I had very good parents. My mother came to this country from Scotland by herself when she was 11, and she didn't have much of an education. My dad was kind of a street kid, and he eventually went into the insurance business, selling nickel policies (五分钱保险单) door-to-door. It was the 1930s, a time when America was a lot more racist (种族主义的) than it is now.
One day, my dad asked his boss, "What's the toughest market to sell?" and the insurance guy replied, "Well, black people. They don't buy insurance." My dad thought: but they have kids; they have families. Why wouldn't they buy insurance? So he said, "Give me Harlem." He went to Harlem and sold nickel policies there; every Friday, he would go around and collect the nickel and give his customers a receipt on the policy.
When my dad died in 1994, I talked about him when I was invited to The Tonight Show. I told the story of how he worked in Harlem and how he always taught us to be open-minded and not to say or think racist things. Then one day, I got a letter from a woman who was about 75 years old.
She wrote that when she was a little girl, a man used to come to her house to collect on policies, and he would always bring her a lollipop. She said this man was the only white person who had ever come to dinner at their house and the only white person she had ever had dinner with until she got to be almost an adult. The man was very kind to her, she said, and his name was Angelo - was this my father?
The letter made me cry. I called her up and said yes, that was in fact my dad, and she told me how kind he had been to her family. Her whole attitude toward white people was based on that one nice man she met in her childhood, who always treated her with kindness and respect and always gave her a piece of candy and asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. From this experience, I learned a valuable life lesson, to never judge people and to be open-minded and kind to others.
Imagine that you could rewind the clock 20 years, and you're 20 years younger. How do you feel? Well, if you're at all like the subjects in an experiment by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer, you actually feel as if your body clock has been turned back two decades. Langer did a study like this with a group of elderly men some years ago, redecorating an old New England hotel so that every visible sign said it was 20 years earlier. The men — in their late 70s and early 80s — were told not to just think about the past, but to actually act as if they had traveled back in time. The idea was to see if changing the men's mindset about their own age might lead to actual changes in health and fitness.
Langer's findings were shocking: After just one week, the men in the experimental group (compared with controls of the same age) had more joint flexibility and less arthritis in their hands. Their mental sensitivity had risen measurably, and they had improved posture. Outsiders who were shown the men's photographs judged them to be significantly younger than the controls. In other words, the aging process had to some extent gone in the opposite direction.
Though this sounds a bit woo-wooey, Langer and her Harvard colleagues have been running similarly inventive experiments for decades, and the accumulated weight of the evidence is convincing. Her theory, argued in her new book, Counterclockwise, is that we are all victims of our own stereotypes about aging and health. We mindlessly accept negative cultural cues about disease and old age, and these cues shape our self-concepts and our behavior. If we can shake loose from the negative stereotypes that strongly influence our thinking about health, we can "mindfully" open ourselves to possibilities for more productive lives even into old age.
Scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made: 8.3 billion tons. Looked at another way, that's as heavy as 25,000 Empire State Buildings or one billion elephants. And incredibly, almost all of it has been made in the last 65 years.
So what's the problem? Much plastic is in the form of packaging which is used just once and then thrown away. According to a major new study from the University of California, 9% of this is recycled, 12% is completely burnt and 79% goes to landfill. And because most plastic is not easily disposed of, once it's in the ground, it stays there.
It's a situation that has led the paper's lead author, ecologist Dr. Roland Geyer, to say that we are "rapidly heading towards ‘Planet Plastic'". The team behind this report also estimate that eight million tons of plastic waste are escaping into the sea every year. This has caused concern that plastic is entering the food chain, through fish and other sea life which swallow the smaller fragments.
Of course, the reason why there's so much plastic around is that it's an amazingly useful material. It's durable and adaptable, and is used for everything from yoghurt pots to spaceships. But it's exactly this quality which makes it a problem. The only way to destroy plastic is to heat or burn it -although this has the side effect of harmful emissions.
So what's the alternative, other than using less plastic? Oceanographer Dr. Erik van Sebille from Utrecht University says we're facing a "tsunami" of plastic waste, and that the global waste industry needs to "get its act together".
Professor Richard Thompson, a marine biologist from Plymouth University, says it's poor design that's at fault. He says that if products are currently designed "with recyclability in mind", they could be recycled around 20 times over.
Fast fashion is clothing's equivalent (等同物）to fast food - cheaply made, with low-cost materials, that are not built to last. However, the popular styles and low prices make us want to consume more, so we fill our closets with too many of those items which may end up in the trash before long. It's clear we need to rethink how we shop and dress. So what should we do?
