Famous for its sunny beaches and natural wonders, Miyako Island welcomes many visitors during holidays.
Unique beaches
Yonaha Maehama Beach is the most famous beach in Miyako Island, where white sand stretches for seven kilometers. The ocean is colored in bright blue, attracting visitors with its beauty. Compact Sunayama Beach, known for its arch-shaped rock (拱形石), is well hidden in a small cove (小海湾), and is accessed by walking through a narrow tunnel (隧道) of trees.
Diverse and colorful fish
Snorkeling (浮潜) is a must-try in Miyako Island. Dense coral reefs, schools of tropical (热带的) fish, sea turtles and plenty of space to free dive to depths of 8 to 15 meters close to the shore are standout features. For beginners, Aragusuku and Shigira are a good choice, but advanced snorkelers may see Imgyo Marine Garden, Waiwai Beach and Shimojishima as their ultimate spots.
Scuba diving
Miyako Island is a popular diving place, with a wealth of dive sites to explore, including many underwater caves. Even those without a diving license need not be held back. Dive shops and tour operators also offer tours for beginners to explore Miyako Island's rich underwater environment.
The bridges
Irabu Bridge is the longest toll-free bridge in Japan. It connects Miyako Island and Irabujima, stretching for 3540m, drawing a gentle curve. The length of the bridge can also be read as "sango no shi ma," meaning coral island in Japanese. Smaller bridges connect Irabu and Shimoji islands, giving visitors additional beach options.
"Small Acts of Kindness" really made me think outside the box. Dr Max is right, "it takes nothing to be nice".
I was in New Zealand in January visiting my son and grandson. I only had a small amount of cash on me as we stopped for a drink and cake, but the shop wouldn't take cards. As I counted out my coins and realized I needed $2 more to pay for the cake, two boys waiting on bikes behind me observed this scene and one boy spoke up, "I can pay the extra amount." It shocked me that a boy who didn't even know me could be so kind. I politely refused his offer and just had the drink, but I thanked him a lot.
I "paid this forward" when I arrived in the UK. This expression for describing the beneficiary (受益者) of a good deed repaying the kindness to others instead of the original benefactor (although the concept may be old) may have been coined by Lily Hardy Hammond in her 1916 book, In the Garden of Delight. At the chemist's, a young lady didn't have enough cash to pay for a hair band that her daughter was keen to have, so I paid the bill for her. It was only £2.99 but it made me feel good about myself and I hope it also made this mum and daughter's day!
With tiny gestures, we can give people a reason to keep on living. I intend to do this much more in the future.
Do you speak a dialect (方言) in daily life? While many Chinese people speak Mandarin (普通话), some local dialects are in danger of disappearing. To save them, the Chinese government started the Chinese Language Resources Protection Project (中国语言资源保护工程) a few years ago.
This project looks at how people talk in 1,712 places. Their languages include 103 dialects that are almost gone. It has helped China to build the largest language resource library in the world. There's an online library where people can learn dialects from over 5.6 million audio clips (音频) and over 5 million videos.
Why is it important to protect the dialect culture? According to British linguist Harold Palmer, dialects are a key to store local cultures. Language faithfully shows the history, the beliefs and the biases (偏见) of an area, he said.
Scholar Zhang Hongming talked about his concerns of the disappearing of dialects, "For about over 10 years, in the Wu dialect areas such as Shanghai and Suzhou, children aged 6 to 15 can understand but hardly speak the dialect. Meanwhile, young people above 15 years old sometimes speak it, but not very well. If this keeps happening, the dialect might disappear," he said.
So how did China make this big library? "A big national effort has been put into the project to make it happen," said Cao Zhiyun, chief expert on the project. Over five years, more than 350 universities and research groups joined in, along with over 4,500 experts and more than 6,000 dialect speakers.
The project is now entering into its second part. This includes creating digital tools like apps and mobile dictionaries to help people learn dialects.
The topic of photo copyright has been widely discussed recently. It started with a photographer called Dai Jianfeng receiving an email from the Visual China Group (VCG), saying that he used photos from VCG without permission (许可). However, the photos were taken by the photographer himself. It turned out to be a misunderstanding. Dai's photos were then removed from the VCG website.
Copyright protects an author's original works. Works are original when they are independently created by a human author and show creativity.
"In a sense, companies like VCG protect photographers' rights," said Shen Ran, a 26-year-old photographer who knows Dai. After signing with photographers, these companies sell the rights to use the images on their platforms. They may keep up to 70 percent of the pictures' proceeds (收益). Users also need to follow certain rules when using the images.
If companies find out that people are using their copyrighted images without permission, then "they can file lawsuits (诉讼)," Shen said. In this way, the platforms enforce (执行) photographers' ownership rights. Without the help of these companies, it can be difficult for photographers to know if their pictures are being misused and even harder for them to take legal (法律的) action in response.
Meanwhile, there are many cases of people using photographers' pictures without permission on online platforms. And the platforms' attitude sometimes makes it worse. "There used to be a fake (虚假的) account claiming to be me on Douyin," said Ji Zixuan, a 17-year-old photographer in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. "Because I don't have an account there, Douyin refused to remove the fake account at first."
A lack of effective online content moderation (内容审核) means it can be time-consuming for photographers to defend their rights. It leads to many photographers feeling apathetic (无动于衷的) about the copyright of their pictures.
