Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne is a hotspot travel destination, and it's easy to see why with its beautiful beaches and busy city life.
Why it's a great choice: Australia as a whole is considered a safe destination for international travel, and because of that, many solo travelers go there. As an Englishspeaking country, you won't be faced with any language barriers. Melbourne is easy to get around because you can walk or bike practically anywhere!
Thailand
Thailand is great for solo travelers—perhaps because it is one of the Buddhist mindsets, which promote equality among the sexes.
Why it's a great choice: Thailand is known for its friendly atmosphere, and as a travel hotspot, there are plenty of chances to meet other likeminded travelers. Well known for being very cheap, especially in the north. A good choice if you want to get away on a budget. Thailand has a lot to offer, from the partycentral Bangkok to beautiful beaches and tropical (热带) jungle.
Hong Kong, China
Hong Kong is a great place to relax for solo travelers as it is full of "Zen moments," such as beautiful gardens and Tai Chi classes.
Why it's a great choice: Hong Kong is regarded as one of the safest cities in the world. If you're not welltraveled, or perhaps a bit tired of things like language barriers, Hong Kong is a great place to start, as it mixes both Eastern and Western at the same time.
Bali, Indonesia
Bali is a spiritual place with yoga, spas, healthy food and beaches. The combination of friendly people and splendidly visual culture has made Bali Indonesia number one tourist attraction.
Why it's so great: You won't be the only solo traveler in Bali. Everyone is known for being extremely friendly and you're sure to meet some amazing characters along the way. As a Hindu island, Bali is the perfect place for a relaxing and spiritual retreat (静修). The Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud is fantastic—if you like monkeys, anyway.
In the fall of 1985, I was a brighteyed girl heading off to Howard University, aiming at a legal career and dreaming of sitting on a Supreme Court bench somewhere. Twentyone years later I am still a brighteyed dreamer and one with quite a different tale to tell.
My grandma, an amazing woman, graduated from college at the age of 65. She was the first in our family to reach that goal. But one year after I started college, she developed cancer. I made the choice to withdraw from college to care for her. It meant that school and my personal dream would have to wait.
Then I got married with another dream: building my family with a combination of adopted and biological children. In 1999, we adopted our first son. To lay eyes on him was fantastic—and very emotional. A year later came our second adopted boy. Then followed son No.3. In 2003, I gave birth to another boy.
You can imagine how fully occupied I became, raising four boys under the age of 8! Our home was a complete zoo—a joyous zoo. Not surprising, I never did make it back to college fulltime. But I never gave up on the dream either. I had only one choice: to find a way. That meant taking as few as one class each semester.
The hardest part was feeling guilty about the time I spent away from the boys. They often wanted me to stay home with them. There certainly were times I wanted to quit, but I knew I should set an example for them to follow through the rest of their lives.
In 2007, I graduated from the University of North Carolina. It took me over 21 years to get my college degree!
I am not special, just singleminded. It always struck me that when you're looking at a big challenge from the outside it looks huge, but when you're in the midst of it, it just seems normal. Everything you want won't arrive in your life on one day. It's a process. Remember: little steps add up to big dreams.
Doctors have a new weapon in the battle against obesity—a talking plate that tells people not to eat too quickly. The Mandometer monitors the amount of food leaving the plate, and tells users, "Please eat more slowly."
The ￡1,500 Swedish device is to be used in a National Health Service plan to help hundreds of obese families lose weight. It comes in two parts—a scale placed under the plate and a small computer screen showing a graphic (图表) of the food gradually disappearing as the user eats. A red line on the screen shows the user's eating speed, while a blue line shows a healthy rate. If the user eats too fast, the red line angles away from the blue one, warning him or her to ease off. If the lines deviate (偏离) too much, the computer voice comes on, and the screen flashes the message "Are you feeling full yet?" to remind users to think about whether they have had enough.
Britain has an increasingly serious obesity problem, with one in four adults and one in seven children classed as obese. After a recent trial using the device, experts believe teaching obese people to eat more slowly will help them know when they are full. Around 600 families with at least one obese parent and child (aged five or older) were targeted in the project by Bristol University, along with GPs and nurses.
Professor Julian HamiltonShield, who is leading the plan, says obese children and adolescents using the Mandometer ate from 12 to 15 percent less per meal at the end of the 12month trial. Six months after they stopped using the device they still ate less, and continued to lose weight. "It will be a powerful tool to help families retrain their eating habits." he says.
We know more about the surface of the planet Mars than we know about what is at the bottom of Earth's oceans.
Until recently, scientists had mapped only about 20 percent of the sea floor. But our knowledge of the deep seas is changing because of information from satellites. Scientists have produced a new map that provides a detailed picture of the oceans. The map is expected to help oceanographers, industry and governments.
The new map is twice as detailed as the map made 20 years ago. David Sandwell is a geophysics professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California. He and other scientists worked on the mapping project. He says they turned to space to look deeper into the ocean. He spoke to VOA on SKYPE.
