Pacing and Pausing

    Sara tried to befriend her old friend Steve's new wife, but Betty never seemed to have anything to say. While Sara felt Betty didn't hold up her end of the conversation, Betty complained to Steve that Sara never gave her a chance to talk. The problem had to do with expectations about pacing and pausing.

    Conversation is a turn-taking game. When our habits are similar, there's no problem. But if our habits are different, you may start to talk before I'm finished or fail to take your turn when I'm finished. That's what was happening with Betty and Sara.

    It may not be coincidental that Betty, who expected relatively longer pauses between turns, is British, and Sara, who expected relatively shorter pauses, is American. Betty often felt interrupted by Sara. But Betty herself became an interrupter and found herself doing most of the talking when she met a visitor from Finland. And Sara had a hard time cutting in on some speakers from Latin America or Israel.

    The general phenomenon, then, is that the small conversation techniques, like pacing and pausing, lead people to draw conclusions not about conversational style but about personality and abilities. These habitual differences are often the basis for dangerous stereotyping (思维定势). And these social phenomena can have very personal consequences. For example, a woman from the southwestern part of the US went to live in an eastern city to take up a job in personnel. When the Personnel Department got together for meetings, she kept searching for the right time to break in — and never found it. Although back home she was considered outgoing and confident, in Washington she was viewed as shy and retiring. When she was evaluated at the end of the year, she was told to take a training course because of her inability to speak up.

    That's why slight differences in conversational style — tiny little things like microseconds of pause — can have a great effect on one's life. The result in this cause was a judgment of psychological problems — even in the mind of the woman herself, who really wondered what was wrong with her and registered for assertiveness training.

Trampolining

    What's more fun than standing still? Jumping up and down on a springy piece of fabric (织物)! This activity is known as trampolining and it's sweeping the nation.

    The idea of trampolining is ancient. Eskimos have been throwing each other in the air for thousands of years. Firemen began using a life net to catch people jumping from buildings in 1887. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    A gymnast named George Nissan and his coach Larry Griswold made the first modern trampoline in 1936. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} They named their equipment after the Spanish word trampolín, which means diving board. The men wanted to share their idea with the whole world. In 1942 they began making trampolines to sell to the public.

    Trampolines may be fun, but they can also be dangerous. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Clubs and gyms use large safety nets or other equipment to make it safer. Most trampoline injuries happen at home. Since trampolines are more affordable than ever, injuries are even more common.

    These injuries happen for many reasons. People may bounce too high and land out of the trampoline or onto the springs. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Perhaps the worst injuries happen when untrained people try to do flips (快速翻转). Landing on your neck or head can cause injuries or even kill you.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} There are many things that you can do to practice safe trampolining. Trampolines have been around for a while now. They have brought a lot of joy to many people. They can be a good source of exercise and activity. They can help people improve their balance and moves. But they can also be deadly. It is important to follow some professional guidance. Be sure that you are practicing safety while having a good time. Happy bouncing!

    Sticking to a vegan（纯素食的）diet might sound difficult. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} According to Huffpost, more than 3 million people in the US are vegans. And in the UK, about 542,000 people turned vegan during the last decade.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    One reason could be that people want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions（排放）. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} In fact, it's believed to account for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2013 study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. This amount is even greater than that of all the world's cars, trains and planes combined.

    A growing number of people are also starting to believe that it's wrong to kill animals for food. Therefore, some of them made an ethical（道德的）choice to become vegan.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Vegan celebrities often use social media to spread the message of veganism and share tips on how to live a vegan lifestyle.

    But experts also want to remind people that meat is important for our health. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} So, if you're thinking about becoming vegan, you should do some research before making your decision.

A. Meat production is very bad for the environment.

B. So why exactly has veganism become so popular?

C. It is up to you to decide whether to go vegan or not.

D. Social media is also believed to be behind the increase in veganism.

E. Fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and nuts are all key to a vegan diet.

F. But in recent years, veganism has become a popular lifestyle in many places.

G. They say that a strict vegan diet may not offer everything that the human body needs.

    An upset little boy wanted to meet God. He thought it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.

    When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman sitting on a park bench alone. The boy sat next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to drink his root beer when he thought that the old lady might be hungry, so he offered her some chips. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling.

    As dusk fell, the boy got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever.

    When the boy opened the door to his own house, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied, “I had lunch with God”

    Meanwhile, the old woman, also returned to her home with joy. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, “Mom, what did you do today that made you so happy?” She replied, “I ate potato chips with God.”

    Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

                                                                                         The University of Sheffield

    Back to its origin

    The University of Sheffield is a research university in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original “red brick” universities, which are a group of top and famous old universities. The University of Sheffield was originally formed by the combination of three colleges. The Sheffield School of Medicine was founded in 1828, followed in 1879 by the opening of Firth College by Mark Firth, a steel manufacturer (制造商), to teach arts and science subjects. Firth College then helped to provide money for the opening of the Sheffield Technical School in 1884 to teach applied science. In 1897 the three institutions were joined together to form the University College of Sheffield, which in turn became the University of Sheffield by Royal Charter (特许) in 1905. This university is famous for its good education and boasts a number of Nobel Prize winners among its former students.

    More information

    System: The University has five departments: Arts and Humanities; Engineering; Pure Science; Social Sciences; Medicine, Dentistry and Health. Sheffield also has many research programs in fields including aerospace, environmental science, psychology, and biology.

    City show: Sheffield is a lively city in the north of England. Sheffield is known as the greenest city in Europe because of its 2 million trees. As a result, there are many parks and woods throughout the city and beyond. Sheffield is the greenest city in England with 150 woodlands and 50 public parks within the city. Once, in Sheffield, the folk hero—Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest with 150 of his loyal friends. And Charlotte Bronte, the English writer noted for her novel Jane Eyre was born in Sheffield.

How to Be a Good Tourist

    We travel not only for work but also for fun and learning. Restaurants, galleries, temples and architecture...These places are like homes for people who live and work there. How would you want visitors to behave in your own home? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} There are many ways of doing this without sacrificing our own holiday.

    Do your homework. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Guides will help you when you get to the site, but is that the best place to go? Is it popular only because the one-day tourist can see it easily or because it is really a worthwhile place to visit？You'd better check it out.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Walk around, even if in the streets closest to your hotel. Eat in local restaurants. Talk to the locals. Learn a few in the local language and use them. You will surely get a smile from the hotel staff and street sellers.

    Help preserve the sites. Most of the sites you visit may be visited by millions of people a year, so care needs to be taken to allow others to enjoy them as well. Some of these monuments are so old and fragile that they are sensitive to the touch of hands or bags and shows. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} This way, you don't encourage the use of those plastic bags that fly all over many sites.

    And here's the big one — good manners are nearly universal. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If that doesn't sound like you, then give the world a break and stay home.

A. Experience the place.

B. Always have a cloth bag with you.

C. Read about the places you want to visit.

D. Try to buy something from the local stores.

E. A good tourist is polite, positive and eco-sensitive.

F. We've cleaned up after ourselves and taken only good memories.

G. I think we would like them to make it a little better because of their visit.