What to do about climate change?
With scientists warning that 2023 could be the warmest ever, and destructive wildfires tearing through communities, the climate crisis is no longer a distant threat. Listed below are 3 things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint and save yourself from climate despair (绝望).
. Using energy with wisdom is one way to cut your carbon footprint. . Setting timers for appliances to run through the night, when demand is low, or during the brightest part of the day, to use solar, can help.
Avoid the skies. Aviation (航空) brings a significant challenge in achieving net-zero emissions (排放). Despite accounting for just three percent of global emissions, it is a rapidly growing source and difficult to decarbonize (碳减排). No-fly travel companies are making overland travel more attractive. There is also a recovery of Europe's night trains for low-carbon travel.
. Whether you have a windowsill or a smallholding, growing your own herbs, flowers or vegetables can be beneficial. Not just to pollinators (传粉昆虫), which can feed off the plants, but to your mental health. . But it will help you reconnect with nature, which research suggests is good for our mental health—particularly amid alarming news about the climate.
A. Grow your own
B. Use energy widely
C. Use energy wisely
D. Cultivating a garden to absorb carbon
E. Sure, cultivating a garden isn't going to absorb much carbon
F. It's not just about how much energy you use, but when you use it
G. Reducing air travel is recommended until battery and hydrogen planes become practical
Clara Daly was seated on an Alaska Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles. Suddenly, a flight attendant asked an 1 question: "Does anyone know American 2 Language?"
Clara, 15 at the time, pressed the call 3 . The flight attendant came by and 4 the situation. "We have a passenger who's blind and deaf. He seemed to want something, but we couldn't understand what he 5 ."
Clara had been studying ASL for the past year to help with her dyslexia (读写困难) and knew she'd be able to finger spell into the man's 6 . So, she walked toward the front of the plane, and 7 down beside Tim Cook, then
64. 8 taking his hand, she signed, "Are you OK?" Tim asked for some water. When it arrived, Clara 9 to her seat. But she came by again later because he wanted to know the time. On her third visit, she stopped and stayed for a while.
"I was like, ‘Wow, this is cool,'" Clara says. "I hope I don't 10 anything wrong."
"Actually, he didn't need anything. He was 11 and just wanted to talk." Clara says.
Clara talked about her family and her plans for the future. Tim told Clara how he had gradually become 12 and shared stories of his days as a traveling salesman. "Although he couldn't see her, she looked attentively at his face with 13 ," a passenger reported.
"Clara was amazing," a flight attendant told Alaska Airlines in an interview. "You could tell Tim was very excited to have someone he could 14 , and she was such an 15 ."
Tim's reaction: "Best trip I've ever had."
The road to a Nobel prize is growing ever longer, with almost half of winners now (wait) more than 20 years from making a Nobel-worthy discovery to receiving the prize.
One analysis shows that the average time between publishing the work and receiving one of the science (prize) has nearly doubled in the past 60 years. "In the early 20th century, Nobel winners were often in (they) 30s, but now it is unheard of," says Santo Fortunato, published a 2014 analysis of Nobel prizewinners since the award's conception in 1901. His results showed that the time between winners' prizewinning research and their Nobel had (slow) increased over the years.
There are a number of possible reasons for this trend. It could be that the overall number of breakthroughs (increase) each year, so awards cannot keep up the number of people who deserve to be recognized. It is also the case that the importance of some works (realize) only years or decades later.
On the other hand, the lengthening gap could be sign that there has been a decrease in ‘disruptive' science— (importance) studies or discoveries that change the paradigm (范式) of their field. This could be causing the Nobel committees to focus more on the past.
At a neighbor's pool the summer after sixth grade, Charley shouted out those famous last words, "Hey, watch this!" As he dove into the pool, Tad froze. It wasn't the deep end!
Charley was hurt bad when he hit the bottom of the swimming pool. The doctor said he might have broken his back and could lose the use of his legs. His life would change forever. Tad didn't see Charley for over a month after he was carried away in the screaming ambulance.
When Tad went to visit Charley in the hospital, his "Hey, dude, how's it going?" was greeted by an annoyed grunt (嘟哝声). Looking small and pale, Charley cried, "I can't walk how do you think I feel? I wish I was dead!"
"Bro, you'll get well! You're tough."
"No, the doctor said I won't."
"Aw, man. That's horrible!" And the conversation died right there.
Tad didn't go back after that. He just didn't know what to say. When Charley got out of the hospital, Tad went over to his house a few times and played video games, but it just wasn't the same. Not only was his friend's body damaged, so was his spirit. Tad had made friends with other boys who enjoyed all the things he and Charley used to do. Even if he felt sad and guilty, he wasn't spending more time at Charley's. Tad wanted to help and be a good friend but didn't know how now.
Charley just became sadder and sadder, and Tad spent less and less time with him as the school year passed.
When summer break started again, Tad didn't see much of Charley. He had made the baseball team and didn't have time for video games. At least he told himself that was the reason. He was shocked right before eighth grade started when he saw Charley sailing down the sidewalk with a big black dog by his wheelchair. "Wow, what's this?" Said Tad, running over to his friend.
"This is Rowdy! He helps me."
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；2. 请按如下格式作答。
"Wow, what does he do?" Tad was interested.
After that, Tad could sense something had changed.
