2xOnline Class Notes (Mike)

Imagine you’ve just visited your French penfriend in Paris. Write an email to your English friend in which you:

–  describe your penfriend’s house.

–  describe a crime you saw taking place in Paris.

–  say how you and your friend reacted to the crime.

–  ask for some information.

A   Crocosaurus Cove, Australia

If you think adventure is synonymous with wild animals, then you should try the Cage of Death at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin, Australia, where you can swim with crocodiles for fifteen minutes! Visitors climb into a cage made of glass walls that are four centimetres thick and are then lowered into a pool where an enormous ‘croc’ (six metres long and weighing eight hundred kilos) is waiting! It’s an unforgettable experience are you’ll be telling your friends about it for years to come

B   Talmei Elazar, Israel

A relaxing massage at a spa is the perfect way to chill out and escape the overcrowded tourist zones. However, this spa in northern Israel employs unusual staff members to give the massages: snakes! The owner, Ada Barack, asks clients to lie on the massage table and then drops six snakes onto their backs! Visitors say they expect the snakes to feel wet, but in fact they are cool, dry and smooth. You may feel a little tense at the beginning, but you’ll be leaving the spa feeling more relaxed than you have in a long time!

C   Mount Huashan, China

Seeing the sights at the top of Mount Huashan in China is not for people who don’t like heights! After climbing the hundreds of steep steps that are cut into the rock, visitors have to walk along the ‘Changong Zhando’. This is the name given to the terrifying walk along two narrow pieces of wood on the side of the mountain which are only forty centimetres wide. There is just a seven-hundred-year-od chain handrail fixed into the rock to stop you from falling over two thousand metres to your death! You’ll have lost a few kilos through exercise and worry by the time you reach the top!

With our already busy lives, finding time to exercise can feel like one more thing on our ‘to do’ list. So maybe it would help if there was ‘a best time’ to exercise? Could exercising at certain times help maximise our fitness goals? The answer is ‘yes’, but it’s easier than you think – no matter who you are, or when you like to work out.

There are clear benefits to exercising in the morning. Many of us have more free time compared to later in the day, and it may therefore be easier for us to stick to a morning workout routine. A study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that participants who exercised in the morning, increased their physical activity throughout the day, were less distracted by food, and slept better. Exercising on an empty stomach before breakfast could also burn more fat and increase metabolism, which means you’ll continue to burn calories throughout the day.

So, good news for early birds, but what if you’re not a morning person? Working out in the afternoon or evening also has benefits, just different ones. For example, your body’s ability to perform peaks in the afternoon, according to a 2010 study by the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. Also, in the afternoon and evening, your reaction time is quickest, and your heart rate and blood pressure are lowest, which reduce your chance of injury while improving performance.

But does any of this change depending on whether you’re a man or a woman? Our bodies are different, after all, so the best time to exercise may be different too. A 2022 study from Skidmore College, New York, looked at exactly this question and the results showed that there are some differences. Want to reduce your blood pressure and you’re a woman? Exercise in the morning. Want to improve your heart health and you’re a man? Evening is better for you. But, ultimately, the study found that there are clear benefits for both sexes to exercising at either time of day.

So what time is best? It seems the answer is: whatever time is best for you!

Write a story about a time when you had a frightening experience with an animal. Include the information below.

–  Where you were, when you were there, and who you were with.
–  What the animal did.
–  What you did when you saw the animal.
–  How it all ended.

When I was a middle school student, after evening study I need to walk to home. But There were dogs in village.The dogs barked at me every walk past.One time, I walked past a house, a dog followed me and barked at me. I took out a umbrella swung and move backwards nervously. A while the dog stop followed, but the bark noise started up in front of a house of a dog. In the same something happened several times.I finally went home.But the experience like ‘ go through five passes slay six’.I was really too hard.

When I was a middle school student, after evening study I needed to walk home. But there were dogs in our/the village. The dogs barked at me every time I walk past them.

One time, I passed a house, a dog followed me and barked at me. I swung my umbrella at him while I was moving backwards nervously. After a while the dog stopped following me, but I started to hear more barks from other dogs.

