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As schools around the country reopen after winter break, their students are being reminded of the lunch debt they've racked up this school year.

Congress ended the free-lunch-for-all program in June, reverting to a system in which low-income families had to fill out paperwork to qualify for aid based on their income. But some families have been left behind because they do not understand the application process.  For some kids, the debt can get so big that schools stop giving them a full meal.  According to the national campaign No Kid Hungry, students who eat school breakfast have been shown to achieve 17.5% higher scores on standardized math tests.

The nonprofit Tusk Philanthropies' Solving Hunger is funding four organizations focused on promoting policy change on free school meals. In another, Sarah Stusek recorded herself calling Mount Vernon Community School in a viral TikTok video to pay off the Virginia school's nearly $1,700 lunch debt.

Some states choose to continue free-lunch-for-all programs, including Massachusetts, Nevada, Vermont and Pennsylvania. California, Maine and now Colorado are the only states with laws ensuring permanent universal meal programs for all children, regardless of parents' income.

Results from a national survey shows 847 schools had amassed $19.2 million in lunch debt. Debt varies across the country. Across North Carolina, lunch debt exceeded $1 million as of Nov.1. And in Georgia, a nonprofit called All For Lunch paid $130,000 to wipe the debt of several schools across several metro area counties in December.

A. Plenty of kids face going without school lunches or getting smaller.

B. Others are rejected because they do not qualify.

C. School meal prices are rising and families are struggling to pay rent and feed their children.

D. Universal school meals can promote academic achievement.

E. One Wisconsin school district surpassed $14,000 in school lunch debt by October.

F. Several community groups and even social media influencers are donating to help.

G. A few districts, including Chicago and New York City, also offer free meals to kids.

From the flower crown to the one that makes you look like an adorable baby deer, Snapchat's filters (滤镜) are famously pleasing. But if you have ever shifted your phone and seen the filter disappear, revealing your normal human face on the screen instead, you may have thought to yourself, "I wish I looked like a Snapchat filter in real life."

This is a real and increasingly common way of thinking, according to the plastic surgeons who authored a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). For some people, the authors say, this obsession with looking as perfect as they do in their filtered social media photos has become so extreme that experts place it on the body dysmorphia disorder spectrum.

Body dysmorphia disorder (BDD) is a mental health condition and a type of obsessive compulsive disorder in which a person becomes obsessed with thoughts about appearance imperfection. "For someone with BDD, their entire life's balance hangs on whether they look okay or whether they have hidden their appearance imperfection appropriately," Tom Hildebrandt, PsyD, chief of the Division of Eating and Weight Disorders, explained in a previous interview.

The JAMA article names this latest version of the disorder "Snapchat dysmorphia disorder," saying that apps like Snapchat and Face Tune are giving rise to new unattainable standards of beauty.

In the past, the authors write, patients would show up in their plastic surgeon's office with photos of celebrities that had been edited to perfection in magazine spreads. Now, they say, patients want to look like filtered versions of themselves instead, with fuller lips, bigger eyes, or a thinner nose. According to recent data, 55% of surgeons report that patients are looking for plastic surgery to improve the appearance the way they look in social media selfies.

"This is an alarming trend," the authors write, "because those filtered selfies often present an unattainable look and are blurring the boundary between reality and fantasy for these patients."

Against the supposition that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where burnt trees allow more snow to mirror more sunlight into space.

This finding suggests that taking steps to prevent northern forest fires to limit the release of greenhouse gases may warm the climate in northern regions. Usually large fires destroyed forests in these areas over the past decade. Scientists predict that with climate warming, fires may occur more frequently over next several centuries as a result of a longer fire season. Sunlight taken in by the earth tends to cause warming, while heat mirrored back into space tends to give rise to cooling.

This is the first study to analyze all aspects of how northern fires influence climate. Earlier studies by other scientists have suggested that fires in northern regions speed up climate warming because greenhouse gases from burning trees and plants are released into the atmosphere and thus trap heat.

