修改时间:2024-09-04 浏览次数:10 类型:开学考试
ESSAY CONTEST
THEME
"A Letter from Myself in 2030"
GUIDELINES
1. Essays may be submitted by anyone up to 25 years old.
2. Essays must be 700 words or less. Essays should be typed or printed.
3. Entries may be submitted online or by postal mail.
* IMPORTANT: To send your essay online, you must go to the organizer's website and follow the required steps.
4. Entries submitted by postal mail must include a cover page indicating: your name; age; gender; address; e-mail; phone number; school name (if applicable); essay title; word count.
* A cover page template (模板) is available to download on the organizer's website. You may also create your own cover page with all items above.
5. Essays must be original and unpublished.
6. Essays must be written by one person.
DEADLINE
Entries must be received by June 15 this year.
AWARDS
1st Prize: Certificate + Prize of $1,000
2nd Prize: Certificate + Prize of $500
3rd Prize: Certificate + Gift
* 1st prize winners will be invited to the award ceremony on November 20 this year and will receive the Minister of Education Award. (Travel expenses will be covered by the organizer.)
* All prize winners will be announced on October 31 this year on the organizer's website. Certificates and gifts will be mailed to the winners on December 10 this year.
My first newsroom was in a grand building with tall arched windows that dominated a street corner in the small Midwestern city where I worked. Inside, there was a high ceiling. "Did this used to be a bank?" many visitors would ask. But it had in fact, always been a newsroom.
I was young and shy when I first went to work there, and it probably took me a month before I talked to any of the other reporters. But eventually, they became my best friends, the core of my social life.
My second newsroom was the airy top floor of a historic building in the state capital of Maryland. It was smaller and less grand but far more energizing. My colleagues were older. I learned so much about how to be a reporter from overhearing their phone interviews.
This past summer, several American newspapers announced they would be closing their newsrooms. Many local newspapers have gone out of business in recent years, victims of declining circulation and shrinking advertising dollars. Then along came the coronavirus pandemic, and so many of us were sent home to work from there. The pleasant surprise is that we have all succeeded brilliantly in working remotely. But some managers have looked at this success and thought: "Why would we need to return to the newsroom?"
I worry that they are making a big mistake. A physical newsroom sends a powerful message to a community: "We are here for you." At my first job, strangers could walk right through the door and straight up to my desk. We treasured that visibility.
But I also think about the collaboration (合作) — of the times I would overhear colleagues talking about a story and realize that I had some useful information for them. Sometimes a colleague would see me in the hall and give me a story idea. I can't wait to get back to my newsroom.
As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remembering less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.
In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.
In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called "transactive memory (交互记忆)."
According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn't mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.
Last summer, two nineteenth-century cottages were rescued from remote farm fields in Montana, to be moved to an Art Deco building in San Francisco. The houses were made of wood. These cottages once housed early settlers as they worked the dry Montana soil; now they hold Twitter engineers.
The cottages could be an example of the industry's odd love for "low technology", a concept associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship that exists long before the Internet era. Low technology is not virtual — so, to take advantage of it, Internet companies have had to get creative. The rescued wood cottages, fitted by hand in the late eighteen-hundreds, are an obvious example, but Twitter's designs lie on the extreme end. Other companies are using a broader interpretation of low technology that focuses on nature.
Amazon is building three glass spheres filled with trees, so that employees can "work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting." At Google's office, an entire floor is carpeted in grass. Facebook's second Menlo Park campus will have a rooftop park with a walking path.
Olle Lundberg, the founder of Lundberg Design, has worked with many tech companies over the years. "We have lost the connections to the maker in our lives, and our tech engineers are the ones who feel impoverished (贫乏的), because they're surrounded by the digital world," he says. "They're looking for a way to regain their individual identity, and we've found that introducing real crafts is one way to do that."
This craft-based theory is rooted in history. William Morris, the English artist and writer, turned back to pre-industrial arts in the eighteen-sixties, just after Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts movement defined itself against machines. "Without creative human occupation, people became disconnected from life," Morris said.
Research has shown that natural environments can restore our mental abilities. In Japan, patients are encouraged to "forest-bathe", taking walks through woods to lower their blood pressure.
These health benefits apply to the workplace as well. Rachel Kaplvin, a professor of environmental psychology, has spent years researching the restorative effects of natural environments. Her research found that workers with access to nature at the office — even simple views of trees and flowers — felt their jobs were less stressful and more satisfying. If low-tech offices can potentially nourish the brains and improve the mental health of employees then, fine, bring on the cottages.
Ways to Make Studying More Fun
The "S" word draws various responses from teenagers. Some students are eager to dive in and tackle the books. Regardless of your attitude to studying, one thing is for sure — it has to be done. So why not look at how you can make the process more enjoyable?
·Try hands-on learning. Consider going on a field trip to experience the topic first-hand. For example, if you're studying marine biology, you can take a trip to the aquarium (水族馆). If it's math you're trying to make sense of, talk with a structural engineer about how they figure out the load of a structure.
