Suspension bridges, with their high towers and elegant spans（跨度）, are achievements of engineering. This list covers the longest main spans of suspension bridges around the world, not longest total lengths, as those main central spans are where the real engineering magic happens.
Osman Gazi Bridge, Türkiye
The Osman Gazi Bridge is a splendid suspension bridge. The bridge was finished on July 1, 2016, and at the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in Türkiye and the fourth longest in the world by the length of its main central span, which measures 1,550 meters. It reduced travel time between Istanbul and Izmir from six hours to around five.
Great Belt Bridge, Denmark
The Great Belt Bridge connects the Danish islands Zealand and Funen. The suspension bridge has a total length of 6,790 meters and a main central span of 1,624 meters, making it the world's sixth longest main span—for now. It enabled a direct driving route from mainland Europe to Sweden through Denmark.
1915 Çanakkale Bridge, Türkiye
The bridge's construction, which began in March 2017 and concluded in March 2022, was ambitious from the get-go. Spanning the historic Dardanelles Strait in northwestern Türkiye, the 1915 Canakkale Bridge is a symbol of national pride. Officially the world's longest suspension bridge, it stretches a remarkable 2,023 meters in its main central span.
Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge, China
Opened to traffic in October 2019, the Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, is the longest suspension bridge in China and the third longest suspension in the world. It spans 1,700 meters across the famous Yangtze River. The bridge notably has the world's longest double-level bridge span, accommodating various forms of transportation on its two levels.
A self-described "girly girl", nine-year-old Zandra Cunningham was constantly begging her parents for the latest beauty products. One day her dad simply told her "no", which inspired her to make her own.
Zandra has been recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the youngest millionaires in America. When asked about her experience as a child entrepreneur（企业家）, Zandra says, "It wasn't frightening. When you're young, you don't have that fear mentality. ‘Maybe it's not going to work' never really crossed my mind." For Zandra, it became a challenge to separate her personal interest from what her customers actually wanted. "There were a lot of things that I felt were good ideas, but they wouldn't fit into the market," she says. Being part of the market herself, Zandra felt she had a unique perspective that allowed her to truly listen and respond to her customers.
It started as a hobby for Zandra and her mom. They'd play around with different ingredients until they found formulas they liked "through trial and error". Slowly, they started transforming the pastime into a brand. Zandra began selling her products at local markets, and a few years later—when Zandra was 12 years old—the family started a shop for Zandra Beauty. At the time, Zandra Beauty was one of the first brands to offer plant-based and organic beauty products at an affordable price. The 21-year-old has essentially grown up alongside her brand—but her goals have remained the same: "Our main focus is to push out amazing products that are safe for everyone and the earth."
"There're so many brands doing similar things, but there's still so much room to grow," says Zandra. "Your customers are out there, and you just have to find something that's going to set you apart."
Most air conditioners and fridges rely on contracting and expanding a liquid to either absorb or release large quantities of heat. While these systems are relatively cheap and simple to produce, they aren't very efficient and require lots of energy. Besides, many of the coolants （冷却剂） used are environmentally harmful.
Now, Emmanuel Defay at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology and his colleagues have developed a coolant-free refrigeration device made from the metals lead, scandium（钪） and tantalum（钼）. It can reach maximum efficiencies of more than 60%, almost double that of typical single-room air conditioning units. The technology is based on a principle called electrocaloric cooling, in which an electric field applied across a material changes the direction of electric charges, causing a temporary increase in temperature and a succeeding decrease when the electric field is removed.
To make their cooling system, Defay and his colleagues piled up eight strips of the material known as lead scandium tantalate, which is electrocaloric, on top of one another and dipped them in a heat-carrying liquid, silicone oil. When an electric field is switched on and the strips heat up, the liquid moves to the right, and when it cools down, it moves to the left, creating permanent regions of hot and cold of about 20℃difference. These regions can be used as hot and cold reservoirs from which the oil can be circulated through pipes to cool or heat rooms or objects as desired.
"Although the efficiency of the device is theoretically 67%, the efficiency of the current design is around 12%. This could be improved if a better conductor of heat than the lead scandium tantalate were found," said Defay.
"A highest performance has been achieved by combining known elements," said NeilMathur at the University of Cambridge. However, he added, the team only looked at the cooling power of the pile of metal strips themselves, while it would be interesting to see how the entire device performs together.
A research model of dietary intake in 184 countries, developed by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, estimates that poor diet contributed to over 14.1 million cases of type 2 diabetes（糖尿病） in 2018, representing over 70% of new diagnoses globally. The analysis, which looked at data from 1990 and 2018, provides valuable insight into which dietary factors are driving the burden of type 2 diabetes in the world region.
Of the 11 dietary factors considered, 3 had an outsized contribution to the rising global incidence of type 2 diabetes: insufficient intake of whole grains, excesses of refined（精制的）rice and wheat, and the overconsumption of processed meat. Factors such as drinking too much fruit juice and not eating enough non-starchy vegetables, nuts, or seeds, had less of an impact on new cases of the disease.
"Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type2 diabetes globally, and with important variation by nation and over time," said senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition. "These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes."
Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the resistance of the body's cells to insulin（胰岛素）. Of the 184 countries included in the Nature Medicine study, all saw an increase in type 2 diabetes cases between 1990 and 2018, representing a growing burden on individuals, families, and healthcare systems.