Scientists found that right after the fire, large amounts of greenhouse gases entered the atmosphere and caused warming. Ozone(臭氧) levels increased, and ash from the fire fell on far-off sea ice, darkening the surface and causing more radiation from the sun to be taken in. The following spring, however, the land within the area of the fire was brighter than before the fire, because fewer trees covered the ground. Snow on the ground mirrored more sunlight back into space, leading to cooling.

"We need to find out all possible ways to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere." Scientists tracked the change in amount of radiation entering and leaving the climate system as a consequence of the fire, and found a measurement closely related to the global air temperature. Typically, fire in northern regions occurs in the same area every 80 to 150 years. Scientists, however, found that when fire occurs more frequently, more radiation is lost from the earth and cooling results. Specifically, they determined when fire returns 20 years earlier than predicated, 0.5 watts per square meter of area burned are soaked up by the earth from greenhouse gases, but 0.9 watts per square meter will be sent back into space. The net effect is cooling. Watts are used to measure the rate at which energy is gained or lost from the earth.

A six-year-old longing to keep a unicorn in her backyard figured she'd get the hard part out of the way first.

Last November, Madeline wrote a letter to the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control with a straightforward request. "Dear LA County, I would like your approval if I can have a unicorn in my backyard if I can find one. Please send me a letter in response."

Director Mayeda replied two weeks later. The department does in fact license unicorns, she said, under certain conditions. Those include polishing the unicorn's horn at least once a month with a soft cloth, feeding it watermelon at least once a week, covering it with only nontoxic and biodegradable sparkles and giving it regular access to sunlight, moonbeams, and rainbows. And, because unicorns are indeed very rare to find, the department is also giving Madeline a toy unicorn to keep her company during her search, as a token of appreciation.

"It is always rewarding to hear from young people who thoughtfully consider the requirements of providing a loving home for animals," Mayeda wrote in the letter. "I like your sense of responsible pet ownership to seek permission in advance to keep a unicorn in Los Angeles County."

Mayeda told the Washington Post that this is the first time the department has received a request for a license for a unicorn or any mythical creature. They were impressed with the first grader for wanting to ask permission in the first place, and doing her research to work out how to go about that. She and her colleagues deal with a lot of "life-and-death" issues on the job, whether that's seeing cases of animal abuse or animals hurting people or making decisions about having to put down dangerous or sick animals. So Madeline's letter has considerably brightened their spirits, and she is due to visit the department this week to discuss her unicorn license application. Safe to say, she's in for a magical surprise.

The chain of kindness

The rain was coming down so hard that each drop seemed to explode as it hit the roof of the car. Tom looked out into the coal-black night, struggling desperately to keep his car on the road. The rain beatdown continuously and the road was deserted except for Tom and his car.

Tom could see his wheelchair in the backseat from the rear-view mirror and quickly looked down at his thin, broken legs. He could feel a familiar wave of despair start to wash over him. Suddenly, a loud noise shook him out of his moment of hopelessness as the car began to bump down the road. "Great," he thought, "a flat tyre."

With a heavy sigh, Tom brought the car to a stop, resting his head on the steering wheel, defeated! After a few seconds, he looked up and peered out of the window. In the distance, he could see a light twinkling in the blackness.

When Tom approached the house, a young girl around ten years old was standing in the doorway. He pulled up and rolled down the window. "Are your parents at home?" he shouted over the wind and rain. "I have a flat tyre and I need help."

"Wait a minute," the girl replied and went into the house. A few minutes later, she returned with an old man. The girl held his arm and smiled lovingly up at him.

Tom explained the problem to the old man and added, "I need help because my legs are paralyzed." The words came out flat. But he did not know how else he could convey the fact that he needed help from this weak old man in the middle of the rainstorm. The old man simply nodded.

The old man and the little girl concentrated on their work and the rain was soaking them. Once again, Tom couldn't help but feel he was useless. Soon the old man stepped to the window. "You're all set," he said. Tom handed some money to the old man, but he made no move to take it. Finally, the young girls aid, "Grandfather is blind."

