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Selamat Hari Mekanik Malaysia to all mechanics! I know times are rough but i want you to know that we appreciate you for being the heroes that you are. Thank you for always being there for me, when my car breaks down 😬
and for making sure that I'm safe on the road 🥰
Guys, reach out to your mechanics, tell them how much you appreciate them and make them feel special okay?
#CastrolHariMekanikMalaysia
#beatofmechanics
It is Day 20 of Myanmar under the military coup. This is the third coup that has happened since the British gave up power in 1948 and as a country, we are pretty worn out. Our country’s infrastructures are not designed for prolonged fighting especially in the middle of a pandemic.
We have extremely fragile banking, transportation, and medical systems in place even before the coup and pandemic. I dare not to imagine what the future holds for the country after everything is over. How do we begin again? How do we regain the trust of foreign investors? And trust that the military would not go rogue again? These are all the questions that keep us awake at night.
We do not have any answers right now — because we are living moments by moments. As a middle-class citizen in Myanmar, I have a safety net during these times. I have a roof over my head and three meals a day which the majority of the civil servants on strike are risking. These people are the real troopers and it is time we realize that real heroes are always the ones in disguise. And I question myself every night if I could give up everything in my life to fight a war?
Before February 1st, we had so many dreams simply because we could. We dare to dream of futures in which every citizen lives above the poverty lines — it is a difficult thing but at least we were working towards it. We had dreams to fight COVID-19 and open up businesses again. And the dream that our voices were being heard through the democratically elected representatives.
I grew up under a military dictatorship and moved to the States for college at 18. After spending a couple of years in the “land of the free,” I tasted freedom. There were a few restrictions on personal freedom when I moved back to Myanmar in 2017 since it was still a quasi-civilian government. On February 1st, 2021, all my personal rights were stripped away without any proper cause. How do they expect us to go back into the dark after tasting freedom? We are put under martial laws, unexpected internet cut-offs, and threats of violence.
We are simply scared when night falls. In the dark, the country is lawless. Thugs roam around, people get arrested, fires start, and small cities could be under attack by the defenders of the country.
This coup takes a big toll on our mental health. We are afraid — but we all have this little hope in us. Everyone I know is working towards achieving this little hope. All we want is to get our country back. The fragile banking, economy, and transportation. We want to fix those fragile things through our chosen representatives. We will happily accept this mess and build the country again. We want to make sure our next generation could thrive and not take democracy for granted.
TGM
- Hôm nay chúng ta cùng luyện 1 bài đọc và xem những từ vựng hay trong bài đó nha.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDREN'S PLAY
Brick by brick, six-year-old Alice is building a magical kingdom. Imagining fairy-tale turrets and fire-breathing dragons, wicked witches and gallant heroes, she's creating an enchanting world. Although she isn't aware of it, this fantasy is helping her take her first steps towards her capacity for creativity and so it will have important repercussions in her adult life.
wicked (adj): độc ác;
gallant (adj): dũng cảm
enchanting (adj): mê hoặc;
repercussion (n): kết quả
Minutes later, Alice has abandoned the kingdom in favour of playing schools with her younger brother. When she bosses him around as his 'teacher', she's practising how to regulate her emotions through pretence. Later on, when they tire of this and settle down with a board game, she's learning about the need to follow rules and take turns with a partner.
abandon (v): bỏ rơi
regulate (v): điều chỉnh
'Play in all its rich variety is one of the highest achievements of the human species,' says Dr David Whitebread from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK. 'It underpins how we develop as intellectual, problem-solving adults and is
crucial to our success as a highly adaptable species.'
achievement (n): thành quả
intellectual (n): người trí thức
Recognising the importance of play is not new: over two millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Plato extolled its virtues as a means of developing skills for adult life, and ideas about play-based learning have been developing since the 19th century.
