Christmas is on the way: 4 gift ideas from Stanford's bookshop.

Shipping Areas Tea Towel, £9.99 (enjoying a 10% discount)

We are a nation of sailors who rely on weather forecasts to keep safe. This book will help you understand the shipping forecast, with the 30 shipping areas mentioned in the National Weather Service. So, the next time you turn on the radio and hear about high winds in Cromarty, Forth and Tyne, you'll know that they mean strong winds in these areas. You'll be wiser to make some preparations.

The Writer's Map, £30 (enjoying a 5% discount)

The Writer's Map combines maps and literature. Many writers use maps to plan out their stories.  This book collects maps that appear in fiction and non-fiction. JRR Tolkien, a fantasy novel writer, said, "The fact that many books choose to contain one map is evidence to the importance of maps. I wisely started with a map and made the story fit."

Brutalist London Map, £8 (enjoying a 5% discount)

You either love it or you hate it. Said to have been coined (创造) in the late 1950s from the French raw concrete, brutalism (野兽派艺术) was a big influence on the 1960s London's finest examples of brutalism. Brutalism maps of other cities, including Paris, Washington and Sydney, are also available.

The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book, £14.99 (enjoying a 10% discount)

The national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey, has been mapping the Great Britain for many years. The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book includes word puzzles and various mathematical challenges. It includes maps containing rare geographical characteristics or places of special cultural interest. It will make you look more closely at every map and test your map-reading knowledge.

I grew up in an age when I had to wait for almost everything. Classic movies were shown on television. And, of course, one had to be home at the appointed time to watch them. "The Wizard of Oz" for example, was broadcast only once a year. The steadily heightening sense of expectation as the broadcast date approached was almost too much for my 10-year-old heart to bear.

And then there was money. The banks did business on weekdays only. They opened at 9 and closed at 4.

You needed money but didn't make it to the bank on time? Well, check under the sofa cushions or borrow from family or friends.

Such was the world as recently as the 1970s. Everything seemed to operate on a strict clock, and the words "on demand" had no meaning. This was the way things worked, and it was all we knew.

And then, seemingly overnight, everything changed. It suddenly seemed as if I never had to be anywhere at an appointed time, because everything was available all the time. The changed times, on the other hand, have encouraged nothing less than a constant sense of urgency, which is ironic (讽刺性的): If we can have anything we want anytime we want it, shouldn't we be less hurried? The answer is that an "on demand" lifestyle has created an appetite for speed: If I can have something this fast, why can't I have it faster? Recently I read a book that has"FSTR"(get it?) written across its cover. One of its metaphors (隐喻)was telling: First there was the fresh-squeezed lemon; then there was the lemonade mix; now we just buy the lemonade by the gallon (加仑).

And so, on this hot day, I went to the supermarket and bought three fresh lemons. I squeezed them into a tall glass. Then I filled the glass with cold water, ice, and a teaspoon of sugar. Fresh lemonade in hand, I went outside, sat in my lawn chair, and looked out over the river.

Yes, time passes quickly. But, now and then, it doesn't have to.

Teenagers may not know the name Kevin Mayer, but he's about to play an outsize role in their lives.

The longtime leader of the Walt Disney Company just became the CEO of TikTok (抖音). In doing so, Mayer will take charge of an app whose influence over a lot of people has made it one of the most influential, although controversial(有争议的), platforms of the era.

Mayer has been with Disney since the early 1990s—minus a period as the CEO of Playboy.com—and he's helped to acquire some important brands in film industry. More recently he's become known for his key role in the launch of the all-important Disney Plus streaming service.

Mayer was thought to be among the most obvious potential successors to outgoing CEO Bob Iger, but he was passed over for Bob Chapek, who ran Disney's theme parks unit.

Mayer's departure from Disney may not be a surprise, but his move to TikTok is unexpected. The app, owned by China-based ByteDance, is at a crucial moment in its short history—seeing enormous growth during the pandemic lockdowns but facing increasing criticism over its data-collection practices. As it rises in influence, the company will surely face a growing drumbeat of intense media and strict monitoring.

In contrast, Disney has never been more delicate, with the coronavirus pandemic having broken nearly all of its core business units, from the close down of theme parks and movie theaters to ongoing interruptions to its production schedules. Mayer, whatever else is motivating the move, is hopping(跳) to another position at a proper time.

In the age of online shopping and e-readers, devoted staff and customers keep the doors of Auntie's Bookstore open for 40 years. "When you're in Portland, you go to Powell's Books. When you're in Seattle, you go to Elliott Bay. When you're in Spokane, you go to Auntie's," said John Waite, the owner of the bookstore. "I can't imagine Spokane without Auntie's," he said. "A lot of people can't imagine Spokane without Auntie's, either," Waite said.

Turning visitors into regular customers is important to the store's success. Auntie's markets itself as a destination. A half-dozen book clubs meet there. Most weeks, the store hosts two to four author readings or literary events. "We want people to come down, hang out and experience the feel of having a book in their hands," Waite said.