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。

Tom did not know what to say. 

……

Inspired by the chance encounter, Tom started to see everything differently

40%的同学反对：
1. 浪费金钱，这些钱原本可以解决地球上的饥饿、贫困等问题；
2. 可能会污染太空里的环境。

60%同学赞成：
1. 能更好地应对自然灾害；
2. 可进行地球上无法进行的科学实验。

注意：
1. 词数100词左右；
2. 可根据内容要点适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头已为你拟好，不计入总词数。

参考词汇：贫困poverty

Dear Editor, 

Recently our class have had a heated discussion about whether it is worthwhile for mankind to explore the space.

……

Yours,

Li Hua

Be Careful on the Internet

Parents of boys at a Sydney private school have been urged to monitor their sons' use of social networking website, with a warning any mistakes made in teenage years could be permanently recorded on the Internet and catch up with them later in life.

The headmaster, Timothy Wright, wrote to parents on Thursday, (explain) that younger boys were too immature to fully understand the possible consequences of disclosing private information on social networking sites. "We now know that those parts of the brain deal with decision-making are still developing in a man in his 20s," he said. "But mistakes (commit) at fifteen may be still accessible to an employer ten years later."

Modern technology means that a careless word, an ill-willed comment or an inappropriate photograph, are on permanent record and freely available to  has access. Stupidities that (forget) immediately before now last, spread and damage in ways unknown before this decade.

Dr Wright said that  words spoken in the playground could be more easily forgotten, those captured on the Internet or on mobile phone text messages could have far more lasting and more hurtful consequences.

He urged parents to set ground rules for use of mobile phones and the Internet and in particular to set boundaries on taking and sending images that be used to bully others. "Parents who are paying for the Internet service have an unquestionable right (insist) they are a friend on social networking websites. I would certainly insist on this at least the end of 16 if not later," he wrote.

I wrote my first novel when I was 22. It was a mess. I didn't know how to properly organize dialogues and structure a plot (情节). Those were all 1 . I planned to work out later. I gave the book to my father to read, and he left me a voice mail in a few days saying that it was 2 and that I was going to sell it for $300,000.

3 , and rather quickly, the book was 4 by every publisher in New York. If there were a literary prize for Most Rejections, I would have won it. I was 5 : of course, but I knew better than to give up—writing wasn't an easy job, and if this book wasn't my 6 in, maybe the next one would be. I got back to work.

But this scenario (剧情) happened again: I wrote books...and then they wouldn't 7 . Still my father's faith in me never wavered (动摇), even if I worked a host of other jobs. Some of the jobs, like being a bookseller, were great and 8 to my writing life. Some, like selling overpriced jeans to 12-year-olds, were only insofar as they were material for future 9 . And they were—because it finally 10 . I sold a book! I was going to make it big!

I completely agree with the motivation speaker and author John Maxwell's words: "Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities but in their 11 to reach their potential." Life's not 12 . It never was, it isn't now, and it won't ever be. But do not fall into the entitlement trap of feeling you are a(n) 13 . You are not. Get over it and 14 with it. And yes, most things are more 15 when you break a sweat to get them.

Envy is a natural human emotion, and we writers suffer from it constantly. But if we allow it, our envy will eat us up inside and turn something we once loved (writing) into something we hate now. . Here are some practical and effective steps you can follow.

Remind yourself why you write.

I write because it's a main aspect of who I am. It satisfies me in a way nothing else does. Although I'm glad to cash whatever checks publishers send me, this is not my purpose. . As long as I remember why I write, I don't feel envious of others.

Keep a positive comment file.

I've long kept a blurb(简介)file where I list positive comments reviewers have made about my work. I use these blurbs when it comes time to promote my work. I also read over them when I need to remind myself that I'm a pretty good writer. I take screenshots(截屏)of positive things people say about my work on social media.

