Baby Done

When Zoe and Tim find out they are having a baby, they decide to not let parenthood change them. Tim runs towards being a dad, while Zoe runs away from being a mum. Terrified that her life won't be her own anymore, Zoe is still determined to tick off a list of their wildest dreams before the baby arrives.

Director： Curtis Vowell

Release Date： Jan 22, 2021

Runtime： 1h 31m     .

At a time when America is falling apart, The Reimited States is a powerful documentary that follows the unsung heroes on the difficult journey of bridging divides. Each of the bridgebuilders has realized that while the divides run deep, so does the love and hope to bring the country back together. Based on the book of the same name the film encourages us to consider that everyone has a role to play in reuniting the country.

Director： Ben Rekhi

Release Date： Jan 29, 2021

Runtime：1h 24m

Our Friend tells the true story of the Teague family-journalist Matt, his wife Nicole and their two young daughters — and how their lives are ended by Nicole's deadly disease. As Matt's responsibilities as caretaker and parent become increasingly overwhelming（压倒性的), the couplers best friend Dane Faucheux offers to come and help out. As Dane puts his life on hold to stay with his friends, the impact of this life-changing decision proves great and meaningful.

Director： Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Release Date： Jan 22, 2021

Runtime： 2h 4m

When a new landlord comes around, Mr. and Mrs. Choi find their dry-cleaning business, Happy Cleaners in Flushing, Queens, at risk of closing after 17 years. While they make every effort to save the business, their daughter Hyunny and son Kevin are also at their own tough crossroads of life under the pressure of their parents’ high hopes. Faced with many difficulties, the Choi family realizes that the only way to be stronger is to embrace each other.

Director： Julian Kim, Peter S. Lee

Release Date： Feb 5, 2021

Runtime： 1h 38min

Over the last decade, Grandpa Ron, as the students call him, has volunteered thousands of hours every year to be with local school children—but it wasn’t until classes moved online due to COVID-19 that Ron Jacobson realized his impact. That impact reached far deeper than being a school volunteer. And those students were now missing the hugs he gave them every mornings.

Back in March 2020, Jacobson had already volunteered for 900 hours during the 2019-2020 school year by the time Cle Elum-Roslyn Elementary in Ronald, Washington, closed its doors and turned to online teaching.

“These kids who relied on me being there for them had suddenly lost me,” Jacobson said. “When they started doing their schoolwork online, several said that they missed Grandpa Ron. ”

The school received so many requests for Grandpa Ron that it added Jacobson’s email address and home address to the school’s online directory (通讯录), allowing students to keep in touch with Jacobson. Students immediately began sending Jacobson emails and letters and even coming to his home to check up on him and offer to walk his dog.

Jacobson now responds to each of the students, adding a bright spot to the students’ days and his own.

“I am happy to listen to the kids’ problems as well,” Jacobson said. “I have heard from school teachers and parents how much this regular communication has changed the kids’ attitudes.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars has honored Jacobson—a Vietnam veteran (老兵) —by naming him a spokesman for their campaign, StillServing, which shows many ways America’s veterans continue serving even after leaving the army.

“The Marine Corps taught me the two important things: finish the task and take care of your troops (军队). I’m still taking care of the troops,” Jacobson said.

It’s just that they are 75 years younger than he is.

Learning a second language is difficult at any age and it only gets harder the longer you wait to open that dusty French book. Now, in a new study, scientists have pointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency（流利）in a second language seem to rise： 10.

The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it's "nearly impossible” for language learners to reach native-level fluency if they start learning a second language after 10. But that doesn't seem to be because language skills go downhill “It turns out you're still learning fast. It's just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old,“ says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College.

Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children's brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they're better able to adapt and respond to new information. "All learning involves the brain changing,“ Hartshorne says, “and children's brains seem to be a lot more skilled at changing. "

These findings may seem discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical （关键的）period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than they previously thought. Some scientists believed that the brief window closes shortly after birth, while others stretched it only to early adolescence. Compared to those estimates, 17 or 18 when language learning ability starts to drop off——seems old.

“People progress better when they learn by immersion （沉 浸）rather than simply in a classroom. And moving to a place where your desired language is spoken is the best way to learn as an adult. If that's not an option, you can create an immersive environment by finding ways to have conversations with native speakers in their own communities," Hartshorne says. By doing so, it's possible to become conversationally fluent——even without the advantage of a child's brain.

Waterbuurt is a residential(住宅的) development in Amsterdam, which consists of nearly 100 floating homes on Lake Eimer.

The floating homes are not ordinary houseboats but real floating houses. They only move with the changing tide(朝水). Designed by Dutch architect Marlies Rohmer, the houses have a basic design but are also comfortable. Although Waterbuurt is still a work in progress, there are some of the houses where there are already residents.

Two thirds of the Netherlands’ people live below sea-level, and with the flooding(发洪水) becoming a serious concern, there are many who believe that living on water in the European country is much safer than living on land. The prices of land homes in large city centers like Amsterdam has risen in recent years. But water is not that expensive.

“Moreover, houses in the cities have to stay there for 50 or 70 years,” Dutch architect Koen Olthuis said. “And as cities change, the only choice is to demolish these houses and build new ones. But floating buildings can be moved and adapted.”

The floating homes are built atop underwater platforms, and consists of a light steel frame(钢架) and wooden walls and paneling(嵌板). The bedrooms and bathroom are located on the lower floor, which is partially flooded. The kitchen and dining room are located on the raised ground floor, while the main living area and the outdoor terrace are on the top level.

All floating homes are designed with a lot of extras that buyers can choose, like floating terraces, a second entry, or a boardwalk around the house.

Waterbuurt is set to become the largest water settlement in the history of the Netherlands. Apart from floating houses, it will include floating parks and even floating high buildings. It is sure to meet even the most difficult buyers and win more acceptance from local people.