New look on the Museum
Museums have changed. They are no longer places for the privileged few or for bored vacationers to visit on rainy days.
At a science museum in Ontario, Canada you can feel your hair stand on end as harmless electricity passes through your body. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, you can look at 17 century instruments while listening to their music. At the Modern Museum in Sweden, you can put on costumes provided by the Stockholm Opera. As these examples show, museums are reaching out to new audiences, particularly the young, the poor and the less educated members of the population. As a result, attendance is interesting.
Many museums have changed in appearance. Some old, gray museums have been rebuilt, and the newer ones are open and modern in their architecture. Inside, there is modern lighting, color, and sound. Instead of displaying everything they own, museum directors show fewer objects and leave open spaces where visitor can gather and sit down. They also bring together in one display a group of objects drawn drawn from various parts of the museum to represent the whole lifestyle of region or a historical period. In one room, for instance, you may find materials, clothing, tools, cooking pots, furniture, and art works of a particular place and time.
More and more museum directors are realizing that people learn best when they can somehow become part of what they are seeing. In many science museums, for example, there are no guided tours. The visitor is encouraged to touch, listen, operate, and experiment so as to discover scientific principles for himself. The purpose is not only to provide fun but also to help people feel at home in the world of science. The theory is that people who do not understand science will probably fear it, and those who fear science will not use it to the best advantage.
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The Problem With Fast Fashion
There’s nothing quite like new clothes, is there? The UK certainly loves them. According to a report by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), the UK consumes five times more clothes today than it did in the 1980s. That’s more than any other nation in Europe and amounts to around
26.7 kg per person.This results in 235 million garments being dumped into landfills - victims of fast fashion.
Fast fashion is defined as “an accelerated fashion business model ”involving “increased numbers of new fashion collections every year,” “quick turnarounds(周转期)”and “lower prices,” according to the EAC. Globalization means that clothing is made in countries where labour is cheaper. These savings are passed on to consumers, who then consider the clothes they own disposable - easily replaceable with something more trendy. And that creates problems.
First, there’re the environmental costs. Manufacturing any kind of textile costs resources. For example, synthetic fibres, which are made from plastic, have a larger carbon footprint than natural ones. Natural fibres, although more carbon-efficient, still require more water to grow. And further resources are used as the cloth is dyed, made into clothing and transported to retail for sale. Secondly, the fast-fashion industry is under pressure to put the latest trending items on shelves faster, which can lead to workers being exploited and forced to labour in poor working conditions. In countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Philippines, workers are paid wages that are insufficient to live on. One worker in Ethiopia told the BBC that they had to deal with intolerable conditions, such as withheld overtime payments, verbal abuse, and unsanitary toilets.
So what can be done in the UK to reduce clothing waste? The EAC has recommended eighteen improvements to the UK government, from increasing tax on purchases to fund recycling centres to introducing more sewing lessons in schools, encouraging a make do and mend attitude when things become worn out.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Directions: Write an English composition in 120 – 150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
下图是小学新生的课堂一角，对照你当时的上课情况，作出比较并谈谈你的感受。你的作文必须包括：
●描述图片里学生上课的场景
●比较你同时期的上课情况
●简单谈谈你的感受
People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly surprising that some portion of their self-esteem (自尊心) comes from the approval of others. This instinct is why the approval of peers, and the fear of disapproval, is such a powerful force in many people’s lives.
Despite the most common associations with the term peer, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends do extremely well in academics may be obliged to study harder and get good grades. Players on a sports team may feel driven to play harder in order to help the team win. This type of influence may even get a friend off drugs, or help an adult take up a good habit or drop a bad one. Study groups, class projects, and even book clubs are examples of positive peer groups, that encourage people to better themselves.
However, for certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes like an addiction. In order to fit in, they may go so far as to abandon their sense of right and wrong. Groups of children may join in bullying (欺凌) newcomers in school. Teens and young adults may feel obliged to use drugs or alcohol, or join gangs that encourage criminal behavior. Mature adults may sometimes feel pressured to cover up illegal activity at the company where they work, or end up in debt because they are unable to resist the temptation to buy a house or car that they can’t afford in an effort to keep up with the Joneses.
There is no question that some people are more easily affected by peer pressure than others. Being self-aware is at the root of managing this type of pressure. “Going with the flow,” is not always a bad thing, but as each individual is still responsible for the consequences, it is important to be a thinking participant in the decision.
