2xOnline Class Notes (Mike)

Your local council has decided to allow buses into the town centre, which is currently pedestrian only. Write a letter of complaint about this decision.

We all want to save money, and with the cost of living on the rise in the UK, it’s become more important than ever to watch what we spend. The biggest increase in our expenditure at the moment is on energy – the oil, gas and electricity we use to power and heat our homes. That’s why many of us are looking at ways to save energy so we don’t have to shell out on huge fuel bills. Making our home more energy efficient is the obvious way to save money. To try to achieve this, new homes in the UK will be banned from installing new gas and oil boilers by 2025. Having a heat pump instead can help save energy, but they’re unaffordable for many people, unless they’ve got spare cash stashed away. If your home feels like a money pit, there are some low-budget solutions you can turn to to lower your energy usage. Warm air escapes our homes easily, so adding draught excluders or a rolled-up towel to block these gaps will help. Investing in new double glazing will certainly insulate your home better, but if it is too costly, it might be worth using some heavy curtains to stop the heat escaping. Switching off lights is also a good idea. But there are lots of other little things we can do around the home that will help save energy, don’t cost a fortune and that just require tweaks to our behaviour. They could be as good as installing, fitting or making anything. Put lids on pots and pans when cooking – the food will be ready quicker. Use a microwave to reheat food rather than the oven. Don’t overfill your kettle when boiling water, and don’t leave electrical items on standby. Jo Patterson from Cardiff University’s Welsh School of Architecture told the BBC that a combination of small measures like these could reduce household energy bills by about 10%. So, we’re being encouraged to be more fuel efficient. But our main aim isn’t just financial – we need to do it to reduce our carbon footprint, so that our energy usage doesn’t cost the Earth.

为什么现代社会的肥胖率在逐年升高？从饮食，生活方式（久坐不动），睡眠这三点说明原因。

In modern times，obesity rate continue grow.In china, obesity rate is 3.3% in 2004, but obesity rate add to 11% in 2014.Why add obesity rate go on ?There are the following three thing.

First, about food, people like have high heat food, such as fried chicken, hamburg and barbecue etc.

Second, people usually sit for work.Lack exercise after work.

Finally, people like to stay up watch phone, cause irregular rest time.

In short, diet, life way and rest time is important obesity reason.We should have a good diet, usually exercise and avoid stay up.

In modern times, obesity rate is continuing to grow./In modern times, obesity rate has been on the rise for quite a while. In china, obesity rate was 3.3% in 2004, but the number became 14% in 2014.
In China, obesity rate was only 3.3% in 2004, in less than a decade, this number rose by 11%. And this number is expected to keep growing.

Why add obesity rate go on ?/ Why are people getting heavier and heavier? There are three main reasons. 

The first reason is food. People like to have calorie-dense food, such as fried chicken, hamburg and barbecue, bubble tea etc.
Also, these food are easily available and delicious, making it very hard for people to resist. 

Second, people usually sit for work.Lack exercise after work./The modern sedentary lifestyle doesn’t give people time to exercise. And the pressure from work makes people just want to relax when they have free time.

The final reason is that people nowadays spend many hours every day on their phone, especially at night. This leads to less sleeping hours and poor sleeping quality.

In short, diet, lifestyle and rest time are all important reasons for obesity. To be a healthier person, we should have a balanced diet, exercise regularly and avoid staying up.

There are no clear answers to the question of why we dream, but there are different theories. Dreaming is extraordinary and strange: you hallucinate, believe impossible things, and people you know may merge into one another. And then, to top it off, you will likely forget all about it.

为什么我们做梦这个问题有一个不清晰的答案，但是有不同的学说。做梦是令人惊奇和奇异的：你产生幻觉，相信不可能的事，你知道也许融入一个别的东西，然后，到达顶端后离开，你可能全部忘记。

Memory storage could be one reason for why we dream. When you are asleep, the brain decides what information you should move to your long-term memory and what should be unlearnt. In a TED Talk, psychologist Amy Adkins described a 2010 experiment involving participants studying how to get out of a complex 3D maze. It was found that they were much better at attempting it if they had had a nap and dreamt of the maze.

记忆存储是你为什么做梦的一个原因。当你睡着时，大脑决定哪些信息需要被放进长期记忆，哪些需要被忘记。在一个TED演讲中，心理学家Amy Adkins描述一个2010年的实验涉及参与者研究如何离开一个3D迷宫建筑群。发现如果他们有打盹/午睡/小憩，和迷宫的梦他们很好窥伺迷宫。

Another purpose of dreams could be the processing of our daily emotions, which may add to emotional memory consolidation. In 2003, the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience published research that experimented with the idea of dreams being a replication of our daily lives. Diary entries and dream journals of 29 healthy young adults over a two-week period were compared, and it was discovered that emotional themes from the day were replicated in dreams 35-55% of the time.

