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Come tonight, I'll be cheering-and probably singing-as heartily as any other England fan, as our team take on Germany in the Euros knockout round at Wembley Stadium. You can just imagine the scene in pubs around the country-all those fans finding their inner Skinner and Baddiel and belting out Football's Coming Home .
No doubt the Government thinks this will lift the spirits of the nation. But there are plenty whose spirits remain deflated . For if you go to church, there's no chance of raising the rafters there; you must be as quiet as a church mouse. Masks must be worn and singing is absolutely banned at religious ceremonies under the Covid rules.
The regulations around singing are baffling. Recently I went to a stunning premiere of new work by James MacMillan, performed by The Sixteen choir at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mayfair's Farm Street. It lasted well over an hour with powerful voices filling the nave. But a Mass of 40 minutes with a small congregation whose lungs have none of the force of The Sixteen? Only the quiet murmurings of prayer behind a mask are allowed and no hymns. Yet if that congregation went to the nearest pub, they could belt out Ave Maria while watching football on the television.
These are not the only vagaries of the system. There are four sets of Covid regulations for our four different districts (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). If I worship in England, I am heavily restricted and cannot sing a note. In the other districts, I can offer praise to the holiest in the height so long as it is uttered behind a mask.
Whatever the rules say, we are told that there is a scientific rationale for it. And yet that scientific rationale leads to different responses. In other words, Covid regulations are a reminder that science is not a fail-proof method of thinking after all. It is always open to interpretation.
Yesterday, MP Theresa Villiers told the new Health Secretary Sajid Javid it was time to allow church congregations to gather together to sing. His answer was disappointingly non-committal; he hoped it would happen as soon as possible. What would be far more desirable from the newly appointed Javid would be more evenhanded fair play. It would go a long way to restoring faith in how this Government is handling the pandemic as we make one last push towards normality. After all-to use language the Government and football fans understand-when it comes to Covid, we're all on the same team, aren't we?
[A] Playing football at Wembley Stadium.
[B] Drinking beer to celebrate the victory.
[C] Cheering and singing for the England team.
[D] Greeting Skinner and Baddiel at the stadium.
[A] awkward
[B] confused
[C] low in spirit
[D] lost in thought
[A] not favored generally
[B] varied and non-uniform
[C] flexible and orderly
[D] efficient and effective
[A] there is always a scientific rationale for them
[B] science is not scientific at all in the real life
[C] science is subject to change in different cases
[D] science is not always a perfect way of thinking
[A] he was unsure when church congregations could sing together
[B] he insisted that church congregations should be prohibited from singing together
[C] he was desperately eager to see church congregations perform in front of audience
[D] he held an indifferent attitude towards how church congregations should sing
Ivana Lim worked out something early in her career as a trader of luxury and cult sneakers. As a woman in the traditionally male-dominated space, customers expected her to be a soft touch .
“It's a really‘guy dominated’space,” says Lim, 25 and a business degree graduate. “A lot of the people who run the blogs and websites are guys. When I started selling there were not many girls in the game. Because I am a girl people think I am a bit softer, they could push me a little more.”
Lim, who lives in Melbourne's east, began selling sneakers for pocket money on Facebook about five years ago while she was studying and working part-time in retail. These days, her main income is from sneakers she sells through the global platform StockX, which recently launched an Australian office, including a local team who check the authenticity of products.
Like many collectors, Lim, who has about 150 pairs (50 to keep and 100 to sell), has sneakers she has never worn, and confesses to buying the occasional pair she doesn't like because they will trade well, like an investment property for (someone else's) feet. Last week, she made one of her bigger sales: a pair of Yeezy sneakers, designed by rapper Kanye West for Adidas, for $1,750 that she bought on the resale market a couple of years ago for $1,000.
But profits from sneakers can be had at all ends of the market. A report released this week by StockX found traders in popular Nike Air Max 1s have commonly made a 50 per cent return on investment since early last year, while Nike Air Jordan 4 investors would have made double that over the same period.