Eager readers not only want to read books, but want to discuss them, said Kerry Halls, the store manager. Auntie's offers them that chance, she said.

"You can't go to Amazon and talk to someone about your favorite novel, or discuss what you think of the latest Stephen King's book compared with Pet Sematary," she said.

To compete with the convenience of shopping online, Auntie's tries to predict what books will become a trend. They store these books in advance. But Waite doesn't sugarcoat the realities of selling books in the era of Amazon and other online retailers(零售店). "Even the big guys can't make it," he said, noting physical retailers are striving nationally. As the United States' oldest national bookstore chain, Barnes&Noble has to constantly reorganize to stop the declining sales.

At Auntie's, regular customers are very important to its survival and development. Sales of children's and young adults' books are increasing in recent years. Waite said. "For a long time, older customers have kept bookstores alive," he said. "Now, it's starting to attract younger people." Another reason of Auntie's longevity (长寿) is Northwest culture, which Waite said encourages new ways of thinking and the diversity of ideas. "I think it's a great book town," Waite said. "People are enthusiastic about reading."

Why Do Autumn Leaves Change Color?

We all enjoy the colors of autumn leaves. To answer this question, we first have to understand what leaves are and what they do.

Leaves are nature's food factories. Plants take water from the earth through their roots and take carbon dioxide from the air. Plants use the sugar as food for energy. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis(光合作用). Chlorophyll(叶绿素) helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll gives plants their green color.

As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. Trees will rest and shut down their food-making factories. There is no chlorophyll in the leaves. As the bright green fades away(逐渐消失), we begin to see yellow and orange colors. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

The bright reds we see in leaves are made mostly in autumn. In some trees, like maples(枫树), sugar is kept in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from the wastes which are left in the leaves. All these things make the beautiful colors we enjoy in autumn.

A. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all the time.

B. Why do people prefer autumn leaves to summer leaves?

C. Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into a kind of sugar.

D. Have you ever wondered how and why an autumn leaf changes color?

E. Yellow and orange colors attract many of us in autumn.

F. This is how trees "know" when to begin getting ready for winter.

G. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves to turn the sugar into a red color.

Capturing the lines of love

I've never been the kind of person to say, "it's the thought that counts" when it comes to gifts. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my kids gave me a present that blew me away.

For years now, I've been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I1our kids. But to me, this house is much more than just a 2. In the front room, there's a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines, 3 the progress of my children's growth. Every growth 4 is marked in grey, with each child's name and the date they were 5.

Most people I know have been featured on a wall like this, or at least had a wall like it in their home.

Of all the objects and all the 6, it's this one thing in a home that's the 7 to leave behind. Friends I know have returned home after work only to 8 their wall of heights has been 9 painted over. A new paint job wouldn't normally be greeted by 10, but erasing that evidence of motherhood 11 more than it should. Our kids grow in so many ways, but the wall is 12 evidence of their progress, right there for everyone to 13.

Over the years, I've talked about how much I would 14 leaving that wall behind when I moved, even though the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped 15. So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do something about it. They hired a professional photographer whose  16 is about capturing(捕捉) the 17 things in life, from clear lakes and skies to ballgowns (舞会礼服). Over several hours, she took photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints, and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph all those 18of memories perfectly. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image(影像),19 them into a beautiful history of my family.

Three weeks later, my children's wonderful gift made its way to me – a life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that20 entire lifetimes of love and growth.

As the name suggests, Sichuan Hot Pot was born in Sichuan Province, is known for its (prefer) for spicy food. This mouth-burning and tongue—numbing hot pot has been gaining a large amount of attention in recent years in foreign countries.

The (universe) accepted theory traces the Sichuan Hot Pot back to early 20 century when the port workers and fishermen who worked and lived along the Yangtze River could not afford (eat) the regular cuts of meat so they figured out a way to cook cheap meats and offal(内脏) boiling them in a pot of extremely spicy soup. The use of spicy soup first (intend) to cover the taste from the offal. However, after some (adjust) of fragrant spices, this one pot meal became a popular dish in Sichuan region.

After years of continuous development, eating Sichuan Hot Pot today (be) no longer what the poor like. Offal still remains as classic hot pot ingredients, high quality meats and seafood ingredients are also common on the menu. The modern hot pot has been shaped into a complex meal that starts with sliced meat, offal, and seafood, (follow) by vegetables and ends with noodles

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：

1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Dear Joe,

Thanks for you mail. I'm glad to know you are interesting in the Winter Camp. It will be held from January 27 to February 13, during that time you will get the wonderful experience. You will have chances to improve your speaking English in the courses provided. Also, activities arranged for you to spend weekends together with your host family, so you can learn American English in authentic situations. Beside, a trip to the local Disneyland will certain add to the fun of the camp.

Join in the camp and you will know more about American culture and life. You are sure to benefit to it.

Yours truly,

Li Hua

注意：1）词数100左右;

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。