The goshawk, a rare bird, once close to extinction, has doubled (it) number in a national park in the south of England. Around 100 years ago, there were thought to be no goshawks (leave), due to farmers hunting them and their woodland habitats being cut down. However, thanks to conservationists, goshawks are back. By monitoring their nesting sites over time, the teams have been able to protect them from further forestry work. As a result, their number (grow) from just 20 pairs to 40 pairs in the past two years.
One morning, I told my husband jokingly that he'd dropped the ball because he hadn't made me coffee and I was having trouble getting motivated (start) the day. My five-year-old son overheard me and asked what "drop the ball" meant. I told him it was just something like making a mistake. A few minutes later, he came into our bedroom (hold) an overflowing coffee cup with a dishcloth underneath it to catch the drops. He said to my husband, "You dropped the ball, but I picked the ball up," and he handed me the worst-tasting, most watered-down but (sweet) cup of coffee ever.
In half a century, the Internet has transformed society. Billions of us can connect at the touch of a button. Access information, banks and shops has never been easier. The world has changed
(dramatic) and continues to do so in ways we couldn't have imagined. However, the Internet isn't without disadvantages. By design, it has no central authority, makes protecting people online or dealing with misinformation a near-impossible task.
the Internet develops will shape our future. If the past 50 years has been dominated by free and open exchanges, the next 50 will be about whether rules and restrictions can actually make the Internet, and the world, a better place.
At six feet, seven inches tall and weighing 253 pounds, Father was a quiet giant(巨人)who only roared when he was angry. He would work long days, often 1 when I was already in bed. My two younger sisters and I both loved and feared him. Hearing the words, "Just wait until your father comes home," would guarantee the three of us would start 2immediately. I was seven years old the night the "giant" became a person, and my 3. All it took was the 4of a tiny, dirty kitten.
I 5 to the sounds of my father coming home from work. I slipped out of bed and moved quietly towards the living room in hopes of spending a few precious minutes6 with my parents without my annoying sisters around.
I heard mum say, "We cannot 7 it." What was the "it"? The giant saw me and 8 I should sit down near him. I was at a loss, although 9 might be a better word, for I had never seen or heard of a giant crying before. Unshed(满眶) tears 10up in his eyes. His cheeks were 11 from the ones he had cried earlier.
The giant reached into a cardboard box and brought out a dirty young cat and 12 it on my lap. I was soon 13, as the giant shared a story with mum. As he spoke, with shaking shoulders caused by 14and at times sorrow, he transformed from a giant to a man who became my hero.
He 15 that he was on his way home when he heard two men laughing and talking. As he rounded the corner, he heard the most terrible scream of pain. He couldn't 16 what he saw. The men had thrown a kitten into a furnace（火炉）. He yelled and ran up to them but it was too
17. He couldn't save the kitten. The men had run away and he was about to run after them when he saw another kitten at his feet.
"We have to 18 it; we have to keep it!" said the giant.
"It needs a 19," said mum.
"I can help, Mommy!"
Reminded of my presence, mum and my hero sent me off to bed. As I fell asleep, I heard mum running some water.
We named the kitten Cinder and it joined our family. I never saw "the giant" again; I only saw my hero and a man whose heart was 20 than he was.
The Joy of Giving
Many athletes can light up the scoreboard with their skill. But it takes a special kind of athlete to light up a child's face.
Runner Sanya Richards Ross is a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and though she now lives in Texas, her passion is helping young people in her homeland through her Fun 4 Kidz Foundation, which tackles illiteracy and promotes a healthy lifestyle. "Education is so important. Jamaica has its share of poor people who don't have the means to get a great education. When you're educated, your opportunities are endless. I had great support growing up, but not everyone is so blessed. So far, our program has been in seven schools in Jamaica, helping 400 students," said Sanya.
Houston Texans All-Pro J.J. Watt is all business on the football field. But with children, he is playful and fun loving. He started the Justin J. Watt Foundation to provide after-school sports opportunities for underprivileged children. These activities help the kids learn about teamwork, leadership, and perseverance. He said, "At one of the first schools where we gave out uniforms, a kid told me, 'It's the best day of my life. I'm going to be a football player.' Simple things like that keep me helping kids. Seeing the smile on a kid's face is everything."
