天津阅读 Rd015・2020_05 阅读理解

Your student ID card identifies you as a student at the University of Bolton. It will provide you with access to University facilities such as University Libraries, Sports Centre, and Computing Services. Please carry your card with you at all times. Do not lose your card or lend it to others. Your card is valid during the whole time of your studies. It remains the property (财产) of the University of Bolton at all times.

New students – photographs

You will be requested to upload a passport sized photograph as part of the online registration process. This should be a JPG file with a size of no more than 1 MB. Your photograph should be a portrait image in proportion (比例) to a 6″ × 4″ portrait photograph. It should be taken in colour and must not have been beautified with image filters (滤光镜).

Your student ID card will be provided to you by your department during Welcome Week. Please be aware that you will not receive this smart card during Welcome Week if you do not upload your image online by 4 September 2020.

Replacement cards

If your student ID card no longer works or has been damaged, or if you have changed your personal or programme details, you should call into Student Administration Centre (SAC) to request a new one. Please ensure that you bring your existing card with you. Your replacement card will be produced free of charge.

If your card has been reported to the Police as stolen, please also call into the SAC to request a replacement, bringing with you a copy of your Police Crime Report paperwork. Your card will be produced free of charge.

If your card has been lost, a fee of £5 is charged for the production of a replacement card. You are requested to use our online payment service.

Note: Replacement cards will be available for you to collect seven working days after making the request. As a security measure, you are requested to collect your card in person at the SAC.

One of the most stressful days of Susan McFrederick’s life was watching her son get wheeled away for surgery hours after he was born in 2011.

But after the operation, Susan burst into tears for a different reason: across the cut on their newborn son’s back was a sweet winter scene, hand-drawn on his bandages (绷带).

“There were rolling hills of snow, a pine tree and a snowman with a hat and broom,” she recalled. “It was extremely touching and comforting to know that somebody had taken the time to do that for my family. It was a moment I’ll never forget.”

Susan soon learned the artist was her son’s surgeon, Robert Parry, who discovered another way to use his hands in the mid-1980s during his internship (实习期) at a children’s medical center, where he saw one of his colleagues cut out heart and shark shapes to decorate children’s bandages.

“My first reaction was, ‘What is he doing? Hey, that’s kind of neat,'” Parry recalled. “I especially liked the reactions of the parents and the patients when they saw his artwork. The smiles took everyone’s attention from the surgery. Then I decided to follow suit.”

Parry quickly graduated from his early hearts and sharks, and started to surprise families with drawings that captured young patients’ personalities. From Snoopy to Spider-Man and bears to butterflies, there isn’t much he hasn’t drawn. Most kids want superheroes, sports team logos or princesses, while babies often receive scenes with flowers, trees and sea creatures. During the last 30 years, Parry estimates he has left examples of his handiwork over the stitches (缝线) of more than 10,000 children.

“During a time of stress for families, it’s nice to be able to help them smile and laugh,” Parry said. “This is something positive that I can do for them, which is what I like most about it.”

For Parry, the reward is knowing he hopefully made a difference in a child’s life, and except for his drawings on bandages, “they can go on and live their lives and never know I was in it,” he said.

He’s not ready to retire, but he’s found a new hobby to keep his hands skillful in the years to come.

“I’ve taken up knitting (编织),” Parry said. “Hats, sweaters, gloves—I enjoy it all. But mostly, I enjoy giving everything away.”

Transport has a lot to answer for when it comes to harming the planet. While cars and trains are moving towards greener, electric power, emissions from air travel are expected to increase massively by 2050. If we want big green sky solutions, we need blue sky thinking. Fortunately, there’s plenty of that happening right now, particularly the short-haul flights powered by batteries.

Harbour Air is the largest seaplane airline in North America, flying 30,000 commercial flights in 40 seaplanes each year. Significantly, all Harbour Air routes last less than 30 minutes, making it perfectly fit for electric engines. “As an airline, we’re currently in the process of turning all our planes into electric airplanes.” says CEO Greg McDougall. To make this happen, the airline has partnered up with MagniX to create the world’s first commercial flight with an electric engine.

Making the skies electric isn’t just good for the environment, it also makes sound financial sense: a small aircraft uses $400 on conventional fuel for a 100-mile flight, while an electric one costs $8-12 for the same distance, and that’s before you factor in the higher maintenance costs of a traditional engine. There’s also the added bonus that electric planes are just much more pleasant to fly in. No loud engine noise, no smell of fuel, just environmentally friendly peace and quiet.

While there has been real progress in the e-plane industry, the technical challenges that remain are keeping everyone’s feet firmly on the ground. A battery, even a lithium one, only provides 250 watt-hours per kilogram; compare this to liquid fuel, which has a specific energy of 11,890 watt-hours per kilogram. Carrying adequate batteries, however, would make the plane too heavy to get off the ground. In aircraft, where every bit of weight counts, this can’t just be ignored.

The transition (过渡) from gas to electric in the automobile industry has been made easier by hybrids – vehicles powered by both fuel and electricity. Many believe the same pattern could be followed in the air. Fuel consumption could be reduced as the electric component is switched on at key parts of the journey, especially on take-off and landing.

It’s certainly an exciting time for electric flying. With companies like Harbour Air taking the lead, battery-powered planes, especially on short-haul journeys, are set to become a reality in the next few years.

Studying a subject that you feel pointless is never a fun or easy task. If you’re studying history, asking yourself the question “why is history important” is a very good first step. History is an essential part of human civilization. You will find something here that will arouse your interest, or get you thinking about the significance of history.

History grounds us in our roots. History is an important and interesting field of study, and learning the history of our home country can give us a deeper, more meaningful glimpse (一瞥) into our ancestral pasts, and how we got to where we are today. Many people feel like they need a sense of cultural belonging, which is something that studying your roots and being open-minded to the evolution of your culture can provide.

History enriches our experience. Reading history is an amazing experience because it enables us to reflect on the social and economic life of the people living long time ago. According to the experts, problems faced by people regardless of the past and present are the same. With the information about the ancestors, one can become more experienced in handling challenges of life.

History makes us more empathetic (具有共情能力的). Studying history can give us insight (洞察力) into why our culture does certain things, and how the past has shaped it into what we know now. It also provides a rather strong foundation for empathy across cultures. Fear and hate for others is usually caused by ignorance (无知). We’re scared of the things that we don’t understand. History has the potential to break down those boundaries by offering us insight into entire worlds that would otherwise be foreign to us.

History can inspire us to learn more. What’s fantastic about history is the way it broadens our horizons. It’s almost impossible to learn about one historical period without having dozens of questions about related concepts. Study the 19th century England, and you might catch a glimpse of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Look up Charles Dickens, and you might learn a thing or two about realism. Or maybe you end up switching your attention away from novels, and discover the history of romantic poets in England. It can go anywhere, and there is something in there for absolutely anybody.

The value of history cannot be underestimated. We don’t have to live in the past, but we can definitely do better by learning from it and using the lessons learnt to lead more meaningful lives.