简要描述图片内容，结合生活实例，谈谈你的感想。
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Animated movies use drawings instead of real people. Artists must draw thousands of pictures and each picture must be a little different. For example, if the movie-maker wants to show a girl running, the artist must draw her feet in different places in each picture. When the pictures are shown very quickly, one after the other, it looks like the girl is running. Walt Disney was not the first or only person to use animation in movies, but he is the most renowned. His first Mickey Mouse cartoon, produced in 1927, was called Plane Crazy. This was a short, silent movie about the adventures of a little mouse.
Many people in the movie business thought that animation was only appropriate for short cartoons. Disney did not agree with them. He believed that he could tell any kind of story using animation. His first long movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney spent all his money making this movie. Fortunately, it was a great success. He made Pinocchio next and then Dumbo (about a baby elephant), and he didn’t look back after this.
When we think of Disney, however, we don’t only think of movies, we also think of Disneyland. There are Disneylands in Japan, the United States of America and France. They are large parks where people can meet Disney’s characters and visit scenes from his movies.
Although Walt Disney made many of the famous movies many years ago, they are as popular now as they were when he made them. Today we can buy them on video and see them in movie theatres from time to time. When Walt Disney began making his animated cartoons all those years ago, people drew all the pictures by hand. Nowadays computers do much of his work.
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You still need a better reason to plant a tree?
Police aren’t cheap and neither are lawyers, judges, and all the other layers that make up the justice system. But trees and some grass, in comparison, are a real bargain, and they prove to be effective in lighting crimes.
Many cities used to launch programs to plant vegetation along roadways to help absorb rainwater. After tracking 14 types of crime in nearby areas, Michelle Kondo, a social scientist found that a variety of crimes including property crimes such as theft and burglary, and violent crimes such as armed fights and mayhem in those areas decreased to 27 percent, a stunning 18 percent fall. Kondo believed the appearance of city trucks and vans in the landscaped areas— for planting and maintenance— was enough to scare away potential criminals.
Kondo’s study also worked on the link between grassland care and decrease of the crime in downtown areas. It’s tempting to use income as the connection. After all, if you have the crime and money to water your lawn, you probably live in a neighborhood that sees less crime. But actually, people are less likely to hang in those areas where the streets are maintained or cleaned. “You will see less kids hanging on the corners.’’ Kondo said. He argued that caution of the local people implied by the organized greenery helped to frighten away ill-intentioned guys, by announcing to would-be criminals that there are “eyes on the street’’ that care for their neighborhood and would be more likely to report a crime.
We already know greenery is beautiful to look at and can help improve mood and health while reducing pollution. Now we can add crime-fighting to the list of vegetation’s many benefits. Therefore, are you ready to plant a tree?
A “ Robert” in Your Pocket
The final bell rings at a high school in downtown Los Angeles, and nearly every student walking our of the school gate studies a screen, with head bowed. Over the past decade, such scenes have become the norm — at least in the United States. Research reveals that American millennial (千禧一代的人) look at their phones 150 times a day on average.
In the meantime, the number of American teenagers reporting feelings of depression has grown significantly. Some people blame the increase on the Great Economic Depression following 2008 and other social changes. However, a big new study suggests a different explanation — the rise of social media.
Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, led the study. With data collected from more than 500,000 American teenagers, she found that those who spent lots of time on social media were more likely to agree with remarks such as "The future often seems hopeless. Those who used screen less, spending time playing sport or socializing with friends in person, were less likely to report feelings of depression.
This, in fact, is not the first time that scientists have found that social media can rob people of their happiness. One study published in 2016 asked a randomly selected group of adults to quit Facebook for a week. It turned out that they reported feeling less depressed at the end of the week than those who continued using it.
Some research, however, suggests that social-networking sites can promote happiness if used to engage directly with other users, rather than just to feel jealous of happy moments someone shares online. This provides a reminder that it is user's attitudes that shape their experiences on social media. "I often remind myself that it's all filtered," reflects Sarah, a junior at the high school in Los Angeles. "People only post what they want you to see, so it can seems that their life is better than yours." But when asked if she has ever considered deleting her social media accounts, Sarah looks confused. "No. I would feel lost."
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Is Student-loan Forgiveness Unforgivable?