You know what happens when you don't see people posting about their writing successes all the time? You know nothing about them. And if you know nothing about them, you can't be envious of them, can you? So sometimes leaving the social media alone might help you reduce the chance of being envious. Living your life in the real not the virtual world can remind you that your writing career is about you, not about anyone else.

Not focus on writing only.

You should bear in mind that there are more things to your life than your writing career. Hopefully you have friends and family who love you. Spend some time with them. Do you have any hobbies that don't involve writing, something you do it simply because it's fun and relaxing? Do that for a while. Take a break for a few days and don't feel guilty about it.

A. Cut down on social media.

B. Pay no attention to others successes.

C. Using blurbs make me feel satisfied and relieved.

D. And I look at them when I need an emotional lift as well.

E. I write not for such financial reward, but for emotional reward.

F. Therefore, how can we learn to live with it and minimize its effects?

G. Recharging yourself mentally and emotionally in turn benefits your writing.

New research suggests that a gene that governs the body's biological (circadian) clock acts differently in males versus females and may protect females from heart disease. The study is the first to analyse circadian blood pressure rhythms(节奏)in female mice.

The body's circadian clock-the biological clock that organizes bodily activities over a 24-hour period—contributes to normal variations in blood pressure and heart function over the course of the day. In most healthy humans, blood pressure dips(下降)at night. People who do not experience this temporary drop, called "non-dippers", are more likely to develop heart disease. The circadian clock is made up of four main proteins (encoded by "clock genes") that regulate close to half of all genes in the body, including those important for blood pressure regulation.

Previous research has shown that male mice that are missing one of the four clock genes (PER1) become non-dippers and have a higher risk for heart and kidney disease. A research team studied the circadian response and blood pressure of female mice that lack PERI and compared them with a healthy female control group. On both low-and high-salt diets, both groups "kept an apparent circadian rhythm" of blood pressure, the researchers explained. Unlike the male mice in previous research, the females without PERI showed normal dips in blood pressure overnight.

These results suggest that the lack of PER1 acts differently in males and females. The findings are consistent with research showing that women are less likely to be non-dippers than men of the same age. "This study represents an important step in understanding sex differences in the regulation of cardiovascular(心血管的)function by the circadian clock," the researchers wrote.

Working out exactly what students and taxpayers get for the money they spend on universities is a tricky business. Now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD), a Paris-based think-tank for rich countries, is planning to make the task a bit easier, by producing the first international comparison of how successfully universities teach. 

"Rather than assuming that because a university spends more it must be better, or using other proxy measures for quality, we will look at learning outcomes," explains Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's head of education research. Just as the OECD assesses primary and secondary education by testing randomly chosen groups of youngsters from each country in reading and mathematics, it will sample university students to see what they have learned. Once enough universities are taking part, it may publish league tables showing where each country stands, just as it now does for compulsory education. That may produce a fairer assessment than the two established rankings, though the British one does try to broaden its inquiry by taking opinions from academics and employers.

There is much to be said for the OECD's approach. Of course a Nobel laureate's view on where to study may be worth hearing, but those professors may be so busy writing and researching that they spend little or no time teaching—a big weakness at America's famous universities. And changes in methodology can bring surprising shifts. The high-flying London School of Economics, for example, tumbled(暴跌)from 17th to 59th in the British rankings published last week, primarily because it got less credit than in previous years for the impressive number of foreign students it had managed to attract.

The OECD plan awaits approval from an education ministers' meeting in January. The first rankings are planned by 2021. They will be of interest not just as a guide for shoppers in the global market, but also as indicators of performance in domestic markets. They will help academics wondering whether to stay put or switch jobs, students choosing where to spend their time and money, and ambitious university bosses who want a sharper competitive edge for their institution.

The task the OECD has set itself is formidable. In many subjects, such as literature and history, the syllabus varies hugely from one country, and even one campus, to another. But OECD researchers think that problem can be overcome by concentrating on the transferable skills that employers value, such as critical thinking and analysis, and testing subject knowledge only in fields like economics and engineering, with a big common core. 

