修改时间:2024-07-13 浏览次数:482 类型:期末考试
My father was a Jamaican(牙买加) immigrant while my mother was a white woman. They never got married but I was born. However, my father never1his family about my existence. Whatever the case, I didn't know I was a2until my thirteenth birthday.
Walking into my aunt's apartment brought a lot of emotions. What if my3didn't want anything to do with me because I was half white? How4can I learn the jokes that my family members told? Should I5them for all the years they didn't spend with me? My mind was full of thoughts when I was6to everyone, trying desperately to understand family members who almost were7strangers. Meanwhile, I was8to just remember everybody's name.
One of my aunts, who'd been quiet for most of the morning looked at me with tearful eyes. She mentioned how9she was for my father to have a daughter, saying, "He's always dreamt of having a daughter". However, she then expressed her10towards my father for keeping the family in the11about me. From this12, I have learned more about what it means to be biracial (代表两种人种的). Can I still13myself Jamaican even though my first time trying curry goat, a traditional dish, was not until my teenage years?
I've become aware that no matter how much DNA you might14with a particular race, you won't feel truly connected if you did not15with that culture's customs. I believe this event has16me into becoming a more understanding person when analyzing someone's actions. I have realized that I am far from a17. I am determined to prove that I'm here for a reason by using my talents to18those around me. I have grown to not19on my parents and families to tell me who I am, but I have understood my uniqueness and20my real self. I really feel proud that among strangers I eventually know who I am!
Islands that could disappear in your lifetime Island vacations are dreams for many tourists, but climate change has lifted ocean temperatures, raised sea levels and worsened storm severity. As a result, some islands are threatened and could disappear in the coming decades. |
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Federal States of Micronesia 2019 Population: 112,640 The average rate of sea-level rise worldwide has been 3.1 mm per year since 1993. But the rate around Federated States of Micronesia is three times faster. The country is at risk of disappearing because of coastal flooding, erosion, and frequent storms. |
Tuvalu 2019 Population: 11,508. Tuvalu is a small chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean. For more than 25 years, its representatives have raised alarms that climate change could raise sea levels enough to flood the islands. Even if waters never get that high, Tuvalu could still become uninhabitable as rising sea levels have polluted the nation's groundwater resources with salt. |
Marshall Islands 2019 Population: 58413 Residents of Marshall Islands, a chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls in the central Pacific Ocean, have known for years that they have to either build new artificial islands to relocate or raise the existing ones. |
Shishmaref Alaska 2019 Population: 617 In 2016, people living in Shishmaref, Alaska, located near the Bering Strait, voted to relocate before melting ice and land erosion would forced them to. Alaska had granted the city $8 million toward the move, but officials say it will cost $200 million. |
The term "crocodile tears" refers to insincere sadness. This term has an etymology dating back several centuries. As early as the fourth century, crocodile tears are referenced in the literature with the meaning of insincere sorrow. It is said that crocodiles weep while eating their hunted animals because they are sad; however, this sadness is not honest.
The term crocodile tears became widely popular after it was documented in a fifteenth-century book titled The Voyage and Travel of Sir John Mandeville, Knight. A passage from the book reads: "These crocodiles kill men and they eat them weeping."
As you may already know, crocodilians(鳄目动物) likely feel bad about little—especially feeding. However, the assumption of the crocodile-tears metaphor may be true. In a 2007 paper published in BioScience titled "Crocodile Tears: And they eat them weeping", researchers observed 7 crocodilians in cages during feeding time at a reserve (4 caimans and 3 American alligators). The researchers observed the crocodilians outside of water at feeding stations to better find out whether tearing developed.
Five of the 7 crocodilians developed something like tears in their eyes before, during or after feeding. The researchers suggest that these crocodile tears occur because a crocodilian hisses (发出嘶嘶声) while it eats, and this hissing forces air through the spaces in the bone behind the nose and out the eye, in the process picking up nasolacrimal secretions (鼻泪管分泌物.)
In humans, crocodile tears is a medical condition that causes a person to tear up while eating. Crocodile tears typically occur because of a temporary loss of facial control due to damage of the facial nerve. Specifically, when the facial nerve grows again, it does so incorrectly thus resulting in tears during chewing food.
For several decades, there has been an organized campaign intended to produce distrust in science, funded by those whose interests are threatened by the findings of modern science. In response, scientists have tended to stress the success of science. After all, scientists have been right about most things, from the structure of the universe to the relativity of time and space.
Stressing successes isn't wrong, but for many people it's not persuasive. An alternative answer to the question "Why trust science?" is that scientists use the so-called scientific method. But what is called the scientific method isn't what scientists actually do. Science is dynamic: new methods get invented; old ones get abandoned; and at any particular point, scientists can be found doing many different things. False theories sometimes lead to true results, so even if an experiment works, it doesn't prove that the theory it was designed to test is true.
If there is no specific scientific method, then what is the basis for trust in science? The answer is the methods by which those claims are evaluated. A scientific claim is never accepted as true until it has gone through a long process of examination by fellow scientists. Scientists draft the initial version of a paper and then send it to colleagues for suggestions. Until this point, scientific feedback is typically fairly friendly. But the next step is different: the revised paper is submitted to a scientific journal, where things get a whole lot tougher. Editors deliberately send scientific papers to people who are not friends or colleagues of the authors, and the job of the reviewer is to find errors or other faults. We call this process "peer review" because the reviewers are scientific peers—experts in the same field—but they act in the role of a superior who has both the right and the responsibility to find fault. It is only after the reviewers and the editor are satisfied that any problems have been fixed that the paper will be printed in the journal and enters the body of "science."
