I live in a small town of about 12, 000 people. Normally, the streets are busy with cars, the sidewalks are filled with pedestrians and the stores are filled with shoppers going about their business. My home is within sight of Victoria International Airport and we are used to the background sound of large passenger aircraft arriving and departing. Restaurants are usually crowded at mealtimes and friends visit back and forth frequently. However, life is different now.
Most stores here are now closed except for those such as grocery stores that supply an essential service. You can't have a meal in a restaurant now, although some are still cooking food you can take home. When I walk through downtown I can wander across the main street almost any time I please without much danger because there are so few cars. Even the airport is quiet because people aren't travelling as they used to.
We haven't been told if there are any actual cases of Covid-19 in our town, although I would be a little surprised if there weren't any. We have a fairly large proportion of our population made up of senior citizens who are likely to be affected by the disease. We have five or six long-term care homes for seniors here and the fear is that if the virus gets into one it will be disastrous.
There is no question but what the world has changed. We're lucky, in a sense, because we saw what happened in China and we learned from that experience. We know to stay at least two meters away from other people, we know to wash our hands frequently, to wear face-masks and to limit our time in those few stores that are open. It seems to be working and there is hope that we can soon beat this bug into submission (屈服) but, for now, it's a strange world. It also makes me wonder if this virus, like the flu virus, will mutate (突变) almost every year and turn the world into a series of situations like this.
Emma Li spent almost three years on China's '996 schedule': working from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, six days a week." I was deprived of all my personal life," says she. Usually, she had a small window to eat, shower and go to bed-but she sacrificed sleep to regain some personal time. Often, Li would stay up surfing the internet, reading the news and watching online videos until well after midnight.
Li was doing what the Chinese have called 'bàofüxingáoyè' — or 'revenge bedtime procrastination' (RBP). The phrase spread rapidly on Twitter in June after a post by journalist Daphne K Lee. She described the phenomenon as when "people who don't have much control over their daytime life refuse to sleep early in order to regain some sense of freedom during late-night hours".
Psychology may explain the reason why people would choose to regain this leisure time even at the expense of sleep. A growing body of evidence points to the importance of time away from work pressure. "One of the most important parts of recovery from work is sleep. However, sleep is affected by how well we separate ourselves from stress," says Sheffield University's Kelly. It's important, she explains, to have a rest when we can be mentally distanced from work, which would explain why people are willing to sacrifice sleep for post-work leisure.
In fact, experts have long warned that insufficient sleep is an ignored global public-health epidemic (流行病). A 2019 survey showed that 62% of adults worldwide feel they don't get enough sleep. People mentioned various reasons for this lack, including stress and their sleeping environment, but 37% blamed their heavy work or school schedule. Long hours at the office aside, another part of the problem is that modern working patterns mean people find it harder to draw boundaries between work and home.
Forget smart phones and smart glasses. One day, we might have smart tattoos (纹身). The company NewDealDesign came up with an idea for a product called UnderSkin. The device would look like a pair of tattoos on your palm and the side of your thumb, but it would actually be a very thin computer implanted just below your skin. It would draw power from your body's energy, and you could use it to unlock doors, monitor your health, exchange and store information, or even express your personality. UnderSkin is just an idea -you can't go out and get one -but the technology exists to make it work. "We assume it is about five years from being real," says designer Gadi Amit.
Writer and technology entrepreneurs Amal Graffstra already has a chip called a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag (标签) implanted in his hand. "I use it to log into my computer. I also use it to share contact details with people," he says. The chip is about the size of a grain of rice and responds to radio signals with a unique identification number.
If a computerized tattoo or embedded tag isn't crazy enough for you, what about a brain chip? The company Intel is working on technology that would let you control your devices with your mind. Dean Pomerleau, one of the researchers, explains, "We're trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves...Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts."
Do you think embedded chips sound cool or creepy? Some doctors are concerned about people hurting themselves while getting devices implanted. They argue that medical procedures are meant to heal sick People and not to give healthy people special powers. Others worry about hacking and privacy -could someone hack in and steal your identity, or even control your mind? On a more philosophical level if you e a computer inside your body, are your still human? Or are you a cyborg (半机械人)
What do you think-would you want a computer under your skin?
Some people all over the world enjoy an alcoholic drink, such as wine or beer, during dinner. Some people raise a glass of alcohol to celebrate a wedding or a birthday. And having drinks after work with friends and co-workers is called "happy hour". All these situations are considered "social drinking" because they happen at social events.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), alcohol abuse kills 3.3 million people each year. And in a new report on alcohol use around the world, the WHO says alcohol can create dependency, or addiction, in some people. The report also warns that alcohol use can increase the risk of developing more than 200 diseases, including some kinds of cancers. And, the WHO says alcohol abuse can put people at greater risk of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and HIV.
