The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10028
211-535-7710 www.metmuseu.org
Entrances
Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
Hours
Open 7 days a week
Sunday-Thursday 10:00-17:30
Friday and Saturday 10:00-21:00
Closed Thanksgiving Day, December 25, January 1, and the first Monday in May.
Admission
$25.00 for adults, a discount of 30% for students above 12, includes the Main Building and the Cloisters (回廊) on the same day; free for children under 12.
Free with Admission
All special exhibitions, as well as films, lectures, guided tours, concerts, gallery talks, and family/ children's programs are free with admission. Ask about today's activities at the Great Hall Information Desk.
The Cloisters Museum and Gardens
The Cloisters Museum and Gardens is a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of Europe in the Middle Ages. The extensive collection consists of masterworks in sculpture, colored glass, and precious objects from Europe dating from about the 9th to the 15th century.
Hours: Open 7 days a week.
March-October 10:00-17:15
November-February 10:00-16:45
Closed Thanksgiving Day, December 25, and January 1.
To the untrained eye, a pingpong ball is just a pingpong ball. To a Beverly Cleary fan, it's two motorcycle helmets for mice.
Ever since I read Cleary's series about Ralph, the motorcycle-riding mouse, I've never looked at a pingpong ball—or the world—the same way. It's amazing to think that it's been more than forty years since I checked out The Mouse and the Motorcycle from my school library in Northport, and yet that one particular image is as clear to me as ever.
And why shouldn't it be? It's perfect.
How I wanted a mouse of my own to ride a toy motorcycle around my house! Thanks to Cleary's genius, a talking mouse friend seemed indeed possible.
While much of children's literature tried to explain the world from the point of view of a wise and gentle adult, Cleary created characters who saw the world as only children can. With great interest, I read every book that bore Beverly Cleary's name. She seemed like a friend who understood me in ways I didn't yet understand myself.
I've written eight children's books and have always kept Beverly's sense of wonder in mind. I don't remember at exactly what age I decided I wanted to write books, but I know that by second or third grade, my teacher arranged a writing project that allowed us to focus on whatever we wanted. My best friend picked dolphins; I chose children's authors, with a large amount of my project being about who else? Beverly Cleary!
I told that story recently to a school group. One of the students said, "That's fantastic! You did your project on children's authors and then you became one!"
"Yes," I said. "And my best friend who did her project on dolphins—became a dolphin!"
"Really?" the students said together in astonishment.
And that perfectly sums up why I love writing for children: the belief that fantastic, magical things can happen. Best friends can become dolphins; mice can ride toy motorcycles and become our friends.
That's what Beverly Cleary taught me. In the hands of a gifted storyteller, anything is possible... and so funny.
Gaelic had been the major culture in Scotland. But many forces tried to weaken its power. The final straw came in 1609, when some laws required Highland Scottish leaders to send their children to English-speaking schools. Naturally, the culture continued to weaken through the 20th century. Though Gaelic still existed in some rural areas, a lack of jobs meant young people in Gaelic areas were leaving for English-speaking cities.
Iain Noble was a wealthy businessman from Germany. He quickly fell in love with Gaelic culture when he moved to Scotland. So he set up the college of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in 1973 on the Isle of Skye. Today, it has more than 1,000 students and is officially the National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture. It is where the revival of Scotland's Gaelic culture started.
Of course, the college teaches the language and culture. But the secret to making such impressive cultural achievements is giving language learners skills in industries like media and business. The skills allow students to create local jobs and help make the area known to tourists.
Noble's wife Lady Lucilla said his eagerness to revive the culture was clear. After spending much money setting up the college, Noble had to go to great lengths to find worthwhile teachers. Sometimes he tied hard to find people who had left Skye, "Iain would invite those whose families were from Skye but who were working in Aberdeen, in London and further afield," said Lucilla.
"Now I've seen some cool youngsters who are very proud of their Gaelic, and they are fascinated by the culture," she said.
One such youngster is 15-year-old Emily Macdonald. She not only speaks Gaelic fluently with her friends, but is excited to do so.
"I feel like we're even more wanting to speak Gaelic, just to keep it alive, because it is really important to our nation," she said. "And to have this special language that we can speak to each other in is quite special."
Scientists say they've witnessed a never-before-seen type of reproduction in organic robots created in the lab using frog cells.
The discovery involves a xenobot—a simple, "programmable" organism that is created by bringing stem cells together in a lab. "You can think about this like using the different cells as building blocks like you would build with LEGO," Douglas Blackiston, a co-author of the study says. The xenobots are made of cells taken from an African frog. The cells aren't genetically changed at all, but simply combined in different arrangements to produce the xenobots, says Blackiston. What the xenobots did—self-replication—is new in living organisms, says Michael Levin, a professor of biology at Tufts. It does happen at the molecular (分子的) level, but "we are not aware of any organism that reproduces in this way," he says.
