Rome can be expensive for travelers, which is why many choose to stay in a hostel (旅社).
Yellow Hostel
If I had to make just one recommendation for where to stay in Rome, it would be Yellow Hostel. It's one of the best hostels in the city, and for good reason. It's affordable, and it's fun without being too noisy. As an added advantage, it's close to the main train station.
Hostel Alessandro Palace
If you love social hostels, this is the best hostel for you in Rome. Hostel Alessandro Palace is fun. Staff members hold plenty of bar events for guests. There's also an area on the rooftop for hanging out with other travelers during the summer.
Youth Station Hostel
If you're looking for a clean and modern hostel, look no further than Youth Station. It offers beautiful furnishings (家具陈设). There are plenty of other benefits, too: it doesn't charge city tax; it has both air conditioning and a heater for the rooms; it also has free Wi-Fi in every room.
Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes
Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes is located just a 10-minute walk from the central city station and it's close to all of the city's main attractions. The staff is friendly and helpful, who will offer you a map of the city when you arrive, and advice if you require some. However, you need to pay 2 euros a day for Wi-Fi.
I am rather good at using maps. But I forgot the maps and here we were, late afternoon, last day of holiday, my daughter, my cousin and I, driving along a two-lane highway in Oregon. No other car in sight, and the sun had just gone down. Where was that sweet little village?
It was supposed to be right along this river. We drove on, farther into the unknown river always at left as our guide. We kept passing farms and fields and now a few lights were coming out. In my head, I was doing a lot of self-criticism: Why didn't we start earlier, bring the map and so on? My cousin and I were both impatient and stressed. My daughter, at least, was happy in the back seat, texting a friend. I pulled up on the shoulder of the road to think.
Just the — Wow! Amazing! A new scene appeared. Where did it come from?
Right there, out of nowhere: a magical misty landscape. Fields stretched in silent purple, with rows of tall trees, darkening in the dusk. I turned the car engine off. All was silent in the hot summer air. Beside us, a plum-covered river hardly moved between a border of trees, its dark lazy water reflecting the last light of day.
How breathtaking! Where had it been? If I had seen even a bit of beauty while driving along, I could have stopped and taken a look. I had missed it all.
We miss a lot, almost everything, in fact, in our world. Our task-focused filters (过滤器)takes care of that, selecting only what we need. We need to get to work. Have some lunch. We see what we need to see, often for purposes of survival. Gregory Bateson, speaking of beauty, said the judgment is selection of a fact. In our daily lives, who or what is doing the selecting? Can we make a change? Can we see further?
Given the crowds of visitors and many attractions at the Disney parks, it's easy to get lost. Thankfully, you will always find a worker to point you in the right direction. When you do, you just might start to notice something unique about their body language—and it's just one of the many secrets Disney employees won't tell you.
Cast members, as park employees are called, are taught in their training to always point with two fingers instead of one. The first reason for this is that pointing with just the one index finger(食指), as most Americans do, is considered impolite in some cultures and countries. The Disney parks have always attracted many international visitors, so the friendlier two-finger gesture became the norm among employees, in an effort to be sensitive and welcoming to every person. Employees have even affectionately named it "the Disney point". Michaela Paris, a former Disney employee, said the Disney point is a sign of respect.
"Disney receives plenty of foreign travelers to their parks. The typical single finger point is a symbol of disrespect and has a negative(负面的) meaning in many cultures. Therefore, Disney created 'the Disney point' to accommodate all of their guests, " Paris said.
Other sources say this way of pointing is related to Disney himself. According to the Huffington Post, it's actually how Walt Disney himself used to point things out to visitors, because he usually had a cigarette balanced between the two fingers. You won't find cast members today smoking a cigarette—there's no smoking allowed for anyone, employees or guests, once you are inside the entrances at Disney parks—but the tradition of pointing with two fingers still stands.
Keep an eye out for the statue of Walt and Mickey doing "the Disney point" next time you're at Disney World. Meanwhile don't miss other such rules that all Disney employees must follow.
Now more companies are experimenting with the concept of connected clothes. Among the pioneers is London based Cute Circuit, which has been creating fashionable smart clothing since 2004. The company's latest innovation is the "Sound Shirt", which allows deaf people to "feel" live music by transforming the tunes into touch sensations (感受) in real time.
The fashionable jacket uses software that changes the music into data and wirelessly sends it to the 16-micro motors fitted inside the clothing's fabric (布料). The devices shake with the intensity (强度) of the music being played, allowing the wearer to feel each instrument individually. For example, violins can be felt on the arms, while the deeper, heavier bass notes can be felt close to the stomach. The series of touch like sensations across the wearer's body enable him or her to feel the entire music, resulting in a musical experience.
To ensure the shirt is comfortable, the designers chose to leave out wires and instead wove conductive textiles (导电纺织品) into the garment's fabric. Francesca Rosella, chief creative officer of Cute Circuit, explains, "There're no wires inside, so we're only using smart fabrics — we have a combination of micro-electronics and very thin and flexible and conductive fabrics. All these little electronic motors are connected with these conductive fabrics so that the garment is soft and stretchable."
Cute Circuit, which has been testing the Sound Shirt for three years, expects to make it available to the general public shortly. Priced at $3,673, the smart jacket won't be cheap. However, twin sisters Herman and Heredia Breanne, who lost their hearing at a young age, believe the hi-tech garment is a worthwhile investment, especially for deaf people with a passion for dancing. "It's almost like feeling the depth of the music," says Herman. "It just feels as though we can move along with it."
