China's first panda-themed tourist train, known as the “Panda train” left Chengdu Railway Station in Sichuan's provincial capital for Zunyi in neighboring Cuizhou province on Sunday night. The train is decorated with giant panda images, and attendants carry panda toys and passengers can even try panda-shaped food. The “panda train” will start operation on March 28. It will serve on fixed lines and customized lines to connect tourist attractions in Sichuan and neighboring provinces.
In the future, the train will operate on a number of rail lines linking Chengdu and Chongqing, Chongqing and Guiyang, Shanghai and Kunming in Sichuan, Guzhou provinces and Chongqing municipality.
Ticket offer:
The three-day trip costs 1,280 yuan, including food, accommodation and entrance tickets to scenic spots in Guizhou.
Facilities:
The train, which doubles as a mobile star-rated hotel, can accommodate 252 passengers. It has a dining room, bar, karaoke room, dance hall and mahjong room. The 12 cars have individual rooms for two or four passengers, and each room has a washroom with a toilet and shower facilities.
The mahjong room might be the biggest attraction for passengers from Sichuan, whose people are known for their fondness of the game. There's an old joke that an airplane passenger bound for Chengdu can sleep soundly, only to be woken by the clicking of mahjong tiles in the city before landing. In fact, Chengdu is better known for its love of mahjong than its other attractions, such as the giant panda, Sichuan Opera and Sichuan cuisine, according to an online survey conducted by sohu.com two decades ago.
Booking information:
Tickets are only available in advance through Chengdu Railway International Business Travel Group website during the trial runs.
Jim Denevan is an amazing artist whose work is admired by all, but owned by none -- that's because all of Jim's art is created on an unusual canvas -- the soft sand. He sometimes spends days working on a piece, only to see it washed away by the sea or a storm and that is just the way he likes it.
Denevan discovered his artistic talents about ten years ago, when he was wandering aimlessly on the beach with a stick. He ended up drawing a 12-foot-long fish. Since then, Jim has traveled over 1,800 miles while creating over 600 pieces of sand art.
Over the years, his drawings have become bigger, but the tools he uses haven't changed -- All he needs is a stick, a garden rake and most importantly, his lively imagination!
Just like any good artist, Jim is quite particular about the “quality” of his canvas, sometimes walking for miles, in search of perfect sand. His latest piece of work, which is also the world's largest freelance drawing, was created in the desert sands of Nevada. It took Jim three trips, eight days and over 100 miles of walking to create this 3-mile work of art. It took the storm just one night to destroy it! However, Jim says he actually enjoys watching the waves or rain wash his paintings away.
Jim's art has become very popular over the years and was even the topic of a documentary named “Sandman” in 2005. Jim Denevan is not just about art in the sand -- he is also an excellent chef and founder of an organization called “Outstanding in the Field”, whose motto is to celebrate food at its source. Accordingly, group dining events are held outdoors on farms, with the diners being treated to a delicious meal. The events, which are held in different farms throughout America, are always sold out the minute the schedule is announced.
Teens and younger children are reading a lot less for fun, according to a Common Sense Media report published Monday.
While the decline over the past decade is steep for teen readers, some data in the report shows that reading remains a big part of many children's lives, and indicates how parents might help encourage more reading.
According to the report's key findings, “the proportion (比例) who say they 'hardly ever' read for fun has gone from 8 percent of 13-year-olds and 9 percent of 17-year-olds in 1984 to 22 percent and 27 percent respectively today.”
The report data shows that pleasure reading levels for younger children, ages 2—8, remain largely the same. But the amount of time spent in reading each session has declined, from closer to an hour or more to closer to a half hour per session.
When it comes to technology and reading, the report does little to counsel(建议) parents looking for data about the effect of e-readers and tablets on reading. It does point out that many parents still limit electronic reading, mainly due to concerns about increased screen time.
The most hopeful data shared in the report shows clear evidence of parents serving as examples and important guides for their kids when it comes to reading. Data shows that kids and teens who do read frequently, compared to infrequent readers, have more books in the home, more books purchased for them, parents who read more often, and parents who set aside time for them to read.
As the end of school approaches, and school vacation reading lists loom(逼近) ahead, parents might take this chance to step in and make their own summer reading list and plan a family trip to the library or bookstore.
As people are becoming more socially conscious about where their food comes from and how it impacts the planet, they are choosing animal-free plant-based options. Cow-free meat has been around for quite some time and the popularity of brands of the cultivated meat is rising. While there are a large number of plant-based milk substitutes, none of them have the same taste of cow's milk. Now, a food-tech company created real dairy products without harming a single cow or the planet.
The company stresses that their product produced in the lab is not a milk substitute but rather is the real deal. And it is very healthy. The company also says that the lab-produced milk tastes identical to the real thing and they hope to eventually replace cows by creating every dairy product sold. They expect to roll out plant-based cheese and yogurt in addition to milk. “Our company was founded with the mission to stop using animals to produce -our food because, as dairy lovers, we realize that giving up on milk is not an option,” John said. “But today's milk comes with an unreasonable price tag. The dairy industry is destructive to our planet, our health, and our animals, and is simply not sustainable anymore.”
