Movie

Pete's Dragon

    Pete, played by Oakes Fegley, ventured into the water with his dragon pal, Elliot, in the new movie Pete's Dragon. The film brought an animated dragon, Elliot, and his human best friend, Pete, together. Shooing it took a lot of imagination for Oakes Fegley, the 11-year-old actor who played Pete, and Oona Laurence, the 13-year-old actress who played Natalie. She discovered Pete and Elliot in the woods.

    Kubo's Great Quest(寻找)

    The movie was about a young boy named Kubo, who live with his mother in a quite village in ancient Japan. After accidentally calling for a vengeful spirit from the past, Kubo set off on a heroic quest to find a magical suit of armor(盔甲) once worn by his father. Along the way, he gained two animal companions, Monkey and Beetle. Their journey was filled with magic, music, and the telling of many stories.

    Ice Age: Collision Course

    When the original Ice Age film was released in 2002, an animated herd of prehistoric animals took the world by storm. Fast-forward 14 years and the fifth movie in the Ice Age franchise(获特许经营权的企业)was hitting theaters. Ice Age: Collision Course followed those same beloved mammals that moviegoers have watched grow up. This time around, it isn't global warming that threatened the herd, but a big planet that's headed toward Earth.

    Finding Dory

    In Finding Dory, the forgetful blue tang, Dory, suffered from short-term memory loss. On Dory's journey to reconnect with her mom and dad, she made some new friends.

    Long bus rides are like television shows.They have a beginning，a middle，and an end with commercials(广告) thrown in every three or four minutes.The commercials are unavoidable.They happen whether you want them or not.Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window.“Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” “Drink Good Wet Root Beer.” “Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep，which is equal to turning the television set off，are you spared the unending cry of “You Need It！Buy It Now！”

    The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting，even if you've traveled that way before.Usually some things have changed—new houses，new buildings，sometimes even a new road.The bus driver has a style of driving and it's fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so.If the driver is particularly reckless (鲁莽的) or daring，the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story.Will the driver pass the truck in time？Will the driver move into the right or the left hand lane？After a while，of course，the excitement dies down.Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride.Food always makes bus rides more interesting.But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat.Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.

    The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning.You know it will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement in that.The seat，of course，has become harder as the hours have passed.By now you've sat with your legs crossed，with your hands in your lap，with your hands on the armrest or even with your hands crossed behind your head.The end comes just at the right time.There are just no more ways to sit.

    People who increased the number of times they chewed their food before swallowing ate less each meal, according to a new study.

    Slow eaters tend to be slimmer. Before the study, the researchers didn't know whether asking people to chew more would change the amount of food they ate. But they found meal sizes became smaller when adults chewed more before swallowing——whether they were slim, normal-weight, overweight or obese.

    “The study proves the benefits of taking time to chew food well,” said dietitian Brown Giggs.

    The participants were asked to eat five pizza rolls and count the number of times they chewed each roll. Researchers did not tell them what exactly was being tested in the study. 47 people went on to finish the study. 10 were slim, 10 were normal-weight, 27 were overweight. Those participants attended three weekly lunchtime test periods. Each day, researchers gave them 60 pizza rolls and told them to eat until they were full. Depending on the period, researchers asked people to chew every bite the same number of times as at their test visit, 50% more or twice as many times.

    Slim participants ate more slowly than normal-weight and overweight participants. Overall, people spent more time eating when they increased the number of times they chewed. The participants rated their appetite (食欲) the same after each meal even though slower chewing reduced how much they ate.

    Researchers noted that the study was conducted under lab conditions, so it's not clear whether it would adapt to normal life. The researchers are now looking to see whether how fast people eat, for example, influences how much they eat. “It takes about 20 minutes for the brain to signal your stomach that you're full,” Brown Riggs said.

    “Fast eaters can eat a large amount of food within that 20-minute period causing more calories, which can lead to being overweight or obesity.”

    It was New Year's Night. An aged man was standing at a window. He raised his mournful (悲哀的) eyes towards the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating like white lilies (百合花) on the surface of a clear calm lake. He had already passed sixty and brought from his journey nothing but errors (错误) and regrets. Now his health was poor, his mind vacant and his heart sorrowful (悲伤的).