How to Avoid an Internet Addiction
It may seem like everyone surfs the web these days. But if you can't have interest in other aspects of your life because of the Internet, you may be on your way to an Internet addiction. You might fear you're the only one who has experienced that feeling. Luckily, there are some ways to avoid living your life in front of the computer.
More and more people in the world are becoming addicted to the Internet, and you are not the only one with this problem. So do not be embarrassed. Just be brave to admit that you are on your way to an Internet addiction. And then find others with the same problem and help each other beat it.
Set aside limited time for computer use.
Make sure not to turn it on too many times a week. If you have a laptop, make sure to put it somewhere that you can remember but not somewhere that you see every day. Try keeping the lid closed when you are not using it. If you have a desktop PC, try not to go near it or put something over it like a sheet.
Call people instead of sending instant messages or texts.
If you are free on weekends, call friends and ask them to go outside to do something you enjoy, like playing a sport. This will take your mind off the computer.
Use an alarm clock or timer (计时器).
Before using your computer, decide on a time limit such as 30 minutes. Set the clock or timer and make sure that you get away from the computer when the time is up. Alternatively create a shutdown timer on your desktop.
A. Being addicted to it is quite normal. B. Admit you are at risk of an addiction. C. The truth, though, is that it's quite common to be an addict. D. When the computer is not looking at you, you are less likely to use it. E. This can be programmed to shut down your computer after the set time. F. This will stop you from using the Internet so often or going on to another page. G. If you have a problem on weekdays, phone your friends or ask for help in person. |
Joel Boyers and his wife, Melody Among, were heading home in their helicopter (直升机）when he received a call for help from a stranger. The caller's brother and her1 were trapped on their roof in Waverly because of the rising floodwater.
The caller2 Joel Boyers to come to their aid. Boyers looked west towards Waverly at the storm clouds. Aware of the danger to3 in such bad weather, though, he4 put the brother's address into his5 . Soon, he and Among were in the air,6 for what they were about to see in Waverly.
Upon arriving he found the water below was7 . People were holding on to anything that didn't move—roofs, trees. The flooding also8 cell phone service, meaning Boyers couldn't use his phone to locate the9 he was looking for. He flew on anyway.
As Boyers drove the helicopter, Among began10 people on roofs and bridges—anywhere Boyers could11 and get them onboard. A rescued man pointed to a teenager. The teenager held onto a branch with one hand and the other held a dog she'd saved earlier while both were12 in the current (水流). With no place for Boyers to land, he13 the helicopter until it hovered (盘旋) just above the water line. The rescued man jumped out and swam to the tree, where he helped the teen and the dog to the14 .
Though the experience was15 , Boyers admitted it was fun.
The traditional Chinese craft of turning thick bamboo into delicate slices achieves fame on overseas short video platform TikTok, receiving more than 10 million (view) and hundreds of thousands of likes. The skilled bamboo craftsmen are recording the daily detailed production process of their handicrafts on social media, are regarded as a " (mystery) Chinese power" in the eyes of foreign netizens.
Anne, TikTok talent from Omaha, USA, filmed a reaction video to the artistry and posted online. While witnessing the process of bamboo gradually turning into bamboo silk and pot brushes, she couldn't contain her (surprise) expression. "A real craftsman," she said in the video.
fancy tools, these bamboo craftsmen make amazing works of art (simple) using their own bare hands. Pan Yunfeng, 51, from Lin'an, Zhejiang, started learning bamboo weaving at an early age and by now with over 5 million followers on Douyin, he (become) a genuine influencer for netizens home and abroad.
Bamboo weaving art, (originate) from the Warring States Period 2,000 years ago, has become an essential part of Chinese traditional culture. Now, the popularity of bamboo art on TikTok has opened a window for foreign netizens to better understand Chinese culture.
It was the last day of school, and the long year spent in fourth grade had finally come to an end. It had rained heavily all day, and by the afternoon it became chilly. The sun had dipped below the horizon (地平线) as I got home soaked (湿透) and cold. I rushed into my room and slipped into some dry clothes. Once I had changed, I joined my mother in the kitchen. She had already lit the fire to prepare supper.
The wood soon caught fire, and the warmth spread around the room. I tried to get closer to the fire as my body was shivering with the intense cold. My mother gently rubbed my back and said, "I am proud of you, my little hero," as I told her how my schoolwork had improved. I remember her bright smile and the joy in her eyes.
My mother started humming the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson. I immediately began to sing with my mother. We would always sing songs like this together. My mother knew how much I loved singing. She always felt sorry that she couldn't afford to pay for music classes for me.
Life was not easy for us during that period. I was living with my mother after she separated from my dad, which happened the year before when I was in third grade. Sometimes the nights were tedious (单调乏味的) and tiresome as we did not have a television and the batteries in our old radio would often run out. However, I enjoyed the 20 songs that my mother and I sang together. As she hummed the tune and I sang along, I dreamed of a world where performing on stage would be the pillar (支柱) of my life. The turning point of my childhood came after the end of fourth grade. Our neighbor moved away and left his old piano to us.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150个左右;2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
My mother was so happy that she could teach me singing at home with this piano.
The next term, I became the lead singer of the school chorus, which was one step closer to my dream of becoming a singer and inspiring people with my voice.