Staying on top of trends, including runway and celebrity, is the key to success as a trader, Lim says. Over the past five years, she has witnessed noticeable growth in the number of female sneaker influencers on Instagram and TikTok, where the movement is thriving with Gen-Z.
Pop culture is also driving interest. Last year's documentary about Michael Jordan, The Last Dance , drove demand for 80s styles. Celebrities including Rihanna and Beyonce have helped raise the profile-and prices-of cult styles, including the wedge-heeled Isabel Marant Bekett. And the Duchess of Cambridge's recent appearances in Veja sneakers has led to a spike in searches for the brand.
But the sneaker world wasn't always so welcoming of women. In an article for British Vogue last November, Jessica Lawrence wrote women were “virtually invisible” in the space compared to men, who seemed to receive the best colourways and attention from the big brands.
[A] someone who is impressive
[B] someone who is sensitive
[C] someone who is easy to deal with
[D] someone who is easy to be moved
[A] graduated with a science degree
[B] is a professional sneaker designer
[C] sold sneakers through StockX at first
[D] runs blogs and websites to sell sneakers
[A] she tries to break through her own limitations
[B] she enjoys the deals to sell what she doesn't like
[C] she is willing to send them to her families and friends
[D] she can profit from selling different sneakers
[A] people have access to buy a pair of Yeezy sneakers signed by Kanye West
[B] people can now easily buy a pair of Yeezy sneakers at the price of $1,000
[C] Nike Air Jordan 4 traders can receive a 100% return on investment
[D] The price of Nike Air Jordan 4 is higher than that of Nike Air Max 1s
[A] have played a significant role in the sneaker world
[B] have generally failed to realize their full potential
[C] have not been as equally valued as their male counterparts
[D] have inborn disadvantages over their male peers
As the Los Angeles City Council debated Tuesday how to handle homeless encampments, Council member Paul Krekorian offered a scenario he wanted to avoid: a police officer approaching a homeless disabled veteran on a sidewalk and saying, “You need to go into a shelter tonight. I know it's midnight. But you need to pick up and go to a shelter, or you're going to jail.” Krekorian asked his colleagues: “Is that the city we want?”
Shortly after, the council voted 12 to 3 in favor of a proposal from Krekorian and five other members instructing the city administrative officer to come up with a strategy to deploy a massive citywide street outreach effort to offer homeless individuals shelter or housing before prohibiting sitting, sleeping and lying in different areas of the city. But it also asked the city attorney to come up with a new anti-camping ordinance.
“Before unhoused people are restricted from occupying a public space, they should be shown more care and offered suitable alternatives...and that should be our North Star,” said Council member Mark Ridley-Thomas, who helped craft the motion that passed.
Unfortunately, all the council has at the moment is the ordinance that the city attorney drafted for the council to consider. The proposal clearly lays out a list of spaces where homeless people will be prohibited from camping. So far, there's no balance between compassion and compliance that the council members themselves vowed to seek.
Some parts of the proposal are commonsense restrictions-no camping in or near a driveway, entrance or exit lane of traffic or next to a fire hydrant. By contrast, the ordinance would also prohibit tents from blocking sidewalks and set rules against camping within 500 feet of a school, day-care center, public park or library. Also prohibited would be camping within 1,000 feet of any relatively new housing development or shelter for homeless people. There's also a proposed restriction on camping in an underpass or near it.
And it would allow the City Council to designate various places around the city off-limits to homeless people if there has been a public health or safety issue with encampments in those areas. That's alarmingly vague.
Councilman Mike Bonin said he agreed with some of the restrictions but added (before voting against it): “We do a lot to define where people cannot be. We don't do much to define where people can be.”
There's no question that homeless encampments across Los Angeles are an unacceptable way for people to live, and their presence has strained the nerves of residents and businesses. But at its root, homelessness is about poverty-even in cases when homeless individuals experience mental illness or suffer from substance abuse.