WHO Mental Health and Substance Abuse Director Shekhar Saxene says the organization is concerned about drinking among young people between the ages 15 and 19. The report concludes that worldwide 16 percent of drinkers over the age of 15 engage in binge-drinking, which is much more harmful than other kinds of drinking and causes the most harm in terms of accidents, self-harm and harm to others.
High income countries have the highest prevalence (流行) of binge-drinking. The report finds that the highest rates of alcohol-linked deaths are in Europe. The report also finds Europe is the area with the highest alcohol use. Central and Eastern Europe are especially high.
These include increasing taxes on alcohol sales, raising the drinking age limit, and controlling the marketing of alcohol beverages.
A. So, how can we protect teenagers from alcohol abuse?
B. But when does "social drinking" become problem drinking?
C. WHO suggests ways countries can protect people from alcohol abuse.
D. This is followed by the West Pacific and then the Americans.
E. High income countries have the highest alcohol consumption.
F. That is six percent of all deaths around the world.
G. And it is more concerned about "binge-drinking"—an extended period of heavy drinking.
An urgent call came into Jim's bar. A newly married woman, having spent the afternoon at the bar, couldn't find her 1 She didn't care about her cash 2 her wedding ring inside.
With the 3 to find the wallet, Jim spent hours 4 the security-camera videos, watching the woman's every step in the bar until she left. Several minutes later, a teenager approached the bench, and 5 something into his pocket.
Jim 6 the clip on Facebook. "I didn't want to 7 him," he said, "but to know who the guy was. a" Within hours, Jim got a text from a 17-year-old Peter. Peter 8 having taken the wallet and said he'd done it because he hadn't 9 for two days. He thought the ring was 10 , so he took the cash to purchase a sandwich and threw the wallet off the public docks (码头） into the ocean.
Jim called Peter to meet him at the docks. Deep in conversation, he 11 that Peter wasn't getting along with his family. Jim, a father of two kids, saw him for what he was: more of a kid than a 12 However, because of the missing ring, the police were already on the spot. Peter could be facing 13 and sent to prison. "I had to help him somehow." a voice 14 in Jim's mind.
He sought the ring in the strong current, but over 2 hours passed with no 15 of it. He hired local divers to 16 the waters where the wallet had been thrown. 17 a diver emerged. In his hand was the wallet with the ring inside. Cheers 18 from the bystanders. The 19 wallet owner dropped the charges against Peter for stealing the ring.
"Most people would have given the video to the police, and he chose to 20 me." Peter told CBS News." I say thank you to him every day. "
Nowadays, the number of American teenagers reporting feelings of depression has grown significantly.
A big new study suggests an (explain)-the rise of social media. With data (collect) from more than 50, 000 American teenagers, researchers found that those who spent lots of time (read) social media posts were more likely to agree with remarks such as "The future often seems (hope). " Those who used screens less were less likely to report feelings of depression.
This, in fact, is not the first time that scientists (find) that social media can rob people of their happiness. One study published in 2016 asked a (random) selected group of adults to quit Facebook for a week. It turned out that they reported feeling less depressed at the end of the week than those who continued using it.
Some research, , suggests that social-networking sites can promote happiness if used properly. This provides a reminder that it is users' attitudes shape their experiences on social media. Sarah, junior at a high school in Los Angeles says, "People only post what they want you to see, so it can seem that their life is better than (you). "But when asked if she has ever considered deleting her social media accounts, Sarah looks confused. "No. I would feel lost. "
Marty was new at school. Usually when you're the new kid, you lay low, but not Marty.
On his first day, he made a toothpick disappear. One second he was holding the toothpick, and the next second it was gone! Everyone was asking him how he did it. "It's magic! At my old school, they actually called me Magic Marty." Marty said proudly. "Is he serious?" I whispered to my friend Brian. "I don't know, but that was pretty cool, "Brian said, still watching Marty. I knew Marty's magic was fake, but I just couldn't prove it.
Another time, Marty pulled a water bottle out of his bag, along with a cup and carefully poured water into it. Marty got a handful of ice cubes! Applause filled the hallway. When asked how he did it, he just smiled, " Sorry, but that's the first law of magic. A magician never reveals his secrets. "
Well he won't have to, I thought to myself. I'll reveal his secrets for him.
That night, at home, I sat at the kitchen table for almost an hour, trying to figure out the trick. " At it again, honey?" My mom watched me wiggle (摆动) my fingers hopelessly over a cup of water. "He's tricking people!" I cried. " Sounds as if he's trying to make friends. "My mom patted my arm.
Magic Marty had me stumped (把…难住), but the next day I caught a lucky break. At lunch, Marty was going on about how he could make things float. He had a ring in one hand and a pencil in the other. That's when I saw it: a thin piece of fishing line tied around the end of the pencil and attached to a button on Marty's shirt! Sure enough, he made the ring "float" by sliding it over the pencil and hanging it from the line. No one else noticed, and soon the whole cafeteria was clapping. However, I wasn't.
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:
It was time to put an end to the Magic Marty show.
Paragraph 2:
"Wait!" Marty jumped in front of me.