    The days of his youth appeared like dreams before him, and he recalled the serious moment when his father placed him at the entrance of the two roads—one leading to a peaceful, sunny place, covered with flowers, fruits and filled with soft, sweet songs; the other leading to a deep, dark cave, which was endless, where poison flowed instead of water and devils and poisonous snake hissed (发撕嘶声) and crawled (爬行).

    He saw the lights flowing away in the darkness. These were the days of his wasted life; he saw a star fall from the sky and disappeared, and this was the symbol (象征) of himself. His regret like a sharp arrow (箭) struck deeply into his heart. Then he remembered his friends in his childhood. But they had made their way to success and were now honoured and happy on this night.

    The high church clock struck and the sound made him remember his parents' early love for him. They had taught him and prayed for his good. But he chose the wrong way. With shame and grief he dared no longer look towards that heaven. His darkened eyes were full of tears, and with a despairing (绝望的) effort, he burst out a cry: "Come back, my early days!"

    His youth did return, for all this was only a dream which he had on New Year Night. He was still young though his faults were real; he had not yet entered the deep, dark cave, and he was still free to walk on the road which leads to the peaceful and sunny land.

    Those who still wander (徘徊) on the entrance of life, hesitating (犹豫) to choose the bright road, remember that when years are passed and your feet stumble (绊脚) on the dark mountains, you will cry bitterly, but in vain (徒劳): "Oh youth, return! Oh give me back my early days!"

    It's 2035. You have a job, a family and you're about 40 years old. Welcome to our future life.

    Getting ready for work, you pause in front of the mirror. “Turn red,” you say. Your shirt changes from sky blue to deep red. Tiny preprogrammed electronics (智能电子元件) are rearranged in your shirt to change its color. Looking into the mirror, you find it hard to believe you're 40. You look much younger. With amazing advances in medicine, people in your generation may live to be 150 years old. You're not even middle aged!

    As you go into the kitchen and prepare to pour your breakfast cereal（谷物） into a bowl, you hear, “To lose weight, you shouldn't eat that,” from your shoes. They read the tiny electronic code on the cereal box to find out the nutrition details. You decide to listen to your shoes. “Kitchen, what can I have for breakfast?” A list of possible foods appears on the counter as the kitchen cheeks its food supplies.

“Ready for your trip to space,” you ask your son and daughter. In 2005 only specially-trained astronauts went into space—and very few of them. Today anyone can go to space for daytrips or longer vacations. Your best friend even works in space. Handing your children three strawberries each, you add, “The doctor said you need these for space travel.” Thanks to medical advances, vaccination shots (防疫针) are a thing of the past. Ordinary foods contain specific vaccines(疫苗). With the strawberries in their mouths, the kids head for the front door.

    It's time for you to go to work. Your car checks your fingerprints and unlocks the doors. “My office, autopilot,” you command. Your car drives itself down the road and move smoothly into traffic on the highway. You sit back and unroll your e-newspaper. The latest news downloads and fills the viewer. Looking through the pages, you watch the news as video film rather than read it.

The concept of a space elevator, while once confined to the realm of science fiction, is gaining traction as a potential reality within the next few decades. This belief is not unfounded, but rather stems from the ongoing advancements in aerospace engineering and materials science.

As an aerospace engineer and a physics professor, the allure of a space elevator—a colossal cable extending from Earth's surface into space, facilitating the transportation of both people and cargo—remains a compelling subject of study. In recent years, innovative approaches to design and engineering have surfaced, providing new insights into the feasibility and functionality of space elevators.

The rationale for constructing a space elevator is multifaceted. Firstly, it presents a significant opportunity for energy and cost efficiency, offering a more practical alternative to traditional rocket-based space travel. 

The economic and environmental benefits are substantial, as the space elevator would reduce the need for fuel-intensive rocket launches.

Secondly, the space elevator would revolutionize accessibility to space. The term "space mission" could evolve into "transit," reflecting the routine and weather-independent nature of space travel. This shift would not only make space travel safer for astronauts, mitigating the risks associated with rocket launches, but also open up the cosmos to a broader range of individuals and purposes.

Moreover, the space elevator acts as a gateway to the solar system. By releasing a payload at different points along the elevator, one could achieve orbit around Earth or the sun, depending on the release point, all without the need for propulsion.

While it may seem that I am an advocate for the space elevator, my true passion lies in the study of its mechanics and the potential it holds for our future. In a world facing numerous challenges, the pursuit of such ambitious projects allows us to dream of a time when humanity becomes responsible stewards of our planet, reaching for the stars while preserving our home.