Travelers are always looking for inspiration to guide their trips. Coming up with a list of places to visit can be challenging when you're staring at a globe. What are the top tourist attractions in the world? Here comes our list.
●The Acropolis, Athens
Follow in the footsteps of ancients as you walk up the same steps that have been walked on since 438 BC. Views out over the city are incredible as you walk between the well-restored old buildings. Near the end of the day, you'll want to stay and watch the sunset from the stairs near the entrance. This is a ritual (仪式) in Athens.
●The Taj Mahal, India
India is-filled with incredible cities and fabulous places to visit, but the 17th-century Taj Mahal is the one place that says you've been to India. This mausoleum (陵墓)，commissioned by the Shah Jahan for his wife, is known internationally as a symbol of love. This fantastic structure, made with precious stones, has to be visited to be fully appreciated.
●Petra, Jordan
You may have an Indiana Jones feeling as you walk through a 1. 2-kilometer-long narrow crack in the sandstone hills and emerge, into a hidden city. First built over 2,000 years ago and lost to the outside world for 600 years, the city was only discovered in 1812. Impressive buildings are carved directly into the red rock walls and are wonderfully preserved, just begging to be explored and photographed.
●Grand Canyon, USA
The greatest natural attraction in the United States, the Grand Canyon is a key sight for all travelers planning their lifetime of adventures. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, looking out over the carved landscape, will awaken your senses. Several hikes in the canyon and along the edge offer unique perspectives. For even more adventure plan a rafting trip down the Colorado River through the canyon.
Recently I bought a book about signposts. Signposts aren't very interesting, you're thinking. Well, that, of course, depends on whether you happen to be lost! Ancient travelers would have been grateful for these when settlements were smaller and further apart. In winter, the ability to reach shelter for the night could be the difference between life and death.
One of the very earliest waymarks discovered is in Cumbria. Dating from Roman times, it had lain fallen until 1836, when a farmer ploughing his fields came across a sandstone shaft(碑文). There are other stone posts that have stood by roadsides for centuries. It wasn't until 1697 that an act was passed declaring that guide-stones must be built. This applied to remote parts of the country where there might be confusion as to which path led to the nearest market town. Later, with the appearance of the Royal Mail, the number rose still further. Nowadays many of these early road signs are designated(指定) as Listed Monuments.
"How times change!" Lucy, an enthusiastic walker, to whom I loaned the book, exclaimed.
"I suppose now we all rely far more upon mobile phones to guide us. "
"Yet they aren't perfect. Whenever I go out, I prefer a map. I never have to worry about running out of battery. " "I'm always grateful to whoever is placing way-markers along the route," she added, "I suppose that however sure we are, a little outside confirmation is always welcome. "
Lucy is quite right there. Life itself can offer us a great many choices of path, and sometimes it isn't easy to know if we've chosen the best one.
Perhaps when it comes to gratitude, we should also include thanks for those people who appear in our lives when we most need them--either giving us gentle warning that we might be heading in the wrong direction, or reassurance that we are on the right track. After all, we'd be lost without them!
We are all aware of the damaging pollution that＇s created by driving petrol and diesel（柴油）vehicles. Many of the world's cities are blocked with traffic, creating fumes containing gases such as nitrogen oxides. The solution for a cleaner, greener future could be electric vehicles. But how optimistic should we be? There was much excitement last year when the UK government announced it will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030. But is that easier said than done?
The road to global traffic being totally electric is still a long way off. Currently, battery life is an issue — a fully charged battery won't take you as far as a full tank of petrol. There are also limited numbers of charging points to plug an EV into. Of course, technology is always improving. Some of the biggest tech companies, like Google and Tesla, are spending huge amounts of money developing electric cars. And most of the big car manufacturers are now making them too. Colin Herron, a consultant on low-carbon vehicle technology, told the BBC: "The big leap forward will come with solid state batteries, which will appear first in mobile phones and laptops before they progress to cars. " These will charge more quickly and give cars a bigger range. Cost is another issue that may discourage people switching to electric power. But some countries offer incentive, such as cutting prices by reducing import taxes, and not charging for road tax and parking. Some also provide exclusive lanes for electric cars to be driven on, overtaking traditional cars which might be stuck in jams.
These kinds of measures have made Norway the country with the most electric cars per capita（人均） at more than thirty electric cars per 1000 inhabitants. But Colin Herron warns that "electric motoring" doesn't mean a zero-carbon future. "It's emission-free motoring, but the car has to be built, the battery has to be built, and the electricity does come from somewhere. " Maybe it's time to think about making fewer journeys or using public transport.
Human responses to moral dilemmas can be influenced by statements written by the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. The findings indicate that users may underestimate the extent to which their own moral judgments can be influenced by the chatbot.
Sebastian Kriigel and colleagues asked ChatGPT multiple times whether it is right to sacrifice (牺牲) the life of one person in order to save the lives of five others. They found that ChatGPT wrote random statements arguing both for and against sacrificing one life, indicating that it is not biased towards a certain moral stance(立场).
The authors then presented 767 U. S. participants, who were on average 39 years old, with a dilemma whether to sacrifice one person's life to save five others. Before answering, participants read a statement provided by ChatGPT arguing either for or against sacrificing one life to save five. Statements were from either a moral advisor or ChatGPT. After answering, participants were asked whether the statement they read influenced their answers.
