I was living a life in my screen and hardly noticed what(be)around me. I was always checking the time and thinking of future(plan). My thought was:“Who's going to text me now? What will I do next?” My bedtime routine was usually centered
one thing: my phone. I went to sleep, I browsed through news websites and checked my emails. When I woke upin the middle of the night. I did the something. The problem with this was that I felt anxious every night.
So when my friends invited me (go)for a long weekend camping withoutthe cell service, I thought this was (exact)what I needed. Here's how (keep)away from my phone for 48 hours changedme and my way of life.
Without my phone, I (fall) asleep listening to the songs offrogs and crickets. In the morning, I woke upenergy．Sitting by the river, riding a bike, or singing theold songs, I (true)enjoyed what I was doing.
I felt free without my phone at weekend camp, changed me completely. I listened to what my body wanted instead of what my phone was telling me to do.
Paul Lucas can often be seen walking around the city of San Francisco. Sometimes people are (surprise) to see him walking without any shoes or socks, Lucas doesn't mind at all. He likes to walk barefoot, and do 640 other members of Dirty Sole Society, the club that Lucas (start) years ago. Lucas' idea for this is to encourage others to live (free)－free of shoes.
According to Lucas, the barefoot life has many (advantage). The most important is simply that it feels good. He also says that walking barefoot allows you to experience the world directly by (touch) it with your feet. In addition, the feet do not smell so much they stay dry, (make) it hard for bacteria(细菌) to grow. And, of course, walking barefoot keeps your feet in good shape, so it's actually (healthy) than wearing shoes.
Once a man's wife adopted a dog. The woman loved the dog so much that she spent plenty of time playing him. It was obvious to the man his wife preferred the dog. With time going by, the man disliked the dog more and more.
Finally, the man made a (decide) to abandon the dog. So one day he drove the dog (mile) away from his home. He threw the dog in the woods and then returned to his car. soon after the car was started, it broke down. Feeling cold in the car, the man became (worry). He needed some help, butcars appeared and he could see no one nearby. Then he saw the dog (walk) towards him. The dog stopped by the car and barked. The man opened the car and let him in. The dog sat beside and kept the man warm. At last, a car came and the man (save). He went back home, with the dog, of course.
Nowadays, we can find advertisements almost wherever we go. We are so used to them we often do not even realize how many we see and hear in day. An advertisement uses words and pictures (persuade) people to buy a product or service, or to believe an idea. There are two main types of advertisements—commercial advertisements public service advertisements (PSAs). A commercial advertisement is someone has paid for to advertise a product or service. PSAs are often run for free, and (mean) to educate people about health, (safe), or any other problem that affects public welfare. When comes to advertisements, we must all use our (intelligent) and not be a slave to them.
There was once a small boy who would never get dressed when his parents told him to, would he wear what they wanted him to. He preferred unusual clothes, but above all, he liked taking his time. His parents were always in a rush, and wanted him to be much (quick), but the boy didn't like this, and he would slow down even more.
One day, his parents got so angry when he refused to dress that they told him to go out without any clothes at all. (surprise), the boy followed his parents out of the door. He held a belief nobody could do anything to him.
As the boy stood outside his house with nothing on, (wait) for his parents's car, along came the local pig farmer. The farmer, was almost deaf, had very poor eyesight. Not only that, but also he (forget) his glasses that day. When he saw the boy's pink skin, he thought it was one of his pigs. Shouting and pushing, the farmer forced (he) into a pig cage. The boy begged him to stop but the deaf farmer couldn't hear.
When found by his parents, the terrified boy never again wanted to be mistaken anything other than a human being. Now he's the first (get) dressed, and always looks neat.
Yangshuo, China
It was raining lightly when I (arrive) in Yangshuo just before dawn. But I didn't care. A few hours I'd been at home in Hong Kong, with (it) choking smog. Here, the air was clean and fresh, even with the rain.
I'd skipped nearby Guilin, a dream place for tourists seeking the limestone mountain tops and dark waters of the Li River are pictured by artists in so many Chinese (painting). Instead, I'd headed straight for Yangshuo. For those who fly to Guilin, it's only an hour away car and offers all the scenery of the better known city.
Yangshuo (be) really beautiful. A study of travelers (conduct) by the website Trip Advisor names Yangshuo as one of the top 10 destinations in the world. And the town is fast becoming a popular weekend destination for people in Asia. Abercrombie &.Kent, a travel company in Hong Kong, says it (regular) arranges quick getaways here for people (live) in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The Financial Times gave part of my job to a robot named Amy last week. For years I have been making podcast version(播客)of my column, but now I am faced with a tough competition.
To be fair, Amy (do) something going for her. She has a great voice, smooth as velvet. Her(two) advantage is that she's practically free. She is part of a new service from Amazon that turns text speech, costing-nearly nothing. Even more (impress) is her speed. Less than two seconds after receiving my (write) text, which means when I just start to read, "Yesterday the Finan…", she has already finished.
Yet once I got over my distress and listened to her work, I felt (good). I know it's early days for her, but at the moment Amy is no match for me. Listening to her is not like listening to non-English speaker read aloud, but to someone without brain, or heart, or sense of humor. Her (deliver) is so poor that I don't even understand. Amy never reads with understanding, never knows when (pause), and never does irony. She continues to get it wrong.
Finally, I'm not afraid Amy is about to steal my job. Only people possess human touch. It is the heart-to-heart communication makes us special, beautiful and irreplaceable.
