Archive for category: 熱門英文試題 (Page 3)

This Friday night, many people in China will be stuck at home as they continue to self-quarantine because of the coronavirus outbreak. Music events are canceled, bars are closed and the only deafening sound in clubs is silence. But some music labels and clubs are joining together to introduce “cloud clubbing” on video platforms like Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Last Friday, one Shanghai club live streamed DJs on Douyin for four hours and earned 700,000 yuan (US$100,400) from 71,000 virtual party-goers that tuned in to watch the show, according to a report by live-streaming industry service platform Zhaihehe. The next night, another club raked in a whopping 2 million yuan (US$286,900) over five hours, the report says.

 

These cloud clubbing sessions are making money using a common feature on Chinese live-streaming platforms: Users can spend real money on virtual gifts for performers. In this case, Douyin offered a virtual gift that’s become scarce in the real world amid the coronavirus outbreak: Face masks.

 

Despite the odd name, cloud clubbing isn’t a new concept. Many music events these days are available online. But with millions of people now stranded at home, obeying government directives to prevent infection, many are turning to video platforms to relieve their boredom — and video platforms are happy to bank on the trend. Local media reported that Douyin’s short video rival Kuaishou is now making deals with clubs across China to stream their shows.

 

It’s not just clubbing that’s going online, either. Following the coronavirus outbreak, one of China’s biggest music festivals canceled its event last week. To offset some of its losses, Strawberry Music Festival live streamed some performances on popular video platform Bilibili, calling it “Stay at Home Strawberry.”

 

Bilibili has also been making deals with music venues and labels to stream events on its platform.

Other activities are also moving online. Schools have been streaming classes while workers are relying on online office tools. Popular online games have seen such a surge in users that some servers became overloaded. Another hot new trend? Virtual gyms, as people try to stay fit by following along with online exercise videos.

BEIJING, May 26 (Xinhua) — The Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and the U.S. has no right to criticize or interfere, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Monday.

“”If the U.S. is bent on harming China’s interests, China will have to take all necessary measures to fight back,”” Zhao told a routine news briefing.

The spokesperson made the remarks when asked to comment on a media report that White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said that if the Chinese national legislature’s national security legislation for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is enacted, the United States would likely impose sanctions on China.

Zhao said China is firmly opposed to the noises made by certain U.S. politicians on the Hong Kong-related agenda of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) session and has lodged solemn representations with the U.S. side.

“”China’s attitude and position have been made very clear,”” Zhao said.

The spokesperson said that no country would allow any activities that endanger its national security on its own territory, adding that the Central Government is responsible for upholding national security in China, as is the case in any other country.

“”The U.S. itself has enacted dozens of laws on national security in an effort to build an impregnable fortress of its own national security. However, it has interfered in China’s national security legislation and even attempted to drill a hole in China’s national security network. Such double standards fully exposed the sinister intentions of some people in the U.S.,”” Zhao said.

The NPC decision targets a very small number of people who are splitting the country, subverting state power, organizing and carrying out terrorist activities, and foreign and external forces that are interfering in the affairs of the HKSAR, Zhao said.

It will protect the law-abiding Hong Kong citizens, who are the overwhelming majority, guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of Hong Kong residents and foreign institutions and personnel in Hong Kong. It has no impact on Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents, and will improve Hong Kong’s legal system and bring more stability, stronger rule of law and a better business environment to Hong Kong, he added.

“”It will be more conducive to Hong Kong’s long-term stability and tranquility, which is most representative of the public opinion of the society in Hong Kong,”” Zhao said.

Zhao said the legal basis for the Chinese government’s administration of Hong Kong is China’s Constitution and the Basic Law of the HKSAR, not the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

“”Then again, what on earth does the declaration have to do with the U.S.? With Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, the U.K.’s rights and obligations stipulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration were all completed. The U.S. side has no legal basis or right to invoke the Joint Declaration to make irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong affairs,”””,”Hong Kong affairs purely China’s internal affairs, the U.S. has no right to criticize or interfere: spokesperson

If there’s anything that’s certain in life, it’s that things will happen that are outside of our control. Sure, we can change our environments to reduce the chances of certain things happening and do our best to prepare for worst-case scenarios, but we can’t predict if (or when) they will happen.

As a result, mindfulness experts and psychologists often tout the benefit of letting go of control and accepting uncertainty. An excessive need to control can lead to unproductive stress, because it often puts people in an extended “fight or flight” mode. Here are 5 mindfulness techniques for letting go of control.

1. IDENTIFY YOUR TRIGGERS

The first step of letting go of control is to identify what triggers your need to control things. Do you find yourself anticipating the reaction of your coworkers who have said hurtful things to you in the past? Does your friend’s success lead you to question your own life and make you stressed out about whether or not you’ll experience something similar in the future? Once you realize what they are, you can start to experiment with methods that prevent you from going down into a worry spiral. One simple method is to take a breath and remind yourself that the need to control doesn’t arise from a true “fight or flight” situation.

2. DO A “MENTAL DUMP” OF YOUR FEELINGS

Sometimes, the need to control is a reaction to unpleasant feelings. Emotions are difficult to regulate, and you might be craving a sense of certainty because you don’t want bad feelings to take over.

But unprocessed and suppressed emotions don’t help you feel a sense of contentment. In fact, they do the opposite by making you more prone to stress, anxiety, and irrational outbursts. One way to process your feelings is to write it all down and do a “mental dump” of what you’re thinking. This can help “get the negativity out of your system”.

