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Always something to celebrate
Edinburgh is the world's festival city. There are 12 festivals throughout the year, half of which are celebrated during the months of July and August.
Hundreds of thousands of people visit the Scottish capital during the summer. Here are some of the events they can enjoy:
The Edinburgh International Festival
This is the original Edinburgh festival, which began in 1947. Actors, musicians, dancers and opera singers from all over the world perform to huge audiences. You need tickets for most events which take place in theaters around the city.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (艺穗节)
This is the largest arts festival in the world with thousands of shows taking place across the city. More than 20,000 artists take part, as the festival is open to anyone. Visitors can choose from a huge variety of acts.
Join thousands of visitors and locals at the Royal Mile, Edinburgh's main street, to watch all kinds of performers and shows.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival
The largest book festival in the world began in 1983 and takes place every year in Charlotte Square Gardens, in the centre of Edinburgh. There are more than 700 events for children and adults who love books. You can meet many authors, talk to them, ask them to sign a book or listen to them talk about their stories. Children can listen to stories and watch illustrators (插画家) draw pictures.
The Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival
Music lovers come to this festival to enjoy music shows around the city. One of the highlights (精彩部分) of this musical event is the street carnival (嘉年华), which is free to all. Artists perform street theatre, dance and circus (马戏团) shows in amazing costumes, and everyone can join in the dancing.
Before I turned 10, I lost my parents. I lived alone in a room that a family member allowed me to use rent-free. To support myself, I began to deliver newspapers.
I would be up every morning by 5 am and walk five kilometers to the newspaper office. By 6 am, I would collect 50 copies of Urdu Daily — the bundle (一捆) must have weighed over 5 kilograms. My working area spanned (跨越) 3 kilometers. After distributing (分发) the copies, I would rush home — another 3 kilometers — quickly eat and be off to high school.
One morning when I got home after my deliveries, I found a boy my age at my doorstep. He introduced himself as Afzal and said his father wanted to see me.
I was greeted at the door by Afzal's mother, Naseem. She served tea and snacks as Afzal's father, Mr Kader, joined us.
Later, as I was about to leave after thanking them, Mr Kader asked me to wait. Naseem asked me, "How many miles do you walk every day?"
"A little more than six," I replied.
My reply shocked her. I saw Mr Kader emerge again, wheeling (推) a new bicycle. It was a Hercules, quite expensive in pre-Independence India.
"This is for you!" he said.
It took a few seconds for the love to sink in. It felt warm, like home, as if my mother were there for me. I didn't realize tears were rolling down my face.
Mr Kader said, "Your newspaper editor is a friend of mine. He gave me your address, so I knew you lived close by. Then Afzal told us more about you."
Confused, I asked Afzal how he knew so much about me. His reply surprised me. "Everybody, not just in school but the whole of Kachiguda, does!" he said.
I bowed, gratefully, shook hands with Afzal and left. This time I did not have to walk — I had the bicycle.
The bicycle saved my life for many years thereafter and taught me a life-long lesson: Help should always be need-based. Never try to feed a person who is dying of thirst.
The story of Santa Claus began hundreds of years earlier. During the fourth century, a Roman Catholic church official called Nicholas of Myra became famous for his many good actions. Nicholas was made a saint after his death and it became common in northern Europe to hold a celebration on December 6th, the day Nicholas died. All kinds of stories were told about saint Nicholas and the Dutch brought one of these stories with them to America. They believed that each year the saint rode a white horse from home to home. He gave presents to children who had been good, and coal or straw to children who had been bad. Other Americans who lived nearby greatly enjoyed the Dutch celebrations. They decided to make saint Nicholas part of their own celebration of Christmas. But he got a new name Santa Claus. It was taken from the Dutch words for Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus. The Dutch imagined Saint Nicholas to be a serious, even frightening person, who could punish as well as give gifts. But in 1822, an American named Clement C. Moore wrote a Christmas poem for his children, the poem called A Visit from St. Nicholas, created a completely new Santa Claus. Dr. Moore described a short, happy, little man who rode in an open sleigh. The sleigh was pulled from house to house by eight white reindeer. At each house Santa delivered gifts by dropping them down the chimney into the fireplace. Dr. Moore's poem was published in a newspaper in New York, in 1823. It soon became popular all over America and it became the source for the Santa Claus American children still believe in today.
An American artist named Thomas Nast also played a part in creating Santa Claus. Beginning in 1860's, Mr. Nast drew pictures of Santa Claus for an American publication called Harper's Weekly. These pictures showed a fat, smiling old man with a red nose and white beard. He was dressed in a red suit with white fur and a black belt. Today more than one hundred years later, that same Santa Claus can be seen everywhere at Christmas time.
You may have been told in the past that reading to your children can help their development. Now an organization is trying to stress it even more.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is now having doctors encourage parents to read aloud to their children, even at the earliest stages. They say it is an important part of the brain's development in the first three years of a child's life.
