The Importance of Global Education
Global education plays a crucial role in preparing individuals for the challenges of an interconnected world. It promotes understanding, empathy, and respect for different cultures and perspectives. Global education also fosters critical thinking skills and encourages individuals to become active global citizens. By learning about global issues, individuals can develop a sense of responsibility and contribute to positive change. It prepares them to navigate diverse environments and collaborate with people from different backgrounds.
Questions:
1. Why is global education important?
2. What are the benefits of global education?
3. How does global education contribute to positive change?
The Impact of Social Media
Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate and interact with others. It allows people to connect with friends and family, share updates, and discover new information. However, excessive use of social media can have negative effects on mental health. Studies have shown a correlation between heavy social media use and feelings of loneliness, depression, and low self-esteem. It is important to use social media in moderation and maintain a healthy balance between online and offline activities.
Questions:
1. What are the benefits of social media?
2. What are the potential negative effects of excessive social media use?
3. How can individuals maintain a healthy balance with social media?
The Benefits of Exercise
Regular exercise has a range of benefits for both physical and mental health. Firstly, exercise helps to strengthen the heart and improve cardiovascular health. It can also help to maintain a healthy weight and prevent obesity. Additionally, exercise boosts mood and reduces stress levels. People who exercise regularly often report feeling happier and more relaxed. Finally, exercise can improve cognitive function and memory. It has been shown to enhance concentration and increase mental clarity.
Questions:
1. What are the benefits of exercise for physical health?
2. How does exercise affect mood?
3. What are the cognitive benefits of exercise?
4 . The Water-Splashing Festival is a traditional festival for the Dai people in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province in the southwest of China. It is the New Year for the Dai, a festival to send off the old and greet the new. Usually, the festival takes place from April 13th to15th, about ten days after the Qingming Festival.
During the festival, the door of every house is decorated with multicolored pieces of paper. All the villagers dress up in their best clothes. Sheep and cows are killed for feasting, plus delicious glutinous rice cakes, rice noodles, and rice wine. The occasion is marked by all kinds of entertainment, including singing and dancing, fireworks displays, boat racing, etc. But the most popular event is water-splashing.
On the eve of the festival, activities include fireworks displays and dragon boat racing. The second day is known as Neuter Day, which belongs to neither the old year nor the new year. On this day, according to custom, people usually stay at home.
The third day means a lot to the Dai people, because it’s their New Year’s Day. In the morning, people dress up and go to the temple to show their respect for Buddha. They sit around the pagodas to listen respectfully to scripture and historical legends, and pray for good weather. In the afternoon, every woman will carry fresh water to clean the Buddha statue so she might get his blessing. People then splash water on each other, which symbolizes the blessing, rinsing(冲洗) away sickness and disaster with holy water for a happy life.
Water-splashing is central to all because water, the symbol of holiness, goodness and purity, is the most valuable thing to the Dai. During the festival, people gather by the roadside and in public parks and squares armed with buckets and basins of water, to drench each other in wishes for good luck and a happy new year.
The Water-Splashing Festival is an important event to show the traditional culture of Dai and it provides an opportunity to study the history of Dai, which has high academic value. At the same time, the festival is an important link to strengthening the unity of all ethnic groups in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, which plays a positive role in the friendly cooperation and contact between the area and southeast Asian countries.
1. Why people splash water on each other according to the text?2. List some important Chinese traditional festivals you know.
As technology begins to influence every aspect of our lives, it’s becoming easier and easier to improve our living spaces to ensure that everything works towards the same goal: ensuring you and your family can live happy, healthy and fulfilled lives. From existing gadgets (小器具) to future technology, discover how the homes of the future are going to keep you healthier than ever.
Mirror that assesses health
In the future your bathroom mirror could do a mini health check on you. It could use facial recognition technology to pick up subtle cues (提示) about your mental state, while measuring your breathing rate and levels of oxygen in your blood at the same time. It’s not difficult to believe that it could give you advise on what skincare to use that day based on what your skin looks like, and also assess your body shape and make health recommendations.
Pill bottle that senses when it’s used
We all know that medicines only work when you remember to take the right amount of them at the right time. So smart pill bottles, which can send reminders to your phone when you’re meant to be taking your pills and calculate how many you’ve taken and share this information with your doctor, could have a really positive impact on efficacy. This will benefit caregivers and worried relatives, who want to be sure that Dad or Grandma is taking the pills they need.
Emotionally intelligent TV and stereo (音响设备)
In the future, every aspect of our lives will be trackable, quantifiable and assessable. The number of hours that we spend watching TV and listening to music can be tracked — and crucially, exactly what we’re listening to and watching and how it affects our emotional well-being. From there it is not a huge step to imagine your entertainment system analysing your mood, asking how you want to feel and then choosing an appropriate film or piece of music.
1. What kind of technology would the smart mirror use to assess your health?2. Who will get benefits from the smart pill bottle?
3. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 4 mean in Chinese?
4. How do emotionally intelligent TVs and stereos track us?
The war movie has been around since the earliest days of cinema. Here are some famous American war movies that help us to know how cruel war is and educate us to cherish the peaceful life we have.
