Traveling to Europe can be expensive, but if you get creative and avoid tourist hot spots like London and Paris, you may be able to avoid high price tags. According to average hotel prices, flight deals, available vacation packages and affordable attractions, you can choose the best cheap European vacations.
Prague
Apart from the price of flying here, you won't have to dish out too much money to experience Prague. Many of the city's most popular attractions are free to visit, including Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge and PetrinHill. You can also find five-star hotels for less than $200 per night here, plus plenty of solid three and four star accommodations with even cheaper rates.
Porto
This cheap Portuguese destination is getting increasingly popular, so make sure to visit while it's still affordable. Right now, you can take the train from Porto to Lisbon for as little as $ 30 one way. Once you arrive in, you'll be delighted to learn that several top attractions here, such as the Dom Luis I Bridge, the Porto Cathedral and the Crystal Palace gardens, are free to visit.
Valencia
Valencia has numerous beautiful beaches. It is also a lot more affordable. The city offers a diverse range of free things to do, including relaxing on the sand, wandering through Plaza del Ayuntamiento, exploring the Valencia Cathedral and shopping at the Central Market, one of the oldest food market areas in Europe.
Tallinn
Tallinn draws travelers to Estonia with its charming atmosphere and historical attractions. Start by walking through the capital's Old Town, which is webbed with cobblestone streets, old-world buildings and all kinds of medieval delights. Then, explore the city's museums. If you plan on visiting multiple museums, it may cost about $ 65.
I applied to be a first-grade teacher's assistant. The job paid the lowest wage, and I could hardly afford to pay my rent. I had no desire to go into education, so I didn't know why I was attracted to this position. Working with children was not my motivation at that time. But later I found that it was all I wanted to do.
There was a student, Ashley, in my class who was very creative and interested in writ-ing. I helped Ashley write her first short story. Ashley and her mother Shirin walked into our classroom every morning. Shirin often volunteered to work in our classroom and would always give me a hug. She asked me questions about her daughter and my writing. At that time, I was working on a new romantic comedy script, and Shirin gave positive comments when I told her the plot."I can't wait to see this in the theater!" My confidence increased. I would also exchange some ideas with her. We became very good friends. Shirin also showered me with gifts. For holidays or my birthday, she'd get me some nice gifts. She was always finding ways to wrap me in love and encouragement.
I had worked as a teacher's assistant for three years. Then I decided to start teaching cre-ative writing. Shirin and I had stayed close, and she kept encouraging me. I was forever grateful that I became a teacher's assistant and met Shirin. She appeared in my life at just the right time.
Long pieces from the outer shell of the coconut (椰子), known as coir (椰子壳粗纤维), are often used with other materials to build barriers. The barriers are used to protect beaches from getting washed away by the force of waves. The coconut material is widely available and costs a lot less than barriers made of other materials, such as wood, steel or concrete. And it is designed to biodegrade (生物降解) or break down, over time.
Some projects create "living shorelines" made from natural elements rather than hard materials. One is being built along part of an eroded (被侵蚀的) riverbank in Neptune, New Jersey. The effort has already greatly improved areas that suffered major erosion damage. "We're always trying to reduce wave energy while protecting the shoreline, " said Tim Dillingham, the group's director. "And whenever we can, we like to employ nature-based solutions."
Another project is happening in Boston. That is where Julia Hopkins, an assistant pro-fessor at Northeastern University, is using coir, wood chips and other materials to create floating barriers to slow the force of waves. Hopkins is pleased with the results. She says the coconut material is not costly and is actually being recycled rather than being thrown away.
Two projects in East Providence, Rhode Island, used coconut material in 2020. The next year, 731 meters of damaged shoreline in New York's Jamaica Bay were treated through a project that also included coconut coir material. Similar projects have been carried out in the states of Delaware and Texas.
The method doesn't always work, however. In 2016, the Felix Neck Wildlife Refuge in Edgartown, Massachusetts, built barriers around a salt marsh that had eroded in the past. While the effort did help reduce erosion for a while, the material did not last long because of strong waves.
Suzan Bellincampi is the refuge's director. "The project is really interesting in terms of what we want to do and how we adapt it," she said. "It's not for every site. It works in some places; it doesn't work in all places."
Marks &Spencer(M&S) is planning to remove "best before" labels from 300 varieties of fruit and vegetables in its stores to cut food waste. The change will rely on customers using their judgment to determine whether goods are still fine to eat.
The measure, to be rolled out this week, will affect 85% of the supermarket's fresh pro-duce offering. "Best before" labels differ from "use by" dates, with the former often merely a measure of aesthetics(美学), while the latter tending to indicate a safety risk if ignored. "Best before" labels were meant to help consumers, but instead were blamed for creating mountains of waste from perfectly eatable food.
Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket chain, had already announced the end of best before dates on its own-brand fruit and vegetables as far back as 2018, while the German supermarket Lidl also says it does not include best before information to reduce food waste. Now M& S is doing the same, with the aim to halve(减半) food waste from its products by 2030 com-pared with 2018. Achieving those targets would put it in line with the UK's commitment to meet the United Nations' goal of halving food waste by 2030 compared with 2007.
Reducing food waste is a vital part of tackling carbon emissions associated with farming and food distribution(分配). WRAP, a food waste charity, estimates that as much 45%of global greenhouse gas emissions can only be tackled by changing the way we make and consume products and food. It said that removing dates on fresh fruit and vegetables can save the equal of 7 million shopping baskets of food a year.