But we live in changing times, and Whitebread is mindful of a worldwide decline in play, pointing out that over half the people in the world now live in cities. 'The opportunities for free play, which I experienced almost every day of my childhood, are becoming increasingly scarce,' he says. Outdoor play is curtailed by perceptions of risk to do with traffic, as well as parents' increased wish to protect their children from being the victims of crime, and by the emphasis on 'earlier is better' which is leading to greater competition in academic learning and schools.
International bodies like the United Nations and the European Union have begun to develop policies concerned with children's right to play, and to consider implications for leisure facilities and educational programmes. But what they often lack is the evidence to base policies on.
mindful (adj): quan tâm
scarce (adj): ít
perception (n): quan điểm
implication (n): ngụ ý
'The type of play we are interested in is child-initiated, spontaneous and unpredictable - but, as soon as you ask a five-year-old "to play", then you as the researcher have intervened,' explains Dr Sara Baker. 'And we want to know what the long-term impact of play is. It's a real challenge.' Dr Jenny Gibson agrees, pointing out that although some of the steps in the puzzle of how and why play is important have been looked at, there is very little data on the impact it has on the child's later life.
Now, thanks to the university's new Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), Whitebread, Baker, Gibson and a team of researchers hope to provide evidence on the role played by play in how a child develops.
'A strong possibility is that play supports the early development of children's self-control,' explains Baker. 'This is our ability to develop awareness of our own thinking processes - it influences how effectively we go about undertaking challenging activities.'
spontaneous (adj): bất ngờ
unpredictable (adj): không thể đoán được
impact (n): ảnh hưởng possibility (n): khả năng
self-control (n): tự kiểm soát
In a study carried out by Baker with toddlers and young pre-schoolers, she found that children with greater self-control solved problems more quickly when exploring an unfamiliar set-up requiring scientific reasoning. 'This sort of evidence makes us think that giving children the chance to play will make them more successful problem-solvers in the long run.'
If playful experiences do facilitate this aspect of development, say the researchers, it could be extremely significant for educational practices, because the ability to self-regulate has been shown to be a key predictor of academic performance.
Gibson adds: 'Playful behaviour is also an important indicator of healthy social and emotional development. In my previous research, I investigated how observing children at play can�give us important clues about their well-being and can even be useful in the diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.'
toddler (n): trẻ mới biết đi
pre-schooler (n): trẻ nhỏ tuổi
unfamiliar (adj): không quen thuộc facilitate (n): tạo điều kiện cho
diagnosis (n): chẩn đoán
autism (n): tự kỷ
Bài đọc trích từ Cambridge IELTS 14, ai chưa có bộ Cam này không?
Blade of Kingdoms (English) Android Gameplay
Asia Server Published by Game Dreamer Ltd
Size: 2.65 GB
Links:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamedreamer.sgth
https://apkpure.com/blade-of-kingdoms/com.gamedreamer.sgth
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[Blade of kingdoms] South Korea's efforts to develop game masterpieces! Powered by the UE4 engine, the dynamic and delicate picture quality is perfect, super smooth and striking rhythm and dynamic, officially surpassing all the legends in the past game history, gorgeous confrontation will shake the earth! The king is on the horizon!
[Happy COMBO, high-end operation dripping experience]
Created by Korean game makers 4:33 and ActionSquare, the emphasis is on the rhythm of the rhythm and the sensation of COMBO. The super-high-quality shocking picture makes you love it.
[Image quality peak, UE4 casting]
With the powerful expressive power of the Unreal Engine 4 engine, the details of the military commander and the scene effects are quite gorgeous. A super-quality picture that goes directly beyond the highest-end game specifications of the current generation.
[The chaos of the world, the heroes and the world want to swallow the world]
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the seemingly eternal dynasty began to decline because of the faint emperor and corrupt bureaucracy. At this time, people who grasp the chaos of the world and intend to swallow the world have appeared...
The diversified combination of interactive and exploratory functional elements and different team gain effects make every legendary famous player's ability to the fullest. At this time, you will lead the historical wheel, and in this troubled world, you will create your own dynasty.
