Whether you fancy six months away in Southeast Asia, or a few smaller trips around Europe, a gap year is a perfect opportunity to see more of the world. Travelling looks good on your CV, too! Here are some cheap gap year destinations
Italy -Flights to Italy can be quite cheap. On top of that, making your way across the country can be done on a budget by bus or ride-sharing. Keep an eye on tourist tax for your accommodation, as it's charged on top of the usual tariff(关税). To avoid this, you could give couch-surfing a go
Slovenia -Perfect for enthusiasts of the great outdoors, Slovenia is famous for its rolling hills and beautiful lakes. You can see most of these for free. Think Switzerland but affordable. It makes for an ideal stop if you're travelling Europe by train during your gap year
Argentina - Argentina has it all: mountains, beaches, desert, busy cities and more. Public transport is very affordable and domestic flights aren't too extremely priced either. While the north is a lot cheaper than the south, it's worth visiting the Patagonian mountain range during the high season(December to February)
Morocco-From beautiful cities like Marrakesh to the Sahara Desert, Morocco has so much to offer. It doesn't have to cost a fortune either as the food is very cheap. And you can avoid any over-priced Sahara tours offered on the street by asking your hostel for recommendations
I'd always been active-I was an aerobics(有氧运动)instructor for 30 years and was also a keen runner-but from the age of 40, I began having problems with my hip and knees and started getting joint and lower back pains. The pain became too much. I couldn't do the exercise that I was used to,and I started putting on weight. By my 50th birthday, I was nearly 90kg and felt so miserable. I was struggling with body confidence, and had lost my direction.
Fiends suggested I try Qigong classes, a Chinese form of yoga. I felt the benefits after the first class. I loved the slow movement, the connection back to breath and the emphasis on mindfulness-it was the focus I needed.
The general principle of Qigong -which is connected to Chinese medicine - is that you have to find balance in the body to allow the energy to flow around. Stress and injury cause blockages and lead to health problems.
For most of my life I'd always eaten healthily, but had fallen into bad habits of loving sugary carbs(碳水化合物食物), which led to my weight gain. Starting Qigong helped me go back to my healthy diet. The combination of the improved diet and exercise improved my mood. I'm even finally free of the joint pain that was troubling me.
It is ironic that I was a high-paced aerobics instructor for most of my life, who now does very slow,mindful movements. If you'd told me years ago that you can lose weight by doing this kind of practice,I wouldn't have believed you, but it makes sense to me now, that at this stage of my life, removing the stress from my body is really what it needs. Two years on I feel so much younger than I did the day I turned 50; I have more energy and I feel much happier in myself.
On Monday, I walked into a conference center and,instead of flashing an ID card with my name and photo, I positioned myself in front of a head-height camera the size of my fist. Seconds later, the screen read:"PLEASE ENTER." No one scanned the digital pass. My face might already be an enty ticket. Hair-raising? Cool?
As facial-recognition access points are everywhere in public places including airports and concert locations, you might be wondering how you're supposed to feel about it. Companies using face-matching software say it is speedy, convenient, and con-tactless for customers. Most also stress that it's only a choice. Meanwhile, lawmakers are looking to tighten regulations around use of this kind of technology because of privacy concerns
The answer comes down to the individual. It helps if you know the company: Do you want this company storing your personal information? What happens to your face image once you no longer need the service?
Facial recognition works by creating a map of your face. The map contains your unique measurements -the distance between your forehead and chin, or between your eyes. These data are then changed into code called a face print. It's how your iPhone's Face ID identifies you or how Google Photos can group photos of your kids
A company that stores your face data could keep it. Or the data could be acquired by a company that has an entirely different purpose than what you agreed to. This kind of misuse is a guess. However you can't always track where your face ends up: One company sold facial-recognition tech based on billions of images from social media and other sources
While you have the ability not to choose facial recognition, it could eventually come at a cost Think of how the cash lane at a toll stop is almost always far slower than the E-ZPass lanes. Facial recognition will only become more common in our travels and entertainment,as well as other areas such as education and banking. We've just begun to understand the advantages and disadvantages
These days, James, the retired carpenter, 74, even though he suffers from a severe disease, doesn't want to go to a hospital. And he doesn't need to. The reason: James now gets his care from Mercy Virtual Care Center some 50 miles away
Equipped with an iPad and devices such as a blood pressure monitor and scale that stream his vital signs and other data from his home to the Center, James and his doctors have been able to detect small health shifts in time to prevent a worse condition."We can trend the data on a daily basis and intervene in many cases even before patients experience symptoms(症状),"says Gavin Helton, Mercy's medical director
James and his Mercy team are pioneers in the next big thing in telemedicine, the virtual care clinic whose doctors and nurses provide the major care from miles away. Virtual care itself isn't new: For a number of years, hospitals have contracted with remote critical care specialists to monitor their ICU patients and have relied on teleconsults with specialists to provide guidance or second opinions. But Mercy Virtual takes the concept to a whole other level
The 125,000-square-foot facility has no waiting rooms, hospital beds or patients on site. Instead, it houses more than 300 medical professionals who sit in front of monitors and computer displays,watching over the care of patients at 38 hospitals. In addition to internists(重症医师)who observe patients at distant ICU, neurologists(神经学家) provide guidance on stroke treatment to community hospitals. A team of virtual hospitals orders and reads tests, and nurses deal with questions about everything from nosebleeds to infections. Other clinicians, like James' doctors, stay in near continuous touch with patients at home
The concept is working. Death rate in the ICU "is trending 40 percent less than predicted," says Moore, Mercy Virtual's president."By virtually monitoring ICUs 24/7, we're getting to problems earlier."The result, he says, is that Mercy in the past year sent home 1,000 ICU patients who otherwise would have been expected to die and saved $40 million
I am not sure how many books I have reread, but perhaps it is fewer than the average personThe reading material, though, is of course not new.
