It is irrefutable: Parents, who talk to, read and engage with their very young children as often as possible, help them build literacy (读写能力) skills at an early age.

    Also certain: Parents of very young children usually have to do a lot of laundry. And low-income families tend to bring their kids with them to public laundromats (洗衣房).

    Those truths appear once a week at select neighborhood laundromats in Chicago. That's when librarians lay down colorful mats and oversized board books beside the industrial washing machines.

    Inside one of about 14 laundromats in the city's low-income neighborhoods, the librarians gather all available children for Laundromats Story Time (LST), a Chicago Public Library (CPL) program.

    With the noise of the washers and dryers, anywhere between a handful to more than a dozen children hear stories, sing songs and play games designed to help their brains develop. The event also aims to instruct parents on how to repeat the experience for their kids, working to raise poor literacy rates in underserved communities.

    "We read books, we sing songs, we do plays," says Becca Ruidl, the CPL's STEAM Team early learning manager, who runs the LST program. "We kind of keep it going so parents can walk in adn join in at any time. But a big part of what we do is model literacy skills for parents so they can do it at home with their kids."

    While a laundromat seems an unlikely place to engage with children, "we really wanted to meet people in the community where they're. "Ruidl says.

    And it clearly meets a need: Library officials say the program is in increasing demand, while Ruidl says families have adjusted their household's laundry day to suit the librarians' laundromat visits. At the same time, LST's co-sponsors—including a laundry industry trade group and Libraries Without Borders, an organization fighting poverty through literacy—have worked with the CPL to draft an instruction handbook to help expand the concept to other U.S. cities.

    Qing-Feng Steamed Dumpling Shop. Daniang Dumpling. McDonald's. What do these companies have in common?

    Well, besides all being fast food chains, their logos are all red. And it's not a coincidence. Color is one of the many that companies use to connect with customers. And if fast food wasn't hard enough, those red logos might make it even harder to ignore.

    The average human can see ten million colors, but red is special. It's one of the first colors our ancient ancestors thought important enough to name. Early human languages were uncolorful. There were words for “black” and “white” and “red” but not much else.

    As a result, we have a deeper connection to red than any other color and we react to it in certain ways that actually play to fast food companies' advantage. For starters, researchers have found that red can cause a sense of urgency. On top of that, it also has an ability to whet (刺激) our appetites. And when you pair those two together, you've got the perfect recipe to attract hungry customers who want food, fast.

    So the red logo isn't just a welcoming sign. It's a seduction (诱惑) for your brain. Now, it's unclear why red makes us feel this way. But perhaps it has something to do with where the word comes from. Many ancient languages first named red from their word for “blood”. But red's bloody beginning has transformed. During medieval times, for example, red was worn by royals as a status symbol. And today, brides in many parts of India are married in red dress.

    In fact, red is one of the few colors today that cultures all over the world view positively. And it's no wonder companies attach so much importance to their logos. After all, we're a visual species. Despite having five senses, 80% of the information our brains process on a daily basis comes from our eyes. And according to marketing company WebPageFX, nearly 85% of consumers say the main reason they choose one product over the other is color.

    Just think what McDonald's would look like in blue, green, or pink! It's just not the same, right?

    Cao Yuan, a PhD student from China, had two papers published on strange behaviour in atom-thick layers of carbon that have opened up a new field of physics.

    Pablo Jarillo-Herrero's group at MIT was already layering and rotating (旋转) sheets of carbon at different angles when Cao joined the lab in 2014. Cao's job was to find out what happened when one graphene (石墨烯) sheet was twisted only slightly wiht respect to the other, which one theory predicted would thoroughly change the material's behaviour.

    Many physicists doubted the idea. But when Cao set out to create the subtly twisted stacks, he spotted something strange. Exposed to a small electric field and cooled to 1.7 degrees above absolute zero, the graphene—which ordinarily conducts electricity—became an insulator. That by itself was surprising. But the best was yet to come: with a slight change to the field, the twisted sheets became a superconductor, in which electricity flowed without resistance.

    The ability to get atom-thick carbon into a complex electronic state through a simple rotation now has physics demanding to engineer exciting behavior in other twisted 2D materials. Some even hope that graphene could shed light on how more-complex materials superconduct at much higher temperatures. "There are so many things we can do," says Cory Dean, a physicist at Columbia University. "The opportunities at hand now are almost irresistible."

    Hitting graphene's “magic angle”—a rotation between parallel sheets of around 1.1°—involved some trial and error, but Cao was soon able to do it reliably. His experimental skill was extremely important, says his supervisor Jarillo-Herrero. Cao pioneered a method of tearing a single sheet of graphene so that he could create a stack of two layers, from which he could then fine-tune alignment (微调校准).