Mia Hamm is one of the greatest soccer players in U.S. National and Olympic history. Inspired by her brother, Garrett, who died from a rare blood disorder, she started the Mia Hamm Foundation to raise awareness and money for those in need of bone marrow or cord blood transplants. As she said, "We do charity soccer games, bringing together unrelated donors and recipients(受助人). To see that reunion is one of the most powerful things you can see. There are a lot of tears when people meet their donors, who are their selfless, thoughtful heroes; who gave them a second chance at life. If I can help reduce the suffering of others, I will gladly do it."
Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols is one of baseball's greats. His daughter, Isabella, has Down Syndrome, a genetic condition that causes delays in physical and intellectual growth. Albert and his wife, Deidre, started the Pujols Family Foundation to help children with Down Syndrome.
For these athletes, there's no better feeling than to bring joy to people and to those in need, and seeing a smile on a child's face at a foundation event or wherever they are involved really makes it all worth it.
| The National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) is a leading non-profit organization dedicated to the presentation and documentation of folk and traditional arts in the United States. NCTA presents the nation;s very finest artists in festivals, tours, international cultural exchange, workshops, demonstrations and exhibitions, media productions, school programs, and other activities. It works in partnership with communities across America to establish new, sustainable traditional arts events that deliver lasting social and cultural benefits. |
NCTA seeks Festival Support Staff for 2020 festival season to provide office and on-site support for three large-scale festivals. Positions available include:
Programming Administration Assistant
This is the perfect position for someone with an interest in history, arts management, cultural anthropology, and related fields.
Responsibilities include programming research, marketing and promotion, and event organization. The position may also be responsible for press and photo document management, social media updates, and customer service.
Qualified applicants will be detail-oriented（细心的）and organized, with excellent people skills and a general interest in the traditional arts. Computer literacy is essential. Contract runs May 1 – December 15.
Festival Assistant
This is the perfect position for someone with an interest in arts, culture, and event logistics(后勤)who enjoys operating in a fast-paced, collegial small-office environment.
The position provides festival staff support. Responsibilities include document creation, travel purchase, logistics support, data entry, and database maintenance.
Qualified applicants will be outgoing and open-minded, with effective oral and written communication skills and computer literacy. Prior experience with festival planning is preferred. Contract runs May 18 – October 30.
Production Associate
The Production Associate is a key member of the production team who will work closely with the Production Manager on all festival audio, backline, and lighting needs, from planning through implementation(实施).
The role will contribute to the following key tasks: advancing technical needs with artists, making tech books, accurate record-keeping, and working with NCTA and Festival staff to insure smooth on-site operations.
Qualified applicants will be responsible and adaptable, with excellent people skills. Prior experience in concert production is preferred. Contract runs June 15 – October 30.
All Positions: Experience with database entry, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Acrobat is required. Must have a clean driving record, or reliable transportation. Some evenings, weekends, and travel required.
All positions are full time with contract. Deadline is April 20, 2020.
More details and how to apply at: http//ncta-America.com.
We Are Cyborgs
RoboCop, the Bionic Woman, Darth Vader—what do these characters have in common? They are all cyborgs—humans who are made more powerful by advanced technology. You might think that cyborgs exist only in fiction, or are a possibility only in the distant future. But cyborg technology already exists.
The word "cyborg" was first used in 1960 and defined as an organism "to which external components have been added for the purpose of adapting to new environments". According to this definition, an astronaut in a spacesuit is an example of cyborg, as the spacesuit helps the astronaut adapt to a new environment—space. More recently, the word has evolved to refer to human beings who have mechanical body parts that make them more than human.
Although super-humans like RoboCop are not yet a reality, advances in real-life cyborg technology allow some people to compensate for abilities they have lost, and give other people new and unusual abilities. An example is filmmaker Rob Spence and his bionic eye. Spence injured one of his eyes in an accident. A camera was implanted in his prosthetic eye(假眼).The eye is not connected to his brain or optic nerve(视神经), but it can record what he sees. Spence has used his camera eye to record interviews for a documentary about people with bionic body parts.
Some types of cyborg technology replace a lost ability by connecting directly to a person's nerves. Michael Chorost completely and suddenly lost his ability to hear in July of 2001. Two months later, doctors placed a cochlear implant, a kind of computer, inside his skull. This type of implant connects to auditory nerves and allows a deaf person to hear again. Around the world, over 300,000 people have now been fitted with cochlear implants.