Roughly 45 million Americans currently hold $1.6 trillion in student debt, with the average student-loan receiver owing between $20,000 and $25,000, according to the Federal Reserve. Among those actively making payments on their debt, the average monthly installment is between $200 and $300. And with 5.3 million more people unemployed than in February, right before the U.S. fell into the economic depression caused by pandemic (流行病), some people say that student-debt forgiveness could be beneficial to the economy.
“Student-debt cancellation feels like one of the most accessible executive actions to stimulate the economy at the moment,” says Suzanne Kahn, director of the Education. Kahn says the move would also help close the wealth gap between white Americans and people of color. Some 90% of Black students and 72% of Latino students take out loans for college versus just 66% of white students, according to an analysis from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
But others argue that sweeping student-loan forgiveness doesn’t help the people who need aid most. Americans with college degrees, as a whole, have been less influenced by the economic effects of COVID-19 than their non-college-educated counterparts. Besides, they raise concerns that if the government wipes out current student loans, future college students may have a motivator to take on debts, hoping they will also be forgiven. Colleges may in turn tend to raise their prices further.
What’s clear, according to the both sides of the aisle (过道), is that economic crises worsen the problem of student debt. The last time the U.S. dipped into a recession, state governments cut their investments in colleges and universities—which, in turn, raised their tuition prices and forced students to take on ever larger loans.
In recent weeks, the government has walked a fine line on the issue, offering support for a bill calling for $10,000 worth of student-loan forgiveness but turning down anything close to a plan to issue $50,000 per borrower through executive action.
That’s not sustainable in the long run. It remains to be seen if the government can arrive at a political solution that is.
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Can Birdsong Make You Happier?
If you are able to step outside and hear many types of birds, you might also have a greater feeling of well-being. Two studies show that hearing diverse birdsongs may help increase our happiness.
One study was done by the researchers at California Polytechnic State University. The team studied the effects of birdsong on people walking through a park in the U.S. state of Colorado. Danielle Ferraro, who led the Cal Poly study, says that there could be an evolutionary reason why we like birdsong. The idea is that when we hear birdsong it could signal safety to us. There could be many other reasons too Ferraro states that in some areas around the world birdsong can also signal the arrival of spring and nice weather. Bird diversity, she adds, can also mean a healthy environment.
Similarly, scientists in Germany examined for the first time whether a diverse nature also increases human well-being across Europe. The researchers looked at the European Quality of Life Survey to study the connection between the different kinds of birds in their surroundings and life satisfaction. They looked at more than 26,000 adults from 26 European countries. “Europeans are particularly satisfied with their lives if their surroundings have a high species diversity,” explains the study’s lead author, Joel Methorst, a researcher at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. He and his team found that the happiest Europeans are those who can experience many different kinds of birds in their daily life, or who live in near-natural surroundings that are home to many species.
So, if birdsong is good for our mental health, how can we increase the different types of birdsongs we hear? Scientists also mentioned, “We would recommend planting native trees and flowers because we have a lot of pretty decorative plants in our cities. And they might look nice to us, but birds can’t necessarily use them. So, we think it important to have species that are native to the area to increase bird diversity.”
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Breaking up is hard to do but men’s hearts hurt most
When it comes to break-ups, men suffer more emotional pain than women, a study has found. The first-of-its-kind analysis used online relationships to map the most common problems experienced by couples who told their stories outside the therapist’s office.
A team of researchers at Lancaster University helped to produce the report. Charlotte Entwistle, the lead author, said: “Most of what we know comes from studies of people in couples therapy: a specific set of people. We wanted to understand not only what relationship problems are most commonly experienced by the public, but who experiences by the public, but who experiences which problems more.”
To bridge the gap the team analysed the characteristics of more than 184,000 people who had posted their problems to an anonymous online forum, and they created a “map” of the most common issues.
Communication was the most frequent, cited by nearly one in five people, while one in eight reported that trust was a struggle. The outcomes came as no surprise but the team was taken aback at the obvious gender differences. The theme that kept cropping up was the “heartache” felt, and the team recorded specific words such as “regret”, “break up”, “cry”, and “heart-broken”.
Contrary to expectation, men talked about heartbreak significantly more than women. The findings suggest that the stereotype of men being less emotionally invested in relationships may be inaccurate.
The researchers also found that men were more likely to seek online professional help. Dr Ryan Boyd, the lead researcher, said: “When you remove the traditional social stigmas against men for seeking help and sharing their emotions, they seem just as invested in working through rough patches in their relationships as women.”
The researchers hope that an accurate picture of relationship problems could help couples avoid common setbacks. Boyd said: “This gives us serious hope that we can use help-seeking behavior to better understand all types of social and psychological issues.”