The same thing happened to me a few/several times. I finally went home. The experience was quite shocking to me. It was hard for me.

When I was in middle school, I walked to school every day. I had to go through our village twice a day in order to get to school.

Many people had dogs in our village, and most of them were not tied. So every time when I walk pass these dogs, they would bark at me.

One day, a dog followed me for 10 minutes and was barking the whole way. I was so scared that I took our my umbrella to defend myself. I swung it at him, trying to scare him off. 

Eventually, the dog stopped following me but other dogs started to bark. Luckily, I was close to the school, so I ran quickly to the classroom.

According to research studies coming out of top US universities, having high emotional intelligence, or EQ, can help you to succeed, particularly at work.

根据出自美国顶端大学的研究，拥有高情商能帮助你成功尤其在工作上。

The idea of emotional intelligence was introduced by psychologist John Mayer in the 90s and has gained popularity since, especially because it is said to be something that you can improve. Someone with high emotional intelligence can supposedly build strong relationships, achieve their goals and manage their emotions – key areas for success in most jobs!

情商的概念由心理学家John Mayer在90年代引进，自那以后得到普及，尤其是因为情商是一件你可以提升的事物。高情商的人据说能建立强的人际关系，达到他们目的和管理情绪——这几件事是大多数工作中成功的关键。

Going to Disney is something I want to do before leaving SH.

It’s likely that, during your career, you will need to work in a team. A 2020 Harvard study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, investigated social skills and team players. They did this by grouping volunteers and giving them a variety of tricky problems. They then compared the top individual performers. Results showed two main reasons why these individuals excelled, both linked to emotional intelligence. The first reason was that they were very good at recognising the emotional state of their teammates. The second was that they helped to improve their team’s performance through motivation.

可能在你的职业生涯期间，你将需要在一个团队中工作。一个2020年哈佛的研究，通过国家经济研究局发布。调查了社交技能和团队成员。他们通过给自愿者分组并且给他们一个多变的复杂的问题。他们与优秀的个体演员比较。结果表明两个主要的原因是为什么这些个体优胜，两种都和情商相关/有关联。第一个原因是他们非常擅长认识他们队友的情绪状态。第二个原因是他们通过激励帮助改善他们团队的表现。

When researching links between emotion-understanding ability and risk-taking, a 2012 Yale study found emotional intelligence to be critical to decision making. Researchers investigated the way that leaders come to a decision when they are under pressure.

The results revealed that/participants with a high awareness of why they felt under pressure/managed to keep a clearer head and were less likely to take risks.

Being able to understand and manage emotions is a key part of EQ.

当研究情绪理解能力与缝隙承担之间的联系，一个2012年耶鲁研究发现情商在决策上起关键作用。研究员调查了当他们处于压力之下时领导做一个决策。对于为何自己处于压力下有较高意识的人/对那些清晰地知道为什么自己处于压力下的人，他们能够保持头脑清醒，不太可能会去冒风险。

So, if you’re trying to succeed, work on your emotional intelligence and it may just make a difference!

因此，如果你尝试成功，在你的情商上工作，也许有不同。

Police forces have always used technology to help them combat crime, but as collecting data and storing it becomes much easier, more and more police forces are using it to improve crime prevention and therefore to predict crime before it happens.

警察部队总是用科技去帮助他们打击犯罪，但是关于收集数据和储存数据变得容易得多，越来越多的警察部队用这些数据改善预防犯罪并且因此在犯罪发生之前预测犯罪。

A   Crime prevention software called PredPol helps the police predict where crimes are likely to occur. The softwave analyses years of data on the location, time and nature of crimes committed and predicts where and when crime is most likely to occur in the future. Police officers receive this information on the computers in their cars and they then spend more time in these areas. As a result, the increased police presence in these neighbourhoods has cut crime significantly. Crime figures for one area of Los Angeles, USA, were reduced by 12% in 2011 when police officers used crime prediction software. In the same year, burglaries were cut by 26% in Manchester, UK, using the same methods.

