WHAT'S ON

Digital art class

Tap into the unlimited inspiration of the natural materials,colors and forms to be found in Museum Victoria’s diverse collection.

Whether you are a beginner,expert or somewhere in between,this creative studio class introduces digital art technologies and skills in a relaxed environment. Participants create extraordinary artworks working individually on iPads. Exploratory approaches allow participants to enjoy visual creativity, whatever their previous experience and level of skill in sketching, painting and digital design.

Digital Art Class takes place in Melbourne Museum’s Learning Lab Studio. Each month’s class is themed to explore a different aspect of Museums Victoria’s collections.

Classes have a maximum capacity of 16 participants and is suitable for teens 16+ and adults. Simply bring your creativity – all equipment is provided.

Museum entry is not included in your Digital Art Class ticket. If you would like to explore the Melbourne Museum before the class, please ensure you book a ticket.

WORKSHOP

TUESDAY 27 APRIL,11&25 MAY,8&22 JUNE

4PM-5.30PM

Adults and teens 16+

Adult $35

Privilege $32

Member $30

Jeremy and his wife Jennifer had recently moved to South Texas because of their love for nature. At the moment, they were living in a trailer(拖车) for the house was still under repair.

On a steamy Sunday morning in May, the couple were tidying their yard. At around 10:30 a.m., Jeremy began mowing the lawn while Jennifer worked on the garden. She had just reached down to grab a weed when she saw it : a western diamondback rattlesnake, right next to her hand. Jennifer leaped up as the snake, a yard long, rose into striking position, its dusty triangular head tensed and its tail rattling. “Snake!” yelled Jennifer as she backed away.

When Jeremy heard her cry, he figured she had run into one of the harmless rat snakes that often showed up on their land. He grabbed a shovel to shoo(用嘘声驱赶) the creature away and jogged around the house to the garden. Then he heard the rattling. His wife was cornered between some shrubs and the house, the snake directly in her path.

Jeremy first tried to scoop up the rattler using the shovel, without success. Then he did what was necessary: He raised the garden tool and brought the edge down hard through the snake’s body, an inch and a half below the head to cut off its head. Then Jennifer went into the house, her heart hammering, while Jeremy decided to move the dead reptile. He bent down to pick up a stick lying next to the snake’s head so that he could take it away. But before his hand even touched the ground, the snake attacked. The snake injected venom(毒液) into his hand.

“It bit me!” he yelled in horror. The truth is, the back-from-the-dead bites aren’t uncommon. Hearing his yell, Jennifer ran back into the trailer to get the car keys and meanwhile called 911. Fortunately, they arrived at the nearest hospital in time and Jeremy received timely treatment.

Six "sacrificial pits (祭祀坑)", dating back 3,200 to 4,000 years, were newly discovered in Sanxingdui Ruins site in Guanghan, Southwest China's Sichuan province. Over 500 artifacts, including gold masks, bronze wares, ivories, jades, and textiles, were unearthed from the site.

Sanxingdui site, first found in 1929, is generally considered as one of the most important archaeological sites along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. However, large-scale excavation on the site only began in 1986, when two pits — widely believed for sacrificial ceremonies — were accidentally discovered.

Investigation in the area around No 1 and 2 pits was relaunched in October 2019, and No 3 pit was found in December 2019, according to Lei Yu, a researcher of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute who heads the ongoing excavation. Thirty-four research universities and research institutes have cooperated in this project. He said the new discoveries will help to better understand many unexplained findings in 1986.

More excavation followed in March 2020, and five more pits were found last year. And detailed research began in October. Excavation capsules with hi-tech equipment were set up in the pits to better conserve the site.

Sanxingdui site covers an area of 12 square kilometers, and its core zone of an ancient city covers nearly 4 square kilometers. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, studies of Sanxingdui site will become a crucial project in an ongoing program Archaeology China, which tries to explain the origins of Chinese civilization and how diverse cultures communicate and come together.

How to Build a Natural Swimming Pool

Whether you like to practice your dolphin dives or lounge away the day on a raft, swimming is one of summer's perfect pleasures. With a minimum of materials and without so many chemicals, you can create a cooling summer retreat in your back yard.

Though fairly common in Europe, natural swimming pools, are in their early stage in the United States. You can ask most American swimming-pool contractors to build a backyard pool.     16    . The list may include rebar（钢筋）, gunite(水泥砂浆), fiberglass, chlorine and an energy-sapping filtration system.

But in recent years, a few builders and a growing number of homeowners have learned how to build pools.     17    . They've found it's possible to construct pools that are more about building with nature and blending into the natural landscape. Natural swimming pools use gravel stone and clay in place of concrete or fiberglass, and aquatic plants instead of harmful chemicals and complicated mechanical filtering systems.     18    . They also support beneficial bacteria that consume debris and potentially harmful organisms, and give habitat to frogs, dragonflies and other water life.

    19    . A natural pool can he constructed for as little as $2,000 if you do it yourself, while conventional pools can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Natural swimming pools require no harmful chemicals, are fairly low-tech.     20    . You won’t have to drain the pool each autumn. Except for topping it off now and then, you'll fill the pool only once.

One time, I was with a bunch of strangers in India. I was giving a(n) _________ about our products when power went out. It was in a dark hall, and I was with two other workmates. We were so_________ because we had invited all these people here. It was a_________ talk. We couldn't do anything about it. Our microphone(麦克风) was gone. There was no light. Everyone was sitting in _________ , and I couldn’t help but _________, "Oh my goodness."

When the power went out, I felt like I should be in control of it, because I was _________ the event. While we were so embarrassed, we just kept _________ and talking in the dark, hoping people would stay. I felt it was really ridiculous because there were no windows and it was a dark hall.

All of a sudden, a man in the back put up his _________, and put the little light from his phone on. Then two more people, then three people, finally the whole _________ came on, and everyone was__________ their light of their phone on us. It __________ the whole hall.

And so I got out my phone and took a __________ of everyone with their light shining at me. It was the most beautiful __________—a feeling that we were all in this together. That was not anyone's fault, and we were just all here, __________ each other.

It was the most beautiful feeling of love from strangers I'd ever__________.

In one of the most amazing     36     (discover) in recent years, scientists at a European Institute     37     (find) a way to turn one chemical that causes air pollution into a resource. Carbon dioxide is a form of pollution     38     (release)from the burning of fuels such as coal, oil and wood. Transportation and electricity production are its major sources. The researchers at Rutgers University have created     39     unusual technique which changes carbon dioxide into valuable raw materials. Using cheap and plentiful metals, the process     40     (efficient) turns carbon dioxide gas into water and carbon blocks that can be used as building blocks. The process is 99% efficient, which is the main reason     41     (account) for this result. Products that can be produced by this technique include raw materials for use in clothing, chemical and     42     (medicine) industries. The scientists have also created a company     43     (develop) commercial applications for this technique. As a famous American engineer puts it, “Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting.”     44     the development and application of this new technology, people may find value in     45     once was considered to be harmful waste.