"Although reading to our children can be a simple thing, it has a huge effect on our children. It can encourage our children to read later on in life and give a good start to their education. It can enhance the vocabulary and other communication skills. We can continue to do something that doesn't take a lot of time and energy to tell the children that love of reading is so important when they are babies," said Dr Heidi Stoltenberg at Mayo Clinic Health System.
Reading to your children is very important. Stoltenberg said it is never too early to start. "It may seem kind of unusual because we don't necessarily think babies are at an age when you would read to them, but immediately when you come home from the delivery (分娩) of your baby is a great time to start that," Stoltenberg said.
Studies have shown that the poverty level plays a major role in parents who read to their children. Many times, that is simply because the families cannot afford books or other things to read. There are many resources (资源) in our area to help those families get reading materials. The United Way of Freeborn County, and many others across the region, have teamed up with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Many local hospitals, including Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin, also take part in Reach Out and Read.
A. Don't make up a reason for not attending.
B. It is considered rude to ignore an invitation completely.
C. Look on the invitation for the preferred method of contacting the host.
D. Respond in the manner requested as soon as possible.
E. Send a congratulatory note and a gift, if appropriate.
F. It's important to stick to your original decision.
G. Never send a typed response to a personal invitation.
I had a quick thirty-minute stopover in Detroit before heading home to Toronto. After1up the passage in a hurry, I realized that my gate was on the opposite end of the airport. Luckily, I got there with five minutes to2and stood waiting to be called.
I was tired and had a3scheduled right after I was home. But then came the4, "It seems we have overbooked the flight. Would anyone volunteer to stay for the5flight?" There were 100-plus people and not a6person said a word.
The next flight was in four hours. I7and saw businessmen needing to get home for work, mothers to see their kids, kids to see their friends, and more8, I saw people that needed to be helped. Even though I9to be home just as much as anyone, something inside me said that I should volunteer and offer some10to this group of strangers. The gate attendant (服务员) had said that the flight couldn't board until someone volunteered.
I picked up my bag, 11to the gate attendant and said, "I volunteer!" A big12spread over her face.
As she was13my ticket, I got my meeting rescheduled. The attendant14me my new boarding pass. All the15boarding their flight, I was happy that I had been able to16.
When boarding the plane, I was surprised to17that I was arranged (安排) to be seated in first class. How18I was for everything that had happened. With no thought of19, I gave with the intention to serve others, and that kindness was20to me with an upgrade to first class!
I live in Bangalore, India, the traffic is heavy for most of the day, and drivers can be pretty impatient.
When I was in Singapore about seven years ago, I stepped off the sidewalk (人行道) and (quick) jumped back upon seeing a car. To my (amaze), the car stopped. I waited. So did the car. Then, the driver waved at me to cross. That was an (forget) moment for me. A pedestrian (行人) was more important than the car — something we are just not used in India.
Now, I try to slow down as often as possible and allow pedestrians (cross), or even invite another car to go ahead of me. And I always wave when someone gives me space to go ahead.
In fact, another way of (create) goodwill is in airport queues or at the train station. I've found that the moment I step aside for the people in a hurry, they are always thankful, and often give me a smile or offer back what I (offer) them. There is an instant connection when we offer space for others.
In a busy world, the very same people will smile back at us when we offer kind gesture. Taking the time to give others the chance to go first (make) these small moments of connection that brighten my day.
Steve was the most amazing person in all of Minneapolis, and he was my cousin. By the age of 19, Steve was a star baseball player at the University of Minnesota. I wanted to be exactly like him. So when Steve asked me to go with him on a spring fishing trip in northern Minnesota, I was excited!
After planning the trip, we gathered clothes and supplies, and began our great adventure. We reached the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota by early evening. On our way to the campsite, Steve pointed to a small house faraway in one of the mountains, saying that it was the ranger station (护林站) where the forester worked.
Finally, after a long walk, we reached the campsite and set up the camp as the sun was setting. Steve knew all the tricks of an experienced wilderness camper. After we gathered enough wood from the forest, he started the campfire using only stone and steel — no matches. For supper we feasted on freeze-dried beef, wild rice and pea soup. I ate greedily after all that work.
Tired enough, we climbed into our sleeping bags early and talked about our plans for fishing the next day. We were still talking quietly when a sudden north wind picked up; the temperature dropped and it began to snow. Steve found a way to increase the temperature inside the tent. He dragged a log (原木) from the forest to the opposite side of the campfire. Then he wrapped aluminum foil (铝箔) around the log. The heat from the fire reflected off the foil and into the tent. Soon images of lake fish were filling my dreams.
The snow had stopped, but sometime later a powerful wind must have kicked up the flames of our dying fire. I was abruptly awakened by Steve. Our tent was on fire. Frightened, I ran out of the tent immediately. The tent collapsed (倒塌) with Steve inside. Without any thought of endangering myself, I reached into the burning tent and pulled him to the icy lake. Fortunately, we were not seriously hurt.
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Later, as we stood by the burning tent to keep warm, we considered our difficult situation. ……
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Suddenly, we heard a noise in the forest. ……