Catherine David, a director at WRAP, said, "We're thrilled to see this move from M& S, which will reduce food waste and help tackle the climate crisis. We urge more supermarkets to get ahead on food waste by cutting date labels from fresh produce, allowing people to use their own judgment."
Left-handed people make up around 12% of the global population. One really interesting fact that I picked up was from a scientist who believed that left-handed people tended to be more independent as a result of having to adapt to a world that is largely built for right-handed individuals. !
More likely to have allergies and sleep disorders
A study found that left-handed people were 11 times more likely to suffer from allergies than right-handed folk. .
Left-handed people use the right side of the brain the most
, meaning that the right side controls the left side of the body and the other way around. Hence there is a well-known saying "only left-handed people are in their right minds". The right-hand side of the brain is thought to control the left side of the body and tasks to do with the arts and creativity.
Are left-handed people smarter?
! One 2007 study "Effect of handedness on intelligence level of students"shows that lefties are more likely to have higher IQ. However, another 2010 study "The relationship between hand preference, hand performance, and general cognitive ability" suggests the exact opposite!
Experiments showed that when given two tasks to complete simultaneously (同时), lefties performed best. This is because right-handed people tend to solve problems by breaking them down into parts and analyzing each piece one at a time. While left-handed people tend to look at the problem as a whole and use pattern-matching to try and solve it.
A. Better at multi-tasking
B. Smarter than the right-handed
C. As we know, the brain is cross-wired
D. This one varies depending on how dated your source is
E. Here are a few more fascinating left-handed people facts
F. Mixed-handed children are more likely to experience language issues
G. And lefties were two and a half times more likely to suffer from sleep disorders
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. This year, I had the opportunity to 21 the community in many ways. I volunteered at several organizations. These experiences further opened my eyes to the needs of my community.
Years ago my family struggled with 22 and Helping Hands Charity was 23 enough to help us pay our electric bill. 24 , I wanted to pay back the program. At first, however, I found little 25 in sorting piles of toys but then the manager told me that 26 would be very happy to receive these toys. This helped me know 27 isn't about me; it is about playing an active role in the community, bringing joy to families who are 28 , and giving hope to the hopeless.
I also had the 29 to help with the Meals on Wheels America, from which my grandfather once 30 . He still remembered how he looked forward to a hot meal daily, and31me to help someone in the same way. It was 32 to deliver hot meals to people who didn't have the means of getting one. This experience made me realize how 33 I am and the benefit I have got.
At the Science Museum I helped prepare for community services such as the Science Nights. When I was young, I had the opportunity to participate in one of the activities they hosted. I remember how the volunteers worked hard cooking our breakfast. It was beneficial to be on the 34 end instead of the receiving end. The Science Nights is a good way of making education 35 and exciting for the children.
My family have been involved in agriculture business since the late 1800s when my great-grandfather (start) the family farm. Over the years, the operation has developed from growing crops into selling farm equipment today — our primary focus has become the technology used in farming.
Agriculture, general, has undergone a similar (develop). Technology has become an indispensable part of doing business for every farmer, and agriculture retailer. In fact, a recent study by Hexa Reports suggests precision agriculture (expect) to grow to $ 43.4 billion by 2025. It is a concept that was born in the 1990s and that was quite (impress).
The increasing adoption rate of technology in agriculture shouldn't be (surprise) to anyone. Farming is (high) land-intensive and labor-intensive. Farmers are driven to use technology to increase efficiency and manage costs.
But what exactly does the precision agriculture mean? Precision agriculture is also known as precision farming. Perhaps the easiest way (understand) precision farming is to think of it as everything makes the practice of farming more accurate and controlled when it comes to the growing of crops. A key component of this farm management approach is use of information technology and a wide range of items such as sensors, drones, and GPS-based soil sampling.
"Hey, honey!" I said, hugging my seven-year-old, Jean Prince, as she got off the bus. "How was school?" I asked her as I always did.
"Well, not so real good," she replied, looking sad. "Everyone has their pictures on the Reading Bulletin Board (布告栏) but me. I never get my picture up, not for math or reading or anything." Her shoulders fell suddenly, and her chin began to shake clearly.
I'd like to believe that, with enough educational treatment, visits to the doctor, experimenting with different medicines for ADHD (多动症), and drill, practice, and patience at home, I can turn my Jean into a teacher's "dream child, " the skilled and intelligent kid who gets everything right and never colors outside the lines.
But I can't. And every failure is yet another blow to me, as well as to Jean. Taking a deep breath, I turned on the "building self-esteem (自尊)" mode. "Well, honey, I'm sorry. But I'll bet something good happened to you today, didn't it? What was the best thing that you did today?" Jean took her own sweet time, thinking things through. To my relief, she wasn't, however, on the edge of tears anymore.
Finally, she brightened a bit and said slowly, "Yes, when I passed the gate of the park, I saw a little girl who was walking with her mother and she fell down and cried because her knee bled, I hurried home and took my Barbie doll and gave it to her. She loved it and stopped crying, her mother said thanks to me and I felt good."
"Sweetie, that's great!" I said excitedly.
"It is you who have told me that I should be kind and learn to share good things with others," Jean replied.
I learned that Jean had saved from her allowance (零花钱) for the past month to get that doll, which was her favorite, so I thought to myself, "I will tell all these to Mrs Doe, Jean's teacher."
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Later that night, after driving Jean home, I hurried to Mrs Doe's.
……
At 4:30 the next afternoon, Jean rushed to me happily at the school gate.