The study was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
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Seniority in Promotion Is Not a Wise Business Practice
It's not always an easy decision for companies when it comes to filling managerial spots. In the past promoting an employee has been popularly handled by means of basic analysis of the employees' past performance nod seniority, In some cases, the individual's performance has been considered more important while in others the amount of time they have been with the company has been the deciding factor. Nevertheless, seniority is a standard that has never been left out, However, in the contemporary business world, the importance of seniority in promotion is being destroyed as a growing number of companies look outside of their organizations when trying to fill top managerial spots.
Unlike experienced employees who have been with the company for a long time, new people are mare likely generate creative ideas. In rapidly changing markets, innovative and creative talents are sought by many companies in order to adapt to the market. To meet their needs, companies have more to gain by selecting outside employees since they are more willing to try new techniques and less afraid of breaking tradition when introducing new ideas. Thus, rather than promoting existing employees, it might be a wiser management decision to bring in outside talent.
An additional advantage to this new system is that it prevents employees from feeling that they only need to wait for their seniority to provide them with a promotion. Simply put no matter how long they have been with the company, employees have to contribute diligently to the organization if they want to move up the career ladder, As soon as people realize that the company could just as easily bring in a new person, employees will stop judging themselves against each other because they are no longer competing against their colleagues but everyone in the entire industry. As a result, they will begin to show more effort to bring the level of their work up to what they imagine is a much higher standard.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Biographers (传记作家) gather information from many different sources. Legal documents and personal papers can reveal facts such as a person’s birthplace, income, number of children, and lifespan. Letters or a diary may contain valuable information about the person’s friends and activities, thoughts and feelings. All of these materials are called primary sources because they contain firsthand information ---- information that does not depend on the opinions or interpretations of others.
A biographer also checks secondary sources. The subject’s friends and relatives may be interviewed. If the subject died long ago, the biographer looks for anything written about him or her. Secondary sources supply secondhand information, and so a biographer must use them with care. The subject’s friends will want the biography to be favorable, while others may wish it to be unfavorable. The biographer must avoid both extremes. The biographer’s job is not to make readers like or dislike the subject, but to give as complete and truthful a picture of the person as possible. This means the biography should include both good and bad qualities, both accomplishments and mistakes. James Boswell, the author of a great biography of his friend Samuel Johnson, wrote, “And he will be seen as he really was; for I profess to write, not his panegyric (颂文), which must all praise, but his life, which, great and good as he was, must not be supposed to be entirely perfect.”
Much biographical writing falls short of Boswell’s standards. Ancient records of the deeds of kings and emperors were written to praise and flatter these rulers. Writers of saints’ (圣人) lives in the Middle Ages were often more interested in the moral message than the events of a life. Many 19th-century biographers did not reveal any improper or embarrassing details of their subjects’ lives. Though they may be interesting or inspiring, these works fail as biographies chiefly because their purpose is to point up a moral rather than describe an individual.
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An Extension of the Humans Brain
Other people can help us compensate for our mental and emotional deficiencies(欠缺), much as a wooden leg can compensate for a physical deficiency. To be exact, other people can extend our intelligence and help us understand and adjust our emotions. When another person helps us in such ways, he or she is participating in what I’ve called a “social prosthetic (义肢的) system.” Such systems do not need to operate face-to-face, and it’s clear to me that the Internet is expanding the range of my own social prosthetic systems. It’s already a big bank of many minds. Even in its current state, the Internet has extended my memory and judgment.
Once I look up something on the Internet, I don’t need to keep all the details for future use-I know where to find that information again and can quickly and easily do so. More generally, the Internet functions as if it were my memory. This function of the Internet is particularly striking when I’m writing; I’m no longer comfortable writing if I’m not connected to the Internet. It’s become natural to check facts as I write, taking a minute or two to dip into PubMed, Wikipedia, or other websites.
As for the judgment, the Internet has made me smarter in matters small and large. For example, when I’m writing a textbook it has become second nature to check a dozen definitions of a key term, which helps me dig into the core and understand its meaning. But more than that, I now regularly compare my views with those of many others. If I have a “new idea,” I now quickly look to see whether somebody else has already thought of it, or something similar-and I then compare what I think with what others have thought. This certainly makes my own views clearer. Moreover, I can find out whether my reactions to an event are reasonable enough by reading about those of others on the Internet.
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