Four Most Famous Paintings in the World

Artist: Vincent Willem van Gogh

Where to see it: the Museum of Modern Art (New York, US)

Being treated for mental illness in hospital and inspired by the view from the window of his room, Van Gogh painted The Starry Night. The painting is famous for Van Gogh’s creative use of thick brushstrokes (笔画). The painting’s striking blues and yellows and the dreamy atmosphere have attracted art lovers for decades.

Artist: Edvard Munch

Where to see it: the National Museum and the Munch Museum (Oslo, Norway)

The Scream is not a single work of art. According to a British museum’s blog, there are two paintings, two pastels (彩粉画) and a number of prints, The paintings are in the National Museum and the Munch Museum, and in 2012, one of the pastels was sold for almost 120 million.

Artist: Leonardo da Vinci

Where to see it: the Louvre Museum (Paris. France)

It should come as no surprise that one of the most famous paintings in the world is a woman with a mysterious smile. It is the earliest known Italian painting to focus closely on the sitter in a half-length portrait (像) , according to the Louvre, where it was first exhibited in 1804.

Artist: Leonardo da Vinci

Where to see it: Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan, Italy)

Leonardo is the only artist to appear on this list twice. The Last Supper is about the last time Jesus had dinner with his followers. The painting is actually a huge wall painting-4. 6 meters high and 8. 8 meters wide, which makes for a memorable viewing experience.

Many of us have dreams of being our own boss and starting our own businesses, and one woman has been able to make her dreams a reality with the help of a complete change of lifestyle.

Catherine White, 46, spent her teenage years washing cars in order to make ends meet and now she owns a £20 million business empire. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, she said, “My childhood was so unstable, so I always wanted and needed to be independent. I didn’t believe working for someone else gave me that and my future would still rely on someone else.”

At 24, Catherine started her first business from a desk in her sister’s art school but she was struggling with a panic disorder at the time and would find comfort in junk food, which led her to follow an unhealthy lifestyle. After the company reached a steady point a few years later, she decided to go travelling and in the process, completely changed her outlook on life. The woman said the “dramatic change” of scenery helped her mental health significantly, and she was even able to cut junk food out of her diet — dropping her from a size 24 to a size 12 by the time she returned to the UK. And the business mogul (大亨) believes changing her lifestyle also helped her succeed in her career as she is no longer scared of making decisions or speaking in public.

This year, Catherine aims to grow one of the companies under her Freedom Services Group umbrella, Stella Insurance. She set it up in Australia for women. With each deal, the business donates $5 to a charity, and plans are underway to launch in the UK.

The now-millionaire said, “In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have thought it could become the size that it has.”

An economist, Adam Smith, famously wrote that “it is not from the benevolence (慈善)of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.” Like Smith, many economists today believe that one’s self-interest is what drives competition and growth in market economies. Yet, in an increasingly interconnected society, it is even more crucial to have collaborative skills. Thus we should encourage cooperation to better prepare children for the future.

Firstly, in the present age marked by the transformative potential of technology to facilitate interactions, cooperation is an especially prized soft skill to have. As a research study proves, soft skills such as good communication and empathy consist of qualitative indicators of outstanding employees as compared to technical skills or knowledge. In contrast, excessively (过分地)competitive and individualistic behaviour may fracture social relations in the community of co-workers and since no man is an island, even the most competent employee will not be able to pursue his goals effectively without the help of others who are able to share a common vision and understanding.

Moreover, encouraging cooperation increase a healthy sense of self-esteem in children that better prepares them for the competitive working world. Many modern societies today are consumed by an obsessive drive for success and the pressure to perform has infiltrated both classrooms and offices alike. The consequences of the fierce competitive culture include higher rates of anxiety and depression among university students and office workers, which are all counterproductive. Teamwork can help a maturing individual realise that each has his or her own unique set of abilities to bring to the table and that another person’s strengths do not in any way diminish (降低)the value of his or her talents. Thus, cooperation can affirm the self-worth of children by correcting the violent insight that winning or paper achievement is an exclusive (唯一)measure of success in life.

However, critics may claim that in a cutthroat world, adapting to competition should be of supreme priority in education and parenting. To achieve one’s deepest ambitions, such as to become a medical student, or to create a tech start-up, one has to adopt competition by actively fighting for opportunities and distinguishing oneself from others. Nevertheless, since passion can already stimulate children to work hard to fulfill their ambitions, the need to encourage competition may be at the end of the day. As much as external competition can drive people to pursue excellence, internal motivation is at least equally or arguably even more essential, and collaboration plays an instrumental role in helping one uncover one’s tendency and motivations.

In high school, I got my first job at the local hardware (五金制品) store, all thanks to Mr. Anderson, our neighbor. He offered me a chance to _________ there. My parents gave the thumbs (拇指) up, so I _________ the world of part-time jobs.

My daily tasks weren’t too _________. I tidied up shelves and helped _________ find what they needed. But working in a(n) _________ hardware store during the summer turned out to be more _________ than I thought. I had to manage between helping customers with screws and refilling shelves with goods.

At dinner, I’d _________ tales of my day, admitting that the _________ was proving more difficult than I first thought. My dad, who had his share of hands-on experience fixing cars, would laugh and share _________ from his early mechanic (机械师) days.

He’d say, “Jobs like this teach you more than just about money; they __________ your character.” Back then, I didn’t realize that my summer __________ at the hardware store was turning out to be more than just a way to __________ some extra money.

As the summer went on, I found myself gaining a __________ understanding of responsibility and the essence of hard work. The simple __________ in the store became life lessons, teaching me to appreciate and __________ the people who work hard every day to make everything go smoothly.

With about half of the vast country covered in wilderness, China is the world’s third most species-rich country. Therefore, China’s     36    (achieve) in biodiversity conservation and wilderness protection are important to the future of global biodiversity conservation.

The vital biodiversity,     37    (combine) with a large population, has led the government to reconsider its protected area system and transform some wilderness areas such as the rainforest in Hainan     38    formal national parks. The new national park system will make it more practical     39    (preserve) habitats and species. The aim is to preserve biodiversity and ensure a     40    (harmony) relation between humans and nature.

The national parks cross China’s vast ecosystems, from the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park in the south     41    the Hainan gibbon—a critically endangered species lives, the Giant Panda National Park, the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park, the Wuyi Mountain National Park to the Sanjiangyuan National Park on the Qinghai-Tibet Platau—    42    source of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Lancang River. The diversity of species and habitats under protection     43    (reflect) in these parks’ names.

The national parks are open to all. Visitors can make reservations online in advance     44    book on the spot. They should acquire a little local knowledge to get     45     (they) ready for the amazing trip and maximize their enjoyment.