In 2003, the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience published research that experimented with the idea of dreams being a replication of our daily lives.

这个杂志发表了研究，这个研究实验性的探索了做梦是我们对日常生活的一种拷贝这种想法。

梦的别的用途是处理我们每日的情绪，增加情绪记忆巩固。在2003年，认知神经科学的杂志发布研究做梦的想法是我们每日生活的拷贝的实验 。比较29个健康年轻成人两个周期的每日的记录和做梦日记，来自白天的情绪主题有35-55%的时间被梦境复刻。

Antti Revonsuo, a Finnish scientist, has suggested that dreaming helps us to prepare for and deal with stressful situations. He studied children’s nightmares, giving an example of being continuously chased by wolves. He believes dreams like this stem from our ancestors and could be a rehearsal for daily struggle and survival. In modern times, dreams and nightmares may be preparing us for social situations such as having a fight with a friend, going on a date or having a job interview.

一个芬兰的科学家Antti Revonsuo表明做梦帮助我们准备和处理紧张的情况。他研究孩子的梦魇，例如被狼连续的追赶。他相信像这样的梦起源于我们的祖先，是每日斗争的排演和生存。在现代，梦和梦魇也许为我们社交情况做准备，比如和朋友有一个打架，持续一个约会或者有一个面试。

With such a variety of theories on why we dream, it seems that more research is needed before we can completely understand their purpose.

有我们为什么做梦的多样化的学说 ，在我们能十分理解他们的用途之前似乎需要更多研究。

世界上结婚传统和习俗是非常不同的。在许多文化里，年轻人在学校，工作或其他地方遇到，他们决定一起出去，他们相爱，然后结婚。在其他文化里，父母或他们的家庭成员在两个年轻人直接安排婚姻。

在印度，例如，一个父亲传统上找他的女儿的丈夫。这个父亲也许要求朋友或亲戚推荐合适的丈夫，他也许在报纸上放一个广告。这个父亲寻找一个好教育，职业和薪水的人。当他找到一个合适的婚姻，他发送他女儿的星座给男孩的家庭。占星师读星座来决定在年轻男人和女人之间是否有一个好的占星术婚姻。如果占星师赞同，家庭然后商议安排结婚。

在全世界许多文化中，家庭用媒人牵线年轻人并安排结婚。这在许多国家的乡村地区是尤其寻常的。家庭支付媒人去为他们的孩子找一个配偶。有时媒人也帮助家庭一个结婚安排的交易部分。例如，一个家庭给或者收到动物，产品或者其他值钱的东西作为结婚安排的一部分。在一些文化中，父母甚至在他们孩子出生前安排结婚。

在许多地方这些传统和习俗被改变，尤其在现代全世界城市。年轻人想自由选择他们自己的配偶。许多，然而，事实上用传统做媒服务的现代的版本。例如，一些人放个人广告在报纸或杂志上。在这些广告中，人们描述他们自己并告诉他们寻找的各种人。其他人会用约会服务-比如那种牵线公司。大部分约会服务要求人们提交一张照片并填一个关于他们背景和兴趣的长调查问卷。一些约会服务甚至给他们的客户做一个视频。用约会服务的人能经常浏览公司的信息来找到合适的伴侣。

Vocabulary

ability
capable (adj.) 有能力

to be on one’s phone
My 11 year-old son is always on his phone.

available (adj.) 可获得，容易利用的，容易获取的，有空的

decade (n) 十年
In the past four decades,
deca-  十
decathlon 十项全能，（迪卡侬）
triathlon (n) 三项全能

regular (adj.) 有规律的，常规的，定期的，固定的
a regular customer 常客

rise by 增加了
rise to 增加到

calorie (n) 卡路里
calorie-dense food 卡路里密度高的食物

fattening (adj.) 会让人增重的

resist (v) 抗拒，抵抗，拒绝

sedative (adj.) 安静的，不怎么动的
sedentary (adj.) 久坐的
sedative (n) 镇静剂

top it off: 一个事情最终发生了，或好或坏

have trouble doing sth: 做…有困难

be willing to 愿意
Are you willing to take class online?

despite 尽管

pessimistic (adj.) 悲观的 – pessimism
optimistic (adj.) 乐观的 – optimism (n) 乐观主义

outlook (n) 态度，观点

do a good job 做得好

Good job！ 干得好！

touchy subject 一个敏感话题/一个很难有共识的话题