Looking for educational and inspiring books for your children? You cannot miss these tales of surviving in the wild.
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur RansomeA tale of a joyful childhood summer spent sailing in the Lake District of England, this novel is based on Ransome's own family. Two groups of children each have their own sailboat, and spend the summer defending against an imagined enemy, camping, fishing, and exploring, while trying to catch their enemy's boat.
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David WyssInspired by Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Wyss decided to write a story about how a Swiss family survived a ship accident and made a new way of life on an unexplored island in the East Indies so that his four sons could learn about basic family values, the use of the natural world and self-reliance. Morals aside, it's a great thrilling story.
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-porterPoor, unpopular Elnora Comstock grows up in the dangerous but beautiful wetlands of northern Indiana, building an unusual life. She loves wildlife more than anything. The book was written as a protest against logging(伐木), drilling for oil(钻井油) and drying up rivers for agriculture that were taking place in the Limberlost Swamp.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'DellThe main character, Karana, is a woman left on what's now called La Isla de San Nicolas, just off the coast of California. She struggles in the strange conditions, experiences natural disasters and lives alone on the lonely island. Her story is inspired by that of a real woman who spent 18 years alone on the island.
"I have cancer." Mom said and held me in a tight hug. I could feel her chest shaking as she tried not to cry but failed.
For all of my twenty-four years, my mom had been supportive. Strength and protection had always flowed from her to me. Now I knew it would have to flow the other way.
Mom didn't stay down for long. After the shock of breast-cancer, she armed herself with a notebook and a pen and a thousand questions for the doctors. She took notes on white blood cell counts and medications with long names as though she were studying for entrance exams into medical school. "The not-knowing is the worst." she said.
The operation was successful. The chemo (化疗) was the harder part. I went with Mom to every chemo treatment. She rarely complained, though her hair was gone and her toenails and fingernails fell out one by one. She joked that she could save money on nail polish (指甲油) and put it toward the doctor bills, even though she never wore nail polish. "Cancer can take my hair, my nails, my health, my very life. But it can't take my smile." Mom said.
Mom learned to share her fears with me, and it formed an even deeper bond between us. Yet I am certain there were fears she didn't share because she was still protecting me—worries she only shared with Dad. Even in the darkest hours, she would just joke about the cancer. Mom always said, "When you look your greatest fear in the eye and laugh at it, you take away some of its power."
Mom was one of the lucky ones. She did beat her cancer, though not without scars. From her, I've learned I may not get to choose what I face, but I do get to choose how I face it.
Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving. On this day, crowds of shoppers flood into stores all over the country to take advantage of the season's biggest holiday bargains. But the real story behind Black Friday is a bit complicated.
The most commonly repeated story behind the post-Thanksgiving shopping-related Black Friday tradition links it to retailers (零售商). As the story goes, after an entire year of operating at a loss, recorded in red ink, stores would supposedly earn a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving, because holiday shoppers blew so much money on discounted products. Though it's true that retail companies used to record losses in red and profits in black when doing their accounting, this version of Black Friday's origin is not an accurate story behind the tradition.
The true story behind Black Friday, however, is not as sunny as retailers might have you believe. Back in the 1950s, police in the city of Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos (混乱) that happened on the day after Thanksgiving, when tens of thousands of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city before the big Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year. Not only would the police not be able to take the day off, but also they would have to work extra-long shifts dealing with the additional crowds and traffic.
The term didn't spread to the rest of the country until much later, however, and as recently as 1985 it wasn't in common use nationwide. Sometime in the late 1980s, however, retailers found a way to reinvent Black Friday and turn it into something that reflected positively on them and their customers. The result was the "red to black" concept mentioned earlier. The Black Friday story stuck, and pretty soon the term's darker roots in Philadelphia were largely forgotten.
"Baby signing" classes established to improve language skills actually make little difference to children's development, according to new research. Scholars claimed(声称) there was no evidence that the lessons—in which babies are taught simple gestures to communicate their everyday needs—enable children to talk quicker than others.
In a threeyear study, it was claimed that the method could make mothers more responsive to their children's behaviors but failed to actually increase babies' vocabulary. An active home environment in which parents regularly talk to their children was much more effective, researchers warned. The findings will cause doubt on the movement—born in the United States—which has proved hugely popular among middleclass parents.
