To me, inspirations mean to put my thoughts, heart, and creations into my jewelry. Sometimes I become so inspired with what I’m working on that I can finish one or more sets in less than an hour. Because of that feeling, I have named my jewelry collection “Inspirations”.
I am a 17-year-old senior with sickle-cell anemia. With this, I am in and out of the hospital a lot. So I started making jewelry a year ago when I was in the hospital. I really needed something to do, so I was introduced to jewelry making by a child life expert.
One day while lying in my hospital bed, I decided to get up and go to the patient’s playroom, and look through the craft designs. That was when I became inspired to design my jewelry collection, and named it “Inspirations”.
When I’m not sick, I try to keep a positive attitude through reading, schoolwork, and craft activities. Even though it’s a lot of work, I try to stay focus at all times. When I need a break or just to be free I turn to my craft activities. This is a way to ease my mind and it always helps me to especially get through those stressful times.
I am getting very excited about graduating next year and preparing myself for college. Who knows my collection of Inspirations, would take me to the places I always dreamed of? I may see celebrities I admire and even sell them some of my beautiful “Inspirations”. If they wear my “Inspirations,” it will become well known and more demanding. What a great way to make some extra money for college! I never thought being sick would bring me “Inspirations”. I want people to look beyond my illness and see the creations I’ve made in my collection called “Inspirations”.
What does “sickle-cell anemia” refer to?A.A hospital. | B.A place. |
C.An illness. | D.A doctor. |
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【推荐1】When traditional treatments fail to help patients with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD强迫症),an implant that shocks the brain with electrical pulses (脉搏) just might, a new research review shows. It found that the treatment — known as “deep brain stimulation,” or DBS — can oiler significant relief to as many as two-thirds of such patients.
“OCD involves forced and bothersome thoughts that the individual cannot silence, and repetitive behaviors performed to reduce the anxiety.” said study author Dr. Sameer Sheth, a professor of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Examples of OCD include repeated handwashing, ordering and arranging, repeating words in one’s head, and checking and double-checking.
Enter DBS for the brain. “It consists of a stimulator typically put under the skin in the upper chest and connected to an electrode (电极).”Sheth said. “The electrode is placed in specific regions in the brain, aiming that by restoring activity in these areas to a more balanced state, DBS settles the symptoms of OCD.”
To find out whether it works, Sheth’s team reviewed the findings of 31 studies conducted between 2005 and 2021. Altogether, the studies included 345 adult OCD patients, at an average age of 40. The review showed that after a treatment period of about two years, DBS had produced obvious symptom improvements in two-thirds of the patients. Significant depression relief was also owed to DBS treatment. About one in five patients experienced at least one serious side effect of DBS. Still, Sheth stressed that the upside is hard to ignore. He added, “there is actually little risk of DBS for appropriately selected patients.”
“Since the DBS electrodes are placed in the brain regions contributing to OCD, it is not a surprise that it works.” said Dr. Gopalkumar Rakesh, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. “Although it’s not a brand-new treatment, DBS really is in the more-research-needed stage of development. So I would say that the results of this study point to the need for even more research to determine which patients would really adjust to that treatment to have the greatest benefit.”
1. What do people suffering from OCD tend to do?A.They just wash their hands on occasions. |
B.They like to give orders and arrangements. |
C.They may repeat an action to reduce anxiety. |
D.They can have unwanted thoughts controlled. |
A.It leads to slight symptom improvements. |
B.It contributes to obvious depression relief. |
C.It eases as many patients with OCD as possible. |
D.It reduces OCD-caused symptoms by two-thirds. |
【推荐2】New research links outdoor air pollution — even at levels considered safe — to an increased risk of diabetes (糖尿病) globally, according to a study from the VA St. Louis Health Care System. The findings raise the possibility that reducing pollution may lead to a drop in diabetes cases in heavily polluted countries such as India and less polluted ones such as the United States.
Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases, affecting more than 500 million people worldwide. The main drivers of diabetes include eating an unhealthy diet, having a sedentary lifestyle and obesity, but the new research indicates the extent to which outdoor air pollution plays a role.
“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. “We found an increased risk, even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This is important because many industry lobbying (游说) groups argue that current levels are too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened.”
While growing evidence has suggested a link between air pollution and diabetes, researchers have not attempted to quantify that burden until now. “Over the past two decades, there have been bits of research about diabetes and pollution,” said Al-Aly. “We wanted to thread together the pieces for a broader, more solid understanding.”
The researchers also found that the overall risk of pollution-related diabetes tilted (倾斜) more toward lower-income countries such as India that lack the resources for environmental mitigation systems and clean-air policies. For instance, poverty-stricken countries facing a higher diabetes-pollution risk include Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Guyana, while richer countries such as France, Finland and Iceland experience a lower risk. The US experiences a medium risk of pollution-related diabetes.
