The British economy is showing the greatest signs of stress since the Eurozone crisis and fears of a double-dip recession（衰退）six years ago, as worrying reports show the steepest fall in manufacturing（制造业）output and the greatest degrees of pessimism among employers since 2012. Concerns over Brexit（英国脱欧）and a slowdown for high street spending are among the major factors contributing towards 2018 being the worst time in six years for British firms planning to take on new staff, according to a closely watched survey conducted by the employment firm ManpowerGroup.

    Watched by the Bank of England and the government for early warnings of hiring increases or downturns, the quarterly poll（季度民意调查）of about 2,000 major employers from nine different industry sectors across the UK found a net balance of only 4% planning to hire more staff rather than cutting back.

    The weakest outlook from the survey was reserved for the banking and finance industry, which recorded the worst outlook since the depths of the financial crisis almost a decade ago, suggesting job cuts may be on the way over the summer.

    The barometer（晴雨表）of hiring sentiment comes as Britain's factories unexpectedly recorded the sharpest drop in output for more than five years in April. Pointing to fewer orders for steel used in infrastructure（基础设施）projects and a wider slowdown in demand for British goods at home and abroad, the Office for National Statistics said manufacturing output fell by 1.4% in April from the previous month. Economists had forecast modest growth of 0.3%.

    Although the situation does not appear to be as severe this year, forecasts issued by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research on Monday suggest the UK has done little to bounce back from heavy snowfall earlier in 2018. Putting the growth rate for GDP at only 0.2% in the three-month period to May, up from 0.1% in the same period ending in April, Niesr's head of UK macroeconomic forecasting, Amit Kara, said: “Economic growth has slowed materially since the start of this year and it continues to remain weak.”

    One advantage of the Internet is shopping conveniently online for clothes; one disadvantage of the Internet is also shopping conveniently online for clothes.

    “Nothing fits,” said Lam Yuk Wong, a senior in electrical and computer engineering at Rice University. “Everyone says this. They order clothes and they don't fit. People get very unhappy.”

    Wong and her design partner, Xuaner “Cecilia” Zhang, are Team White Mirror, creators of what they call a “virtual (虚拟) fitting room”. Their goal is simple and consumer-friendly: to let online clothing shoppers have a perfect fit and a perfect look when shopping every time.

    Both women are from China, Wong from Hong Kong and Zhang from Beijing. They both order most of their clothing online. They got the idea from their own experience as consumers and from listening to the complaints of friends and relatives. “They say, 'The color is wrong' or 'I got the right size but it still does not fit.' We want to make it like you're in the store trying on the clothes,” Zhang said.

    Using a Kinect developed by Microsoft for use with its Xbox 360 video game player.

    Zhang scans Wong and turns  her image into, in effect, a virtual model, keeping Wong's dimensions (尺寸), and even her skin and hair color. “We put the clothes on the shopper's 3-D body models and show how they look when they are dressed,” Wong said. So far, Wong and Zhang have adapted the software to show dresses and shirts, and they are now working on shorts.

    Asked if she thought men as well as women might be interested in using their virtual fitting room, Wong said, “I think their wives will care about this, so it will also be important to men.”

    The Ice and Snow Festival Highlights

    It will fall upon January 1st, 2019 and last till the early March, 2019. Based on the theme of “Bright Pearl of the Crown of Ice and Snow”, a variety of activities about ice and snow, concerning tourism, culture, fashion and sport, will be open to all tourists.

    The City of Christchurch, New Zealand was struck by a 7.1­magnitude earthquake on the early morning of Saturday, September 4, 2010.

    No tsunami alert was reported. The country's army troops were on standby to assist victims and disaster recovery operation. New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key, flew to the affected area to inspect and assess the situation of the damaged city. The Prime Minister said that the full assessment of the damages would possibly take months to know the severity of damages. Based from his assessment on what he saw in the area, it could cost at least 2 billion New Zealand dollars or US$1.4 billion for reconstruction.

