【推荐2】Who doesn’t wish he could fly like a bird? Well, until technology can give us all wings, one of our best choices is paragliding (滑翔伞运动). Paragliding works by sitting in a harness. The harness is tied to a parachute (降落伞) and you use the wind to fly. To paraglide, you usually need to go somewhere high, like a hill or mountain. The pilot will first make the parachute full of air by pulling it up like a kite, and then it’s time to run down the hillside until you reach a good speed to take off. Unless you have a special license to do it yourself, you will fly with a pilot.

I went paragliding in Peru’s Sacred Valley, from a mountain more than 3, 000 meters above sea level. The most difficult part of paragliding for me was not the flying, but the waiting. I started to feel nervous about watching others go ahead of me. But the pilot helped keep me composed. So I didn’t feel nervous.

On an average paragliding trip, you can expect to enjoy flying like a bird for 10 to 30 minutes. Then it’s time to land. I remember the pilot told me to get my legs ready, as landing on your legs is the safest way to land-just like a bird.

Paragliders have set some amazing records, like the highest flight (9, 946 meters) and the longest flight (9, 132 km). In 2020, a Canadian man named Benjamin Jordan became the first person to travel by paraglider from Mexico to Canada (not all in one go, though). He was inspired to do it because of the great migration (迁徙) of monarch butterflies. Each year, millions of these butterflies travel up to 4, 800 km to complete their journey!

【推荐1】Good morning, everyone! It is 8 o’clock now. Here’s today’s city travel news.

Many people in London take the subway to work. But now they can’t take it. There is a big problem with the subway in London.

Right now, it is snowing heavily in Moscow. The streets are empty. People are not walking or driving to work. There aren’t any cars or buses on the streets.

There are no traffic (交通) problems in Rome and Tokyo now. There are a lot of people on the streets, but everyone will get to school or work on time.

The students in Madrid can’t take school buses this morning. The bus drivers in Madrid are on strike (罢工) today. Some students are walking to school. But many more students are staying at home.

That’s today’s city travel news. We wish you have a good day in your city.

【推荐2】Students in Queensland, Australia will soon be able to use emojis (表情符号) to tell their teachers right away how they’re feeling.

Vivi is a classroom technology system (科技系统). A quarter of independent schools and some government schools have already used it. It has created a new emoji feature to encourage students to use the bright yellow faces.

The new feature lets students communicate with their teacher by using emojis—everything such as “happy”, “confident”, and “bored”.

St Andrews Lutheran College in Queensland took part in a Vivi emoji program last year. A teacher called Virginia Warner said the new emoji feature was helpful to students’ health and happiness.

“It’s a really wonderful technology,” she said. “The use of emojis is a good way for students to ask for help, especially if they are feeling sad in the classroom.”

“Students’ ability to learn has something to do with their emotional state (情绪状态).” she said. “We know a lot of communication happens through technology, and students feel comfortable and relaxed when they use emojis as a language.”

Natalie Mactier, CEO of Vivi, said that nothing could be more challenging than being a teacher. “When used in a smart way, technology can he powerful and useful in the classroom,” Ms. Mactier said. “More and more young people enjoy communicating and expressing their emotions through technology, so we are pleased to support them with the tools they need.”