Passing through the Atlanta airport one morning, I caught one of those trains that take travelers from the main terminal to their boarding gates. Free, and impersonal, the trains run back and forth all day long. Not many people consider them fun, but on this Saturday I heard laughter. At the front of the first car – looking out the window at the track that lay ahead – were a man and his son.
We had just stopped to let off passengers, and the doors were closing again. "Here we go! Hold on to me tight!" the father said. The boy, about five years old, made sounds of sheer delight.
I know we're supposed to avoid making racial distinctions(种族歧视) these days, so I hope no one will mind if I mention that most people on the train were white, dressed for business trips or vacations.
As I got off, I remembered something I'd wanted to buy in the terminal. I was early for my flight, so I decided to go back.
I did – and just as I was about to reboard the train for my gate, I saw that the man and his son had returned too. I realized then that they hadn't been heading for a flight, but had just been riding the shuttle.
"I want to ride some more!"
"More?" the father said, mock-exasperated(嗔怪模仿) but clearly pleased. "You're not tired?"
"This is fun!" his son said.
"All right," the father replied, and when a door opened we all got on.
There are parents who can afford to send their children to Europe or Disneyland, but the children turn out rotten. There are parents who live in million-dollar houses and give their children cars and swimming pools, yet something goes wrong. Rich and poor, black and white, so much goes wrong so often.
"Where are all these people going, Daddy?" the son asked.
"All over the world," came the reply. The other people in the airport were leaving for distant destinations or arriving at the ends of their journeys. The father and son, though, were just riding this shuttle together, making it exciting, sharing each other's company.
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant is a winner in retirement, too. The former Los Angeles Lakers star won an Oscar in the animated short category for "Dear Basketball," a poem he wrote after ending his 20-year career on the court in 2016.
He'll add it to an already jammed trophy collection that includes five NBA championships with the Lakers, two Olympic gold medals, NBA Finals most valuable player awards, a league MVP award and four All-Star game MVP awards.
As executive producer, Bryant accepted his golden Oscar statue from "Star Wars" star Mark Hamill on Sunday night. He shared the award with Disney animator Glen Keane.
Among those offering their congratulations via Twitter were Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Bill Russell and Shaquille O'Neal, Bryant's former Lakers teammate who admitted, "I'm jealous!"
Since hanging up his basketball shoes, Bryant has thrown himself into business (a new Nike shoe) and various forms of storytelling.
"As basketball players, we're told to shut up and dribble," Bryant said on stage. "I'm glad we did a little bit more than that."
He thanked his wife, Vanessa, and his three daughters, naming each of them. He spoke a few words of Italian — a language he learned as a child growing up in Italy — and closed by telling them, "You are my inspiration."
Little New Year (Chinese: Xiaonian), usually a week before the lunar New Year, falls on Feb 8 this year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity(神) who oversees the moral character of each household. Here are six things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.
⒈Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God
One of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, who will report on the family's conduct over the past year. The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig's head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat. Most of the offerings are sweets of various varieties. It is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God's mouth and encourage him to only say good things about the family when he ascends to heaven to make his report.
⒉House cleaning
According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities' timely departure people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their houses, down to every last drawer and cupboard.
⒊Eat Guandong candy
Guandong candy, a sticky treat made out of glutinous millet and sprouted wheat, is a traditional snack that Chinese people eat on the Festival of the Kitchen God.
⒋Paste paper-cuts to windows
In the Little New Year, old couplets and paper-cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year's posters, and auspicious(吉利的) decorations are pasted up.
⒌Bath and hair-cut
As the old Chinese saying goes, whether they're rich or poor, people often have a haircut before the Spring Festival. The activity of taking bath and haircut is often taken on the Little New Year.
⒍Preparations for Spring Festival
People start to stock up necessary provisions for the Spring Festival since the Little New Year. Everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.
Make sure your estate(财产) plan keeps up with life changes
Few things are as important as estate planning. If you don't handle your business while you're alive, the ramifications(影响) can run deep and wide long after you're gone.
Estate planning may seem discouraging because it deals with issues of aging. Or maybe you think estate planning is only something folks like Bill Gates do. It's for everybody. Here's how.