The names of the movies Introductions
In April 1917, two British soldiers are sent to deliver an urgent message to an isolated regiment (团). If the message is not received in time the regiment will walk into a trap and all will be killed. To get to the regiment they will need to cross through enemy territory. Time is important and the journey will be filled with danger. 1917 (2019)
Midway centers on the Battle of Midway, a war between the American navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy which marked an important turning point in the Pacific Theater during WWII. The movie, based on the real-life events of this heroic feat, tells the story of the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts and courage to overcome the difficulties. Midway (2019)
This movie depicts the dramatic and true story of the Dunkirk evacuations (撤退) from a war-torn beach and harbor in France, following the seemingly doomed plight (命中注定的困境) of Allied soldiers in World War II. As the enemy forces close in, it seems the troops have nowhere to go, but help is at hand and a fierce battle follows. Dunkirk (2017)
In the winter of 1942, the German and Russian Armies meet in the great Battle of Stalingrad. Enter into this horror a young Russian soldier, formerly a peasant boy with an extraordinary ability to sharpshoot (狙击) from far distances.
He soon gains fame after killing a record number of German officers, causing the Germans to bring in their own sharpshooter. With the Battle of Stalingrad raging around them, these two men must fight each other. Enemy at the Gates (2001)
1. What would be the result if the message didn’t arrive in time in the movie 1917?2. Which countries mainly participated in the Battle of Midway?
3. Which movie tells the story of moving soldiers from a place of danger to a safer one?
4. Why do the Germans bring in their own sharpshooter?
There was once a lonely fisherman by the name of Troung Chi. Every evening, as he sailed, he played his flute (笛子) and all who heard his music agreed it was the most beautiful sound they had ever heard. But his face was ugly, and the girls in his village kept away from him. And so he lived alone.
At that time there lived a young lady who was both rich and beautiful. She spent her days sitting in her room, safe, but alone. Every evening she sat at her window and waited for the fisherman to slip past as the sweet notes of his flute thrilled her heart. She swore that she would marry him one day. So she begged her father to permit the boy into the house so that she could look him in the eyes. However, he shook his head and said that a fisherman was too poor.
She lay in her new room and sobbed (啜泣). She sobbed and sobbed until she became so ill that her father feared for her life. At last he compromised. The father sent for the fisherman and asked him to sit beside his daughter’s bed and play his flute. If his music proved to be strong enough medicine to cure her, he would be rewarded with a bag of gold.
Troung Chi sat by the bed and played. His sweet notes reached her inner soul, and the warmth of his love came over her body and revived (唤醒) her. At last she opened her eyes and looked up at him — the fisherman of her dreams.
But oh, he was ugly! How frightful! This was not at all as she had imagined. “Take him away!” she screamed. “I don’t want to look at his ugly face!”
The boy was driven out of the room. The secretary offered him a bag of gold, but he refused it. His heart was broken. He went to his boat, and as he sailed away, he threw his flute into the water. He was never seen again.
After Troung Chi had been gone for some days, the young girl regretted her behaviour. She never married. For the rest of her life she remembered the boatman’s tender love and his beautiful music.
1. Why did no woman want to be the boatman’s wife?2. How did the young girl know of the fisherman?
3. What was the woman’s reaction after she saw the fisherman’s face?
4. Why did the fisherman throw his flute away and never come back?
Dear Brett,
Thanks for your email. You do lots of sports at school in Canada. I’d love to play ice hockey one day.
We do lots of sports at our school too. We’ve got a swimming pool and our class go swimming every Wednesday. We also play tennis, volleyball and football, but football in Australia is different from soccer. We can touch the ball with our hands!
There are lots of after-school sports clubs in Australia too. I go to a surfing club after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We go to the beach and learn how to surf. It’s great fun!
Can you surf in your country? Looking forward to your reply.
Rob
1. Which kind of sport may Brett be taking part in?2. What does Rob usually do on Wednesday?
3. What is allowed when it comes to playing football in Australia?
4. How often does Rob go surfing?
纽约时报科技专栏作家Li Yuan在谈到她的工作状态时撰文称：
It’s not an exaggeration to say I live in and work on WeChat.
说我工作和生活都在微信上，一点也不为过。
More than 60% of people think they look uglier through the face swiping (刷脸) payments method. Soon, Alipay (支付宝) announced on social media platform Weibo that it has added beauty filters (滤镜) to its facescanning system inside the app.
60%以上的用户表示刷脸支付时觉得自己更丑。很快，支付宝在社交媒体平台微博上回应称，支付宝刷脸系统已加入美颜功能。
Have your kids started kicking random bottles recently? If not, they may start soon, thanks to the latest viral Internet challenge: the bottle cap challenge.
你的孩子最近开始看见瓶子就踢吗？如果没有，他们可能很快就开始了，这是由于最近风靡网络的挑战：瓶盖挑战。
1. What do these pictures mainly tell us?2. What does network bring to our life?
Marathon participants in China
1. What key information is shown in this chart?
2. What reasons lie behind the phenomenon?
