Where to Eat on Christmas Day in London?
Bob Bob Ricard
The best choice for smaller child-free parties—or pairs—that think of Christmas as an excuse to enjoy distinctly adult treats, let's say: caviar, oysters, steak, followed by cheese and fries, all washed down with wine (ordered by pressing a button, obviously).
Location: 1 Upper James St, Soho, London W1F 9DF, UK
Contact: 020 3145 1000
Min Jiang Restaurant
If a typical modern Chinese banquet (宴会) is required to refresh the family's Christmas spirit, book a table atop the Royal Garden Hotel and look out over Hyde Park while sharing a feast that includes traditional Chinese dishes. Since it's Christmas, it's probably worth going all out by pre ordering a whole or hall Beijing (Peking) duck, too.
Location: 2-24 Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8 4PT, UK
Contact: 020 7361 1988
The Alexandra
A special case: The Alexandra in Wimbledon offers n wonderful Christmas dinner to anyone spending Christmas Day alone, no charge under whatever circumstances. It is a place of spirit, refuge, and generosity.
Location: 33 Wimbledon Hill Rd, Wimbledon. London SW19 7NE, UK
Contact: 020 8947 7691
The Pem
Sally Abé's newest restaurant is serving up a classic three courses in Westminster, for £130 a head (children under six, free if accompanied by adults). Guests can choose between smoked sea fish and crab mousse or a special ham for a starter, with bee Wellington or a plate of goose coming as main dishes, followed by Christmas pudding and ice scream. We offer a 10% discount if the total cost is over £500.
Location: 22-28 Broadway, London SW1H 0BH, UK
Contact: 020 3301 8080
What will you do when one of the few bookstores in your neighborhood shuts down? If you're Latanya DeVaughn, you will make a new and improved one! The Bronx mom and writer has always dreamed of opening her own bookstore, so after watching yet another close its doors for good during the pandemic, she saw her chance.
While Latanya said every neighborhood deserved a bookstore, opening physical stores on every block simply wasn't an option. So she decided to bring the books to her neighbors, instead, by turning a bus into a bookmobile! With the help of her community, she raised money for her dream and, at the end of 2021, it came true! Bronx Bound Books rolled out in style as a bus with orange cube bookshelves. "People love the way it smells," Latanya added. "One woman said the wood smell makes her feel like she's at home."
Although the bookstore on wheels carries around 3,0000 new and used books, it has more room than you might expect! Latanya also makes sure to stock books with a range of diverse characters so all readers can see themselves in the pages. Of course, her collection also features works of renowned Black authors like James Baldwin and Alice Walker. "It's meant to be that way," she explained, "because I remember going to bookstores and having to look through books just to find someone that I felt I could resonate with (引起共鸣)."
Setting up her bookstore in a new spot each day, Latanya is doing her part to make sure that everyone in the Bronx has books to read. That's what Bronx Bound Books is open for. "I can't open up a bookstore on every corner, but I can probably pop up on a lot of different corners," she said.
Thanks to Latanya and Bronx Bound Books, the Bronx is becoming a heaven for book lovers day by day. I'm sure that the little bookstore will continue to develop quickly!
Suppose you are out shopping and come across an acquaintance who starts telling you a story that seems to be dragging on and on. You want to seem interested, so you offer the occasional "Oh" or "I see". To your surprise, though, this person angrily stops in their tracks and says, "Sorry if I'm boring you!"
Where did this come from? Clearly, your body language must have betrayed you. The idea that verbal (口头的) and nonverbal messages can conflict was the inspiration for a recently published study from Yale University's Lueylle Armentano. As part of her study of communication in relationships, Armentano's research also examined communication channels in people meeting for the first time.
To test the role of verbal-nonverbal mismatch on emotional communication, Armentano and her partner created experimental conditions to see what happens when someone asks for help from strangers. The research team created videotapes of a fellow Yale student expressing nervousness in his words, bodily gestures, or both. The bodily gestures included running his hands through his hair, grabbing his arm, and facially expressing uneasiness. The key question was whether the other participants, another 82 Yale students, would believe the student and provide the help he was requesting. They needed to give their responses.
Turning to the findings, those nonverbal cues (提示) of nervousness had a greater impact on helping behavior than the verbal cues. Surprisingly, helping behavior was the highest when verbal expressions of nervousness were low but nonverbal cues were high.
Recognizing that your body language can outweigh your words means that you need to be mindful of what your body is doing when you're interacting with others. Generally, when someone is speaking to you, you want to look like you're interested. Not only should you maintain eye contact, but you should keep your body still and face toward the other person. If you're not trying to look interested, it may be more polite to say you have to be somewhere else.
Water is so low in large stretches of Italy's largest river that local residents are walking through the middle of the expanse of sand and an old ship is resurfacing.
In a park near the central northern village of Gualtieri, cyclists and hikers stop in curiosity to observe the Zibello, a 50-meter-long ship that transported wood during the WWⅡ but sank in 1943. It was normally covered by the Po's waters. "It's the first time that we can see this ship," said amateur cyclist Raffaele Vezzal. "I've never seen such a drought at this time of year—our main worry was our river flooding, but now we worry about its disappearance."
