A It's bright, modern and very large.
If you have ever lost touch with old school friends, you may find yourself wanting to make contact again. Some teens find that certain school friends are worth keeping contact with and want to keep the friendship going strong.
Hang out at the same places
One way you can get together with old friends from your school is to go to the same places that they go to. If you still go to school together, you probably know where everyone goes on the weekends. If you are able to go there too, you may find that your relationships with your old school friends start up again.
Sports teams
If you are athletic and your former friends are too, joining school sports teams is a great way to catch up with old friends. This doesn't mean that you should join a sport which you do not like just so you can see your old friends. However, if you like sports, wish to join a team and your former friends are on that team, and then playing the team sports is a great way to get to know them again.
Take part in school clubs
There are often a lot of school clubs in which teens participate. Depending on your interests and your former friends' interests, you may just find a club at school. Sharing a common interest such as a club activity will help you to have something in common and something to talk about.
A famous company's leader believes there's only one way to know if you truly understand a subject: Can you explain it to a child? But the man with lifelong love of math recently found it didn't always go well when he tried explaining mathematical concepts(概念)to his then-school-aged children.
He thinks that learning with kids to see what's puzzling to them and what's easy for them are the final test of whether you know a topic—whether you can explain it.
Teachers often ask students to give a statement on a subject to show that they understand it. Studies show that people are more likely to remember and understand concepts they've learned after explaining them to someone else or even to themselves. That means you can testyour own knowledge in a subject simply by trying to teach it to a friend, to see both how much information you've kept and how well you actually understand its concepts. If they successfully learn from you, it's a good sign that you're on the right track.
The leader, who studied math and computer science at university, noted that while hewas personally good at math as a high school student, he had trouble passing that enthusiasm(热情)to his three kids.
He loves doing math, but in the past his younger daughter would always say that he made it so complicated (复杂的) and he didn't need to explain this to her. Because she just wanted to know the answer.
Today, his three children are all in their 20s.While they may not have enjoyed the math lessons, he says that one of his favorite things is teaching calculus(微积分)to the kids. There are a few very difficult concepts in calculus. He must explain why calculus is so important and why calculus has those funny symbols. It's crazy and it's probably the thing he enjoys the most.
One overlooked benefit of lab-grown food is that it may help the UK deal with the crisis in housing affordability. As farming is replaced by precision fermentation (发酵) , the significant amount of land currently used for livestock farming(including parts of the green belt) will be freed up for development in places that people actually want to live.
However, we'd take a different lesson from the promise of lab-grown meat. Free-market environmentalism and harnessing the power of innovative technologies — supported by market-based measures like a border-adjusted carbon tax — can successfully tackle the problem of man-made climate change without fundamentally uprooting the way we run society. Saving the planet doesn't have to cost us the earth.
It is important to acknowledge that certain types of livestock farming may have issues with sustainability and climate change. But it is not true of all farming systems; and the issues that do exist are being dealt with using the latest research into genetics and biotechnology-for example, recent research has shown that certain types of seaweed can reduce methane emissions from cattle to close to zero.
Farmer data also shows that increased sales of milks have not seen a corresponding reduction in dairy sales.
The global food system, consumer choices and climate change are incredibly complex issues, and anyone who proposes simple solutions is almost certainly not in possession of all the relevant facts and data. Livestock are an important part of humanity's future food needs.
In July 1915, severely tortured by his poor health, James Murray, one of the early editors of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), defined one final word. After his 36 years' dedication to the dictionary, his hard labour had taken a toll, knowing he would not see the project complete.
The poetic quality of Murray's final days is one of the many memorable tales in The Dictionary People. Beginning in 1857, the OED was a huge crowdsourcing project - "the Wikipedia of the 19th century" - comprising 3, 000 people. The idea was to create a "descriptive" dictionary that tracked words' use and meaning over time, unlike its "prescriptive"18th-century predecessor by Samuel Johnson, which told readers how to say and use words. Volunteers read widely, mailing in examples of how "rare, old-fashioned, new, strange" words were used. What is surprising about this fairly random method is that it worked.
