In agrarian(农业的), pre-industrial Europe,“you'd want to wake up early, start working with the sunrise, have a break to have the largest meal, and then you'd go back to work,”says Ken Albala, a professor of history at the University of the Pacific.“Later, at 5 or 6, you'd have a smaller supper.”

    This comfortable cycle, in which the rhythms of the day helped shape the rhythms of the meals, gave rise to the custom of the large midday meal, eaten with the extended family.“Meals are the foundation of the family,”says Carole Couniban, a professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, “so there was a very important interconnection between eating together and strengthening family ties.”

    Since industrialization, maintaining such a slow cultural metabolism has been much harder, with the long midday meal shrinking to whatever could be stuffed into a lunch bucket or bought at a food stand. Certainly, there were benefits. Modern techniques for producing and shipping food led to greater variety and quantity, including a tremendous increase in the amount of animal protein and dairy products available, making us more energetic than our ancestors.

    Yet plenty has been lost too, even in cultures that still live to eat. Take Italy. It's no secret that the Mediterranean diet is healthy, but it was also a joy to prepare and eat. Italians, says Counihan, traditionally began the day with a small meal. The big meal came at around 1 p.m. In between the midday meal and a late, smaller dinner came a small snack. Today, when time zones have less and less meaning, there is little tolerance for offices' closing for lunch, and worsening traffic in cities means workers can't make it home and back fast enough anyway. So the formerly small supper after sundown becomes the big meal of the day, the only one at which the family has a chance to get together.“The evening meal carries the full burden that used to be spread over two meals,”says Counihan.

    Michael and I did not know when the waiter put the plates on our table. At the time we were sitting in a small restaurant, hidden from the busy Third Street, in New York City. Even the smell of fresh serving blintze did not interfered our conversation. In fact, we let the blintze soaked in the sour cream. We just enjoy the conversation too much that we forgot to eat. Our conversation was so delightful though we did not speak about important things. We laughed and spoke about the film which we have just watched.

    While our fun conversation continued, my eyes went across the room and stop on the corner. A couple of old folks sat in there. The woman wearing the flower dress with faded color, the same with the pillow where she laid her pallid handbag. The man's top head shined just like the boiled egg which he ate very slowly. The woman chewed her oatmeal(燕麦片) very slowly too, seemed with very much effort.

    But what made my mind thought about them was the silence around them. Michael and I paid our food and went on. When we passed the corner where the couple sat, my wallet fell. When I stopped to get it, I saw under the table, they were tenderly holding each other's hand. They were eating in silence while holding each other's hand! I was very touched to see the simple yet the very meaningful action reflecting the close relationship of the couple.

    Their silence was the pleasant and relaxing one, it was the expression of the tender love and it did not always need the words to express it. They might spend the hours holding each other's hand like this in the morning.

    When I and Michael went out of the restaurant, I thought, maybe it was nothing bad at all if some day we have something like that. Maybe, it will become the expression of the tender and complete love.

    Skateboarding is an action sport which includes riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as an activity for fun, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding will be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

    There are various theories about the origins of Skateboarding, but it is generally held that the sport began in the 1940s on the west coast of the USA when metal wheels were attached to a narrow wooden board. In the 1950s, plastic replaced metal as the material of choice for the wheels, and the first "Roller Surfboard" become commercially available, which in turn developed into the skateboard that we know today. The sport was a big hit with the younger generation and grew in global popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the late 1990s, skateboarding has become an important part of street culture.

    However, skateboarding has raised heated discussions in areas where the activity, although legal (合法的), has damaged stone works, steps, benches, and parks. Certain cities oppose the building of skate parks in their neighborhoods, for fear of increased crime (犯罪) and drugs in the area. The disagreement between the old image of skateboarding and a newer one is quite obvious: magazines such as Thrasher describe skateboarding as dirty, and still firmly tied to punk (朋克), while other publications, Transworld Skateboarding as an example, paint a more different and controlled picture of skateboarding. As more professional skaters use hip hop, or hard rock music in their videos, many urban youths, hip-hop fans and hard rock fans are also drawn to skateboarding, weakening the sport's punk image. Besides, group spirit influences the members of this community. In presentations of skateboarding, the evidence of crime is absent, and no attempt is made to tie extreme sports to any kind of illegal activity.

