A trip to Paris is not complete without a visit to the Eiffel Tower. To get the most out of your visit, read our tips below:

Visit at Night

Riding up the Eiffel Tower at night and looking out over the streets of Paris, you’ll see why Paris is known as the “City of Light”. At street level, the spotlights on the top of the Tower zoom across t he Paris skyline, and the reflections of the Tower in the Seine are sights not to be missed.

Purchase Your Ticket in Advance Online

Bypass the long ticket lines at the Eiffel Tower by purchasing your ticket online from the Eiffel Tower website. You’ll pick a time to visit, and then select whether to print out the ticket or display it on your phone or iPad, which is a convenient option if you buy your ticket in Paris without easy access to a printer.

Don’t Bring Valuable Objects with You

Before entering the Eiffel Tower, your bags will be examined by a security officer. If an item you are carrying sets off the metal detector, the officer will take you away from the line for further inspection. We’ve stood in line for hours witnessing people who missed their chance to go up the Eiffel Tower.

Have Drinks and Snacks at the Eiffel Tower

If you’re like us, after an exciting trip to the Eiffel Tower, you’ll be ready to rest your legs and have a relaxing snack and a drink in a Parisian cafe. Across the Seine in the Trocadero area, there are many elegant cafes. The atmosphere is great, but the prices are in the stratosphere (最高水平). Actually, the perfect place for common visitors to eat and drink is on the Eiffel Tower itself.

When I was in middle school, a poisonous spider bit my right hand. I ran to my mom for help —but instead of taking me to a doctor, my mom set my hand on fire. After wrapping my hand with several layers of cotton, then soaking it in wine, she put a chopstick into my mouth, and ignited the cotton. Heat quickly penetrated the cotton and began to roast my hand. The pain made me want to scream, but the chopstick prevented it. All I could do was watch my hand burn —one minute, then two minutes— until mom put out the fire.

You see, the part of China I grew up in was a rural village, and at that time preindustrial. When I was born, my village had no cars, no telephones, no electricity, and even no running water. And we certainly didn’t have access to modern medical resources. There was no doctor my mother could bring me to see about my spider bite.

For those who study biology, you may have grasped the science behind my mom’s cure: heat deactivates(使失去活性) proteins, and a spider’s venom (毒液) is simply a form of protein. It’s cool how that folk remedy actually incorporates basic biochemistry, isn’t it? But I am a PhD student in biochemistry at Harvard, I now know that better, less painful and less risky treatments existed. So I can’t help but ask myself why I didn’t receive one at the time.

Fifteen years have passed since that incident I am happy to report that my hand is fine. But this question lingers, and I continue to be troubled by it. We have learned to edit the human genome(基因组) and unlock many secrets of how cancer progresses. We can control neuronal activity literally with the switch of a light. Each year brings more advances in biomedical research—exciting, transformative accomplishments. Yet, despite the knowledge we have accumulated, we haven’ t been so successful in distributing it to where it’s needed most. According to the World Bank, twelve percent of the world’s population lives on less than $ 2 a day. Malnutrition kills more than 3 million children annually. Three hundred million people are suffering malaria globally. All over the world, we constantly see these problems of poverty, illness, and lack of resources preventing the flow of scientific information. Life-saving knowledge we take for granted in the modern world is often unavailable in these underdeveloped regions. And in far too many places, people are still essentially trying to cure a spider bite with fire.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, our family was no different from so many others. My parents got married after my father came back when the war ended. Both of my parents were struggling with the hard economic realities of the time. But somehow, they found time to cherish those cultural values that shaped our everyday life.

In our daily life, we celebrated together with our friends or family members every birthday, every graduation, and all holidays with music and dancing, and typical foods. When we visited our family in the countryside—a trip that took about two hours in a car, with five children fighting as to who would get a window or the front seat —we would break into song, and somehow the trip would turn into one full of happiness and fun. We would sing not only interesting children’s songs but also beautiful love songs — songs about the love of our country though we didn’t understand the meaning of the words many times.

I came to Philadelphia for the first time in 1973 to do a residency(实习) in family medicine. I remember the many hours of work. I was facing issues of life and death and suffering the clearly social unfairness and issues of poverty and race. These were all worsened by my feeling of cultural differences.

An important turning point in my life happened one Saturday night when I attended a concert of Puerto Rico singer and composer Antonio Caban Vale. The music showed my familiar rhythms, and the words spoke to my heart. I had found a space to express, celebrate, and share my culture in Philadelphia. Therefore, I believe diversity is seen as an advantage and not as a disadvantage. As a Puerto Rican, I am a mixture of races and I believe in my strength because of this.

Are you preparing for a big test? If so, you may want to go to play some basketball in between hitting the books. Doctors are starting to find more and more information that suggests a connection between exercise and brain development. Judy Cameron, a scientist at Oregon Health and Science University, studies brain development. According to her research, it seems that exercise can make blood vessels (血管), including those in the brain, stronger and more fully developed. Dr. Cameron is sure that this allows people who exercise to think better. As she says, “While we already know that exercise is good for the heart, exercise can actually cause physical changes in the brain.”

The effects of exercise on brain development can even be seen in babies. Babies who do activities that require a lot of movement show greater brain development than babies who are less physically active. Even a little movement can show big results. Margaret Barnes, a scientist, also believes in the importance of exercise. She thinks that many learning disabilities that children have in primary school or high school can result from a lack of movement as babies. Babies need movement that encourages and excites their five senses. They need to set up a connection between motion and memory. In this way, as they get older, children will begin to connect physical activity with higher learning,” says Margaret.

Older people can develop their brains as well. Cornell University studied a group of seniors who have a short-term memory increase of up to 40 percent after exercising just three hours a week. The exercise does not have to be very difficult, but it does have to increase the heart rate. Also, just like the motion for babies, exercise for older people should not be too simple. Learning some new skills or actions, such as with yoga or taichi helps to open up memory paths in the brain that may not have been used for a long time. For most people, any type of physical activity that increases the heart rate is helpful. The main aim is to increase the brain’s flow of blood. And your brain can benefit from as little as two to three hours of exercise a week.

How do you stay true to yourself when you’re surrounded by friends and your family that have an opinion on everything you do? It’s not easy!     16     Here are 4 tips which can help you live a dynamic life.

    17    

Stay true to yourself by listening to the only opinions that really matter—your own and those from people who believe in and encourage you. You know yourself better than anybody else.

Don’t fear people.

    18     The reason why most people don’t take risks is the fear of what others might think of them. If you want to live the life you truly deserve, you must give up the need to be liked by everybody.

Value yourself and your choices.

When you do, others will too. Own the choices you make in your life.     19     When you believe in yourself, others will believe in you too. Show confidence in your choices and ignore others’ opinions.

Focus on appreciation.

No matter what the circumstances are, there is always something to be grateful for. All people will ask, “What am I grateful for? How can I improve my situation and use the tough time to inspire others?”     20    

These steps, if applied, will help you transform your peace of mind, lifestyle, etc.