· Getting together with a friend or a group of classmates can help you learn new study techniques while still getting a few laughs. Try having a debate about a topic you're trying to learn. With a larger group, you can test each other's knowledge by making quizzes and creating true or false mini-tests.
·Break it up. Plan scheduled study breaks every hour and take part in an activity you enjoy. Before you take a break, write down what you have learned during your study time and add to this list each time you take a break.
·Leave the house. Study at your favorite coffee shop or bookstore. If the weather is nice, head to a park or the beach. If you're a mover, hit the pavement for a run and listen to a podcast (播客) that covers the topic you're studying, or grab a friend and quiz each other while you run. .
A. Assess study skills.
B. Study with a partner.
C. Others have perfected the art of avoidance.
D. Go for a quick walk, talk with a friend or eat a snack.
E. Some of your best thoughts come when you're moving your body.
F. You can spend several hours studying and then review your progress.
G. History students can go and check out one of the places mentioned in the book.
Roger Bannister, born in Harrow, London, early showed a talent for running. University education was beyond the 1 of his working-class parents, but he was 2 to secure a place at one of England's top universities and pursue a career in 3 .
Luckily, owing to his academic efforts, Bannister was awarded a scholarship by Oxford University, where his exceptional speed on the track soon earned him the attention and 4 from the sports media. Surprisingly, he 5 to compete in the 1948 Olympics in London, preferring to focus on his 6 and his medical studies. By 1951, Bannister had won the British championship in the mile and felt 7 for Olympic competition. 8 , a last-minute change in the schedule 9 him to compete without resting between events and he finished just fourth in the 1500-meter race at the 1952 Olympics. To break the four-minute mile barrier, Bannister 10 45 minutes every day from his full-time medical studies for training. On May 6, 1954, at Oxford, his 11 eventually paid off. At age 25, Bannister made history, crossing the finish line at 3: 59.4. When the announcer read out the time: "3…", the rest was 12 by the cheering crowd. In the following famous "Mile of the Century" race, Bannister 13 Australian runner John Landy with a time of 3: 58.8 to Landy's 3: 59. 6, both under four minutes. In 1955, Bannister's autobiography, First Four Minutes, was published.
Bannister's 14 to academic medicine is equally remarkable, but his spirit of the four-minute mile is 15 to not only people of our era, but to before and after.
The year of 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of China's first manned space mission, with Yang Liwei (become) the first Chinese astronaut to go to space in 2003. Since then, another 19 astronauts (reach) for the stars. Experts revealed how tough the training is before astronauts soaring to space.
The human body is not designed for space life. Astronauts are faced with multiple challenges. The changes in gravity can have an impact their bodies.The confinement(封闭)in a small spacecraft can damage their mental health. (emergency) challenge their knowledge and ability. So astronauts have to meet (extreme) high standards and go through a tough training program.
To make sure astronauts complete their missions and return to Earth safely, eight types, including over 200 subjects of training, were set. Apart from physical fitness training, it also contains (base) scientific theories, psychological health,and mock(模拟的)missions.
makes the training the most tiring is underwater training. "This training is designed for astronauts (adapt) to the micro-gravity environment. Astronauts stay underwater in suits weighing over 100 kilograms for six hours at time. Water resistance and the heavy suit make astronauts (exhaust).
Each astronaut receives training for at least three and a half years before having the chance to go to space.
I'm smaller than everyone else my age. When I walk in the halls at school, I have to squeeze in between the bigger kids to get by. At the playground, sometimes even little kids try to boss me around. Mia, my best friend, is so tall that when she walks, I have to jog to keep up with her.
I used to try to make myself taller whenever I could, but I was the same height every time. Frustrating! "Don't worry," Mum always said. "Being small has its advantages." "Really? I could never notice any."
One day, Mrs. Alvarez announced to the class that we'd be putting on a spring play. I practiced all the lines. But at the audition, when I walked up to the stage, Mrs. Alvarez cried, "You'll be perfect as the elf! You're just the right size for the costume." I never even got a chance to deliver the lines I'd practiced. Back home I grumbled(咕哝) to Mum that I had been made an elf. But she bet I would be the best elf. To please her, I went to rehearsals, though I only had two lines.
Mia got the lead role — a girl wandering through a magical fairy forest in search of her lost dog. In the last scene, she finds a box under a giant mushroom, and when she opens it, her dog jumps out. Mrs. Alvarez's dog, Prince, played the dog role. She brought him to all the rehearsals, and when he wasn't onstage, we got to play with him, but he seemed to like me best.
The night of the show, my first line came early. Since my only other line was toward the end, I waited offstage, playing with Prince. Finally, the grand end came, and Prince was brought onstage inside the box. But the box was found empty. Mrs. Alvarez said, "A burst of noise frightened him away. I see him under the stage!"
注意:1)续写词数应为150字左右;2)请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
"How can we get Prince out from beneath the stage?" Mrs. Alvarez asked.
Having no other ideas, Mrs. Alvarez nodded to me.
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