[Imperial City Construction, Rewriting History to Create Classics]
With the high level of quality of the extraordinary ARPG games, it also adds strategic elements such as expansion of architecture and resource production based on the collection of the three famous players, so that your military commanders and imperial cities are gradually stronger at all times.
News broke that Pistons star Allen Iverson has cut off his trademark braids.
Of course, the Internet has since been abuzz with discussion of Iverson's new look.
Shaq went as far as calling it "cute" (an odd choice of words if you ask me).
So why is the media covering this story, showing video clips of Iverson's new look? Why are there some 20 blog posts on the subject, even though it happened just yesterday?
I can't answer all these questions. But I can tell you why I'm writing this particular article.
The Questions that Led to "The Answer"
Growing up in Philadelphia, my favorite sports were hockey, basketball and baseball.
The Sixers were and will always be my favorite team. As I was growing up, guys like Dr. J and Moses Malone were my heroes.
Then came Sir Charles Barkley. I definitely recognized his greatness, but never did I idolize him like Malone and Erving.
Then, those lean years for the Sixers came. If you're a Sixers fan, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Shawn Bradley and Reese Witherspoon were our "stars".
Oh wait, I have Reese confused with someone...
I have to be honest, it was tough to stick with the team through that era.
I stopped watching. Management and owners seemed to care less about putting a winning team on the court and more about the bottom line.
It was a bad period from 1992 to 1996.
I actually stopped caring, and I hate to say it, but a lot of other Philadelphians did too. If you think I'm exaggerating, ponder this fact:
The Sixers couldn't even sell out the Spectrum at the time, nor could they unload season tickets.
Then that fateful day came: the day Allen Iverson was drafted by the 76ers.
He may have not have won an NBA championship for Philly during his tenure here, but he did something no other star or player since Dr. J had done.
He reinvigorated the fan base and recaptured the love for the Sixers. He got the entire city to care again.
By his second year, Iverson had the whole town talking. It soon became popular again proclaim your fandom. Even people from other cities were wearing Iverson jerseys.
Then the celebs starting coming to Sixers games: I remember seeing Will Smith at the game after Thanksgiving Day in 1997, against the Lakers. The place was packed with a sell-out crowd, and you could feel the electricity.
AI had even put a disenchanted fan like me back into the Sixers' fold. He had made basketball in Philly exciting again.
The Questions Came with "The Answer"
Yet somewhere along the line, as the years passed, the love affair between Philly and Allen ended. Like so many other times with countless other players, the fickle fans of Philadelphia chased yet another star out of their city.
The list of such victims is as long as you can imagine.
Eric Lindros, Randall Cunningham, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, more Phillies than I care to remember...sadly, Iverson became just one more on that list.
But I still thank the man for bringing me back to Sixers basketball.
What made Iverson so special at the time was he was different, from the cornrows to the tattoos to the extra-long shorts. Iverson was always true to himself.
I'm sure the corporate types of the NBA were having nightmares, but the fact of the matter is fans from all over the world embraced Iverson.
I got so tired of hearing statements like "he's a hoodlum" based solely upon his appearance. I'll tell you as a Caucasian that Iverson having cornrows and tattoos didn't make me think he was a thug. I hated that the media thought they could speak for others.
I remember having a Iverson poster up on my wall in 1997, when I was in college. I remember my best friend coming over and, noticing the poster, sarcastically saying:
"What, is Iverson your homeboy?"
"No," I replied, "Iverson is 'The Man'."
I can't imagine the prejudice Iverson faced through his life or because of his color and image. But I know just how stupid and prejudiced some people acted towards me for being a fan of his.
What I respected the most about Iverson was that he was true to himself and was loyal to his family and friends, even when the media was tearing him apart for his loyalty. He was the real deal on and off the court.
Even when Iverson got in trouble with the police here in Philly (some story of him looking for his wife and pulling a gun on someone at a door), I stood by him and never wavered.
I saw the big picture: So many people wanted a piece of him, hangers-on and people thinking they could make a quick buck at his expense. And I hated that the media used his image agaisnt him every time something bad happened in his personal life.