Baby signing is now a multimillion pound industry, with thousands of mothers and fathers paying for classes, books and DVDs. Young children are taught simple gestures for words and phrases to communicate their everyday needs, such as "milk" "more" "all gone" "food" and "tired". It is claimed that the technique brings great benefits, including improving the relationship between mother and child, helping language development and even increasing a child's intelligence.
But research from Hertfordshire University has found no evidence that using baby signing helps to improve their language development. The scholars added, "Baby signing has become big business and mothers, particularly firsttime mums or less confident parents, feel the pressure to do it. Some even think ‘if I don't do it and everyone else does, I must be a bad mother'."
However, baby signing experts hardly sustained the findings. Wendy Moat, 45, who has been running baby signing classes for three years, said that the classes encouraged speech development, and may help develop a higher IQ. She said, "So many mums say that their children talk so well because they did baby signing when they were babies. Parents wouldn't say it if they didn't believe it."
How to Reduce Gift Wrap (包装) Waste
Wrapping paper may have "paper" in its name, but that doesn't automatically mean it can be recycled. Try these suggestions for cutting down the amount of wrapping paper you throw away.
Reuse what you have. It's reported that the U.S. produces 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper annually, and 2.3 million pounds of that stays in people's homes, awaiting reuse.
Use different materials. Select basic brown thick paper that can be made up with a bow, ribbons, leaves or markers. Repurpose(改变用途) newspapers, old posters and children's school artworks as wrapping paper. There are lots of other eco-friendly alternatives to wrapping paper that are just delightful and celebratory.
Use baskets fabric, gift boxes or bags, tea towels, and more to contain and display your presents. Learn the Japanese art of wrapping, using beautiful knots(绳结) to fasten colorful, reusable fabrics in attractive ways. This way, you'll have no wrapping paper waste to deal with.
Ask for better paper. Shops store what customers want, and recyclability should be a top priority, so let that be known when you're out shopping. As explained by Simon Ellin, CEO of the Recycling Association in the United Kingdom, "It's a campaign we've been on all year — do you really need to design a non-paper wrapping paper? Make paper with recycling in mind!"
A. Try zero waste.
B. Shop with that in mind, too.
C. You don't have to choose shining paper to decorate a present.
D. In fact, many types of wrapping paper cannot due to their materials.
E. When wrapping paper is extremely thin, it has few good quality fibers for recycling.
F. Wrapping paper can be used many times if care is taken to unwrap it without tearing.
G. Having a mix of recyclable and non-recyclable papers is a real problem for companies.
It was nearly dinner time when my 5-year old daughter rushed into the house. Tears rolled down as she 1her two hurt arms. I tried to persuade her to2 ， as that was the fourth time she had crashed that day. I told her that children of her 3usually rode with training wheels (辅助轮). But she 4 my advice and as soon as the bandages (绷带）were stuck on her 5, she headed back out the door.
I watched from the kitchen window as she6time after time. I wanted to run out there and make her stop, 7I couldn't. I would have to let go. 8, she had agreed to wear her brother's helmet and knee pads (护膝).
Later that very evening, as I was washing the remaining dishes, I heard my daughter shout 9 to me. I rushed outside and sighed with 10 to see that she was riding down the driveway with both her
11 held high in the air." Look，Mom，no hands!" she said,12 as she rode by.
I suppose there will be many times to 13when my daughter will need me to simply14. Although it won't be15 , I'll always remember how she taught me sometimes" no hands" is best.
It was at the 2012 ISU World Figure Skating Championships that I first saw Japanese figure skater Hanyu Yuzuru. He competed in free skating with piece of music from Romeo and Juliet. I was (immediate) attracted to his amazing performance along with the expressive music.
Yuzuru has been an (inspire) for me in my years as a senior high school student. In his career so far, he (experience) countless difficulties and injuries. In 2014's ISU Grand Prix, he was badly hurt on the ice due to a collision. Even though he was bleeding, he still insisted on(compete) with no regrets. What's more, in the 2018 Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, he couldn't even walk because of a problem with the ligament (韧带) in his right ankle. But he ended up winning the championship and then (award) the gold medal.
Despite suffering asthma (哮喘), Yuzuru has always trained hard. He bravely overcomes obstacles so he can dance on the ice and live life to the (full). From 2012 to 2021, I have been inspired by his spirit, has helped me push forward no matter what.
(face) with homework and sliding grades, I watch videos of Yuzuru skating over and over again in search of hope and perseverance. After all, he succeeded against so much uncertainty. So how could I not face my own problems?