    Cao loves to take things apart and rebuild them. A heart, he is “a tinkerer”, his supervisor says. On his own time, this means photographing the night sky using homemade cameras and telescopes—pieces of which usually lie across Cao's office. "Every ime I go in, it's a huge mess, with computers taken apart and pieces of telescope all over his desk," says Jarillo-Herrero.

    If you travel, you will leave a carbon footprint in your wake. You can't help it. But eco-friendly travel practices can lighten the harm on Mother Earth. Green travel is not a passing trend but a lifestyle choice. .

    Choosing a green destination

    No destination is a Green Giant. . However, some countries and cities show a deep commitment to Earth-friendly policies and practices. When researching a vacation spot, look for places that naturally embrace the green lifestyle.

    Choosing green transportation

    What makes Mother Earth proud? Seeing you use your own power to get around. Many adventure tour operators arrange cycling, hiking and walking holidays. . The greenest rides typically run on electric power. Switzerland is taking the lead with its hybrid buses and trains powered by hydroelectricity; Japan is running close behind.

    Choosing a green hotel

    Once you are at your destination, if you can get the hotel right, you can make the greatest impact. . Look for a fact sheet online, or call the front desk. You can also search for hotels approved by respected certification programs, such as Green Key and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

    .

    The Earth-friendly choices are numerous: You can sail, bike, kayak, bike, swim, bird-watch and play I-spy-a-monkey in a tree. Visit a local food market, and don't forget to bring a reusable bag for purchases. You can also lend a hand during your holiday. The green movement has changed from how to preserve and protect to how to use less and do good when you're there.

A. Choosing green travel

B. Choosing green activities

C. Next in line are trains and buses

D. They all make environmental missteps

E. Most major chains operate in-house green program

F. If you plan to drive, consider a fuel-efficient vehicle

G. Follow the tips and watch your footprints turn greener

    In 2009 we were staying at our cousin's house in Triora, Italy. Settled just above a window was a bird's nest which my 1 said had been there for many years. Each year, different families of starlings (椋鸟) came back to make it their 2.

    We knew they were 3 because the chattering (鸣叫) of six newly hatched chicks 4us early every morning. Standing on a chair, I 5 to look into their nest. The first time I looked, the chicks were 6 and almost featherless. Their parents 7 backwards and forwards, bringing food to 8 their hungry and noisy chicks.

    Being 9 parents, whenever they saw me they screamed and flew at the window. So I could only 10 the chicks when they weren't around.

    11 the chicks were only a few days old, I realized the parents were teaching their young to fly. One brave chick beat its wings a few times and then 12 across the street landing on the roof of the house 13. Well done, I thought. The next day, my husband and I left for a tour and I was 14, thinking of how I would miss the rest taking their first 15.

    Two weeks later, on our 16, the first thing I did was look in the nest. It was 17. Then, suddenly, I head the beating of 18 and all eight of them were flying toward me. They 19a semicircle, singing to me. I felt as though they were saying, “Thank you for not harming us.” Then they flew off 20 into the blue sky.

    China reached a milestone in space exploration on January 3, 2019. Chang'e-4  (successful) landed on the far side of the moon's surface.

    This is the first time in history any country has performed a soft landing on the back of the moon. It is also a huge win for Chinese scientists who have been planning out this work for  (year).

    Shortly after the lander's arrival, it sent back a photo of the Yutu rover (月球车)  (roll) slowly across the moon's dusty surface. As (expect), the lander will conduct a number of challenging tasks. It will observe the low-gravity environment and explore  there is water or other resources. Later, soil samples (collect) and returned to the earth. Scientists believe that the back of the moon is  (ancient) than the front, so the soil age is valuable for studying the early history of the moon.

    Since the far side of the moon is quiet and free  electromagnetic interference (干扰) from the earth, it's a perfect place to research the space environment. Everything  (appear) to be working smoothly, and we can expect plenty of moon news out of China in the near future.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

    Last Saturday, feeling so boring, I wanted to experience something new. So I go online and found a nursing home what I could volunteer.

    The next day, I paid a visit the nursing home. At first I didn't know what to expect, but after greeting the elderly and talking to them patient, I was surprised by how thankful they were for their visit. Moreover, I was touched by their attitudes towards life. Although they were old, but they were young at heart.

    Volunteering provides many chance to change people's lives, include my own. If everyone makes a effort, the world will surely be a better place.

1）最敬佩的人物及理由；

2）该人物对你的影响。

注意：1）词数100左右；

2）可以根据所提供的要点进行适当发挥。