An urgent call came into Jim's bar. A newly married woman, having spent the afternoon at the bar, couldn't find her wallet. She didn't care about her cash but her wedding ring inside.
With the determination to find the wallet, Jim spent hours going through 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 slipped something into his pocket.
Jim posted the clip on Facebook. “I didn't want to punish him,” he said, “but to know who the guy was." Within hours, Jim got a text from a 17-year-old Peter. Peter admitted having taken the wallet and said he'd done it because he hadn't eaten for two days. He thought the ring was fake, 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 learned 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 criminal. However, because of the missing ring, the police were already on the spot. Peter could be facing charges and sent to prison. “I had to help him somehow.” a voice echoed in Jim's mind.
He sought the ring in the strong current, but over 2 hours passed with no sign of it. He hired local divers to search the waters where the wallet had been thrown. Fortunately, a diver emerged. In his hand was the wallet with the ring inside. Cheers erupted from the bystanders. The grateful 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 help me.” Peter told CBS News. “I say thank you to him every day.”
Dear Audrey,
You are much older now, and hopefully wiser, although sometimes that's not the case. You have probably forgotten about me.
I'm 12-year-old you struggling with anxiety, hating online learning, in this terrible Coronavirus（冠状病毒）.
I'm writing a letter to you that I hope you read every year on New Year's Day, or New Year's Eve.
I've come from 2020 to remind you not to forget. I am sitting on my bed right now, tears still on my face from a fight with my mom (I love her more than anything or anyone, but we've spent too much time together), and looking at the light blue masks hanging on the hooks next to the door in my kitchen. In a way, it still feels like March, when this whole crazy thing started. I'm sick of it.
I am begging you to remember. I didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with my beloved grandparents, when I'd been waiting so long to act normally with them. Now, it looks like I won't be spending Christmas with them normally either. In America (where I live), the Coronavirus numbers are higher than they've ever been. I am hoping and am going to pray for a Christmas miracle, but I have my doubts because I hoped for an Easter miracle and that didn't happen.
I am struggling and would do anything to get out of 2020 and this Coronavirus, to see my friends and family normally. You are able to do that. You have what I want so badly. So please, I urge you to enjoy your life, your friends, your family, your experiences.
Remember — everything is replaceable and unimportant, but people are the only true thing that matters in this modern-day world.
Love your life, and be filled with joy this year.
Sincerely,
You, aged 12, Audrey in 2020, the Pandemic Year.
Fitness tracking devices (健康追踪装置) often suggest we take 10,000 steps a day. But the goal of taking 10,000 steps, which many of us believe is scientific, in fact comes by accidents and history rather than research.
The 10,000-steps target became popular in Japan in the 1960s. A clock maker, mass-produced a pedometer(计步器) with a name that, when written in Japanese characters, looked like a walking man. It also translated as “10,000-steps meter,” creating a walking aim that, through the decades, somehow has been accepted widely.
But today's best science suggests we do not need to take 10,000 steps a day for our health or longevity. A 2019 study by Dr. Lee and her colleagues found that women in their 70s who take as few as 4,400 steps a day reduced their risk of early death by about 40 percent, compared to women completing 2,700 or fewer steps a day. The risks for early death continued to drop among the women walking more than 5,000 steps a day, but benefits plateaued(处于停滞状态)at about 7,500 daily steps. In other words, older women who completed fewer than half of the mythic(神话的)10,000 daily steps tended to live longer than those who covered even less ground.
Another study last year of almost 5,000 middle-aged men and women found that 10,000 steps a day are not a requirement for longevity. In that study, people who walked for about 8,000 steps a day were half as likely to die early from heart disease or any other cause as those who walked 4,000 steps a day.
According to recent estimates, most adults in Western nations average fewer than 5,000 steps a day. The good news is that increasing our current steps by even a few thousand additional ones most days could be an achievable goal, Dr. Lee said. If, like many people, we currently take about 5,000 steps a day during the course of everyday activities like shopping and housework, adding the extra 2,000 to 3,000 steps would take us to a total of between 7,000 and 8,000 steps most days, which, Dr. Lee said, seems to be the step-count sweet spot.
With less children in a British family, the population of the UK has been decreasing for quite a few years.
The size of the British workforce (劳动力) is declining. One of them is that British people are having their children at a much older age than previously. Most young People today choose to go to university first and build up work experience before getting desired jobs.
Many young people are forced to stay with their parents early in their careers. So it's not until people are about 30 years old that they can afford to buy their own home, and then they can start to think about settling down and having children.
So a British person gets a job, gets a home and gets married. The major reason is that it is expensive to bring up a child in the UK. Usually both parents need to work to cover their living expenses, which means they then need to pay someone to look after their child during the day, such as nanny (保姆) or nursery school.
In addition uncertainty in the global economy often affects British family size. In face of an economic downturn, young British find it more difficult to find jobs or keep their existing ones. .
To save the British family, the government is taking active measures. There are also laws allowing parents to take more time off work so that they can look after their children themselves rather than having to pay others to do it.
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A. This prevent them from having larger families. B. There are a number of reasons accounting for the worrying trend (趋势). C. It is important to raise people's awareness of saving the British family. D. It is difficult for parents to balance life and work. E. Expensive houses also play a part. F. For example, by increasing monthly Child Benefit money and offering government subsidy (津贴). G. Why isn't he or she then having at least two children on average? |
In one of my management classes I sit in the same seat in the front every day. Now, I also1next to a foreign guy that speaks2English. The only complete sentence I've heard this guy say in English is “Wow, my muffin is really good.” This guy also has a habit of3his own things in the exact space I sit. His bag, his food, his books, and his phone are4right on my desk space.
Now, every time I walk into class this guy says “Ah, Tom. You here. Okay.” And starts quickly5my desk of his things. He then makes it a habit to say “Ready for6, yeah?” And gives me a high five.
Every day this guy7me a high five. I was always angry with him. But today I came to class and was running a few8late. I was standing outside because I had to9a quick text. I could see my usual space through the door out of the corner of my10.Of course, my desk was11with his things. The usual. As I was standing there on my12,another guy who was also late13into the class before me and14to take my seat since it's closest to the door. The guy sitting next to me15him from sitting down and said, “I'm sorry. My good friend Thomas sits here.”
It was then that I16this guy wasn't putting his things on my seat to 17me. He was saving me the18every morning. And this whole time he saw me as a19but I was too busy thinking about myself to take him into consideration. From then on, I make it20to say, “Ready for class, yeah?” and gives him a high five.
Born in 551 BC, Confucius, (know) in China as Kongzi, has made the greatest contribution to Chinese culture in history. He liked China's history and read all (sort) of books about China. These books helped him think of ways his government could be (good). The end of the Zhou dynasty caused a big change in China. Confucius watched it happen. He observed how poor lived. He watched as their harvests failed. He saw the government abuse（滥用）its (powerful). Confucius wanted to help those in need. He wanted to end wars and fighting. He devoted his life to this cause. (want) to change things, he hoped for a job in the government. But Confucius could not get the job he wanted. No one in the government would listen to him. They were not (interest) in virtue. They knew Confucius's ideas would ruin the way they lived. So, Confucius talked to those around him about his thoughts were later called his philosophy. Over the last 2,000 years, his philosophy (continue) to influence China and the rest of the world. It is also considered the symbol of Oriental（东方的）Culture.