Spend more to buy less. Consider setting a minimum price for the clothing you buy, in order to value it more. You'll save up, think long and hard before buying, and then be more likely to wear it for longer.
Shop secondhand. The resale market is developing fast and it has much to offer. The item already exists, and you're doing good by buying it, especially if you wear it for years. Secondhand stores are where you can pick up items like leather jackets, boots and cashmere sweaters.
Read the care labels, hand wash when necessary, hang dry most of the time, wash less ("airing out" as needed), learn basic repairs, deal with stains as soon as they appear.
Consider the end. Donate your clothes, sell them on an online marketplace, organize a swap with friends, or turn old outfits into cleaning rags. The businesses or charities receiving them are better positioned than you may be to sort, fix, and recycle as needed.
A. Take care of your clothes.
B. Like fast food, it's unhealthy all around.
C. Deal with the fast-fashion problem properly.
D. It's OK to give away less-than-perfect clothes.
E. There are many wonderful companies producing good and durable clothing.
F. You're extending the lifespan of clothing that would otherwise have been thrown away.
G. If you're an eager shopper, try skipping a week just to slow your consumption somewhat.
I got my first real job at age 12 as a waitress. And when I went on to college, it paid for tuition and housing and eventually, a 1. From the moment I picked it up, I was 2. All I wanted to do was take pictures. The week I finished college, I was 3 by a daily newspaper, and the two-year experience that followed was like a 4 class in photojournalism. This was perfect 5 for my future career at National Geographic.
On many assignments, the most 6 part turned out to be the transportation. Over the years, I traveled by horse, car, train, truck, and all sorts of old 7.I traveled by fishing boat in the Sea of Galilee, by sailboat in Sydney. I 8 in helicopters chasing bears in the Arctic. 9, taking beautiful pictures was always my 10
However, later in my career, I also wanted my pictures to 11 a real difference in people's lives. That is why I 12 portraits of people whose lives are better because of those who care about them. The photos are used in a variety of 13 products. The other issue that stole my heart was the 14, I have traveled all over the United States to photograph the last one percent of wilderness 15 here.
I am deeply 16 for my life in photography and the 17 lessonsit has taught me. I have learned that women really do 18 up half the sky; that judging others does great 19, but listening to them enriches; and that it is impossible to hate a group of people once you get to know one of them as a(n) 20.
Running may be the most effective exercise to increase life expectancy. According to new study, compared to non-runners, runners tended (live) about three additional years, even if they run slowly or (occasion) and smoke, drink or are overweight.
The 59(finding) come as a follow-up to a previous study a group of distinguished exercise scientists carefully checked data from a large number of medical and fitness tests (conduct) at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. That analysis found that as little as 5 minutes of daily running was associated with prolonged lifespans.
Some people asked if other activities, such as walking, were likely to be as (benefit) as running. Long-distance runners (wonder) if they could be doing too much, and if at some undefined number of miles or hours, running might become harmful and even contributed early death. And a few people questioned whether running really added to people's lifespans.
So for the new study, Dr. Lee and his colleagues set out to address related issues by analyzing data from the Cooper Institute also examining results from a number of other large-scale recent studies.
Zipping Out Of Fear
"Breakfast time!" I quickly put on my clothes and rushed down the stairs.
"Come on, we don't want to be late!" My mom said. The aroma of pancakes filled the kitchen, making the room warm. I looked out of the window. The sun was out, making a warm and bright morning.
"Today's the day, zip lining" My dad said, sounding very enthusiastic early this morning.
Today we would go zip lining. The excitement built up inside of me as breakfast went on. After breakfast, we set out in my dad's car. Half way through the ride, the sun grew hot, and the leather on the seats burned my legs. I thought about the trip, how my parents went but not me. It was my first time experiencing something like this. I also thought about my fear of heights, one thing I tried to get rid of multiple times. It got in the way of so many fun activities, like roller coasters at Kings Island.
We were basically there by now, the sun still blazing hot. We pulled up to a big sign where our instructor waited for us.
"Hi y'all!" said our instructor cheerfully.
"So, have y'all done this before?"
My parents nodded but I shook my head. Our instructor went over safety instructions while we each put on a safety harness. I started to get nervous. A never ending roller coaster of excitement and anxiousness built inside of me. I looked down the cliff. My heart skipped a beat when the wind howled, blowing leaves and twigs in the trees. My legs started to shake.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
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Paragraph 1:
"Alright y'all, time to hit the trails!" said the instructor with too much enthusiasm.
Paragraph 2:
My turn finally came.