Eighty percent of participants reported that their answers were not influenced by the statements they read. However, the authors found that the answers participants believed they would have provided without reading the statements were still more likely to agree with the moral stance of the statement they did read than with the opposite stance. This indicates that participants may have underestimated the influence of ChatGPT's statements on their own moral judgments.
The authors suggest that the potential for chatbots to influence human moral judgments highlights the need for education to help humans better understand artificial intelligence. They propose that future research should design chabots that either decline to answer questions requiring a moral judgment or answer these questions by providing multiple arguments and warnings.
There are hundreds of genres (流派) of music, so while some might like one kind, others might like something completely different. Why do people like different kinds of music?
At the same time, music can also help us feel like part of a group or a culture, especially one that shares an interest in a certain kind of music.
Music can also be nostalgic, that is, it creates a kind of longing for the past. Musicians leave behind a footprint with their music. Even long after the musicians are gone, people still find something in the musicians' recordings that they can enjoy.
We may also find that the music we like is strongly tied to our memory. Maybe there was a song that someone sang to us when we were little that brings up good memories.
When we listen to music that we like, a chemical called dopamine is sometimes released in the brain, which can make us feel good. There are some algorithms (算法) today that can help pick up on the kind of music we like. When we are streaming music, some programs will let us like or dislike songs.
People's taste in music can remain the same in their whole life or it can change many times. But the truth is, we don't know all the exact answers to why people like different kinds of music — or sports, or food, or colors. We are all different people who like different things.
A. It's music to our ears.
B. Music can be a part of our identity.
C. It becomes a mirror that we are holding up.
D. They leave a permanent mark in people's lives.
E. Therefore, we might want to listen to a song on repeat.
F. Other times, we might find music can bring up sad memories.
G. There are lots of different factors that can influence our preferences.
Silence is important for learning. I got it from my fourteen-month-old daughter Arielle.
One day, she sat on the floor with an old baby doll. Without buttons, it could neither 1 nor play music. The whole room was silent. Then Arielle began to explore the baby doll. When her hand touched a tiny 2 , she used one finger to trace (勾画) its shape. Then she 3 one of her own ears and then both ears. She kept tracing the doll's ear and her own a few more times until, 4 , she turned her attention elsewhere.
At that moment I discovered how human 5 took place. Something stimulated (刺激) Arielle's 6 : Is her body like her doll's? With no outside stimulation, she satisfied her curiosity by comparing the doll's body and herself. 7 , for many kids, experiences like Arielle's are less and less frequent 8 children are surrounded by those so-called 9 toys which can talk and move at the push of a button. This 10 them to push buttons repeatedly without thinking and may rob (剥夺) children of opportunities to problem-solve.
Like adults, children need times that are 11 to experience the difference between just reacting to outside stimulation and 12 their own ideas by exploring the world.
Indeed, the toys most likely to encourage creative play are not those that make 13 or have lots of unnecessary' functions. 14 , they are simple, quiet and can be used in lots of different ways. So next time, when 15 what to buy your child, make a wise choice.
During this year's Spring Festival holiday, the county of Tangyin in Henan province welcomed an increased number of tourists, many of came to pay respects to Yue Fei, a Song Dynasty national hero.
The tourist surge was attributed to the success of Full River Red, a domestic film released during the holiday. By Jan 27, the last day of the holiday, the film (generate) a huge total box office income of about 2. 6 billion yuan, ranking first in the holiday box office chart. The historical drama, eponymous (同名的) with a well-known lyrical poem by Yue Fei, was directed by famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou. (it) plot centers around a series of events surrounding Yue's death. Many viewers were moved to tears by the ending of the movie, (feature) thousands of soldiers reciting the lyrical poem in concert (passionate).
The film's popularity aroused public admiration Yue, who bravely fought battles against the Jin Dynasty and was celebrated for his (loyal) and courage. One of the film's (intention) is to illustrate and highlight Yue Fei's spirit. In article posted on China's leading film rating platform Douban, Chen Yu, the film's screenwriter, wrote that Yue's lyrical poem contains a kind of culture or emotion (share) by all Chinese people.
It was a cold December, at the tail end of the Great Depression(大萧条), and things were tough. Mum had a hard time raising us kids on her own in our small community. My father had died five years earlier, leaving us worse off; we relied on social assistance to keep us clothed, and although our clothes were secondhand, we thought they were beautiful.
Looking back, I realized what Mum went through sending us kids to school. Every morning she would tuck(塞) a new piece of cardboard in our shoes because our soles (鞋底) were worn out. When we got home, Mum would have French toast ready for us. Our rent was $25 a month, but Mum couldn't pay it, and we knew we would move out right after Christmas on the first of January.
The holidays were fast approaching, and we were entitled to (有资格获得) $25 for Christmas from social services. It was four days before Christmas. Mum said that instead of buying food, she was going to use the money to pay our back rent. That way we'd have a roof over our heads for a little while longer.
Then she told us that there would be no Christmas gifts.
What Mom didn't know was that I had been selling Christmas trees, sweeping snow and doing part-time jobs to earn enough money to buy a new pair of boots—boots that weren't patched (缝补); boots with no cardboard in it. I knew exactly which boots I wanted. They were ten-inch, Top-Genuine, Pierre Paris boots, and they cost $23.
The big day for getting my boots came on Christmas Eve afternoon. I was very excited as I hurried up the shopping center for it. On the way, I noticed a grocery store (杂货店).
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1
The Christmas lights and decorations held me, and I slowed my pace.
Paragraph 2
Once home, I piled the groceries on the porch (门廊) and knocked on the door.