What’s the purpose of Al-Aly’s team?A.To identify the causes of diabetes. |
B.To make better air pollution control policies. |
C.To lead the study of diabetes and air pollution. |
D.To figure out the link between pollution and diabetes. |
【推荐1】Alice Moore is a teenager entrepreneur (创业者), who in May 2015 set up her business AilieCandy. By the time she was 13, her company was worth millions of dollars with the invention of a super-sweet treat that could save kids’ teeth, instead of destroying them.
It all began when Moore visited a bank with her dad. On the outing, she was offered a candy bar. However, her dad reminded her that sugary treats were bad for her teeth. But Moore was sick of missing out on candies. So she desired to get round the warning, “Why can’t I make a healthy candy that’s good for my teeth so that my parents can’t say no to it?” With that in mind, Moore asked her dad if she could start her own candy company. He recommended that she do some research and talk to dentists about what a healthier candy would contain.
With her dad’s permission, she spent the next two years researching online and conducting trials to get a recipe that was both tasty and tooth-friendly. She also approached dentists to learn more about teeth cleaning. Consequently, she succeeded in making a kind of candy only using natural sweeteners, which can reduce oral bacteria.
Moore then used her savings to get her business off the ground. Afterwards, she and her father secured their first business meeting with a supermarket owner, who finally agreed to sell Moore’s product — CanCandy.
As CanCandy’s success grows, so does Moore’s credibility as a young entrepreneur. Moore is enthusiastic about the candy she created, and she’s also positive about what the future might bring. She hopes that every kid can have a clean mouth and a broad smile.
Meanwhile, with her parents’ help, Moore is generally able to live a normal teenage life. Although she founded her company early on in life, she wasn’t driven primarily by profit. Moore wants to use her unique talent to help others find their smiles. She donates 10% of AilicCandy’s profits to Big Smiles. With her talent and determination, it appears that the sky could be the limit for Alice Moore.
What is special about CanCandy?
A.It is beneficial to dental health. |
B.It is free of sweeteners. |
C.It is sweeter than other candies. |
D.It is produced to a dentists’ recipe. |
【推荐2】Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket (carpet) , to stay as warm as he could.
How did Nicholas keep himself warm?A.He found a shelter. | B.He lighted some branches. |
C.He kept on skiing. | D.He built a snow cave. |
【推荐3】Zhang Tian graduated from university and
A.get | B.got | C.getting |
A.friendship | B.friendly | C.friends |
A.with | B.in | C.for |
【推荐1】We journalists live in a new age of storytelling, with many new multimedia tools. Many young people don’t even realize it’s new. For them, it’s just normal.
This hit home for me as I was sitting with my 2-year-old grandson on a sofa over the Spring Festival holiday. I had brought a children’s book to read. It had simple words and colorful pictures — a perfect match for his age.
Picture this: my grandson sitting on my lap as I hold the book in front so he can see the pictures. As I read, he reaches out and pokes (戳) the page with his finger.
What’s up with that? He just likes the pictures, I thought. Then I turned the page and continued. He poked the page even harder. I nearly dropped the book. I was confused: Is there something wrong with this kid?
Then I realized what was happening. He was actually a stranger to books. His father frequently amused the boy with a tablet computer which was loaded with colorful pictures that come alive when you poke them. He thought my storybook was like that.
Sorry, kid. This book is not part of your high-tech world. It’s an outdated, lifeless thing. An antique, like your grandfather. Well, I may be old, but I’m not hopelessly challenged, digitally speaking. I edit video and produce audio. I use mobile payment. I’ve even built websites.
There’s one notable gap in my new-media experience, however: I’ve spent little time in front of a camera, since I have a face made for radio. But that didn’t stop China Daily from asking me last week to share a personal story for a video project about the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.
Anyway, grandpa is now an internet star — two minutes of fame! I promise not to let it go to my head. But I will make sure my 2-year-old grandson sees it on his tablet.
What do the underlined words “hit home for me” mean in paragraph 2?
A.Provided shelter for me. | B.Became very clear to me. |
C.Took the pressure off me. | D.Worked quite well on me. |
【推荐2】I guess that there's probably some demanding work schedule, or social anxiety around stepping up to help for an unknown sport. She may just need a little persuading. So I try again and tug at the heartstrings. I mention the single parent with four kids running the show and I talk about the dad coaching a team that his kids aren’t even on… At this point the unwilling parent speaks up, "Alright. Yes, I’ll do it."
What does the underlined phrase "tug at the heartstrings" in paragraph 2 mean?
A.Encourage team work. | B.Appeal to feelings. |
C.Promote good deeds. | D.Provide advice. |
【推荐3】The population of rare Atlantic puffins in Maine, US, took a hit this year, as the number of chicks to survive a tough summer collapsed. The state’s coastal bays and the Gulf of Maine are among the fastest warming large water bodies on the planet, making the puffins’ fate a test-case for how climate change could disrupt marine ecosystems worldwide.
The phrase “took a hit” (in the 1st paragraph) probably mean “________”.
A.suffer heavy losses | B.escape bad fortune |
C.increase on a large-scale | D.decline moderately |