As a young child, Ann Makosinski would spend hours experimenting with her toys and other everyday objects around her to create her own inventions.
Now a first-year Arts student, Makosinski is a well-known inventor and entrepreneur. She won the 2015 Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award of Excellence, recognizes innovative business solutions to social problems — the same recognition given to Barack Obama in 2014. Her own inventions. the Hollow Flashlight and the e-Drink. have been causing excitement internationally their creation.
At the age of 15, Makosinski created a prototype (原型) for a flashlight (power)by the heat of one's hand. This invention was the result of a ninth grade science project, but Makosinski's goal was (offer) a practical solution to people with unlimited access to power and clectricity.
"I'm half-Filipino and half-Polish, and one of my friends from the Philippines told me that she failed school she couldn't afford electricity. She had no light to study with at night. so that was kind of the inspiration, "Makosinski explained. 'I've always been interested in doing science projects, so I thought, why don't I find a way to provide her and a lot of other people with light?'"
The Hollow Flashlight is made from Peltier tiles(珀耳贴贴片) that produce energy when one side (heat) and the other side remains cool. The flashlight can produce a steady beam of LED light for 20 minutes, (use) only the warmth of the human hand.
Her advice to other student innovators?" Start now. There be nothing holding you back. Some students at colleges or even in high school think 'Oh, I'm a student. I just need to study,' may think it important to make friends and be social. The truth is, you can do a lot of other things. You can do you want. Just go ahead. "
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A. reassured B. specialize C. dwindle D. immortality AB. Assured AC. wreck AD. confined BC. split BD. Exceed CD. opposed |
When I was a child of seven years old, my friends，on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. I went at once to a shop where they sold toys for children. Being1with the sound of a whistle that I had seen by the way, in the hands of another boy, I handed over all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but 2all the family. My brothers and sisters and cousins, when I told of the3 I had made, said I had given four times as much as the whistle was worth. They put me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money，and laughed at me so much for my folly that I cried with vexation (烦恼) . Thinking about the matter gave me more 4 than the whistle gave me pleasure. 5 this was afterwards of use to me, for the impression continued on my mind, so that often, when I was 6to buy something I did not need, I said to myself. "Don't give too much for the whistle." and I saved my money. As I grew up came into the world, and 7 the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who "gave too much for the whistle. "
lf I knew a miser (守财奴) who 8every kind of comfortable living. all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow citizens and the joys of friendship. 9 gathering and keeping wealth — "Poor man, " said I. "you pay too dear you're your whistle. " When I met a man of pleasure, who did not try to improve his mind or his fortune but10 devoted himself to having a good time, perhaps neglecting his health, "Mistaken man.
you are providing 11 for yourself，instead of pleasure: you are paying too dear for your whistle. "If I saw someone fond of 12, who has find clothes, fine houses, fine furniture, fine earrings, all above his 13, and for which he had run debt, and ends his career in a prison. "Alas." said I, "he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle. "14, the miseries of mankind are largely due to their puffing a(n) 15value on things — to giving "too much for their whistle."
BEUING (Associated Press美联社)—China has a growing middle class, a tradition of expecting education and 21 million new babies every year. Selling educational toys should be easy.
While China may be the world's biggest toy maker, many of the best are exported. Department stores here do not have enough high quality toys. It is said that the demand for educational toys is low. A US company Baby-Care, is trying to change that with a new way to sell toys in China.
Baby-Care works basically together with doctors in Beijing hospitals. People who join the company's "mother club" can get lectures and newsletters on baby and child development at no extra cost, if they agree to spend 18 dollars a month on the company's educational toys and childcare books.
"We want to build a seven year relationship, with those people," said Matthew J. Estes, Baby-Care's president. "It starts during pregnancy, when the anxiety and needs are highest. "Baby-Care works on a one to one basis. Doctors, nurses, and teachers paid by Baby-Care advise parents, explain toys that are designed for children at each stage of development to age six.
Baby-Care opened its first store in China last June in a shopping center in central Beijing and another near Beijing Zoo. It plans to have 80 stores in China within six years.
It is a new model for China and develops a market in young children's education and health that no other companies are in.
China's domestically developed. long-acting experimental AIDS drug is undergoing a final review by the China Food and Drug Administration, the last stage in the approval process.
Different from traditional oral drugs that require daily use. Albuvirtide is an injection solution that can be administered weekly.
