In most cases, mice definitely don't appeal to people in real life. But when they appear in films, it will be totally different.
Stuart Little in Stuart Little
Stuart Little is a 1999 live-action science-fiction comedy adventure film, based on 1945 novel of the same name by E. B.White.
Stuart is a mouse but can speak like humans. Despite his little size, the talking white mouse is never afraid to be himself and try big things.
Alvin, Simon, and Theodore in Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin, Simon and Theodore are three mice in Alvin and the Chipmunks, a 2007 American live action musical comedy film. The tree that they live in is cut down and driven to Los Angeles. There, they meet David Seville, a struggling songwriter and composer, who has changed them into a very successful band of singers.
Remy in Ratatouille
Remy is a highly intelligent and idealistic young rat in the 2007 American computer-animated comedy film Ratatouille. With unusual senses of taste and smell, he dreams of becoming a chef like his idol (偶像), the late Auguste Gusteau.
He befriends Linguini, the garbage boy, in Suguste Gusteau's restaurant and has helped him become a famous cook. He hides under Linguini's hat and guides his movements by pulling on his hair.
Totoro in My Neighbor Totoro
It is hard to relate the character in the Japanese animation film My Neighbour Totoro to any creature close to a mouse. But the image for Totoro was inspired by something similar to a mouse-chinchilla. The animation film was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 1988.
Totoro becomes a friend to many children as well as adults. It always reminds people of the beautiful natural landscape of the countryside.
As the birthplace of kites in the world, Weifang, Shandong province of China, produces beautiful, vivid, colorful and high-quality kites. Now, more than 70% of kites in the world are exported from Weifang. If you want to see various shapes and sizes of kites covering the sky, you cannot miss the Weifang Kite Festival held on the third Saturday of every April.
But this year, tens of thousands of Chinese participants gathered in Weifang, from Sept 26 to 29 for the 37th International Kite Festival. Held since 1984, the International Kite Festival is an annual event to "exhibit the excellence of the kite lovers to the public," according to the festival's website.
During the festival, kite lovers can enjoy stunt (特技表演) kite flying, also known as aerial ballet. Controlled by either a single person or a group, the kites form different shapes in the air. People always devote a lot of time and wisdom to making their own kites. From animals that crawl (爬行) on the ground or swim in the water to legends like Monkey King, everything can fly in the sky at the festival. One of this year's highlights was the giant kites decorated with images of medical staff and the Long March 5 rocket, which reflect the hot topics this year.
"Flying a kite is like flying your dream. All the cultural symbols from ancient and modem times can be found in the sky of Weifang," noted Medium. After more than three decades of development, the festival has become a place to appreciate kites. But most importantly, it serves as a unique cultural event to promote international exchange.
For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents' point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents' complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I'll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen's hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child's failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn't matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they'll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
Staying positive through the cold season could be your best defense against getting sick, a new American study suggests.
In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny character were less likely to fail ill.
The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a "positive emotional style" can help ward off the common cold and other illness.
"People with a positive emotional style may have different immune (免疫的) responses to the virus," explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "And when they do get a cold, they may interpret their illness as being less severe."
Cohen and his colleagues has found in a previous study that happier people seemed less likely to catch a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional quality itself had the effect.
For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality qualities, physicals health and "emotional style".
Those who tended to be happy, energetic and easy–going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense and hostile（敌意的）had a negative style.
Afterwards, the researchers gave them nose drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus that causes flu-like symptoms. Over the next six days, the volunteers reported on any aches, pains, sneezing they had. Cohen and his colleagues found that happy people were less likely to develop a cold.
What's more, when happy folks did develop a cold, their symptoms were less severe than expected based on objective measures.
In contrast, people with negative characters were not at increased risk of developing a cold based on objective measures, though they did tend to get down about their symptoms.
"We find that it's really positive emotions that have the big effect," Cohen said, "not the negative ones."
So can a bad-tempered person fight a cold by deciding to be happy?
How we feel about ourselves can influence how we live our lives.They're more likely to ask for help and support from friends and family when they need it. People who believe they can accomplish goals and solve problems are more likely to do well in school. Having good self-esteem (自尊心) allows you to accept yourself and live life to the fullest.
If you want to improve your self-esteem, here are some steps
●View mistakes as learning opportunities. Accept that you will make mistakes because everyone does. Mistakes are part of learning.
●Try to stop thinking negative thoughts about yourself. If you're used to focusing on your shortcomings, start thinking about positive aspects of yourself that outweigh them.
●Try new things. Experiment with different activities that will help you get in touch with your talents. Then take pride in new skills you develop.