    "An absolute miracle that no one died," Prime Minister John Key said. Two were seriously injured from this quake and thousands of local residents were awakened after being shaken at 4:35 a.m. of that Saturday.

    There were people trapped inside the damaged buildings but fortunately none were reported dead from the rubble of the damaged buildings.

    "We're all feeling scared—we've just had some significant aftershocks," a survivor told TV One News. "Tonight we're just people in the face of a massive natural disaster, trying to help each other and we're grateful we haven't lost a life."

    GNS Science reported 29 aftershocks within the 14 hours after the quake, with strength from magnitude 3.7 to 5.4.

    New Zealand is no stranger to earthquakes. The country experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year—but only about 150 are felt by people.

    "Many buildings here were built with earthquake protection measures. However, in most cities in developing countries, people build how they want to and there're no building controls to force them to build to a higher standard that's safe," Andrew Charleson, an architecture professor at Victoria University of Wellington told CNN.

The last few days before Christmas passed quickly and it was soon Christmas Eve. That night when everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn't sleep. He still couldn't think of what he wanted his Christmas gift to be. He wondered how Father Christmas would know what to bring him if he didn't know himself.

As he was sitting up in bed, Bunny heard a big noise on the roof (屋顶) and a sound downstairs. It was Father Christmas, he realized. Bunny jumped out of bed and raced down the hall to the stairs hoping to have a look at the old man with his own eyes.

By the time Bunny reached the bottom of the stairs, though, everything was again silent. Beautiful gifts were piled (堆积) under the Christmas tree, but Father Christmas was gone. He looked for him for a few minutes, but it was already too late. Bunny turned to climb back upstairs when he heard a cry.

"Hello," said Bunny. "Is anybody there? "

He was answered by another cry. Bunny looked around the big pile of gifts to see what was making the noise. Right under the tree was a funny looking brown animal with big feet and sad eyes. Bunny might have mistaken it for a dog, if it hadn't been for the antlers (鹿角) on its head.

"Are you a reindeer (驯鹿)?" asked Bunny.

"Yes," replied the animal. "My name is Ralph."

"And you were pulling Father Christmas's sled (雪橇)?"

"I was until I got airsick (晕机), " replied Ralph. "I'm afraid I wasn't cut out for the job. Now I'm stuck here and I don't know how to get back to the North Pole."

"Well, if you like, yon can stay with us as a friend," said Bunny. As he made the offer, Bunny suddenly realized the gift he wanted from Father Christmas was a new friend!

Tunnels are passageways that are built under the ground. They can also be made under a sea or a river. Some tunnels are dug through high mountains.

For hundreds of years, tunnels have been built all over the world. People use these tunnels to travel from one place to another. Some tunnels are used as waterlanes. Coal and gemstones are also brought from under the ground through long tunnels.

In the past, people dug tunnels using picks and shovels. Rocks and soil were loaded into one-wheel barrows and then onto horses and carts. This work was very tiring.

Today, engineers do a lot of planning before they start to build a tunnel. They use computers to check the level of the water and the types of rock under the ground. When they are sure the area is safe, huge machines are used to dig out the soil.

These machines have an enormous cutting wheel at the front. The wheel slowly grinds (磨碎) through the rock and soil to make the tunnel. Soil that is not needed is carried away in large trucks. As the tunnel becomes longer, it is lined with huge pipes so the walls and roof do not callapse.

Long tunnels have powerful lights to help drivers see the road ahead. Water sprinklers (洒水装置) are fitted to help keep people safe if a fire breaks out in the tunnel.

In large cities, tunnels are built under very busy roads. , People can drive through these tunnels. This makes it quicker to travel to different parts of the city.

Some trains have to wind slowly and carefully over steep mountain slopes. But, in places where there are tunnels, trains can travel quickly through the mountain to reach the other side.