In developed countries，oral AIDS drugs are very efficient, but it's a heavy burden for patients to take medicine every day for years. As a result, long-acting drugs are the future direction in developing innovative AIDS medicine. For Chinese patients, the number of oral drugs available in the domestic market is very limited, so there is an urgent need for drugs to solve the problem of drug resistance.
Zhao Yan, a treatment specialist at the National Center for AIDS said seven or eight oral drugs for AIDS are currently provided to patients for free. "The injection solution could given an alternative to patients…if it could be included in the country's health insurance system," she said.
"Now very few patients are using drugs from the health insurance system, both because no differentiated drugs are provided and because the procedure is more complex and could harm their privacy," she said. "New drugs will be broadly used only if the system can embrace more varieties of drugs."
Albuvirtide went into the research and development stage in 2002 and entered phase three of clinical trials — a step to assure safety and effectiveness before market approval - in 2014. Phase three is the last round of clinical trials for new drug tests in China. If the drug can pass the reviews of the country's drug watchdog usually at least two rounds, it can then enter the market. The time needed for the review ranges from months to years.
Clinical trials showed that the new drug performs even better than the oral drugs being used. Most of the oral drugs for AIDS being used in China are generic drugs developed in the 1970s and"'80s that are not so efficient. In terms of safety and effectiveness, evidence so far showed that Albuvirtide is better than most second-line drugs — drugs used when first-line standard drugs fail-- in developed countries because of lower toxicity and fewer side effects.
Worldwide, a number of long acting AIDS drug are in development. None has been approved for sale. Only Albuvirtide and a few in the United States have entered phase three of clinical trials
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A. That turned out to be not exactly correct. B. But Buchanan warned against such an assumption. C. But a number of business organizations say it should remain untouched. D. But what works for a clothing company might not work for a different one. AB. Raising the minimum wage is identified as a key way to address the income gap. AC. For opponents a wage increase, increasing the minimum wage could reduce total employment by about 500, 000 jobs. |
More Clarity Needed on Wage Debate
These days, the minimum wage has become something of a big issue in America. For supporters. 16. 5 million low-wage workers could see an increase in their weekly earnings and 900, 000 people could rise above the poverty line.
Gap Inc, has decided to increase the minimum hourly rate it pays employees to $9 this year and then $10 next year. The company's announcement will effect 65, 000 Gap employees by 2017. Clearly Gap officials believe the money they invest in higher wages will pay off in increased sales and customer satisfaction. There's certainly nothing wrong with that.
Also last week, Wal-Mart found itself at the center of the wages gossip when it was reported that the company was looking at supporting an increase in the minimum wage.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said the company remains neutral on the idea of a minimum wage increase, but "obviously it's something that we look at closely, as any other company would". She said that more than 99 percent of company associates are paid above the current minimum wage. It has been discussed how increased income for low-wage workers might translate into increased spending. So it's reasonable to say that a company like Wal-Mart could see a jump in sales if the minimum wage rose.
"That is assuming that consumer behavior would be, 'If they have more money, they'll spend more money," she said. "That isn't always necessarily true. If we had a crystal ball, we could guess what consumer behavior would be in the future if a minimum wage increase goes through. But you just can't. "
Moving My Curfew
For some time now, I have had no 8:00 p. m. curfew - the time by which I have to be at home, even on weekends. When I was younger, I didn't really complain. But now I have reached an age when this curfew is no longer suitable. For several reasons, it is clearly time to move my curfew to10:00 p. m. on weekends.
First of all. I'm soon going to be an adult. Like all teenagers. I need practice handling the greater freedom that goes along with being an adult. When teenagers don't get practice handling freedom, they often make many serious mistakes. For example, some teenagers go away to college and suddenly they don't know how to handle it, and they get into trouble. I believe it is better to increase freedom gradually. That way the teenager learns how to handle freedom responsibly. I believe I could handle a later curfew without making serious mistakes in judgment.
A later curfew is also important to me because I'm an active student. As you know, I am often on the committee in charge of running many extra-curricular activities. Because of my present curfew, I have to finish school activities over an hour before they are over. Other students must take over for me when I leave. A 10:00 curfew would allow me to stay until the end of school functions and give me enough time to get home without rushing.
Finally, I am a teenager who can be trusted to handle a l0:00 p. m. curfew. I know that many teenagers cannot handle much responsibility. However, I am clearly not that kind of teenager. I have proven myself to be a very responsible person. For example, I have never been in serious trouble, either at school or in the community. I also hold a part-time job and still manage to maintain a "B" average in school. In other words, I am a person who uses my time wisely, meets responsibilities and stays out of trouble.