●If you realize that you're unhappy with something about yourself that you can change, then start today. If it's something you can't change (like your height), then start to work toward loving yourself the way you are.
●Take pride in your opinions and ideas. Don't be afraid to voice them.
Tutor a classmate who's having trouble, help clean up your neighborhood, or volunteer your time in some other way. Feeling like you're making a difference and that your help is valued can do wonders to improve self-esteem.
Self-esteem plays a role in almost everything you do. It takes some work to develop goad self-esteem, but once you do it's a skill you'll have for life.
A. Make a contribution
B. Why is self-esteem important?
C. How can you increase your self-esteem?
D. Aim for accomplishments rather than perfection.
E. Recognize what you can change and what you can't.
F. People with good self-esteem have better relationships.
G. Each day, write down three things about yourself that make you happy.
Last night my husband and I were walking in a nearby parking lot, when we saw a man bent over on the ground, crushing something with a rock. He was so1 on his task that he didn't look up at anyone passing by. We kept noticing him and2 what he could be doing.
3 we decided to go up and ask him. He was crushing pieces of leftover bread that he had4 to prepare food for the birds that come there early morning. The large pieces of bread would be5 for the birds to eat, so he crushed them into powder. Every6 , after coming home from his job, he goes around the villa collecting leftover bread.
He then eats a quick meal and comes here, and spends the next 1-2 hours7 crushing each piece and makes a neat pile for the birds. He has been doing this for the last 3-4 years. What8 us more was that he was9 that we were even taking an interest in this, since for him it wasn't a big10 .
When we asked him what encouraged him to do this act of11 , he said, "It's just something12 I do, so that the leftover bread doesn't go into the rubbish and the birds get food." We13 his story with the hope that it would14 us to be aware of leftovers too and that it might15 someone to start something similar in their own area.
The geography of the Arctic Circle makes it a tough place to call home. In the winter, the nights(length) until the sun barely shines. In the extreme north, the ground is permanently frozen. The hardy Inuit(因纽特人) (be) the native people of northern Alaska, Canada and Greenland.(traditional) , they hunted Arctic animals for food, especially caribou(驯鹿) , seals and whales. The Inuit used animal skins for clothing and for shelter.
Most traditional Inuit(family) had both a summer and a winter home. During the summer, many Inuit lived in tents(cover) with caribou or seal skins. In the winter, some Inuit built snowhouses, provided shelters from freezing temperatures. They could constructsnowhouse in about two hours. To begin, they cut hard-packed snow into blocks. The blocks were from 2 to 3 feet long and 1 to 2 feet wide. Next, the blocks(pile) together perfectly into a spiral(螺旋形) . The spiral was wound upward in smaller and smaller circles to form the dome-shaped(圆顶形的) home. On top of the dome, a hole was cut out to provide fresh air. Finally, the Inuit dug an entrancethe snowhouse.
Today, most Inuit live in modern housing. But the tradition of(build) snowhouses is still passed down from one generation to another.
It was a cold December day. After saying goodbye to his neighbour, David, Tom set out for a run with his dog, Taz. As a professional athlete, Tom often went for training runs by himself and had done this particular route many times before, but that day something unusual happened to him.
About an hour later, Tom hit some black ice. He found himself slipping down the rock face, which became steeper (陡峭的) and steeper until suddenly he was in free fall. He fell 60 feet into the canyon (峡谷) , landing on grass and dry branches. If he'd missed them, there was, no way he would have survived. He could feel his legs, so he knew he wasn't paralyzed (瘫痪的) but he was in great pain. Taz had managed to find his way back to Tom, so Tom knew there must be a way out of the canyon, but he couldn't stand or even crawl (爬). He later learned that he had broken his right leg.
Tom shouted for help, and tried to pull himself forward. Every inch was an effort. It took him five hours to go a quarter of a mile. Eventually it got so dark that he couldn't see where he was going. He decided to stay next to a river which he could drink some water from. All he had on him were his jogging clothes, a water bottle, two boxes of medicine, a bar of chocolate, and a shower cap which adventure racers often wear to prevent heat loss.
At night, the temperature dropped below freezing. Tom couldn't go to sleep or he would die, so he stayed awake lifting his head a few inches over and over. Throughout the night, Taz curled up next to him and kept him company. The next morning, he couldn't move any more. He tried to stay positive. He was sure somebody would find he was missing or hear him screaming for help. But there was nobody around.
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As time went by, Tom felt himself growing weaker and he knew he must take action.
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About three hours later, Taz returned and Tom heard an engine in the distance.
