Each year people are crazy about different ceremonies. Many graduation ceremonies look special and different. But for Melody, it looked so unique because of the classmate who graduated alongside her — her grandmother, 75-year-old Pat Ormond. They both went to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) and graduated together.

Pat took her first college class 42 years ago. After one semester, she dropped out to move to Chattanooga, where she spent the next several decades working as an accountant and raising a family. While she did take an occasional class at UTC, she says her family continued to encourage her to go back to finish her degree, especially after she retired. She agreed when her granddaughter decided to move to study psychology at UTC after a year at Berea College. They both entered UTC with enough college credits to make graduating together a possibility.

Pat and Melody graduated on November 20 as part of UTC’s 2020 class. The achievement has also made Pat somewhat of a celebrity.

“We are so proud to have graduates like Melody and her grandmother, Pat Ormond, in the UTC class of 2020,” said Steven, UTC Chancellor. “Together, they personify the determination, commitment and love for lifelong learning we encourage in every UTC graduate.”

Pat hopes that she can be an example to other non-traditional college students who want to get their degrees. “Learning never stops,” Pat said. “That’s something that my father taught me when I was young. No matter what you do, learning never stops.” Pat isn’t planning to stop anytime soon. She’s already working on another degree-a bachelor’s degree in history.

Meanwhile, her granddaughter, who is hunting jobs, is interested in getting a master’s degree in clinical psychology so she can become a lawyer. But she says she’s in no rush. Her nanna has taught her that she has plenty of time.

In the Beijing Winter Olympics, we were treated to incredible displays of athleticism as competitors took to the snow and ice. As a popular sport at the Winter Olympics, ski jumping is one of the best examples to showcase the “superhuman” power of athletes.

Ski jumpers soar into the air and appear to be almost flying in the sky. How do they achieve this? Physics can offer us an explanation of how they achieve this feat. It involves the manipulation of the laws of aerodynamics (空气动力学) to fight against gravity and increase lift while reducing drag.

To understand how ski jumping works, we need to consider three elements：gravity, lift and drag. Gravity is the force that pulls us towards an object, such as the Earth. Lift occurs when an object is moving through the air, as its surface comes into contact with air particles, the particles are pushed down and away from the object, allowing it to move up. At the same time, this interaction creates drag, or resistance, and slows down an object’s movement.

While there is nothing that the skiers can do about gravity, they can contort their bodies into positions that allow them to achieve greater lift and avoid as much drag as possible.

According to the Smithsonian Magazine, “to do this, athletes align their skis and body nearly parallel to the ground and place their skis in a V-shape just outside the form of the body. This position increases the surface area that generates lift and puts them in the ideal angle of attack that will also maximize lift.”

Because of how the sport works, athletes’ equipment is strictly controlled according to weight and height in order to avoid any unfair advantages. This means suits must be tight in order to ensure athletes cannot use them as a way to gain more lift. For athletes, minor day -to-day water weight changes as little as 300 grams. It can mean that suits will not be tight enough according to their body mass indexes.

We all love our parents and turn to them when we’re in need, but would you like them to hear the conversations you have with your friends in the school playground or lunch queue? Social networking sites have become virtual extensions of the school hallways, so would you add your parents as “friends” and allow them to view your online activities and conversations with friends?

In the past the generation gap included a technology gap, where children were up to date with the latest technology and parents were left behind, content to continue their day-to-day lives as they always had because they had no need to be tech-savvy. However, more and more parents are beginning to realize just how important social networks are in their lives. This realization has given many parents the motivation to educate themselves about social networking sites.

These days many people are attracted to social networking sites because they can choose who they have around them; there’s also a certain amount of control over privacy that we don’t get in real life. Sometimes we feel that privacy is violated when we must accept a “friend” request from a parent or family member.

It’s a difficult choice whether or not to allow a parent to become a part of our online lives. On the one hand we don’t want to “reject” their request because that might hurt their feelings or make them feel you have something to hide. On the other hand if you do accept, then you could have a sense of being watched and no longer feel free to comment or communicate the way you did before.

A recent survey suggested that parents shouldn’t take it personally if their child ignores their request: “ When a teen ignores a parent’s friend request, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are hiding something, but it could mean that this is one part of their life where they want to exert their independence.”

Perhaps talking with parents and giving explanations would help soften the blow when you do choose not to add them to your friends list.

When I began planning to move to Auckland to study, my mother was worried about a lack of jobs and cultural differences. Ignoring these ________, I got there in July 2010. Soon after I arrived, I realized the importance of getting a job ________ my living experience. Determined to do this on my own, I spent several weeks going door-to-door for a job, but found ________ response.

One afternoon, I walked into a building to ask ________ here were my job opportunities. The people there advised me not to continue my job search in that ________. As I was about to ________, a man who had been listening approached me and asked me to wait outside for a while. Nearly ten minutes later, he ________. He asked me about my plans and encouraged me to stay ________. Then he offered me to Royal Oak to ________ a job.

I was a little surprised, but had a ________ feeling about him. Along the way, I realized that I had ________ resumes (简历). Seeing this, the man stopped at his business partner’s office to make me fifteen ________ copies. He also gave me some ________ on dressing and speaking. I handed out my resumes and went home feeling very ________. The following day, I received a call from a store in Royal Oak offering me a job.

It seems that the world always ________ to you when you need it. And this time, it was a complete stranger who turned out to be a real blessing.

From London’s Trafalgar Square to major cities across Britain, tens of thousands of British people have joined Chinese communities     36     (welcome) the arrival of the Chinese New Year.

In Manchester there was a Dragon Parade,     37     (lead) by a very breath-taking 54-meter long dragon, ending in Chinatown where people could enjoy a wide range of Chinese food and enjoy a spectacular fireworks show.     38     (celebrate) also took place in Liverpool, Birmingham, Lake District, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle.

Academic Dr. Wu Kegang said that the Chinese New Year event in Britain “is now     39     (impress) than ever and it is growing every year”.

    40     arrival in Britain 26 years ago from Guangdong, south China, the first thing Wu noticed was that Chinese New Year was celebrated     41     (main) in towns and cities with big Chinese communities. “You would go to London Chinatown and join your countrymen to celebrate,     42     to Chinatowns in places like Liverpool and Manchester for events almost only held for Chinese people,” Wu recalled.

“    43     is different now, is that we are seeing local communities all over the country taking part alongside their own Chinese populations,” he said. “It is clear to me that the event will continue to grow in Britain       44     Chinese New Year     45     (earn) its place in the calendar of events so far.”