"The way we're doing that is to use a satellite altimeter (高度计), a radar to map the topography (地貌) of the ocean surface. Now that seems sort of strange that you'd map the topography of the ocean surface when you really want to get at the sea floor. But, the ocean surface topography has these bumps and dips due to gravitational effects that mimic what's on the sea floor."
The scientists collected and studied information from two satellites. Some of the data came from the European Space Agency's Cryo2 satellite. It was placed in Earth's orbit to watch sea ice. The other satellite is the American space agency's Jason1. It is studying the surface of the oceans. Scientists combined the satellite data with images gathered by sonar equipment on ships. Sonar works by sending sound waves through the water. When the sound waves hit an object, its presence is confirmed.
"That enables us to look at smallerscale features and also features that are buried by sediments in the ocean basins."
The new map shows the sea floor as it has never been seen before. It shows thousands of underwater mountains and places where continents pulled apart. It shows where earthquakes were active many years ago. They all are buried deep underneath the ocean floor.
In one place, three mountain ridges join at the same area. Huge tectonic (构造的) plates can be seen clearly there.
Teenagers are especially likely to suffer loneliness. Here are some suggestions for speeding a recovery from loneliness.
Reach out to others, but start small. A smile and a friendly greeting for the student behind you in line at the cafeteria won't make you best friends. It also can make it easier to interact the next time.
Find a safe place to make connections. If going to the school dance makes you feel like you just don't belong, try joining a specialinterest group. Maybe it's the drama club or the marching band.
Find other ways of making connections. Lonely people hunger for acceptance and friendship. Sometimes feeling accepted and liked comes more easily when you do something for others.Teach a child in reading. Take notes for a disabled classmate. You might be surprised at the connections you make after reaching out in these ways.
Loneliness is an absence of quality friendships, not of a particular quantity of friends. That's why it's important to know how to select a friend. The best friendships are those based on similar values and attitudes.
You get what you expect, so expect the best. If you expect others to be friendly, you will behave in similar ways.
It goes away as teens learn how to find their way through their social world and connect with others.
A. But it will make you both feel pretty good.
B. So consider becoming a volunteer.
C. Some teens aren't so adaptable, however.
D. Encourage people to be friendlier to you.
E. Choose the right people.
F. For most young people, loneliness is only temporary.
G. Look for a group that allows you to join in gradually and cheerfully.
No matter how small an act of kindness is, it can make a difference in someone's day. That was just the case for Alina when she1a bumper sticker (车贴) on her car reading: You Matter.
Several years ago, Alina started to do this. At first, she wondered if people would2it. However, much to her3, she began seeing a flood of attention every time she4the road. As often as not, people5slowly near her car would roll down their windows, raising their6 , waving and smiling. Sometimes, she even found some sticky7left on her windshield saying things like "You8too!" Last year, someone9her car while she was waiting for her friend in the car by the roadside, saying to her, "It is a(an)10sticker. I've seen various stickers before, but none of them have11me as your sticker has done. "The two small12on the sticker seem simple enough, but they really13a chord with many complete strangers who14to catch sight of the sticker."
15like Alina's really inspire the rest of us. Sometimes a kind word or gesture may lift our16and it costs nothing except for a little extra17. Maybe it means offering a friend a hug, praising the children when their children18well in school, helping someone out or volunteering at animal shelters or shelters for the homeless. Acts of19are waiting everywhere. Small as they seem, they can make a20influence on the world, and help form general goodness.
Today, people hold the race (different) from place to place. Along the Miluo River in Hubei Province, a grand opening ceremony is held before the race starts. At the ceremony dozens of men in new clothes, with (burn) candles in hands, walk around boats three times to show worship of Lu Ban, the master craftsman; then they carry, on their shoulders,image of dragon's head to the Temple of Qu Yuan,they pay their respect to this saint; finally they tie red ribbons the boats and pull them into the rive for the race. At the crack of signal gun, the boats race ahead like discharged arrows (fit) to bowstrings while both banks are a hubbub of voices, a babel of firecracker explosions and a scene of fluttering colored banners. In Sichuan's Luzhou and (it) nearby regions, the racers in a dragon boat include a commander, a drummer and some rowers. The commander, standing on the bow, waves a flag and sings a race song to synchronize (使同步) rowing movements while the drummer beats a drum with all his strength (cheer) the rowers on. In the areas of Xiamen and Zhangzhou of Fujian Province, a big (wood) boat is arranged lying at the finishing line. When race boats reach the line, a number of ducks (release) from the big wooden boat into the river for all the racers to catch amid thunderous cheers of spectators on the banks.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Out of all the people I have met, my father is the most influential in my life. He has made an impact in me through both his word and his actions.
When I was very young, my father took an interest in which I did. In addiction, he taught me to work hard. Once I took part in music competition, but I had to practice playing the piano for weeks and weeks. I became discouraging, but my father sits with me each evening and helped me learn my songs well. What's more, my father has been influenced me by his example, work hard to do his best in everything.
I am thankful and I hope I can make him proud of his life.