Moreover, says Mr Schleicher, it is a job worth doing. Today's rankings, he believes, do not help governments assess whether they get a return on the money they give universities to teach their undergraduates. Students overlook second-rank institutions in favour of big names, even though the less grand may be better at teaching. Worst of all, ranking by reputation allows famous places to coast along, while making life hard for feisty upstarts. "We will not be reflecting a university's history," says Mr Schleicher, "but asking: what is a global employer looking for?" A fair question, even if not every single student's destiny is to work for a multinational firm.

Four Places Named After Scientists in Antarctica

There are many scientific breakthroughs made by women in Antarctic. Here are four landmarks in Antarctica and the female pioneers they're named for.

Jones Terrace (梯田)

The ice-free terrace in eastern Antarctica's Victoria Land bears Jones' name. In 1969, geochemist Lois M. Jones led the first all-female research team from the U.S. to work in Antarctica. Jones and her team studied chemical weathering in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, an ice-free area of Antarctica. Through chemical analyses of rocks they had collected, Jones and her team discovered many geochemical characteristics of the valley's ice-covered lakes.

Mount Fiennes

8,202-foot-high Mount Fiennes, located on Antarctica's largest island — Alexander Island — is named for Ginny Fiennes. She established and maintained 80-foot-tall radio towers in the Antarctic. In 1985, Fiennes became the first female who was invited to join the Antarctic Club, a British supper club open to individuals who have spent extended time in the Antarctic region.

Francis Peak

The 3,727-foot-tall peak on Antarctica's Adelaide Island is named after Dame Jane Francis, who is the first female director of the British Antarctic Survey, the national polar research institute of the UK. Her collection of fossils on Seymour Island helped conclude in a 2021 paper that Antarctica's abundant plant fossils indicate the continent once had a much warmer climate than it currently does.

Peden Cliffs

Peden Cliffs near Antarctica's Marie Byrd Land are proof of the labor of Irene Peden. She was the first American female scientist to both live and work in the Antarctic, where she used radio waves to study ice sheets. Peden and her team determined how very low frequency radio waves spread over long polar distances by measuring pathways in the ice. They also used varying radio wave frequencies to measure the thickness of Antarctica's ice sheets.

内容提示: 
1.下周六想和一些朋友去爬山
;2.下周六早上7:50在校门口见面，8:00 出发;
3.需要准备的东西: 运动鞋(sports shoes)、食物、饮料和太阳镜(sunglasses)。

要求: 

所给提示内容要包括在内，80词左右。开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Lisa,

I hope everything is going well with you. The summer holiday is coming soon. 

……

I'm sure we'll have a great time. Hope to see you soon.

Yours,

Mary

It was sunny last Sunday. Freddy's1 ，Mr. Lance, took him and his classmates to Jurong Bird Park. They didn't feel 2  on the way to the park because they sang a lot on the school bus. The ride 3  about 40 minutes.

At the park, Freddy and his classmates saw many different kinds of 4 . They were very beautiful. Then they went to 5  a bird show. The birds performed(表演)so6 . Freddy loved the show a lot. Before they7 ，Mr. Lance took the students to see flamingos (火烈鸟). Freddy and his classmates 8 the flamingos very much. They wanted to stay there for a long time, 9 Mr. Lance said that they had to leave.

Back on the bus, they all said it was a(n) 10  trip. Mr. Lance was happy that Freddy and his classmates enjoyed11 the bird park.

"We will have a competition (比赛). Write a composition (作文) on your12  to the bird park. The student who writes the best13  will get a free ticket (票) to the bird park!" Mr. Lance told his class, It was really 14 . Freddy wanted to go to the bird park 15 , so he would try to write a good composition.

Almost all of us have bad habits.  Here's some advice.

Write down all the reasons why you want to stop some behavior. 

●It's clever to do something else when you want to stop your bad habits. 

