修改时间:2024-07-13 浏览次数:353 类型:期中考试
Two things changed my life: my mother and a white, plastic, daisy bike basket. I would be a different person if my mom hadn't turned a silly bicycle accessory(配件) into a life lesson I carry with me today.
It was summer and, one day, my mother drove me to the bike shop to get a tire fixed — and there it was in the window. White, shiny, plastic and decorated with daisies, the basket seemed so appealing and I knew I had to have it.
"Mom, please can I get it? I'll do extra chores for as long as you say. I'll do anything, but I need that basket. I love that basket. Please, Mom. Please?"
"You know," she said, gently rubbing my back while we both stared at what I believed was the coolest thing ever, "If you save up, you could buy this yourself."
"By the time I make enough it'll be gone!"
"Maybe Roger here could hold it for you," she smiled at Roger, the bike guy.
"For that long? He can't hold it for that long, Mom. Someone else will buy it. Please, Mom, please?"
"There might be another choice," she said. My mother bought the beautiful basket and put it safely out of reach in some hiding place I couldn't find. Each week I eagerly counted my growing nest egg earned by extra work here and there (washing the car, helping my mother make dinner, delivering milk around the neighborhood). And then, weeks later maybe, I counted, re-counted and jumped for joy. Oh, I made it! I finally had the exact amount we'd agreed upon.
Days later, the unthinkable happened. A neighborhood girl I'd played with appeared with the exact same basket fixed to her shiny, new bike. I rode my bike fast home to tell my mother about this disaster, this horrible turn of events.
And then came the lesson I've taken with me through my life: "Honey, your basket is extra-special," Mom said, gently wiping away my hot tears. "Your basket is special because you paid for it yourself."
Sports can help you keep fit and get in touch with nature. However, whether you are on the mountains, in the waves, or on the grassland, you should be aware that your sport of choice might have great influence on the environment.
Some sports are resource-hungry. Golf, as you may know, eats up not only large areas of countryside, but also tons of water. Besides, all sorts of chemicals and huge amounts of energy are used to keep its courses(球场)in good condition. This causes major environmental effects. For example, in the dry regions of Portugal and Spain, golf is often held responsible for serious water shortage in some local areas.
There are many environment-friendly sports. Power walking is one of them that you could take up today. You don't need any special equipment except a good pair of shoes; and you don't have to worry about resources and your purse. Simple and free, power walking can also keep you fit. If you walk regularly, it will be good for your heart and bones. Experts say that 20 minutes of power walking daily can make you feel less anxious, sleep well and have better weight control.
Whatever sport you take up, you can make it greener by using environment-friendly equipment and buying products made from recycled materials. But the final goal should be "green gyms". They are better replacements(代替物)for traditional health clubs and modern sports centers. Members of green gyms play sports outdoors, in the countryside or other open spaces. There is no special requirement for you to start your membership. And best of all, it's free.
The human body is designed to move. But modern lifestyles and office jobs rarely give us the chance to move around. As we know, we're sitting while we're eating; we sit in the car and we sit while we watch TV. And many of us sit for many hours at work.
New research shows that sitting less than three hours a day might extend your life by two years. Peter Katzmarzyk, a scientist at the University of Louisiana in the southern United States, says that sitting is ubiquitous in our lives, meaning it is something we do all the time, everywhere.
However, Mr. Katzmarzyk says that does not mean you can sit for the rest of your waking hours. He also says you may exercise often, "We can't throw away physical activity. It's extremely important. We have 60 years of research showing us that."
Mr. Katzmarzyk and his colleagues are part of a new generation of researchers studying how sitting all day affects length of life. "Studies that have assessed the relationship between sitting and mortality (死亡率) or television viewing and mortality are very rare. There's only been a few of them, actually five or six now, in the last four or five years." They found that cutting television time to less than two hours a day could add one point four years to life.
Luckily, change is already coming to some offices, especially in the design of desks. A "standing desk" lets people stand while they work. Another new design is called the "treadmill desk." A treadmill is an exercise machine that lets you walk in one place. Even some U.S. schools are beginning to experiment with desks that are part bicycle to keep children moving. That's one of the strategies that many companies are using now.
Mr. Katzmarzyk also says studying this problem has inspired his team to make a few changes in their own lives.
