium ten minutes before the start of the 4×100m match. Without any warming up, she ran the last leg. When she started to run, the Dutch were in the third. But Blankers-Koen won the race by a foot.
If she hadn't been limited (限制) by the IOC rules to four events, she could have won two more golds. IOC rules forced her to drop two of her strongest events, the long jump and high jump, both of which she held the world record.
On her return to the Netherlands, Queen Juliana gave her a bicycle, saying she wouldn't have to run so much.
But she kept running until she finished her sport life as an athlete in 1955 with a 58th championship and went to three more Olympics as a coach.
In 1999 when she was honored the greatest female athlete of the 20th century, Blankers-Koen asked, "Is it really me?" When she got a positive answer, she jumped up and did a little dance.
Have you ever thrown a camel? Camels are large and heavy animals, so it would be hard to do so. But in the French-speaking Democratic Republic of the Congo, "to throw a camel" is a way of saying "to make a spelling mistake". In the past, a phrase like that was not accepted by the French government as an official French term. But recently, the French Ministry of Culture worked on a new kind of dictionary that accepts the idea that many people in other countries and regions speak the language. The language has changed over time and is different in places like Ivory Coast in West Africa or Quebec in Canada, compared to how it is in Paris.
The new online French dictionary includes new French words from around the world. It was released (发布) on March 18 — just in time for International Francophonie Day on March 20. After its release, it is updated (更新) on a regular basis. It now contains about 600,000 terms. The French Culture Minister says the dictionary is not just for France's 67 million citizens, but for the 300 million French speakers worldwide.
Supporters say the new dictionary is more democratic (大众化的) than earlier French dictionaries that only showed the way highly educated French people spoke. Official dictionaries produced by the French Academy in Paris were first published hundreds of years ago and are regularly updated. The online dictionary, however, has a new part you cannot find in a book. If you live in Senegal, for example, you can search the dictionary, and it will give you the meaning of a word based on its use in that country.
"The French no longer have a monopoly (独占) on French," a French magazine that supports the dictionary wrote recently. "And that is good news".
The sun is setting, brightening your kids' faces as they play in the waves. You reach for your phone for this perfect moment. But before you do, here's a bit of surprising science: Taking photos is not the perfect way to keep memory as you think.
Taking too many pictures could actually harm the brain's ability to keep memories, says Elizabeth Loftus, a psychology professor at the University of California, Irvine. So we get the photo but kind of lose the memory.
Photography "outsources" memories. It works in two ways: We either shake off the responsibility of remembering moments when taking pictures, or we're so distracted (分散注意力的) by the process that we miss the moment altogether.
The first explanation is the loss of memory. People know that their camera is recording that moment, so they don't try to remember. Similarly, if you write down someone's phone number, you're less likely to remember it offhand because your brain tells you there's just no need. That's all well and good — until that piece of paper goes missing.
The other is distraction. We're distracted by the process of taking a photo — how we hold our phone, composing the photo, such as smiling faces, the background to our liking and clear image, all of which uses up our attention that could otherwise help us memorize.
However, taking photos can benefit memory — when done mindfully. While taking a photo may be distracting, the act of preparation by focusing on visual (视觉的) details around has some upsides. When people take the time to zoom in (拉近镜头) on specific things, memories become strengthened.
Another benefit is that we recall moments more accurately (准确的) with the photos. Memory has been reshaped with the help of new information and new experiences. Thus, photos or videos help us recall moments as if they really happened.
Memories die away without a visual record backing them up. Therefore, a photo is an excellent tool to help remember when done purposefully, which is worth exploring further.
There's a question about maths you can hear in high schools all around the world, "Why on earth are we learning something that we'll never use in real life?" Computers can help us do the maths, and the rest of the topics will only be useful for the expert-to-be. So why do we study maths at all?
The teacher might answer, "Classes aren't supposed to teach you formulas (公式). " It is an answer I can totally agree with, but how does maths "teach you to think"?
In many ways, explaining how you get to the result is more important than the result itself. Using mathematical logic (逻辑) to solve problems provides just the right tools.
Make sure you understand the problem before trying to solve it. Or, you can work backwards. When the job is to prove a given supposition (推测), examining the result might help in finding the evidence.
In real life, setting goals can be a powerful tool for finding a way to reach them. Write the question down, and keep making it simple until it becomes clear.
A. Maths is supposed to teach you to think.
B. If you can't solve the problem, solve a simpler one.
C. A great deal of high school maths has little practical use.
D. Solution lies in using mathematical tools for real-life problems.
E. Maths helps broaden students' view instead of sharpening mind.
F. Solving difficult problems is the way we'll make use of maths in real life.
G. The next time you see a difficult real-life problem, use the tips above.
Dylan Virtudazo is a little boy living in Houston. With his 7th birthday party 41 because get-togethers were not allowed at that time, he received some 42 instead of beautifully packed gifts. 43 , he was uncertain about what to do with that. But when his teachers asked students about their New Year plans, it 44 to him that he could use his birthday money to
45 the homeless and buy them some other things.
"He's always been like that," said Dylan's mother, Nancy. She 46 a time when Houston was under a hurricane (飓风) watch and Dylan showed her a handful of coins, saying he had a
47 to give them to the victims (受害者) for hurricane supplies. During trips to the 48 , Dylan always makes sure that if he gets candy, so do his brothers and sisters, 49 they don't come to the store. That 50 attitude led Dylan to create "blessing bags" for homeless Houstonians.
Extra 51 from teachers gave him enough money to 52 50 of them. The "blessing bags" contain 53 like masks, water and snacks and a sincere message, "You matter!" On New Year's Day, Nancy and her children drove to homeless shelters to give 54 the bags. People there accepted the bags 55 — some even cried.
Dylan's act was 56 , but it made a big difference, helping 57 the homeless people's holiday. Nancy said, "We are so 58 of him. I hope his story never 59 and that he continues to set an example to his generation. We adults need to 60 the seed of love put in kids' hearts — for a better future."
Qingdao International Beer Festival has become a major event in the beautiful city. The first festival took place in 1991. It is now held once a year from the end of July to the end of August, (last) for about one month. Qingdao is the (large) beer production base in China and the festival provides a great chance (show) the city's unique characteristics.
a history of over 30 years, Qingdao International Beer Festival is a nationally (recognize) event, and combines together tourism, culture and sports. As one of the most important (festival) of China, it has a worldwide reputation and attracts millions of people to take part every year. More than 100 brands from all over the world (join) in the event over the past 16 years successfully. Every year daily performances are given at the Beer Town's Center Theatre, colorful fountains, hi-tech laser shows and dramatic audio effects excite audiences. Whether walking on the roads, shopping in the local stores even catching a ride in a taxi, you will constantly hear people talking about the festival.
(obvious), after 16 years of development, the festival has become part of local people's daily lives.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，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。
I had been dreaming of have a pet of my own. Therefore, my parents thought it was an burden and didn't agree with me. One day, I came across a homeless dog that itself looked worn out and in great pain. I get close to it and found its ankle hurt badly. Seeing this, I carefully picked it out and took it to the doctor's. Just after three day, the dog recovered. To my delight, my parents finally allowed me raise it. We got along really well but became good friends. Whatever I went, my dog always kept me company.