3. EMPLOY SOME DISTANCE

Sometimes, your need for control is related to other people’s thoughts and actions. You need to let go of the anger that makes you want to control other people’s actions in the first place. Often, when you’re angry with somebody, you tend to think repeatedly about the thing they did to you, which keeps you emotionally engaged with the way you were wronged. Psychologists call this repetitious thought pattern ‘rumination,’ after the term for how cows chew their cud.”

The best way to deal with rumination is to create some psychological distance. By pushing yourself to see it from the outside, you’ll be coaxing your mind to think of the situation more abstractly. As a result, the specific details of what that person did will be less available to you, and so they’ll have less influence on your emotional state.

4. CHOOSE TO DEAL WITH IT IN THE FUTURE

If your need to control what you know to be irrational worrying, perhaps one of the best ways to deal with it is to dedicate a time in the future to worry about it.

Choosing to dedicate time to “worrying” actually makes you less likely to worry. In turn, it become easier for you to be more at peace with uncertainty and unpredictability.

5. LEARN TO SEE UNCERTAINTY AS A PART OF LIFE

We tend to ask questions and generate “what-ifs” as an attempt to introduce some certainty when we’re uncomfortable with the unknown. But a more mindful way to approach this is to build tolerance for uncertainty. Then, you can slowly identify which of your worries are “useful” and which are making you “unnecessarily miserable.” You can choose to let go of the latter and prepare “strategic solutions” for the former.

The Canadian Olympic Committee announced that it will not send athletes to the Tokyo Olympic Games, as the International Olympic Committee weighs a decision on whether or not to postpone the event during the COVID-19 pandemic is currently. Meanwhile, the Australian Olympic Committee told athletes to prepare for the Games being delayed by year.

Stocks accelerated their fall in the waning minutes before the markets closed Monday as Wall Street reacted to a White House press conference with President Donald Trump National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Anthony Fauci, and Deborah Birx coronavirus response coordinator for White House coronavirus task force.

 

The task force recommended people limit the size of gatherings to less than 10 people and that non-essential businesses close for at least the next 15 days, but hinted that this could last into July.

 

The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 suffered their worst percentage drop since 1987. The Nasdaq fell more than 12% and the Russell 2000 index of small caps fell 14.3% . All industries were hit on Monday with double-digit percentage losses, including real estate, energy financial, technology and travel. At the close, markets were down:

 

The Dow Jones was down 2,998.97 or 12.93%, to 20,188.52 The Nasdaq was down 970.28 points, or 12.3%, to 6,904.59 The S&P 500 was down 324.95 points, or 11.98%, to 2,386.13

The markets had a rough start in the morning. After the Federal Reserve cut its interest rates to near zero at the urging of the president, all of the indexes posted major losses and for the third time in the past two weeks, the Dow hit its emergency circuit breaker as the market opened; the S&P also halted trades.

 

The Canadian Olympic Committee announced that it will not send athletes to the Tokyo Olympic Games, as the International Olympic Committee weighs a decision on whether or not to postpone the event during the COVID-19 pandemic is currently. Meanwhile, the Australian Olympic Committee told athletes to prepare for the Games being delayed by year.

 

The Canadian and Australian announcements were made after the International Olympic Committee said on Sunday that it will make a decision on whether or not to postpone the games within the next four weeks.

 

In a letter to athletes, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach wrote, “together with all the stakeholders, we have started detailed discussions today to complete our assessment of the rapid development of the worldwide health situation and its impact on the Olympic Games, including a scenario of postponement.”But the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees called on the IOC to postpone the games for one year.

 

“With COVID-19 and the associated risks, it is not safe for our athletes, and the health and safety of their families and broader Canadian community for athletes to continue training towards these games,” they wrote. “In fact, it runs counter to the public health advice which we urge all Canadians to follow.”

In its statement, the Australian Olympics Committee said it “believes our athletes now need to prioritise their own health and of those around them, and to be able to return to their families, in discussion with their National Federations,” especially as travel restrictions are implemented by countries around the world.”,”Canada and Australia Pull Athletes out of Olympics

A $2.2 billion industry to help people lose weight through artificial sweeteners may be contributing to type 2 diabetes, according to researchers from the University of South Australia.
A recently published review led by UniSA Professor Peter Clifton reveals that people who use low-calorie sweeteners (LCS) are more likely to gain weight, the exact opposite of what consumers expect.
This is despite controlled clinical trials showing that artificial sweeteners do lead to weight loss.
There has been a 200 per cent increase in LCS usage among children and a 54 per cent increase among adults in the past 20 years, Prof Clifton says.
Low calorie sweeteners are used in place of sucrose, glucose and fructose. They have an intense sweet flavour without the calories, but recent studies have highlighted potential adverse health effects.
Prof Clifton says a US study of 5158 adults over a seven-year period found that those who consumed large quantities of artificial sweeteners gained more weight than non-users.
“”Consumers of artificial sweeteners do not reduce their overall intake of sugar. They use both sugar and low-calorie sweeteners and may psychologically feel they can indulge in their favourite foods.
“”Artificial sweeteners also change the gut bacteria which may lead to weight gain and risk of type 2 diabetes,”” he says.
Artificially sweetened beverages (ASB) are also linked with increased risks of death and cardiovascular disease, and strokes and dementia among older people, but it is not clear why.
Prof Clifton cites 13 studies which investigated the effects of ASB intake on the risk of type 2 diabetes, all of which found either no link or a positive one. One study found that substituting ASB for sugar-sweetened beverages or fruit juices was associated with a 5-7 per cent lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
“”A better option than low-calorie sweeteners is to stick to a healthy diet, which includes plenty of whole grains, dairy, seafood, legumes, vegetables and fruits  and plain water,”” Prof Clifton says