The origin story of Sarah Ogilvie's book is almost as improbable as that of the dictionary itself. Ms Ogilvie, a former scholar who served as an editor for the OED, went into the documents of Oxford University Press and came across an old notebook. It had belonged to Murray and contained the names and details of the dictionary volunteers, most of whom had previously been unknown. The Dictionary People is her work of detective scholarship, bringing the lives behind the names to readers.
Ms Ogilvie's book is full of intriguing stories. The presentation of the book is unconventional, too, taking its structure from the work it describes. There are 26 alphabetical chapters, each celebrating a group of contributors ( memorably, "K" is for "kleptomaniac" people who desire to steal). This is a clever arrangement, though it sometimes means that broader issues emerge only in pieces.
Essentially, this is a story about ordinary people. It is concrete proof of those who, to cite dictionary-helper George Eliot, "lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs".
When it comes to going green, intention can be easier than action. Case in point: you decide to buy a T-shirt made from 100% organic cotton, because everyone knows that organic is better for Earth. And in some ways it is; in conventional cotton-farming, pesticides strip the soil of life. But that green label doesn't tell the whole story. Or the possibility that the T-shirt may have been dyed using harsh industrial chemicals, which can pollute local groundwater. If you knew all that, would you still consider the T-shirt green? .
It's a question that most of us are ill equipped to answer, even as the debate over what is and isn't green becomes all-important in a hot and crowded world. . We evolved to respond to threats that were clear and present. That's why, when we eat spoiled food, we get disgusted and when we see a bright light, we shut our eyes. . Scanning the supermarket aisles, we lack the data to understand the full impact of what we choose —and probably couldn't make sense of the information even if we had it.
But what if we could seamlessly calculate the full lifetime effect of our actions on the earth and on our bodies? That's what psychologist Daniel Goleman describes in his forthcoming book, Ecological Intelligence. Using a young science called industrial ecology, businesses and green activists alike are beginning to compile the environmental and biological impact of our every decision—and delivering that information to consumers in a user-friendly way. That's thinking ecologically—understanding the global environmental consequences of our local choices. "We can know the causes of what we're doing, and we can know the impact of what we're doing," says Goleman, who wrote the 1995 best seller Emotional Intelligence.
It's also about our ability to accept that we live in an infinitely connected world with finite resources. Golem an highlights the Tibetan community of Sher, where for millenniums, villagers have survived harsh conditions by carefully conserving every resource available to them. The Tibetans think ecologically because they have no other choice. Neither do we. "We once had the luxury to ignore our impacts," says Goleman. "Not anymore."
A. Would you still buy it? B. What if we could think ecologically? C. It's going to have a radical impact on the way we do business. D. Ecological intelligence is ultimately about more than what we buy. E. Not just carbon footprints but social and biological footprints as well? F. But nothing in evolution has prepared us to understand the accumulative impact industrial chemicals may have on us. G. That's because our ability to make complex products with complex supply chains has outpaced our ability to comprehend the consequences. |
With Christmas approaching, I often reflect upon one particular evening in the early 1960s. Back then, we decided to go carolling (唱圣诞颂歌) to spread the Christmas spirit which might1 someone else's life. So we needed to take2 new members, for whom the only3 was warmth of spirit.
Soon we discovered that carolling brought various4 . Sometimes we were greeted with open doors and open hearts, while other times, folks remained in the safety and cosiness of their homes, watching5 through their windows.
One stop on our journey particularly6 our memory. That night, after a couple of songs, one door swung open. A gentleman, gray haired, tenderly7 we go upstairs to sing for his bedridden wife. He added8 , "She loves music and used to be an opera singer."
We stepped briskly upward into the couple's9 apartment. Books, records, and antique furniture whispered stories to us. I reminded myself not to stare10 showing disrespect to them.