Nowadays, there is a widespread discussion of whether it is talent or hard work that is (importance) to success. I think that hard work is the key.
One of the most critical factors is that it is only working hard that we can realize our ambitions. For example, majority of senior school students only have average intelligence, but we can get good grades so long as we spare no effort to seek (we) dreams. With hard work, we can be surprised by what we can achieve, and reach a higher level.
Another key factor is that hard work builds up the mental strength which (need) to overcome hardship. Steven Hawking became one of the most outstanding (physicist) through willpower, not just natural ability. He was diagnosed with a serious disease, meant he could only use three fingers. Instead of losing heart, he devoted all his energy to (study) the universe. (obvious), the strong will formed by hard work helped him to achieve his extraordinary accomplishments.
Taking these factors into (consider), we may reasonably come to a conclusion that no one can be a huge success without lots of hard work.
Chickens are excellent natural enemies of locusts (蝗虫). On average, one chicken can catch over 600 locusts a day and can cover 0. 6 acre of grassland.
(official) in China's Xinjiang have handed out over 2, 200 chickens to local farmers, (hope) to control locusts. There has been a decline in the locust population in several counties the measure has been adopted.
A report predicted (high) than normal incidents of locusts for the northern part of China, (main) owing to warmer winter temperatures. Nearly 10, 000 acres in Wushi County have already been destroyed by locusts.
Previous efforts to kill locusts in Xinjiang included pesticides that, while effective, also (end) up killing off beneficial insects and harming the ecosystem. Alternatively, only 100 chickens last year in Wushi County were able to effectively limit damage more than 1, 300 acres.
This isn't the first time China (use) birds against locusts. A Telegraph story described how the government trained 700, 000 chickens and ducks (run) after and consume locusts at the sound of a whistle. The campaign, which included nearly 280, 000 people, was a response to the country's worst locust outbreak inquarter century.
Without the usual smoggy days, local (resident) have been happy with the air quality since the heating season started. They open the window to air their homes. In social media, pictures of blue skies and white clouds (frequent) appear, (show) people's excitement with the clear days.
In Shanxi, major coal production province, burning coarse coal(粗煤)for heating used to be a main source of air (pollute). The government has been striving to change all this. It has launched a campaign to replace coarse coal clean fuels for heating since 2017.
More than 38 percent of the heating companies- in Shanxi had applied advanced equipment with higher efficiency and (low) emissions (排放)by the end of 2019, (compare) with 25.5 percent at the end of20l7. It (estimate) that the number can reach 50 percent by the end of this year, is the goal of the government.
More than 1, 250 lit stalls(货摊) brighten the center of Thailand's capital city, (provide) a multicolored sight. The shelter, is designed for the thousands of traders and shoppers at Bangkok's night market, has become an (attract) itself.
The market, which (call) Train Night Market Ratchada in English, was opened in January 2015 and has become popular spot for locals and tourists. Software engineer Prasas Ambati visited the market and took the landscape photographs from a nearby car park. "Those (color) tents and people shopping, eating at stalls and the flashing lights were great. The tents made me think of a giant painting."
This is (primary) a market that sells yesteryear(旧时) goods, old-fashioned (collection) of clothes, motorbikes, and second-hand toys. There are also plenty of general market things for sale, cheap clothes, shoes, bags, and other fashion items. But above all it's one of the best places for street food, open-air bars with live music frequently (perform) all over.
Traditional lion and dragon dances are important part of Chinese cultural celebrations, especially in the Spring Festival. The dances may also be performed at business openings, weddings, or other special (occasion).
In the lion dance, dancers wear masks and costumes, (perform) a dance that imitate (模仿) the movements of a lion. There are (usual) two dancers. One acts the head and the other the body. There are no native lions in China, so the (appear) of the lions is based on that of the lions which (bring) to China during the Han Dynasty. Many lion dances may include lions playing with a large ball, may imitate a fight between lions.
In the dragon dance teams dancers carry a long dragon on poles. By moving the poles, the dancers can make the dragon move forward slowly. The (long) the dragon, the more luck it will bring to the community. As a result, communities try to have very long dragons dancing during the Spring Festival. Chinese dragons may appear frightening, but have a kind, helpful character, and symbolize good luck. That makes (they) very popular during the Spring Festival.
A visually-challenged man from Beijing recently hiked (徒步) 40 days to Xi'an, aha first step (journey) the Belt and Road route (路线) by foot.
On the 1,100-Kilometer journey, the man Cao Shengkang, lost his eyesight at the age of eight in a car accident, crossed 40 cities and counties in three province. Inspired by the Belt and Road Forum for Interactional Cooperation (hold) in Beijing. Cao decided to cover the route by hiking as a tribute (致敬) to the ancient Silk Road. friend of his, Wu Fan, volunteered to be his companion during the trip.
Cao and Wu also collect cd garbage along the road, in order to promote environmental (protect). Cao believes this will make the hiking trip even more (meaning). The two of them collected more than 1,000 plastic bottles along the 40-day journey.
In the last five cars. Cao (walk) through 34 countries in six continents, and in 2016, he reached the top of Kilimanjaro, Africa's (high) mountain.
Now, Cao has started the second part of his dream to walk along the Belt and Road route. He flew 4, 700 kilometers Xi'an to Kashgar on Spet 20, (plan) to hike back to Xi'an in five months.