[A] homeless people occupy business areas
[B] homeless people sleep or camp on the streets
[C] the police drive homeless people away at midnight
[D] the police order homeless people to clean up streets
[A] Offering homeless individuals jobs after banning camping.
[B] Ensuring the homeless to be sheltered before banning them from camping.
[C] Stepping up efforts to reduce the homeless population around Los Angeles.
[D] Building more temporary shelters in public areas for homeless individuals.
[A] No camping next to a fire hydrant.
[B] No camping in an underpass or near it.
[C] No camping within 500 feet of a school.
[D] No camping within 1,000 feet of a new shelter.
[A] Because the government failed to restrict homeless people from camping.
[B] Because it was improper for us to ban homeless individuals from camping.
[C] Because the restrictions concerned little about where the homeless could be.
[D] Because homeless individuals had the right to camp wherever they liked.
[A] Laziness.
[B] Illness.
[C] Policy.
[D] Poverty.
One of the toughest summertime decisions for any kid comes when the ice cream truck pulls up: SpongeBob SquarePants, Bugs Bunny or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?
That modern dilemma is evidence that we still like our ice cream treats shaped into recognizable figures. But current options at the ice cream truck pale in comparison to a mostly forgotten heyday of molded and shaped ice cream in America. During the latter half of the 19th century into the first half of the 20th, it was common for people to enjoy frozen summertime treats in all sorts of shapes: turkeys, flower bouquets, melons, even George Washington's head.
While it is impossible to pinpoint the first instance of ice cream being molded into a shape, recipe books describe ice creams made to look like fruits, vegetables, meats and cheeses in mid-18th century Europe. In addition to being molded into various shapes, the ice creams were flavored with ingredients to match the coloring of the objects they were meant to imitate (an ice cream made to look like an artichoke could be flavored with pistachio for its green hue, for example). If additional enhancements were needed, the creations were painted with food coloring.
Hannah Spiegelman, an ice cream historian and founder of the blog A Sweet History, traces the practice of molding frozen cream back to Medieval and Renaissance traditions of shaping sweets. “It all stems from the aristocracy's desire for novelty and spectacle with a meal,” she says, “and having a visual hunger be satisfied as well.”
The results were so realistic that hosts would use them to play practical jokes on their dinner guests. “You would put out these ice creams in the shape of fruits or asparagus, as a kind of joke to the person you were serving,” says Jeri Quinzio, author of Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making , “and there are stories about people being so surprised, you know,‘I thought that was a peach, and it turned out to be ice cream.’”
It was in the mid-19th century when confectioners, caterers, restaurants, home cooks and even wholesale suppliers popularized the molds. At the time, ice cream was a centerpiece of social gathering. Ice cream gardens and shops were popular, especially among women, as social norms didn't permit them to frequent bars like their male counterparts. The growing Prohibition Movement (anti-alcohol movement in the US from 1920 to 1933) allowed ice cream treats, especially ice cream sodas, to gain an even more prominent place in American life, serving as an alternative to alcohol, a trend that lasted through Prohibition.
[A] To choose what type of cartoon toys.
[B] To choose what kind of ice cream trucks.
[C] To choose to play what type of games.
[D] To choose to buy what kind of ice creams.
[A] become whiter
[B] get weaker
[C] are inferior
[D] are more diverse
[A] Bugs Bunny
[B] flower bouquets
[C] fruits and vegetables
[D] Ninja Turtle
[A] She thinks molded ice cream dates back to the Middle Ages.
[B] She founded a blog named A Sweet History on the Internet.
[C] She recited stories about molded ice cream surprising people.
[D] She made an ice cream molded into George Washington's head.
[A] witnessed the peak of ice cream industry
[B] reflected the social influence on ice cream
[C] marked the beginning of molded ice cream
[D] symbolized the prominent status of women