The analysis revealed that poor diet is causing a larger proportion of total type 2 diabetes incidence in men versus women, in younger versus older adults, and in urban versus rural residents at the global level. Regionally, Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, particularly in Poland and Russia, where diets tend to be rich in red meat, processed meat, and potatoes, had the greatest number of type 2 diabetes cases linked to diet.
Negative people don't do as well in any area of life including school, work, family, or friendships as those who are more optimistic and pleasant. Nobody enjoys spending time with someone who complains or criticizes. Grateful people are happier, kinder, more helpful, and more popular. ___.
Catch your kid being wonderful
In everyday life, it is easy to focus on what is going wrong. Practice being aware of those moments your child is doing something good, kind, or brave. ___.
Start a bedtime gratitude practice
Think about one thing in your life for which you are grateful. It can be a person, an activity, a future plan or even a possession. Think about how you have been or will be important in making that a happy part of your life until you fall asleep. ___. It is particularly useful for a child or adult who has a hard time falling asleep.
___
Just like adults, kids are getting annoyed when they're hungry, tired, cold or otherwise uncomfortable. So do your best to give your child a predictable routine of meals, playtime, outdoor time and rest.
Celebrate being alive
___. And they usually respond well when we encourage them to focus on the goodness, surprises, and amazing beauty we can always find here and now. Notice your child's hopeful smile, your neighbor's flower garden, and colors that surround you. Say thank you to those that brighten your day.
A．Avoid predictable negative experiences
B．Making this a habit leads to a deeper sleep
C．Be frequently, openly and intentionally grateful
D．Children are much better than adults at living in the moment
E．Fortunately, there are some simple ways to practice gratitude
F．Let your gratitude be the beginning of wonderful things to come
G．Show your child how much you appreciate their presence in your life
I was born in 1898 in Marshall, Texas, the oldest of five kids. Papa couldn't 1 the money for me to go to school. If I had one 2 , it was never learning how to read.
When I turned 65, I 3 , but I didn't stop working. For the next 25 years, I 4 to my garden and did yard work for people nearby. I 5 all that when I was nearly 90．I ought to be 6 tired. But my eyes were good and I got all my teeth. People around were always trying to 7 me to use a walking cane. But the only8 I ever saw said I had the body of a 60-year-old.
One day, when I was walking down the street, a young fellow 9 me and handed me a piece of paper.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's 10 about adult education classes at Lincoln Instructional Center. Adults can study for their degrees, learn math, learn to read and write..."
I 11 to hear the rest of what he said. Instead, I felt a warmth deep down inside me. My lifelong wish was to learn to read. It was high time for 12 . I got into the young man's car and he drove a few blocks to an old building. I knew it well—it was where all my seven 13 had gone to school. I had 14 the building so many times. But this time it was 15 , because it was going to be my own school.
When I was at Donghua University in Shanghai, I had an honor of showcasing our traditional Uzbek dances at a cultural event for international students, ___（introduce） my culture to others. It was a remarkable experience ___（teach） and share our unique dance form, and it left ___ lasting impression.
However, outside of campus, I often found myself wandering into the park, in ___ I would sit and watch people dancing on the square. This public activity goes beyond age and background, offering a medicine to the ___（lonely） and physical inactivity that often accompanies aging. It was a heartwarming demonstration to the inclusiveness （包容性） and vitality of modern Chinese society: older people ___ retired people gather, not just to exercise, but to socialize and form more new ___（connection）.
So far, these two worlds—the public dancing with vitality in China and the rich Uzbek dance tradition— ___（shape） my life profoundly and brought me boundless joy.
Dancing, whether in the modern city of China or Uzbekistan, ___（continue） to be the rhythm of my life. It serves ___ a bridge between cultures, an expression of the human spirit and a reminder that the joy of dance goes beyond borders, languages, and backgrounds.
注意：1．写作词数应为 80左右；2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear Mary, …… Yours truly, Li Hua |
To me, you can become a hero just by deciding to go for a run every morning. But what if you stop your run to save a group of pets from a burning house? That's the making of a superhero.
The sun rose in the buzz of the alarm clock, and a new day began. Paul Murphy turned off his alarm, put on his running clothes and went out for his daily run. When he was running past a house, he saw a smoking garage. He stopped at the house and pressed the button on the newly installed ring doorbell camera. No one was home, so he heard a recording, "He can't answer the door right now, but if you'd like to leave a message, you can do it now." Murphy was wild with anxiety, because he could do nothing but dial 911．Just after a while, a woman's voice came through the speaker, "Hi!"
"Hello?" he said in the video. "There's smoke coming out of the top of your house."
Not good! Courtney Polito, who owns the home and was the voice coming through the ring speaker, heard the house's smoke alarms going off.
At this very moment, she was on duty in her office 48 miles away and her husband and kids were out on holiday. What worried her most were her four loving pets. But in the face of the emergency, every second counted. Polito had no time to think, and she gave Murphy the security code to enter her home and save her pets. After getting the access code, Murphy ran into the house to save the family's two dachshunds（腊肠犬）, a cat, and a rabbit. Through the camera, Polito first saw Murphy running out of the home carrying one of the dachshunds to safety. Without a stop, Murphy threw himself into the rescue attempt of the other three pets. Finally, he rescued them all from the burning home.
注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Murphy was safely outside the house when the firefighters arrived on the scene. …… Polito said she was looking forward to giving Murphy a hug to thank him. |