I used to take the same approach to books as I did to travel: don't go to the same place twice. Life is too short. Then I realized that the fact that life is short might work the other way around too: if you know you enjoy something. or somewhere, then why not return?
Recently I reread Joseph Heller's Catch-22. I was inspired to do so when reminded of how he'd respond when people rudely asked him why he'd never written anything as good:"Who has?" Catch-22pretty much saved my life when I first read it. I had dropped out of school twice, didn't leave the house at all and didn't have a life. It felt as though I hadn't laughed in such a long time
It managed to take me out of the dark world, and though its themes are, of course, serious its cleverness cheered me greatly. I related to its characters who are themselves trapped. I am now planning to reread the sort of books that inspired me in my own writing.
I won't take a break altogether from reading the most recent releases. I love the smell of new books fresh from the printers..
A. Catch-22 had me laughing
B.My favourite are secondhand editions
C. There is discomfort in reading recently-released books
D. At that time, I was an extremely depressed 17-year-old.
E. For me, the pleasure of rereading is a newly discovered one
F. There is so much to read and so much to see and experience
G.However, I have determined to read the old ones more frequently
When we pay attention, we see courage every day. I see it in my classroom when a student1 her hand and says,I'm completely lost."Do you know how incredibly2 it is to say so when you're pretty sure every one else gets it?
I recently saw another3 of ordinary courage in my son Charlie's preschool. Parents were invited to4 a music presentation by the kids. You know the5 twenty-five children singing with fifty-plus6 in the audience holding up cameras
One girl cried her way through the entire7 because she couldn't see her mom. As I was telling Charlie goodbye, I saw her mom burst through the door, and immediately start8 the room for her daughter. Obviously she was late for the presentation for some reason. Another mother walked by this stressed mom,9 her head and rolled her eyes with disrespect.
Just then one more mom walked up to this now10 mom and smiled."I wasn't just late. I11 forgot." She said,"It's okay. We're in the same boat." The woman's face12 and she wiped away a tear. By the time she made it to the corner where the teacher was still13 her daughter, she looked calm.
The mom who stopped and shared her story of14 was practicing courage. She didn't have to.Every time we choose15 , we make the world a little kinder and braver.
Digital technology-assisted preservation of ancient city wall in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province, was recently listed among the top-10 (case) of digital innovation in the Chinese culture and tourism industry of 2022.
Assisted by digital technologies, the ancient city wall in the Chinese city is showing(it)attractiveness in more diverse aspects. The ancient wall(date) back to more than 1,400 year ago. As the city develops, they are now surrounded by busy commercial districts.
The(conserve) of the city wall is about not only the wall itself but also its wooden annexes(附属建筑) and the city moat(护城河), Devices are installed in all sections of the city wallstretches 13.74 kilometers to monitor the safety of the wall and annexes. The digital technologies that are employed(protect) the city wall are like soldiers that never feel tired.
Based on the data(collect) by the devices, the management committee built warning system that sets four warning critical points for the settlement and cracking of the city wallthe information center of the Xi'an city wall management committee, there's a big screen that shows real-time passenger volume, temperature, and other data. Intelligent transformation of scenic spots brings newer experiences to tourists and makes management(efficient)
My Big Solo(独唱)
The day had finally arrived: the day of my big solo. Everyone was there; my mom and dad and my little brother. And it was a big event: the Spring Fling Choir Concert. The whole class was dressed up.My name was on the cover of the program in bright yellow characters. I couldn't believe it when I saw my name. Not that it was my name, but that it wasn't Renee's. Renee and I had been classmates since kindergarten. She was always ahead of me. Dance class needs a big finish? Renee was picked. The school plays? Renee would have the leads while I was cast as her mother or sister or neighbor. I even played her dog once. The only time I ever came in ahead of Renee was at roll call(点名).Cindy comes before Renee. I count that as a victory!
The choir concert tryouts were stressful. We waited in the library as Ms. Jenkins called us individually into the choir room. By the time she called me, I was shaking. When I came back to the library, Renee smiled at me. Ms. Jenkins called her name and Renee calmly followed her. She was still calm and smiling when her tryout was over
When Ms. Jenkins announced who had made the special choral group(合唱队), I wasn't surprised when Renee's name was on her list and mine wasn't."So, what else is new?"I said under my breath Sudden clapping brought me out of my bad mood. Everyone was looking at me. I've missed something here, I thought. Ms. Jenkins smiled at me and said,"Cindy, you will have to start practicing with me.The solos take extra preparation." Solo? I got the solo? I glanced over at Renee. She smiled broadly and gave me the thumbs-up sign. Oh, that's another thing. She is always so nice
Now the day had come. We filed onto the stage and took our places. I was front and center. Ms.Jenkins raised her baton(指挥棒)and we began to sing. My parents were smiling at me, cameras flashing.
注意1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
My big moment came
……
The rest of the solo went well
