Young Artists to Watch This Year

New York-based Afro-Latina artist Tafy LaPlanche first discovered her love for portraits (肖像) at 13 when she was hospitalized and drew people who passed by her room. Since then, LaPlanche has explored narratives (叙事) in her portraits, setting women up against bright backgrounds, and adding fruit to create a unique story in every painting.

Thirty-year-old Chinese artist Yan Xinyue is one of the artists to watch at this year’s Frieze New York. Xinyue’s work looks at how everyday life is impacted by rapid urban development through her imaginative paintings. Constantly touching the line between fantasy and reality, Xinyue’s work explores society and the individual.

The Nigcrian-Japanese artist’s layered (分层的) approach to sculpture caught the eyes of collectors during Art Basel Miami Beach design week. The deeply emotional pieces painted throughout her residency at Versailles have a “Sanrio” quality, which makes them seem both distant and friendly.

Also featured at this year’s Frieze New York is New Zealand-born, Los Angeles-based artist Emma McIntyre. The self-aware abstract (抽象的) painter is sure to turn heads with her presentations of memory, weather, and the environment. McIntyre’s colorful style makes the viewer feel like they’re slipping into a different dimension and makes it difficult to turn away.

Until she was ten years old. Debby Tewa lived with her grandmother in a three-room stone house in a remote area of the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. Like other families around them, Debby and her grandmother never had running water or a telephone, or electrical power. “I didn’t crave electricity then,” Debby recalls. “Because I didn’t know that I didn’t have it.”

Debby was in fourth grade and living with her parents off the reservation when she first had electricity at home. “I liked being able to study at night and watch TV,” she remembers. She started thinking about how she could help bring electricity to places like her grandmother’s community.

After graduating from Sherman Indian High School in California, Debby returned to the Hopi Reservation, where she took a job helping other young people find summer work. Debby’s big opportunity came when The Hopi Foundation, created by Hopi people to improve life on the reservation, started an organization called Native Sun. The idea was to bring energy to remote Hopi communities in a way that would fit in with their traditional way of life. Solar energy seemed like a perfect solution.

To spread the word about solar energy, The Hopi Foundation recruited (招募) several members who could speak the Hopi language. One of them was Debby Tewa. Part of Debby’s job was to teach people about solar energy. She set up demonstration solar power systems in three villages. In the next few years, Debby installed (安装) more than 300 solar panels on Hopi houses, and people started calling her “Solar Debby.”

For people like Debby’s aunt and her aunt’s 90-year-old neighbor, who had never had electricity before, solar power has made a life-changing difference. They no longer have to use a kerosene (煤油) lamp. But best of all, they know that they have control over their own clectricity. “When you get your own solar clectrical system, it’s yours.” Debby explains. “You’re not dependent on a power company. With solar energy, we can be independent.”

Researchers find the benefits of free time depend on our beliefs about it. A new Rutgers-led study finds that contentment depends, at least in part, on believing that leisure activities are not a waste of time.

According to the study, thinking of leisure as wasteful prevents us from enjoying our leisure pursuits — especially purely pleasure activities such as hanging out with friends, watching TV and just relaxing. More goal-driven leisure activities, like exercise and meditation (冥想), tend to feel productive and so are still enjoyed whether or not people see value in their leisure.

In one part of the study, the researchers asked 302 people to recall what they did for Halloween, how much they enjoyed the holiday and their attitudes toward leisure in general. Those who believed leisure was wasteful enjoyed their Halloween less, especially when they engaged in activities like going to a party compared to other activities that might be fun but might also fulfill (履行) responsibilities, like trick or treating with their kids.

In another part of the study, participants read news articles meant to convince the reader that leisure is wasteful, unproductive or productive. Next they watched the “Best Funny Cat Videos 2019”and were asked how much they enjoyed it. Those who believed that leisure was wasteful or unproductive didn’t enjoy watching the video s as much as those who thought leisure time was productive and important.

The results show that those who do not enjoy pleasure-driven activities are more depressed, anxious and stressed. The findings suggest happiness may be driven not only by whether people engage in leisure, but whether they find value in what they are doing.

“Attitudes can be difficult to change, so it may not be possible to shift beliefs about leisure overnight,” said lead author Gabriela Tonietto. “For those who think of leisure as wasteful, focusing on the productive ways that individual leisure activities can serve their long-term goals can help.”

Geography plays a critical role in shaping civilizations, and this is particularly true of ancient Greece.