What's an estate plan? Think of estate planning as a set of legal documents that spell out who gets your possession when you die, who you want to make medical decisions, who should make financial decisions on your behalf, and more.
This is not a one-shot deal. It's great that you finally got your will done, have your medical directives in place, and gave someone power of attorney. Life is changing. Your documents should keep pace with change.
“Remember to update beneficiaries on life insurance policies after the first spouse(配偶) dies,” says Martin Levine, chief financial officer for 4Thought Financial Group in Syosset.
Get help. This is one time when DIY probably isn't a good idea. Talk to a financial adviser, preferably one with expertise in estate planning.
Don't assume that establishing joint tenancy (sharing ownership in personal property, such as a home) or joint ownership over financial accounts is enough to protect your assets.
A. Make no assumptions.
B. But, you're hardly finished.
C. Decide to do it, and to avoid unexpected consequences.
D. It is difficult to choose a right heir before your death unless they are your closest ones.
E. Ideally, it will make things easier for your heirs(后继人) at a time when they most need it.
F. Finding a reliable agency to deal with your possessions is a wise choice when planning estate.
G. The birth of a child and divorce are other life events that will require updating estate planning documents.
Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy – they're given after all. Choice can be 1.”
I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact 2 the Internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew 3 fast, and the idea of building an online 4 with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I 5 for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to 6 my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most start-ups don't, and I wasn't sure 7 to expect. MacKenzie told me I 8go for it. As a young boy, I'd been a garage inventor. I'd always wanted to be a(an) 9, and she wanted me to follow my passion.
I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very 10 people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books 11. He took me on a long walk in Central Park,12 carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, 13 it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job.” That logic 14 to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours 15 making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a(an) difficult 16, but finally, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted （纠缠）by a decision to not17at all.
After much consideration, I took the less 18 path to follow my 19, and I'm proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our 20.
Over the years I have been teaching kids about a simple but powerful concept —— the ant philosophy ( 哲学 ), an (amaze) four part Philosophy.
First, ants never quit. If they are heading somewhere and you try to stop them, they will climb over. They will climb under or climb around. They never quit (look) for a way to get where they (suppose) to go! Second, ants think about winter and summer. They are always gathering their winter food in the middle of summer and they are making(prepare) for the long cold winter. So you have to think about storms in summer and think about rocks you enjoy the sand and sun. Third, ants think about summer all winter. During the winter, they remind (they),” This won't last long and we will soon be out of here.” On first warm day, the ants are out. If it (turn) cold again, they will dive back down .But they come out again if it is warm. Last, how much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All that it (possible) can. you can learn from the ant philosophy is: Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can!
Jack, a clerk at the local bank, was wandering alone on the street. It was a cold, silent winter night. His mind was on his wife Linda, who had been in a car accident two months ago and was now lying in a hospital bed, waiting for more money for her operation. Jack had sold everything he had, and he had tried his best to borrow money from all the people and banks he could. But the real world is cruel.
A large amount of money was still needed. To Jack, it would mean a great deal of suffering to see his wife die without any help. "I have only one option left, "Jack said to himself. Then he went to the bank, his workplace, again. For several days, he observed the bank and planned a theft.
The next day, he went to work as usual. Everything seemed normal: he joked with his workmates and helped his clients as he always did. But no one noticed that he had brought a bigger suitcase to work, instead of the small one he always carried. At 5：00 pm, the bank closed, and the clerks and the guards had all gone home. However, at that moment, Jack was in the bathroom, and the guards didn't notice him, of course. When the noises coming from the street were replaced by silence and everything turned dark, Jack came out from the bathroom. He first cut the lines of the alarms and monitors with tools from his new suitcase.
He was all too familiar with the equipment since he had been working there for 8 years and had been studying the security system for the past 30 days. Using a special key and some other tools, he then easily opened the doors of the safes. The bank's security system wasn't very good, which allowed Jack to take a lot of money. Several minutes later, Jack left the bank with a heavy bag filled with money.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：
After Jack had been gone from the bank for a while，the alarms began to ring.
Paragraph 2：
But the most unlucky man was the manager of the bank，an old man.
