修改时间：2024-07-13 浏览次数：188 类型：期中考试
For five days, Edmonton's Downtown Park is transformed into one huge stage where artists are able to share their talents, and where people are able to celebrate and enjoy themselves. Since its beginning in 1980, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival has been commemorating the true feeling of what folk music is all about and that's the traditional togetherness (友爱) that is felt when people gather to share stories and feelings through songs.
This year will be the sixth year when volunteer Riedel will be offering up her time to the festival. "People coming off a busy spring and summer have a moment of relaxation," Riedel said. "It's really easy to relax, and it's great seeing family and friends have fun together." These families and friends come from all different kinds of musical tastes. People who take pleasure in Blues are there, so are people who love Bluegrass. This festival does its best to develop everyone's musical interests.
With so many years of experience, the festival has become a well-oiled machine, and does whatever it can to make attendees feel as comfortable as possible. There are free water stations throughout the venue (举办地) for people to fill up their travel cups. When people buy food, reusable dishes are given a $2 plate fee, but that is returned when the plate is brought back.
The festival has completely sold out of tickets, and in record time. But with big names such as Van Morrison and Jakob Dylan, it's easy to see how that was going to happen. There is no parking area during the festival, so using the Park & Ride system or Edmonton Transit is highly recommended. A bike lock-up area is provided and will be available Thursday until Sunday one hour before the gates open until 45 minutes after the gates close.
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival begins on Wednesday, Aug. 4 with Van Morrison playing the special donation fund concert, and will finish up on Sunday, Aug. 8.
Shane Gero, a scientist at Aarhus University in Denmark, spent 6 years studying sperm whales (抹香鲸), which communicate through very loud clicks. He found that sperm whales in the Caribbean Sea had different clicks from those in the Pacific Ocean. He even "translated" the clicks from a group of Caribbean sperm whales, believing them to say, "I'm from the Caribbean, are you?", reported National Geographic. As well as being used for communication, the clicks also allow whales to develop a relationship with one another, according to Gero.
Apart from sperm whales, other animals like wolves and apes also have different regional accents. Researchers analyzed the howls of different species of wolves. They found that red wolves, Arctic wolves and other wolves have howls that vary in pitch (音调). In other words, they have their own dialects.
According to Darcy Kelley from Columbia University, most animals learn their accents naturally. For example, macaques (猕猴) start speaking their dialect as soon as they are born. Scientists placed some macaques in a new environment where their playmates all spoke a different dialect. But the macaques still spoke their own dialect. Their environment had no influence on their communication, according to the Washington Post.
"In most species, communication appears to have a genetic basis," Kelley explained in the Washington Post. "However, among a small number of species, animals can learn from others and develop their own accents."
Fruit flies are a good example. According to Science Daily, they send messages through their wing movements. Scientists found that fruit flies can only communicate efficiently with others of the same species. However, they can learn new dialects by spending time around other species.
"A proper accent is vital to mating and warning the coming of enemies, which is the basis of protecting themselves," Kelley told the Washington Post. A species can't risk changing their own dialect and learning a new one.
Rosie Dutton, a teacher from Relax Kids in Tamworth, UK, used two apples to show her students the often unseen but harmful effects of school bullying (欺凌).
She posted the lesson on Facebook, where it's been shared more than 160,000 times. Rosie Dutton explained that during one of her classes she presented the children with two red apples. What the kids didn't know was that before the lesson, she had repeatedly dropped one of the apples on the floor. And yet, on the outside at least, both apples looked perfect.
"I picked up the apple I'd dropped on the floor and started to tell the children how I disliked this apple," Dutton wrote. "I told them that because I didn't like it, I didn't want them to like it either, so they should call it names too." Some of the children looked at her as if she were "crazy", but the students passed the apple around the circle, calling it names.
Continuing the exercise, the teacher then passed the second apple around the circle. This apple, however, was showered with words like "Your skin is beautiful" and "What a beautiful colour you have". Dutton then showed the students both apples once again, stressing that "There was no change, and both apples still looked the same."
Finally, Dutton cut both apples open. The apple that the class treated kindly looked fresh inside. But the other apple — the one they'd treated poorly — was bruised(碰伤的) beneath its skin.
"I think there was a light bulb moment for the children immediately," Dutton said. "When people are bullied, especially children, they feel horrible inside and sometimes don't show or tell others how they are feeling. If we hadn't cut that apple open, we would never have known how much pain we had caused it." Dutton explained how important it is to teach children to stand up for one another, and to stop any form of bullying.
"Let's create a generation of kind caring children," the teacher wrote. "The tongue has no bones, but is strong enough to break a heart. So be careful with your words."
Say Goodbye to Post-holiday Syndrome
You've spent countless days waking up late, enjoying watching your favorite TV shows and lying on the couch. It's time to go back to work. Here are some tips to make the shift from vacation to work of smoother.
Tidy up your work- space first.
Chances are you'll be greeted by piles of unopened mail, files, and other office items sitting on your desk.The longer you wait, the more likely these items will be sitting around your desk later in the week.
You may feel the urge to work on three different things at the same time in order to catch up on work. However, this is not the most efficient approach. Instead, you should make a point to focus your mind and to only work on one item or task at a time.
Remove unnecessary distractions. (注意力分散)
It's incredibly important to get serious about cutting out obvious distractions. This way, you can catch up on things efficiently without being bothered every five minutes.
Make plans to enjoy yourself the first week back.