The drying up of the Po, which runs 652 kilometers from the northwestern city of Turin to Venice, is jeopardizing the drinking water supply in Italy's densely populated and highly industrialized districts and threatening irrigation in the most intensively farmed part of the country, known as the Italian food valley.
Northern Italy hasn't seen rainfall for more than 110 days and this year's snowfall is down by 70%. Aquifers (含水层), which hold groundwater, are exhausted. Temperatures of 2℃ above season average are melting the tiny snowfields and glaciers that were left on the top of the surrounding Alps, leaving the Po basin without its summer water reservoirs.
All these factors are leading to the worst drought in 70 years
according to the Po River Basin Authority (PRBA).
Meuccio Berselli, secretary-general of the Po River Basin Authority, is working on a plan to guarantee drinking and irrigation water to millions of households and to the Po valley farmers, who produce 40% of Italian food. The plan includes higher draining from Alpine lakes, less water for hydroelectric (水力发电的) plants and distribution of water in the upstream regions.
According to a state owned energy service system operator, 55% of the renewable energy coming from hydroelectric plants in Italy comes from the Po and its tributaries. Experts fear that a lack of hydroelectric power will contribute to increased carbon dioxide emissions (排放), as more electricity will have to be produced with natural gas.
Do you feel jealous (嫉妒的) of your best friend from time to time? , but it can be unhealthy to be jealous of the people you love. Fortunately, you can work on yourself to overcome such jealousy.
. Often, when you figure out what your insecurities or challenges are, you will be able to build them into strengths, which will prohibit feeling of jealousy. While it isn't an easy task to examine yourself for your flaws (缺点), it must be done.
Build your self esteem. Self esteem is how you feel about yourself as a person. There are many ways to work on your self-esteem including, but not limited to:
●Recognizing your strengths. Are you good at school? Are you a fair listener or a trusted secret keeper for your friends? .
●Actively engaging in activities you are good at. It can remind you of your strengths and build self-esteem.
Find happiness in yourself. . Feelings of inadequacy increase the likelihood that you will experience jealousy. You can find happiness in yourself by focusing on internal (内部的) strengths and practising daily positive intentions.
Reclaim your power over your emotions. Do not let your emotions hold control over you as this will create a reactive state of emoting. . When you begin to feel jealous or angry, remind yourself that you are being reactive and choose to stop feeling that way.
A. Recognize your insecurities
B. Rise to the challenges ahead
C. Being happy is an emotion beyond control
D. Jealousy can be experienced by anyone at any time
E. Instead, remember that every emotion you feel is a choice
F. Write down a list of your best qualities and reread it any time you doubt yourself
G. It's easier to become jealous of people around you if you aren't happy with yourself
You may be familiar with the announcement "Mind the Gap" that is often heard on the London Underground. It's a 1 most travelers take for granted, but it has special meaning for Margaret McCollum because it's helping her 2 her husband Oswald, who died in 2007.
Back in 1950, Oswald recorded the announcement used on the underground network. After he died, McCollum, who was retired, would go to the Embankment station every day and 3 her husband's voice.
Sitting on a bench, the lady would hear the 4 voice every few minutes when a new train pulled into the 5. It gave her some comfort.
6, the recording was eventually 7 by an electronic version in 2012. So McCollum went to the London Transport Company to see if they could 8 her a copy of the original recording. She wasn't 9 if they would help, but she insisted on going.
10, they agreed, but the London Underground staff made a lot of effort to 11 the original recording. The digitizing process meant all underground recordings had been placed in archives (档案), and work had to be done to 12 the voice.
But 13 offering a copy to McCollum, the company helped her in another way. They were so moved by McCollum's 14 that they decided to reinstate (恢复) Oswald's 15 at the Embankment station which McCollum could 16 to visit every day.
According to All on the Board, a motivational Instagram account run by two London Underground staff, that is the only 17 on the Northern Line Underground network that has that kind of recording. What's more, for every train 18 the station, Oswald's recording is 19 three times, which must be a 20 for McCollum.
The Eiffel Tower is one of the world's most famous sights. The 324-meter-tall iron tower, attracts millions of tourists to Paris every year, has been an iconic part of Paris' skyline for 133 years. However, it is showing its age. Engineers recently conducted a survey of the monument. They found that its metal was full of rust (锈) said it was in a poor state. They added that if its designer Gustave Eiffel was alive today and saw his (create), he would have a heart attack. Engineers said the tower needed many repairs. As matter of fact, a 2016 report on the tower stated there were 698 faults on the tower, which were serious enough to put the (tower) long-term future in doubt.
Construction of the Eiffel Tower started in January 1887 and it opened to the public on the 31st of March, 1889. It (build) to celebrate the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. The original plan was for the tower (take) down after 20 years. However, the French government changed its mind and (keep) it in place. The tower is (current) being repainted ahead of the 2024 Olympics. Engineers say (paint) the metal will not make the rust problem go away. They say the existing paint needs to be completely removed first.
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。
I used to thought that someone was born a winner. For example, my deskmate was so a person. While we took the same English class in the same classroom, she did better than rest of us, especially in spoken English. But as I paid more attentions to her, I found that she spent more time in her study. Every morning, she got up early than us and went to the playground to practise spoken English. Every evening, while most of us was chatting in the comfortably dormitory, she was listening to English news.
From her experience, I have been learnt that no one is born a winner. People make themselves winners through our own effort.
