In 2007, Jim and his friend Dylan moved into their new apartment on 22nd Street in Manhattan. The previous tenant(之前的租户) told them something 1 . "Every year over Christmas, many letters to Santa come here," he said. "No one knows the reason."
For the first two years, only a few letters came from kids 2 Santa for gifts. But in the weeks before Christmas in 2010, Jim and Dylan were 3 crazy. Every morning, they opened their mailbox and 4 was full of letters to Santa. They replied to as many as they could, writing notes and even buying gifts. But they could only do so much.
One evening, Jim and Dylan had a Christmas party in their apartment. Their guests 5 the hundreds of letters in the room and asked about them. Jim told them the 6 . Many guests offered to help without thinking twice.
7 was born Miracle on 22nd Street, a volunteer organization. Then Jim, Dylan and their friends replied to children's letters to Santa with gifts. One child wrote that his back hurt because his parents couldn't afford a 8 and he had to sleep on the floor. 9 agreement from the boy's parents, they bought him one.
Every year, Jim, Dylan and Miracle on 22nd Street help hundreds of families. They no longer wonder 10 the letters come to the apartment. It has become part of Christmas for them to try to help families in need.
Welcome to Global Friends! Come and find pen pals from all over the world.
Alice Newman
Age: 34/Language: English
I am open-minded, living in Scotland. I love to travel but haven't travelled much over the past few years. Last year I taught myself how to knit(编织). It is now one of my favorite hobbies.
Dean Gill
Age: 26/Language: French
I'm a shy person. I love to write and draw. I'm now looking for someone who truly enjoys writing and drawing. We can share our goals, dreams and so on.
Shirley Stacey
Age: 19/Language: English
Hi there! I am from Northern California in the US. I love hanging out with my family and listening to music. I also love reading. I am a bit shy with new friends. I am looking for a pen pal of my age.
How was your sleep last night? Sleep is important for health. How can we have healthy sleep? Take a look at some advice.
Wake up naturally
Waking up to a ringing alarm is never fun. Studies show that when you get shocked by the alarm, your breathing will go up, your heart will have more beats and your blood pressure will rise.
"This is a very unhappy way to start the day," sleep scientist Whitney Roban said. "You'll feel worse if you go back to sleep a few more minutes. It's important to follow your body's natural sleep-wake cycle (循环)."
So what should we do? Try to use an alarm with softer and lower sounds. Or leave a crack (缝隙) in the curtains(窗帘) – the rising sun will wake you up.
Sleep early and get up early
Some young people may go to bed late and get up late, such as sleeping from 2 am to 10 am. They think as long as they have eight hours of sleep, everything will be fine.
But in fact, our bodies can tell time. They use light and temperature to do so. If we wake up too late, our bodies might feel stuck between sleep and being awake. That's why sometimes we feel even more tired after oversleeping.
As an artist, Pei Haozheng is well-known for paper folding. In his eyes, a piece of paper holds great possibilities. He can fold it into anything.
He used his skills in his work, Deer with 100 Flowers(花生满鹿). It's a deer with 100 flowers
on its antlers(鹿角). Without cuts or glue, he used a piece of paper with side lengths(长度) of 2.22 meters to finish the whole work. As for the idea for the work, Pei said it came from a Chinese saying. It not only shows the wishes for Chinese young people to have a bright future, but also the deep love for our country.
As a child, Pei learned folding from teachers and parents, and later he copied the patterns from books. Gradually, he was drawn into the paper world.
For Pei, folding is an art that needs many skills. For example, it needs knowledge of math to make sure everything is in the right place, such as the different angles(角度) and the lengths of the creases(折痕). However, Pei thinks artistic beauty and exact folding are both important. Going too far with either won't make good work.
As an artist, Pei wants to tell the Chinese story through paper. "For me, paper folding is not just a special skill, but an art that can pass culture and last forever," said Pei.
Recently, I went out to a bar with my friend Nicole. I didn't actually know her well as we had only met once at a meeting. When I found myself in her town, we decided to meet up. Since we knew little about each other, we shared our stories, and she asked me many questions about my travels.
When answering her questions about what I had learned in my travels, I told Nicole that travel had greatly improved my ability to "read" people and situations.
"Oh? OK. Read my friends over there," she challenged me.
So I offered her my opinions about her friends and the other people in the bar.
"How did I do?" I asked when I had finished.
"Wow!" She was shocked.
You might want to know how I was able to get those people right. For sure, I knew nothing about mind games. I judged(判断) their personalities simply by reading their body language, facial expressions, dress, and the way they talked with one another.
I had travelled a lot before. When I was travelling, I couldn't always understand what people were trying to say to me as most of them didn't speak English. Non-verbal communication became very important. Whenever words failed, I depended on people's facial expressions. By watching how people behaved, I tried to work out how they felt about something. The tone (音调) in people's voices was quite helpful, too.
The more I travelled and the more I talked with different people, the better I became at "reading" people. If you travel widely, you will be able to develop this ability, too.
One afternoon, your computer shut off all of a sudden. It was caused by a blackout (断电).
The traffic lights on the streets also stopped working.
Blackouts can happen at any time. It's important to be prepared for a blackout. Here are a few tips for you.
Keep a flashlight in every room of your home. However, if a blackout lasts for several hours, you might want to save that phone charge for other tasks.
But please be careful while using them. You can never be too careful with fire.
Canned food would work well here. Also, remember to keep some bottled water at home.
If your family has medicine that needs to be kept cold, make sure you have some ice packs ready. When a blackout hits, only open your fridge when you need the medicine – the cold air inside runs away each time it's opened.
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A. Keep some candles and matches. B. Sure, your mobile phone has a flashlight. C. Keep some food that doesn't require cooking. D. Put them along with the medicine in your fridge. E. Without electricity, people couldn't work, cook or watch TV. |
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Of all the legends (传说) about it, (famous) one is about Qu Yuan. Qu was a poet of the State of Chu. He was very faithful to his state. When he realized that his state was becoming weaker weaker, he felt heartbroken. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 278 BC, Qu threw (he) into the Miluo River and died for his homeland. People who lived near the river rushed into their boats(search) for him. They threw zongzi and other food into the river to keep fish eating
Qu's body.
To remember Qu, the /'kʌstəmz/ of holding dragon boat races and throwing zongzi into the river on that day were passed down, and the holiday was (name) "Dragon Boat Festival." In 2009, the Dragon Boat Festival became China's (one) festival to be recognized as one of the world's intangible cultural heritages(非物质文化遗产).
In Qu's hometown, a dragon boat race is (real) welcome every year during the festival.
Dragon boat racing, in fact, has developed from a local activity into international sporting event. China's dragon boats have "rowed" throughout the world.
要点：
1.位置：湖北境内，长江之滨；
2.历史：悠久的历史，楚文化(Chu Culture)……
3.景点：荆州博物馆，古城墙……
4.美食：荆州鱼糕(fish cake)……
5.补充一两点与荆州有关的信息。
要求：
1.文章必须包括所给要点，可适当发挥使行文连贯；
2.不能出现真实的人名、校名等信息；
3.不少于80词，开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Ladies and gentlemen! I'm very honored to introduce Jingzhou Ancient City here.
Thanks for listening!