Xenobots are collections of living cells and have no brain or digestive system. But in a real sense they can be programmed—to corral other cells, as in this study, or eventually to do other things. That's why the researchers think of them as tiny organic robots. "The distinction between a robot and an organism is not nearly as sharp as... we used to think it was," Levin says. "These creatures, they have properties of both."
The xenobots fuel themselves by using tiny hair-like structures. They have a tendency to spin, which "turns out to be pretty good for collecting piles of things," such as other cells, Blackiston says. So the team used an artificial intelligence-driven computer simulation (模拟图像) to see how they might control the xenobots into shapes that would be even better at piling things up. The researchers hope that one day these xenobots could be programmed to perform useful functions such as finding cancer cells in the human body or trapping harmful microplastics in the ocean.
But that concerns some scientists. Nita Farahany is a professor who studies the ethics involved in new technologies and was not part of the xenobot research. "Any time we try to improve life by means of tech... we should recognize its potential to go really poor," she said.
Making eye contact isn't always easy. It can feel uncomfortable at times, especially when you haven't yet built a relationship with the other person.
Eye contact helps others remember what you said. When you share eye contact during a conversation, you'll remember more of what the other person said. The reverse (相反的情况) is true as well. Research found that during a video call, participants remembered more of the information from the call when there was more eye contact included. The researchers found that a direct gaze for 30% of the conversation is all it takes for participants to significantly increase what they remembered from the call.
Being self-aware means that you are aware of what's currently happening with your body. And eye contact can help with that, according to research from the University of Paris. Researchers found that we're more focused on our own bodies and behavior when other people look at us.
Eye contact creates attraction. Eye contact attraction is a real thing. Research showed that humans find other people more attractive when they make eye contact. Smiling can also help create attraction. Workmates and leaders will be more inclined (想) to build relationships with you when you look them in the eye. On the other hand, no eye contact can show a lack of confidence.
A. So how to make eye contact naturally?
B. Eye contact can help with self-awareness.
C. But why is eye contact important in the first place?
D. Other people will also remember more of what you said.
E. This is why eye contact plays a huge role in learning and discussing.
F. While this is important for personal relationships, it also matters at work.
G. And, people don't even need a huge amount of eye contact to get this benefit.
My younger brother has a strange relationship with birthdays. One year, he sent me an unexpected birthday card, which turned out to be a double 1 as it arrived four months after my birthday.
"You should just 2 when you feel like it, and not be restricted (限制) to a specific day," he said.
"So basically, that means it doesn't 3 when my birthday is. You just get to celebrate the day I was 4 any time you like, even though I 5 to celebrate it on the actual date?" I asked.
"You've always been a little over the top about 6," he said.
"Fine. But I always remember yours," I said. I would 7 forget the day he was born.
The first year my daughter was away at college, he missed her birthday. By then, we both knew her 8 had many great attributes (特征) except remembering birthdays.
Her birthday is in September. In January of the following year, she 9 a letter. It was from her uncle. No card. Just some 10 and a note that said, "Buy whatever you want."
She later told me the special gift from her uncle 11 made her happy. The idea of surprising her when she was least 12 it was amazing.
And it continued. Once he 13 us with several stylish hats and it was no one's birthday. He had described our 14 to the saleswoman and she had 15 what she thought each of us might like. And she was right; we all liked our gifts.
So this year I was a bit 16 when he called me the day after my birthday. Was his 17 attitude towards birthdays disappearing? Had he been dragged (拖) down by societal expectations to behave 18?
"I'm 19 I missed your birthday yesterday," he said.
"You're 20 to do that. It's what makes you my brother," I replied.
Pablo Picasso is one of the most famous (artist) in the world, full name is really a long one, in fact a mixture of many names. When Picasso was born, he was weak that the nurse left him on the side table and (simple) began to attend his mother. It was his uncle, a doctor, that (save) him.
It is believed that Picasso was born an artist. His father Ruiz, artist and art professor, gave him a formal education in art. By the time he was 13 years old, his father had given up (paint) himself because he felt his son had already surpassed (超越) him. Pablo Picasso was a (produce) artist but many of his works were stolen. Towards the later years of his life, he began to write poetry and plays, (leave) almost 300 poems and even a couple of plays.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号∧，并在其下而写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线划掉\。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下而写出修改后的词。
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。
Our school held an activity on last Sunday because it was "Earth Day". Hundred of students took part in it. I am one of them. First, the headmaster gave us a speech about how to protect earth—our home. Then we went hiking, this was about 15km. Although the hiking was very tired, none were left behind. It is no doubt that all of us like the activity. In the future, they will try hardly to protect the environment. We hope we will take part in more activity about caring about the globe.