    The good news is that efforts have been made to improve recognition of the cultural heritage as well as positive effects of skateboarding in cities. By raising £790,000, the Long Live Southbank initiative managed to stop the destruction of a forty years old spot in London due to urban planning, a rescuing operation whose effect extends beyond skateboarding. The presence of skateboarders on this public space keeps the area under nearly constant watch and drives homeless people away, increasing the feeling of safety in the area. The activity attracts artists such as photographers and film makers, as well as a significant number of tourists, which in turn drives economic activity in the neighborhood.

    Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are anxious and self-conscious; that is, they are excessively concerned with their own appearance and actions.

    Worrisome thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds: what kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes? It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings must negatively affect people. A person's conception of himself or herself is reflected in the way he or she behaves, and the way a person behaves affects other people's reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a profound effect on all areas of their lives.

    Shy people, having low self-esteem, are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need reassurance that they are doing "the right thing." Shy people are very sensitive to criticism; they feel it confirms their feelings of inferiority. They also find it difficult to be pleased by compliment with a statement like this one, "You're just saying that to make me feel good. I know it's not true." It is clear that while self-awareness is a healthy quality, overdoing it is harmful.

    Can shyness be completely eliminated, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determined and patient efforts in building self-confidence. Since shyness goes hand in hand with a lack of self-esteem, it is important for people to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Each one of us is a unique, worthwhile individual, interested in our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our full potential. Let's not allow shyness to block our chances for a rich and fulfilling life.

    "You're going to the doctor," your mum tells you. But why go to the doctor when you're not sick? Regular checkups (健康检查) are a good idea for kids. These visits happen when you're feeling fine and are sometimes called "well-child" visits because you're well.

    It's a chance for the doctor to see that you're growing and developing normally. It's also a chance for your parents to talk with the doctor about any issues, such as safety or nutrition, so they can help you stay healthy. And it gives you a chance to ask any question you might have about your health. You might wonder when you will grow taller, for example, or if you weigh the right amount.

    A checkup may start when a nurse calls you and your parents from the waiting room. He or she might start by checking your weight and height, as well as your blood pressure and maybe your temperature.

    Blood pressure: This shows how hard your heart is pumping blood throughout your body.

    Body temperature: Using a thermometer, the nurse can find out if your temperature is in the normal range. If it is higher, it means that you have a fever and your body is working to fight off an infection (感染).

    The nurse may check your hearing and vision. If you have trouble with either one of these, you might need to see a hearing expert or an eye doctor. Urine (尿) can tell whether something is wrong with the way a person's body is working.

    All of these numbers, measurements, and test results will go into your medical record, so the doctor can look them over. Then it's time to meet the doctor.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) announced on November 23 for the first time that it has chosen not to name one single word of the year, but many words for the "special" year 2020. Describing 2020 as "a year which cannot be neatly summarized in one single word". OED said on Monday that there were too many words to sum up the events of 2020. From more than 11 billion words found in web-based news, blogs and other text sources, its lexicographers(词典编纂者)revealed what the dictionary described as "great shifts in language data and frequency rises in new words" over the past 12 months.

Most words of the year are coronavirus-related, including coronavirus, lockdown, circuit-breaker, keyworkers and face masks. The report said the word "coronavirus" dates back to the 1960s and was previously "mainly used by scientific and medical specialists". But by April this year it had become one of the most frequently used nouns in the English language, beyond even the usage of the word "time". It said use of the word "pandemic" has increased by more than 57,000 percent this year.

The revolution in working habits during the pandemic has also affected language, with both "remote" and "remotely" seeing more than 300 percent growth in use since March. "On mute(静音)"and "unmute" have seen 500 percent rises since March, while the words "workation" and "staycation" also increased drastically.

Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Dictionaries, said. "I've never witnessed a year in language like the one we've just had. The Oxford team was identifying hundreds of significant new words and usages as the year unfolded." "2020 has been filled with new words unlike any other," Grathwohl added.

The OED's announcement mirrored the huge influence of the COVID-19 on the people from all walks of life. To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.