●Decide what you'll do to reward (奖励) yourself if you really get rid of your bad habits.

●Bad habits develop over years, so you can't get rid of them very soon. 

● You can talk to your friends, family or other people. When you talk to them, they might be able to provide some advice that you can't get from yourself.

A. Look at the reasons very often.

B. Bad habits can't be overcome (克服).

C. We all want to get rid of (摆脱) them, but we don't know proper (正确的) ways.

D. If you get angry easily, for example, you can go out for a walk.

E. Don't be afraid to ask others for advice.

F. So you should be patient (耐心的).

G. You may get useless advice from other people any time.

Colors can affect (影响) our feelings. Blue is a calm (冷静的) color. If you are feeling nervous (紧张), you can wear blue clothes or stay in a blue room. Blue is also the color of sadness. When someone says he's feeling blue, he means he is sad.

White can also make you feel calm. So you can wear white too if you are nervous. And white often means a new beginning.

Green is the color of nature. It can give us more energy when we are feeling tired.

Some colors can make you feel warm. In cold areas, people usually use warm colors in their homes, like orange and yellow. Yellow is also the color of wisdom. Some people prefer this color when they study for exams. For example, they may use yellow school things.

Red is one of the strong colors. It often makes us feel active. But this color can also mean danger. So it is often used in stop signs (停车标志) and lights.

Well, here I am in Jakarta (雅加达), Indonesia (印度尼西亚)! We arrived a few weeks ago and we'll stay for two years, so I'll have lots of time to write about my experiences — but here's my first post (帖子).

Jakarta! I love the place! It's wonderfully warm and for me, warm weather is always good news! It gets wet sometimes and you may feel uncomfortable, but I'm already used to that. At this time of year, it rains every day for about an hour. Sometimes it rains really hard! But when it stops, you get the wonderful smell of grass and clean roads after summer rain. This is quite similar (相似的) to my hometown in England.

However, some things are different. Number 1 is the traffic! They say that 10 million cars go onto the streets every day — very different from our little English town. In the morning, it can take an hour to drive five kilometers (公里)! I don't think I'll ever get used to it. What's great here are the people; they smile and they are warm, polite and friendly. They're easy to get on with. Then, the food there it's quite delicious.

Here is what I like most: what people do when they meet an older person. The older person puts their hand out and the younger person takes it and puts it on their own head. It shows respect (尊重). I think it's wonderful.

Well, that's all for today. More in a week or two.

Best wishes from Nancy!

One day a poor farmer was taking a bag of rice to town. Suddenly the bag fell off his horse on the road. He didn't know what to do about it because it was too heavy for him to carry it by himself. He only hoped that somebody would soon pass by and help him.

Just at this moment a man riding a horse came up to him. But the farmer was very disappointed (失望) when he saw who he was. It was a great man living nearby (附近). The farmer had hoped to ask another farmer or a poor man like him.

But to his surprise, the great man got off his horse as soon as he came near. He said to the farmer, "I see you need help, friend. How good it is that I'm here just at the right time." Then he took one end of the bag, the farmer took the other. They together carried and put it on the horse.

"Sir," asked the farmer, "how can I pay you? "

"It's quite easy," the great man answered with a smile, "wherever you see anyone else in trouble (有困难) do the same for him."

I like dogs very much. I think they are very clever and they can do many things for people. I have a little dog. His name is Jim. He is my best friend. Every morning, Jim goes to the store in the neighborhood (附近，邻里). The shop assistant (店员) in the store gives him two things: a sweet (糖果) and a newspaper. Jim eats the sweet and takes the newspaper in his mouth. Then he runs home.

I like reading my newspaper in bed before I get up. Jim knows that and he takes the paper to my bedroom. When I am eating my breakfast, he takes all the letters to me. After that, he goes outside to wait for the bus. When he sees the bus coming down the street, he barks (犬吠). I run out, and the bus stops for me. Jim never lets me miss (错过) the bus.