一个叫做PP的预防犯罪软件帮助警察预测犯罪有可能发生在哪儿。这个软件分析几年内犯罪地点、时间和案情性质的数据，并预测在未来犯罪极可能在哪儿什么时候发生。警员在他们车上的电脑上收到这个信息，他们花更多时间在这些区域。因此增加警察出现在这些街区极大的缩减犯罪。犯罪数字美国洛杉矶的领域之一，当警察用犯罪预测软件犯罪数字在2011年减少了12% 。同一年，用一样的方法入室盗窃缩在英国Manchester减26%。

B   As well as software that predicts crime, companies are also developing technology that will help police patrols catch criminals before they can leave town. By combining information such as the places where crimes frequently take place with the routes that allow the fastest escape, computers will direct patrols to where they can arrest criminals.

软件预测犯罪，企业也发展科技帮助警察巡逻在罪犯离开城镇之前捕捉罪犯。通过合并信息比如犯罪频繁发生地方和能够迅速逃避的路线 ，电脑将指导巡逻他们能逮捕罪犯的地方。

C   However, although the makers of this technology claim it will help reduce crime rates, some people are not so sure. Not all crime is reported and if the police just focus on the neighbourhoods where most crime occurs, they will neglect others. Some experts claim that if police officers just pay attention to the information that has been stored in their devices, crime rates could actually rise in some areas.

然而，尽管这个科技的制造商宣称它将帮助减少犯罪率，一些人并不确定。不是所有的犯罪都上报，如果警察仅仅关注这个街区大多数犯罪发生的地方，他们将忽略其他地方。一些专家声称如果警察仅仅关注他们设备上存储的信息 ，犯罪率实际上在一些地区会上升。

Vocabulary

defend (v) 防护，防卫，防守

be close to 离…很近

Eventually (adv.) – finally

On my way, 在路上

work on (v) 在…上下功夫，处理…，关注，做
I need to work on my English.
Right now, I am working on a project with Tom.
work (v) 工作
行得通？
This plan does not work.

discussion (n)
We had a discussion on A.
discuss sth with sb.

raft (n) 筏

canoe (n) 独木舟

pack (v) 打包，把…装好
My flight is at 8pm, I need to pack everything before 4pm.
package (n) 包裹

real
reality (n) 现实
reality show 真人秀
realize (v)
realize one’s dream 实现某人对梦想

shine (v) 闪光 – shiny
My shoes are shiny.

remember (v) 记住，想起，记得
memorize (v) 背 – memory (n) 记忆
My friend is memorizing the poem.
My friend is remember the poem.
Aw, I remember now!
Do you remember him?
Do you memorize him?
He has good memory.
My grandma is slowly losing her memories.
lose memory 失去记忆

rehearse (v) – rehearsal  (n) 彩排，演练

performance (n) 表演，演出
I can’t forget your performance in the show.

psychology – psychologist (n) – psychological

opera house 歌剧院

trick (n) 伎俩，诡计，小技巧，恶作剧，花招，计谋

trick or treat?

think (v) – thought 以为/认为/觉得

ahead of time 提前 = in advance

bring sth with sb: 随身带着，带着
I didn‘t bring it with me today. 我今天没带。

A breaks B’s heart.
My GF broke my heart.

import (v/n) 进口
export (v/n) 出口

exit (n) 出口
Let’s meet at Exit 3.

imported (adj.) 进口的

microwave (n) 微波炉
microsoft

software

hardware (n) 硬件

resume (v) 恢复
 résumé (n) 简历

fury (n) 怒气 – furious (adj.) 极其愤怒，暴怒的

script (n) 脚本，剧本

curtain (v) 窗帘，幕布

costume (n) 戏服，（表演用的）服装

Pronunciation

politics (n) 政治
office politics
international politics
American politics
political (adj.) 政治的
political reform 政治变革/改革
politician (n) 政客

Grammar

一般现在完成时： have/has + Vpp

-Did you do your homework?

-I have done my homework.

过去完成时：had + Vpp

I had done my homework.