These examples of cyborg technology have enabled people to enhance or change their abilities and improve their lives. But does everyone want to use cyborg technology? It might be too late to decide. Cyborg scientist Amber Case argues that most of us are already cyborgs. Anyone who uses a computer or a smartphone, Case claims, is a cyborg. Consider the data that you have in your smartphone. It keeps information for you so you don't have to remember it: notes, phone numbers, email addresses, messages. It also allows you to communicate with friends and family via telephone, text messages, email, and social networks.
The potential benefits of cyborg technology are evident, but can this new technology be harmful, too? Could we become too dependent on cyborg technology—and become less than human? These still remain questions.
Picture this: It's 2003 and your family has just finished arguing over which Netflix movies to rent that week. Movies come in the mail and the family watch them throughout the week before sending them back and ordering new ones. Then, fast forward to 2008, and you have started to watch TV shows on Netflix's new platform.
Now, let's come to the present. You sit down and open up Netflix on your TV and scroll for a while. Then you flip over to Hulu to see if they have anything more interesting to offer. Then you check HBO GO. Finally, you check Disney+. Then you realize that you're paying for four different streaming services, maybe more.
More generally, streaming. There are over 100 video streaming services available, as well as quite a few music streaming, including Apple Music, YouTube Music, Google Play, and etc. The streaming world, at least to some, is on its way to getting out of control, with each service requiring its own monthly subscription. And that is just entertainment subscriptions. We haven't even taken into account subscriptions like Microsoft Office, magazine subscriptions, and email newsletters. Subscriptions started out as a service of convenience, but now, the oversaturation may have become burdensome. The services believe customers will pay more to get the content they want. However, statistics show a growing frustration(失望) among consumers. With so many options, they find it harder than ever to make a decision on what to pick.
Not only does the oversaturation of streaming result in confusing navigation, it also creates a financial burden for the consumers. Let's say if you want to watch Stranger Things , The Handmaid's Tale , and Game of Thrones , which belong to three different services, you would have to pay nearly $50 a month to access all three of those services, meaning it's not cheaper, and potentially more expensive, than cable.
People cut their cords and went the streaming route because it was simpler and cheaper. Now, it's just as inconvenient and difficult as cable was, if not more so, and unless you're limiting yourself to one service, it's not cheaper. Streaming will survive because we're in a Golden Age of Media and because each service is able to create high-quality originals. But Golden Ages don't last, and bubbles tend to burst. Until the inevitable(不可避免的)day when some product or service proves streaming out of date, we must suffer the choices in front of us. The next time you are scrolling through Netflix, Hulu, or whatever, and the overchoice is killing you, maybe you should just go pick up a book instead.
As the higher education sector faces mounting pressures to provide value for money, it's now often assumed that universities will provide its students with much more than just a degree. Most prospectuses（宣传册）introduction present institutions as being the "leaders" in academic research, student satisfaction, graduate employability and contact hours.
Visiting a university "in the flesh" on the open day is the only way you can truly get a feel for the place, and ensures you won't get any unpleasant surprises when you start your course. Remember that there is no such thing as the best university – only the best fit for you.
Before your visit, conduct some online research and decide on a few universities you'd like to visit. Plan your day, booking any relevant sessions, and noting down any talks you would like to attend. Prepare a list of questions about all the aspects of university life.
During your visit, you need to make plenty of notes! You'll start to forget important things unless you put them down. Note which accommodation you like as well as how much it costs and where it is located. Bear in mind that you might not get your first choice of accommodation, so have a few others in mind as a back-up.
Go along to application sessions and you can get the answers there. You could even show the admissions tutor a draft of your personal statement and ask for some direct feedback. Ask the experts – not only the admissions team and course tutors, but also the current students. While it might be tempting to let mum and dad take over, it's you who will be going to university, not them, so don't be afraid to speak up!
Write down what you like about the university and compare it to others. Remember to make sure you prioritise your course over the university. If you don't enjoy your course, then chances are you will fail to maximise your potential. It's your choice, so make the best of it!
A. Avoid being misled by claims and statistics.
B. It doesn't matter how famous the university is.
C. It is important to find out the selection criteria.
D. With so many choices, how can you make an informed decision?
E. Faced with all the information, what you need to do is to get the most out of it.
F. The conversations and experiences you've had will mix together after a few visits.
G. Determine your own criteria –especially if you're unsure about which subjects to study.