Some people argue that we should not trust science because scientists are "always changing their minds." While examples of truly settled science being overturned are far fewer than is sometimes claimed, they do exist. But the beauty of this scientific process is that science produces both creativity and stability. New observations, ideas, explanations and attempts to combine competing claims introduce creativity; transformative questioning leads to collective decisions and the stability of scientific knowledge. Scientists do change their minds in the face of new evidence, but this is a strength of science, not a weakness.
A Latin phrase beloved by every old-fashioned British schoolmaster was mens sana in corpora sano—a healthy mind in a healthy body. Greater physical activity is associated with better mental, as well as physical health. And it might also be linked to greater worker productivity, and thus faster economic growth. That is the conclusion of a new report from a European think tank — RAND.
The RAND study looks at different measures: absenteeism (when workers take time off for illness) and presenteeism (when they turn up for work but are less productive because of sickness). The latter measure was self-reported by employees, who were asked whether their work was negatively affected by health issues. The survey suggests that between 3 and 4.5 working days each year are lost as a consequence of workers being physically inactive. This is between 1.3% and 2% of annual working time. Most of this was down to presenteeism.
Another potential gain from improved fitness is reduced health-care costs. In America, where health care is often provided through employment-based systems, firms could benefit. RAND estimates that total American health savings could be $6bn a year by 2025. But the study's authors conclude that if people met certain exercise targets, global GDP could be around 0.17-0.24% higher by 2050. Nothing to laugh at in a world of slowing growth.
How to encourage workers to become more active? Rewards are useful but only if they have conditions; giving all employees free gym membership does not seem to work. Another RAND Europe study examined an experiment in which workers were each given an Apple watch, payable in instalments (分期付款) at a discounted price—but only to those who agreed to have their physical activity monitored. Monthly repayments depended on how much exercise they took.
The problem is that many people are too optimistic about their health, ignoring the risks they face. This means that participation in workplace exercise plans tends to be low, around 7% in the sample studied by RAND. Firms are not the only ones that can encourage a healthier lifestyle; friends and families are likely to be more important. But businesses can play a bigger role.
If RAND is right, this may bring them financial benefits. Company taskmasters may yet grow fond of an adapted saying: mens sana in corporate sano.
How to live with someone in chronic pain?
Do you know that 100 million people in the United States suffer with chronic(慢性的)pain? Living with someone in chronic pain can be demanding at times because the person doesn't feel well and wants your help to feel better. Yet you are powerless to do much about stopping their pain. As a result, much of the relationship can become focused on pain which is depressing for both of you. But people in pain need emotional support. They need to know that you understand their feelings. So, express it in your words and show it by your presence.
Now, realize, there is a fine line between helping and hurting when talking with people in chronic pain. You help by encourage pain free talk, by focusing on tfie positives of your relationship and other aspects of the person's life. Instead of asking, "How is your pain today?" ask, "How is your day going?" Then, focus on what is going right or is positive despite the pain. This isn't ignoring the reality of their pain, rather focusing away from the pain. Constant conversations about pain increase pain. The more attention you give pain, the more it multiplies pain.
The more you do things for the person in pain, the more likely they are to become disabled by their pain. For example, if your partner can move, get up or get their own drink, let them. Even if it takes a while to accomplish something, movement is good for chronic pain. The goal is not to do things they can do for themselves. Otherwise, you are enabling sick behavior. Therefore, encourage, but don't enable! You don't want anyone's identity to be developed around the pain.
Remember, chronic pain has caused your partner to limit his behavior and not do the things he used to do. He is dealing with loss and has to find a new normal. Talk about what can be done to improve functioning despite the pain. You may have to get creative! Can you throw a ball to the grandkids sitting down? Maybe you can find a more comfortable position for closeness.
Finally, do all you can to help him remain social even though the pain may lead to a cancellation with friends now and then. When that happens, you are supposed to keep inviting him to gatherings as he wants to remain active and involved. The worse thing a person in pain can do is get separated from others. Not only will they become depressed but it is much easier to lose hope. And there is so much you can do to improve functioning and get on with your life.
In sum, chronic pain can cause relationship tension, but a focus on small things that turn down the volume on pain and improve your day to day functioning will help your relationships.
How to live with someone in chronic pain? |
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Passage outlines |
Supporting details |
The phenomenon about people in chronic pain |
There are a large number of people from chronic pain. We need to show our understanding by keeping them . |
to showing them our understanding. |
When it to chronic pain, pay more to the positives and what is going right instead of focusing on the pain itself. them to move as much as they can instead of enabling sick behaviors. Keep their loss in mind and help them to find a new way to improve functioning in of the pain. Even if he may cancel gatherings , try to keep a person in pain active and involved. |
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By focusing on small useful things and improving day to day functioning, we will live in with someone in chronic pain. |
Facial recognition technology has increasingly been used in China, from airports, hotels, hospitals, restaurants and even tourist spots. Guo Bing, a law professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, has filed a lawsuit against(起诉) a local wildlife park because it requires visitors to walk through a compulsory facial recognition lane for admission.
China Daily held a forum on this case. Here are the selections of the views.
Johanna (China)
My concern is that my data might get leaked or sold to some company. My cellphone could be unlocked my account hacked, and what would I do? Passwords can be changed, but I just can't change my face. The government needs to start regulating this face identification. Misuse of data ought to come with penalties. Companies should face serious consequences if they fail to follow the rules.
Markwu (Malaysia)
Facial recognition really marks a leap forward in transportation. Truly, technology offers convenience to our clothing, dining, traveling and housing. It also helps law enforcement departments preempt(抢先行动) criminals. To fight against terrorists, facial recognition is necessary, because prevention is better than cure.
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