The Greek peninsula (半岛)has two distinctive geographic features that influenced the development of Greek society. First, Greece has easy access to water. This easy access to water meant that the Greek people might naturally become explorers and traders. Second, Greece’s mountainous geography led to the development of the city-state. The high mountain s made it very difficult for people to travel or communicate. Therefore, each city-state developed independently and, often, very differently from one another. Athens and Sparta are two good examples of city-states that contrasted greatly with each other.

The city-state of Athens was the birthplace of many significant ideas. Ancient Athenians were a thoughtful people who enjoyed the systematic study of subjects such as science, philosophy, and history, to name a few. Athenians placed a heavy emphasis on the arts, architecture, and literature. Athenians also enjoyed a democratic(民主的)form of government in which some of the people shared power.

Life in Sparta was vastly different from life in Athens. The rulers requested citizens to become hardened soldiers so that they could fight off potential enemies or slave revolts(奴隶起义). By age seven，Spartan boys were taken from their families and underwent severe military training. Boys lived away from their families until the age of 30 even after they more married. Men were expected to be ready to serve in the army until they were 60 years old. The devotion of Spartans to developing a military state left litte time for the arts or literature.

The differences between Athens and Sparta eventually led to war between the two city-states. Sparta and Athens fought on and off for decades because no single city-state was strong enough to defeat the other.

With war came death and misfortune. But war cannot kill ideas. Despite the eventual submission of Athens, Athenian thought spread throughout the region. After temporary setbacks. these ideas only became more widely accepted and developed with the passing centuries.

Reasons Why You Need to Read More Historical Fiction

Historical fiction refers to fictional stories set in true historical contexts. This mixes the lines between reality and imagination, because it is both factual and fictional.     16     Here’s why.

It is a common belief that victors write history. Indeed, it is always victors who have had the last say in the documentation of facts. But through stories，which demand imagination and innovation, it is possible to rewrite histories from the perspective of those on the losing side. This allows unheard voices to get recognition, and unknown stories to be told.     17    

Because historical fiction doesn’t exist in a completely made-up world and is written instead in definite places and times, it has a context.     18    . It provides information about local as well as global histories, allowing you to better understand why certain people, communities and countries are the way they are.

Among various fiction types, historical fiction stands out as a highly informative category. This is due to the extensive and precise research it demands, creating an impressive experience that transports you to different eras. This, in turn, allows you to get a sense of a life and times so vastly different from yours.

    20     By providing alternative perspectives to a known reality, it offers alternative ways of looking at people. Postcolonial (后殖民主义的) historical fiction, for instance, has long worked to challenge the idea of imperial (帝国的) superiority. Slave fiction challenges the idea of racism.

The Martin County High School boys’ basketball team was in the final quarter of a nail-biter of a game at a regional tournament in Pikeville, Ky., when live music ______ started playing for them.

They knew it wasn’t their school’s ______ 23-member band —which was unable to ______ the game because of a bus driver shortage. The music was coming from the nearly 100-member band of a rival (对手的) school, Pike County Central High School. The score was ______ in the tough game when the music filled the air.

Jason Johnson, Pike Central Band director, said some audience members and cheerleaders started encouraging his band to ______ the playing field and perform for Martin County Cardinals. “I was ______, well, what should I do?” Johnson recalled. The score was 64-64.

The band members, though, seemed ______ to replace Martin County’s band. “It was the students who really stepped up and ______, “said Johnson, who ultimately ______ his concerns and decided, “Let’s just do it.”

As they started their first song, the Cardinals’ ______ skyrocketed (飞涨，猛涨). “We just wanted to ______ them in a time when they needed encouragement most.” said one band member.

______ the Cardinals secured a ______ in overtime. Players said the ______ from the band helped them come out on top. Now, the team is ______ for the state tournament, marking the school’s first time competing at that level in 40 years.

Homegrown nature documentary “Snow Leopards and Friends” is the first Chinese factual film about snow leopards (雪豹).

It     36     (document) how three herdsmen (牧民) photographers from Xizang, who may be the people     37     (close) to snow leopards in the world, track the trail (踪迹) of snow leopards and finally become protectors of the species.     38     addition to being about snow leopards, the film also explores a new way of coexistence between human beings and wild animals. The documentary     39     (screen) during the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, which kicked off on June 9, and won great praise.

It took director Xi Zhinong and the photographers six years     40     (shoot) the film on the snow-covered highland,     41     the severe environment is tough not only for snow leopards, but also for other species like brown bears and antelopes.

Many of the movie’s viewers were touched by the power and     42     (strong) of life shown in the film. The documentary presents the most primitive forces of nature through its visual wonders and     43     (act) creatures. It also caused viewers to reflect on wildlife and conservation of nature.     44     movie viewer said that the film is also a course on     45     (respect) life and nature and everyone needs to learn this lesson.