Are supermarkets designed to persuade us to buy more? When you enter a supermarket, the manager knows better than you: how you will behave — which way you will walk, where you will look, what will make you buy one product rather than another. When customers go into a shop, they naturally look to their left but move clockwise, towards the right. So supermarket entrances are usually on the left of the building. And the layout is designed to take shoppers around the store, aisle (通道) after aisle, from left to right.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. Basic food like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so customers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really want.
People walk quickly through narrow aisles, but they move slowly in wide aisles and give more attention to the products. One best-selling position for products is at the end of aisles, because shoppers slow down to turn into the next aisle. Supermarkets are paid by food companies to put their products in each of these high-selling places.
While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put them in the trolley.
More is bought from a fifteen-foot display of one type of product (e.g. cereal, washing powder) than from a ten-foot one. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there.
A. Another is on shelves at eye level.
B. Sweets are often placed at children's eye level at the checkout.
C. There are always enough products prepared for customers in the supermarket.
D. Then shoppers will pay attention to all the products.
E. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop.
F. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty.
G. Supermarkets are one of children's favorite places and they are also big consumers.
Herman Travis, 55, lives in Holly Courts, a low-income neighborhood in San Francisco. Every Tuesday, Travis 1a shopping cart with groceries from a local food bank (食品赈济站). Then he makes home 2 to his elderly and disabled 3. He started doing it in 2007 and when he first 4, people were doubtful. They didn't welcome it as he had 5. "At first people were 6. They didn't let me in. However, 7 they got to really know me they would just be 8 to see me," Travis once told me.
I am one of Travis' neighbors who 9deliveries from him. Like everyone else, I 10 appreciate his help, and love to see the joy Travis gets out of making his rounds. I'm 11 with the way he handled himself with the people here. He's so very kind and warm, always smiling, as if he's 12 a favor for his own family. 13 , people are happy when they see him coming, knowing they are treated with 14.
There are people in nearby15that have been trying to steal Travis for years. They suggest 16 him to go and deliver food for them. But he simply wouldn't do it for money.
What Travis does for us might be 17 things, but he does them with big love. It's 18 rewarding for himself. And for those of us who receive his 19every week, it is truly20. He's a modern-day hero.
I was visiting Australia a few weeks ago. I knew I couldn't leave the surf capital of the world having a try myself. I booked a group surf lesson when I was in Byron Bay, which is a really popular place for (skill) surfers to go and catch some waves!
We started off with a warm-up by doing some stretches and going for a jog along beach. Then we all (lie) down on our surfboards on the sand and practiced (jump) up to the standing position. After this, we were ready to go out and try it out on the water. Well, surfing is much (hard) than it looks—when you watch people from the beach they make look so easy! I had tried a couple of times but failed before one of the (coach) came to help me and held my board steady.
Finally I started to get the hang of it and by the end of the lesson I managed (stand) up on the board by myself, was a pretty awesome feeling. Now I can't wait to try it again, although I'll definitely need to wear a wetsuit if I'm surfing in the UK!
Every summer, hundreds of thousands of students travel to other countries looking for work and adventure. Most of the opportunities are in seasonal work, mainly connected with tourism and agriculture. The pay is usually poor, but most people work abroad for the thrill of travel. You can pick grapes in France, work on a family campsite, entertain kids on American summer camps, and of course, there are always jobs in hotels and restaurants.
But it is not as easy as it used to be to find work. "Unless you speak the language of the country will, there will be very few openings." Says Anthea Ellis, an adviser on vacation work for students. "If you work as a nanny with a family in Italy, then of course you'll have to speak Italian. When you arrive to wash dishes in a restaurant in Paris, the owner will expect you to speak French."
Not everyone enjoys the experience. Sarah James was an assistant responsible for a summer camp group of forty America children in Europe. One child lost his passport; another became seriously ill and was flown home; four children were lost in Madrid for a whole day; the whole group was thrown out of one hotel because of the noise they made. "I did visit a lot of new places," she says, "but it wasn't worth it. The pay was awful and really was a 24-hour-a-day job. The kids never slept!"
"The trouble is, students expect to have an easy time of it," Anthea Ellis points out. "After all, they see it as a holiday. In practice, though, you have to work hard. At the same time, all vacation work is casual work. You'll have a job when the hotel, the restaurant, or the campsite is busy and you have few employment rights. As soon as the holiday season finished, they'll get rid of you. If you don't work hard, or if your employer doesn't like you, you'll get fired."
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