Sitting beside his wife, the gentleman gave us a11 . Then our voices rose and lingered around their small home. Had our voices been given extra12 and beauty for this occasion? Perhaps they had.
A smile flickered on the woman's13 , yet beautiful face. She snuggled her head against her husband's shoulder and both of them heartily enjoyed our performance. Witnessing such a heartwarming scene, we felt it was a holy night, for we were in the14 of love that was gentle and mild.
At that moment, we found, and maybe even15 , the Christmas spirit.
Microsoft bakes ChatGPT-like tech into search engine Bing
Microsoft is baking ChatGPT-like technology into its search engine Bing, (transform) an Internet service that lags far behind Google into a new way of communicating with AI.
Though the new version is now limited to desktops and has no interface for smartphones, most people now access the Internet, Mehdi, a Microsoft executive, has said that the technology will scale to millions of users in coming weeks and come to the smartphone apps.
The improvement may give the software giant a cutting edge other tech companies in capitalizing on the worldwide excitement surrounding ChatGPT, a tool that (awaken) millions of people to the possibilities of the newest AI technology in the past few weeks.
Aside from it, Microsoft is also integrating the chatbot technology into its Edge browser. "Think of it as faster, more accurate, more powerful technology (tune) for search queries", said Mehdi.
The shift to making search engines more conversational — able to confidently answer questions offer links to other websites — could change the advertising-fueled search business, but also poses risks if the AI systems don't get their facts right. Their opaqueness (不透明性) also makes it hard to source back to the original human-made images and texts, the new Bing includes notes that reference the source data.
"Bing is powered by AI, so surprises and mistakes are possible. Make sure to check the facts." is a message that appears at the bottom of the preview version of Bing's new homepage. As an example of how it works, Mehdi (quiz) it on 1990s-era rap, showing its ability to distinguish between the song "Jump" and "Jump Around". He also used it to show how it could plan a vacation or help with shopping.
Google has been cautious about such moves. But in response to pressure due to ChatGPT's popularity, Google announced on Monday a new conversational service named Bard that will be available to a group of "trusted testers" before (release) globally this year.
Chinese tech giant Baidu also announced a similar search chatbot coming later this year. Other tech rivals such as Meta and Amazon have been researching similar technology, but Microsoft's latest moves aim to position at the center of the ChatGPT zeitgeist (时代潮流).
One night, when we were having dinner, suddenly Mom let out, "I have a great idea!" My sister Keira and I looked at each other, feeling confused and wondering what she wanted to say.
"What if," she said, with a long pause, "we furnish Nancy's apartment while she's away?"
Nancy, our nanny (保姆) had returned to her hometown to get her children and bring them back with her. When her children were only one and five years old, she had left them to work as a caregiver abroad where the working conditions were not very good. Later, through friends, Nancy heard that our country was the land of opportunity. With rich working experience, Nancy came to our house and here we got along well with each other although sometimes we had difficulty in communication because of language.
Five years after her arrival and working here, she was allowed to apply for a permanent resident's statue. It took so long to get it, so we celebrated with a cake the night the letter that informed her finally came.
"Could you do me a big favor?" Nancy asked Mom before she left for her hometown. "I've ordered some mattresses (床垫) so we have something to sleep on when we arrive. Do you think you could receive them and let the delivery man deliver it into my apartment?"
"No problem," said Mom.
"Hey Mom, I hate to burst your bubble (幻想)," I said, "but how are we possibly going to furnish an entire apartment? "
"Well, we have some extra stuff in the attic," she replied. "Maybe we can help our neighbors and Nancy at the same time. The neighbors can donate their extras, and we can piece together a great home for Nancy. Let's send an e-mail and see." So the e-mail went to about seventy neighbors in our community.
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。
Throught the following week, e-mails and texts kept flooding in.
The big day came as we welcomed Nancy and her children to their new home at the door.
