2 . Where to Eat on Christmas Day in London?

Bob Bob Ricard

The best choice for smaller child-free parties—or pairs—that think of Christmas as an excuse to enjoy distinctly adult treats, let’s say: caviar, oysters, steak, followed by cheese and fries, all washed down with wine (ordered by pressing a button, obviously).

Location: 1 Upper James St, Soho, London W1F 9DF, UK

Contact: 020 3145 1000

Min Jiang Restaurant

If a typical modern Chinese banquet (宴会) is required to refresh the family’s Christmas spirit, book a table atop the Royal Garden Hotel and look out over Hyde Park while sharing a feast that includes traditional Chinese dishes. Since it’s Christmas, it’s probably worth going all out by pre ordering a whole or hall Beijing (Peking) duck, too.

Location: 2-24 Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8 4PT, UK

Contact: 020 7361 1988

The Alexandra

A special case: The Alexandra in Wimbledon offers a wonderful Christmas dinner to anyone spending Christmas Day alone, no charge under whatever circumstances. It is a place of spirit, refuge, and generosity.

Location: 33 Wimbledon Hill Rd, Wimbledon. London SW19 7NE, UK

Contact: 020 8947 7691

The Pem

Sally Abé’s newest restaurant is serving up a classic three courses in Westminster, for £130 a head (children under six, free if accompanied by adults). Guests can choose between smoked sea fish and crab mousse or a special ham for a starter, with bee Wellington or a plate of goose coming as main dishes, followed by Christmas pudding and ice scream. We offer a 10% discount if the total cost is over £500.

Location: 22-28 Broadway, London SW1H 0BH, UK

Contact: 020 3301 8080

3 . If you had to choose one word to describe Kevin, it might be “slow.” He didn’t learn his ABCs as fast as other kids. He never came first in the schoolyard races. However, his smile was bright and he showed great interest in everything. So when discovering that Randy was putting together a boys’ basketball team, Kevin immediately joined.

At practice, Kevin worked so hard that you’d have thought he was preparing for the NBA. And the whole team truly loved basketball. But just loving the game doesn’t help you win. They lost every game that season by very large margin(差距), except one …that night it snowed and the other team couldn’t make it to the game.

At the end of the season, the boys unfortunately played against the first-place team. The game went pretty much as expected, and near the middle of the fourth quarter Kevin’s team stood nearly 30 points behind. At that point, one of Kevin’s teammates called time-out. “Coach, this is our last game but Kevin has never made a basket. We should let him try,” said the boy. With the game completely out of reach, the idea seemed reasonable. So every time Kevin’s team had the ball, they would give it to Kevin. His first shot missed and he missed another shot again. This continued a few more times until the player from the other team grew wise. Instead of running off down the court, he threw the ball to Kevin who shot... and missed again.

Soon, all players were circling Kevin, throwing the ball to him. The whole gymnasium thundered with the clapping, chanting, “Kevin! Kevin!” Finally, after amounts of tries, the ball went in. Kevin’s arms shot high into the air and he shouted, “I won! I won!” The first-place team remained unbeaten, but on that evening, everyone left the game truly feeling like a winner.

4 . Jacky Hunt-Broers ma, who lost one leg to cancer, is seeking to break a world record by completing 102 marathon runs. She set her goal in mid-January. And since then, she has been running the distance of a marathon. Most of the time, she averages just over five hours to complete a run. If she keeps successfully completing marathon runs every day, she will reach her goal by April 28.

Until five years ago, she was not very active. But then she looked into running and decided to give it a try. The sport ended up being quite costly. Currently, she runs on an artificial leg made of a strong, light material known as carbon fiber. The material, which is designed specially for running, costs about $10, 000.

But Jacky says her investment has been well worth it. The biggest struggle used to be that she had to admit part of her body was gone. “Running really changed my life,” she said. “It helped me accept myself as an amputee (截肢者). It gave me a sense of freedom. I fell in love with the process of pushing my body further just to see what I could do.”

However, she has faced both physical and mental difficulties during her record-breaking attempt. On one recent day, Jacky said she felt like giving up at 24 kilometers and began to cry. “I had a total emotional breakdown. I was like, ‘I just can’t do this.’” she said.

Jacky is documenting her progress online and has also gained a large social media following. As she nears the end of her goal, Jacky is hoping to inspire a single thought in others. She tells people, “You’re stronger than you think and you’re able to do so much more.”

5 .

Despite being located in a bustling urban part of Huanggang in Hubei, Xiao Yaqin’s apartment block stands out because of its green appearance resulting from being wrapped in green plants. “ It makes me feel very comfortable. When you open the window, fresh air keeps rolling in, ” the 65-year-old said excitedly.

He was one of the first group of residents that recently moved into China’s first “ vertical (垂直的) forest ” residential project, consisting of two 80-meter-tall, 25-story buildings.

The project is the result of cooperation between Easyhome and Italian architect Stefano Boering, often called “ the father of the vertical forest ” . There are 404 trees and 4,620 shrubs (灌木丛) in the vertical forest, which is classified as the “ fourth generation ” of housing. Grasses, flowers and climbing plants cover 2,408m² of the floor area. The plants are estimated to be capable of absorbing 22 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year, while generating 11 tons of oxygen.

However, its development hasn’t been met without doubt. For example, mosquito infestations (感染) are one of the reasons why people are reluctant to move in. The irrigation system required to ensure the survival of the plants in the vertical forest and the need to have gardeners cut the branches mean much higher maintenance costs than in regular buildings.

It is not yet known what the future of fourth-generation housing will be in China, but it has at least brought urban residents a new life experience. Xiao, the retiree, said his new apartment has met his expectations for better quality of life. “ You feel you are close to nature, even if you don’t open the window, ” he said.

10 . A choir teacher is a music teacher who specializes in helping students learn to use their voices in an ensemble (合奏) setting.     1     He or she also teaches students skills for managing the sound one produces and interacting with the other singers in the choir.

Like other teachers, choir teachers in public schools are required to be certified by the state in which they teach. Choir teachers frequently have other music skills.     2    

In some schools, all students attend a choir class, while in others, choir is an elective (选修课). In the first case, many of the students most likely have no special training.     3     In the second case, students may have both a particular talent for singing and an interest in devoting time to learning how to do it better.

Within choir class, the choir teacher helps students warm up their voices, learn singing techniques, and learn specific songs that he or she has chosen as appropriate for the specific voices.     4     Meanwhile, older students learn to sing in parts that are appropriate to the range of their voices, which the choir teacher determines.

    5     He or she may teach at many schools in a district or in many districts. In addition, the choir teacher may give private voice lessons within the school day as an elective, or outside of school. Coaching students who have a lead role in a school musical and rehearsing the chorus singers is another role that may fall to the choir teacher.