The environmental price tag of dairy farming is way too high. According to the World Wildlife Fund, dairy cows add a huge amount of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and-contribute to global warming and climate change as well as pollute the air around them. Dairy operations consume large amounts of water and run-off of manure and fertilizers from these farms get into local waterways. The production uses only 5 percent of the resources and produces only 1 percent of the waste of producing cow's milk according to the company. And they accomplish this by being 100 percent cruelty-free unlike dairy farms.
“Communication is the most essential and sociable of all human behaviors”, which is absolutely true as for human community. Communication is the majority of everyone's social life. “Without communication, life would be as cold as a rock.”Because these certain conversations can make people attracted. Personally, we should consider the following three aspects to make good communication.
To start good communication, we can make certain adequate preparations, especially some relative questions.We can ask some questions to show our politeness, respect and sincere care. For example, have you been carrying on well recently? What do you favor in your spare time ? Remember to think again before you put forward a question.
The most important part of communication is to listen. Permit others to do most of the talking. Be patient and hold interest in their comments, making necessary gestures to show you are listening. Do not interrupt others when they express excitedly. Being a good conversationalist as well as a good listener will help you a lot.
Appropriate eye contact is like a great element of the main dish which makes it more delicious. During communicating with others, we should look the speakers in the eye kindly. It will help us to improve mutual (相互的) understanding. Do not hesitate to look into them. But you had better not stare at them and not look at them for too long.
A. Enjoy good communication, being friends with them.
B. It is usually said that eyes are windows to the soul.
C. It would make others feel uneasy and unwilling to continue talking.
D. They believe they wanna know and even convince us.
E. We should concentrate on others' saying and think in their shoes.
F. It is considered to be fairly comfortable to be asked fine questions.
G. Furthermore, good communication is an interesting attraction in our daily life.
A nine-year-old kid is sitting at his desk. Suddenly, there is a puddle (小水洼) between his feet and the front of his pants are 1.
He thinks his heart is going to 2 because he cannot possibly 3 how this has happened. It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out, he will never hear the 4 of it.
When the girls 5 it, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives. The boy puts his head down and 6, “Dear God, this is a(n)7! I need help now! Five minutes from now, I'm dead meat.”
8, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish 9 that is filled with water. She trips (绊倒) in front of the desk and unexplainably pours the water on the boy's 10. The boy pretends to be 11, but all the while is saying to himself, “Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!”
Now all of a sudden, the boy is the object of sympathy (同情). All the other children are on their hands and knees 12 up around his desk. It's 13. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else — Susie. She tries to 14 but they tell her to get out. “You've done enough, you klutz (笨手笨脚的人)!”
Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, “You did that 15, didn't you?”
Susie whispers back, “I wet my pants once too.”
Paul Grisham returned home from his 13-month assignment in Antarctica in 1968, his wallet didn't. Grisham, 91, joined the Navy in 1948 as a weather technician before being shipped to the frozen continent (work) as a meteorologist.
After five decades, Grisham was reunited with his wallet — which he forgot all about. Inside the wallet (be) Grisham's navy ID, driving license, a recipe, a tax with holding statement, and receipts for money orders sent to his wife. He was surprised by young he looked at his old ID card that was put inside. “It brought back (memory). Oh yeah, I had dark brown hair at that time,” the 91-year-old said a laugh.
The recovered wallet (find) by Stephen. Stephen saw the wallet in a shop and bought it. With the help of McKee's organization, he saw online post to help find the owner. (lucky), Grisham and his wallet were together again. Grisham said that his time in Antarctica was “ (usual) and memorable.” The temperature in the winter months would drop as low as -65 degrees.
As the mother of an eleven-year-old girl, I have read several books that tell parents how to bring up a girl to be beautiful, elegant, confident, and rich. However, I have always believed that girls need to be brave above all else, but this is easier said than done.
I still remember I couldn't see the screen directly when my daughter switched to the animal channel, which was broadcasting a show about snakes. I stood as far away from the TV as possible, too scared to open my eyes. However, my little angel was not scared of the snakes. In fact, she watched the show with a keen interest. I was relieved that my daughter didn't get too many genetic phobias(遗传恐惧症). Even to this day, she is still obsessed with challenging herself with new things.
This year, I got a chance to study in Singapore for six months. After the novelty of the first few days had gone, I found myself missing my family. With the summer vacation approaching, my husband agreed to make good use of the fact that I was staying in Singapore. He brought our daughter out to visit me and to enjoy the new experience in a new country.
The reunion day finally came. My husband and my daughter arrived in the second week of July. I was so looking forward to seeing them. I had made many preparations for their visit. On the first day, I arranged for us to see Gardens by the Bay. When we walked out of the MRT station, we were amazed by the sight of the Super Trees. When my daughter saw lots of people walking on the Skyway, she couldn't help shouting excitedly that she wanted to have a try. The Skyway is a 22-meter-high suspension bridge from which you can enjoy a birds eye view. Last time I came here with my friends, I firmly rejected their repeated attempts to challenge me to go up there. It was like the day with the snakes all over again. But could I really reject my little angel?
Paragraph 1:
My daughter was waiting for my reply.
Paragraph 2:
Halfway across the bridge, I had to stop.