Scheduling a lunch date or two with friends can make the week back seem a bit less painful. Treat yourself to your favorite drink at the local cafe during your coffee break. It may take several days for you to finally get readjusted and that's perfectly fine. Stay calm, focused and relaxed. You'll be back to your old routine at work before you know it.
A. Do one thing at a time.
B. Make a list of tasks based on their importance.
C. Then you suddenly come to an uncomfortable realization.
D. So it's a good idea to deal with these items as soon as you can.
E. You're back at work, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself.
F Rather than ignoring these items, take a few minutes to process them.
G. Switch off your cell phone, and close out of any social media accounts.
If you look Chinese and speak Mandarin, you can call for a ride in Vancouver via WeChat, a Chinese app. The drivers normally call back to1the order, says Daniel Merkin, who lives in the Canadian city. "Sometimes they'll 2 on me when they realize I don't speak Mandarin," he says. But he keeps 3, because popular ride-hailing (网约车) services, like Uber (优步), are not available. The Chinese service is not legal, but it is 4. Mr. Merkin hopes that his 5 will soon expand.
In July the province of British Columbia, which licenses drivers, said it would allow the big ride-hailing services 6. But British Columbia has made their entry 7 by requiring drivers to hold commercial licenses. The government has reason to be 8. In many cities where ride-hailing has 9, traffic jam has worsened and use of public transport has 10.
However, Andrew Curran, head of policy at Trans Link, the city's public-transport system, believes ride-hailing could 11 use of public transport by ferrying people from their houses to a bus or train stop. It could also improve transport for people with 12. Currently, Trans-Link hires taxis to give door-to-door rides to some disabled people. He says the commercial-license rule will slow down the services' growth and 13 taxi-drivers, ride-hailing's fiercest 14.
But the commercial-license requirement could have the 15 effect. Analysts think it will 16 most drivers and reduce the number of drivers 17 to pick up passengers in distant suburbs. 18, they will gather in the center. Some of Uber's future competitors say they are not 19. A driver, who offers rides in his Mercedes SUV to people who hire him via Wechat, thinks his customers will stay 20. He predicts ride-hailing will just slow their journeys down.
Scientists have found a reliable way to lengthen life in lab animals: Reduce the amount of calories(卡路里) they eat. This method, (know) as caloric restriction, has been shown to lengthen life of organisms (有机体) and reduce some age-related (disease).Whether it can do the same in people has been an open question. , a new study suggests that in adults, long-term restriction of calorie intake can have an effect on their health.
The researchers looked at a group of 143 healthy adults who ranged in age 21 to 50. They were instructed (practice) caloric restriction for two years. They could eat the foods they wanted so long as they cut back on the foods they ate, with the aim of (cut) the calories they consumed by 25 percent.
Many did not achieve that goal. On average, the dieters managed to cut down about 12 percent of their total calories, or (rough) 300 calories a day. But the group saw many of their health markers improve. They (lose) body fat, their blood pressure fell slightly, and they had better blood sugar control. Meanwhile, another 75 healthy adults did not practice caloric restriction saw no (improve) in these markers.
Festivals and celebrations of all kinds have been held everywhere since times. Most ancient festivals would celebrate the end of cold weather, planting in spring and in autumn. Sometimes celebrations would be held after hunters had caught animals. At that time people would if food was difficult to find, especially during the cold winter months. Today's festivals have many , some religious, some seasonal, and some for special people or events.
The most and important festivals are the ones that look forward to the end of winter and to the coming of spring. the Spring Festival in China, people eat dumplings, fish and meat and may give children lucky money in red paper. There are dragon dances and carnivals, and celebrate the Lunar New Year together. Some Western countries have very exciting carnivals, take place forty days before Easter, usually in February. These carnivals might parades, dancing in the streets day and night, loud music and colorful clothing of all kinds. Easter is an important and social festival for Christians around the world.
Christine closed the door to Anna's room. Inside, her classmate and friend had fallen asleep.
Downstairs, Christine's mom, Donna, was grasping Anna's mother Sheila around the shoulders.
"We should go," she said. "Get some rest, huh?" Sheila nodded, blew her nose, and then waved them goodbye.
On the car ride home, Christine worked up the courage to ask the question on her mind. "Mom? Why was Sheila weeping?" She thought she knew the answer, of course: Anna's cancer. In the past, Anna had been the neighborhood do-gooder, always going door to door for various causes: the local animal shelter, suffering children in Africa, or the families who'd lost their homes to fire. Now Anna could barely feed or dress herself. Christine thought it so unfair when bad things like this happened to good people.
"Well, it's complex, but I guess you're old enough to understand."
"Understand what?"
"Understand that Anna is sick, yes, but Anna actually gets a lot of help. The government helps pay for a lot of her medicine. She gets meals delivered to her by a nonprofit. She even gets massages from local volunteers."
"Wow!"
"Her life's still very hard, of course, and no one would trade places with her, but when you have cancer, everyone can see that you need help, "continued Donna." They don't always see that the people around you are suffering."
"People like Sheila?"
"Yes, did you know that Sheila took a break from her job to stay home with Anna?"
"No!" Christine was surprised. She had never thought about who took Anna to her appointments, or fed her when she was too weak to lift a spoon. Of course it was her family.
"Yes. So that means that many of the things they used to do with that extra money are all out the window now. They're even worried now about keeping the house."
"Their house? So Anna might have to move, while she's sick?"
"If she doesn't get better soon, and the bills keep piling up..." Donna pulled into the driveway, and just in time. Her cheeks were shining with tears.
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）至少使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，使用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1.
"There has to be something done for them," Christine said firmly to their classmates and friends.
试题篮
