With beautiful canals, top art museums, and cycling culture I Amsterdam is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. As the capital and most populous city in the Netherlands, it’s often referred to as the “Venice of the North” because of its wide system of bridges and canals. Here are some key points for you to keep in mind while planning a trip there.

Must-See Attractions

Most visitors begin their Amsterdam adventure in the Old Centre, which is full of traditional architecture, shopping centers, and coffee shops. The top museums to visit are the Rijks museum, the Ann Frank House, and the Van Gogh Museum. As a World Heritage Site, the Canal Ring was originally built to attract wealthy home owners and an area for celebrity spotting and nightlife today.

Transportation

Travelers should be aware that Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the busiest airports in the world. This airport is located about 15 kilometers southwest of the city center. You can catch a train from Schiphol to Amsterdam Central Station, which has many connecting routes. It’s not a good idea to drive a car to the city center. Cycling is popular here, and it’s easy to rent a cheap bike around the town. Amsterdam has a flat terrain (地形) and it’s a good choice to explore the city on foot.

Money-saving Tips

• Look for accommodations in Amsterdam’s South District where rates are generally cheaper than in the city center.

• Buy train tickets at the machine instead of the counter to save a bit of money.

• Instead of hiring a tour guide, jump onto a canal boat. They’re inexpensive and will give you a unique point of view of the city.

When Wu Jia, then aged 23, returned from Canada to work for her father’s Hangzhou-based Zoland Animation (动画) in 2007, she found Chinese animation productions were just-so-so. Back then, Chinese animation shown at overseas events, received a poor response.

But things soon changed following a boom in China’s movie and television industries. By 2011, China developed into one of the world’s largest animation producers, with animation and cartoon products reaching a record of 260,000 minutes.

However, that figure has witnessed a fall in recent years. The latest statistics show that China made only 244 animated productions totaling 83,600 minutes in 2017. But Wu says: “Chinese animators are changing from quantity to quality and Chinese animators are now producing more quality works” at the 14th China International Cartoon & Animation Festival.

Wu, now the chairman of Zoland Animation, is among those who are part of China’s rapidly growing animation industry. She says the company has so far displayed more than 8,000 hours of animated content to 93 countries and regions, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, South Korea and Russia.

Magic Eye, one of Zoland’s most popular animated works, which was sold to just Singapore in 2006, is now reaching the screens of nearly 80 countries and regions worldwide. The 500-episode animated series about an alien boy’s adventures on Earth also has a sequel (续集) series Magic Eye is Back, which has 104 episodes. Thanks to Magic Eye’s popularity, the sequel quickly arouses interest in overseas markets and is being displayed in 38 countries and regions.

Speaking about how to succeed abroad, Wu says: “First, the works should be good. And, you need an experienced team who knows international markets.”

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A new library in Tianjin—Tianjin Binhai Public Library—recently became an online hit. The Daily Mail described it as “breathtaking”. One look at the library and you’ll see why. With its very futuristic design and walls loaded with books, it’s the dream library of every book lover.

But there’s a burning question lying in the back of our minds: with physical bookstores closing down one by one, what makes libraries survive the wave of digitalization? Do we really still need libraries as we’ve got the internet in our hands?

Reporter Ian Clark has the answer. “Libraries are not declining in importance. People are simply changing the way they use them,” he wrote on the Guardian website. Since not everyone can afford a smartphone, a tablet or an internet connection, and not everyone knows how to search the Internet correctly and efficiently, it’s public libraries that make sure that these resources are available to a larger group of people.

And one of the pitfalls that come with online materials is that they’re not always reliable. “Google doesn’t tell you what you’re not getting, so people need to evaluate (评估) the quality of what they see on their screens,” Sarah Pritchard, dean of libraries at Northwestern University, told Northwestern Research Magazine. And libraries are usually where that “evaluation” happens.

But we still need the physical space that a library provides. It’s something that’s called a “third place”, according to the Seattle Times. This is a place in which we can fully concentrate on our study and work without easily getting distracted. Compared to other “third places” like coffee shops, libraries have a “non-commercial nature” that allows you to relax completely.

“Nobody is trying to sell you anything in the library. There is no pressure to buy and there is no judgment of your choices,” Anne Goulding, a professor at Victoria University in New Zealand, wrote on the Newsroom website.

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.

“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just a bunch of individual components (零件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. “The added difficulty with such a project is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to make them all on our own,” he said.

They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, and then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.

Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect- scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications (应用). “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”

You’re growing up. That means you’re probably experiencing lots of changes, all at once. Your body is changing. It might even seem as if your entire self is changing. It can be confusing and even scary.     16    . And it’s good!

Growing up means that you can do more, learn more, and start to make your mark on the world. In order for that to happen, your body produces chemicals called hormones that help both body and mind grow. Hormone levels change constantly, rising and falling.

    17    . But it’s partly to blame for intense emotions, surprising reactions, and mood swings.

Because of the way your brain develops, it is somewhat ruled by emotion now and through your teen years. As a result, growing up can seem like an emotional roller coaster!

    18    

Take care of yourself. If you eat right, sleep enough, and get good exercise, your brain will be much more able to deal with the stress.

    19    . When you feel your moods swinging or you’re upset, or confused, some quiet time will allow you to gather your thoughts and get calmer.

Practice relaxing your body and take a deep breath when you wake up and when you go to bed.     20    . Plus, when stuff happens during the day, you’ll be able to calm yourself quickly with a deep breath or two before you react. Your body is changing.

Not long before, my daughter’s shoes were scratched (划破) with a knife. She burst into tears, so I took them to the shoemaker’s.

The young apprentice (学徒) glanced at the______and said, “Nothing I can do except______the upper.” His master looked at them and said, “If you______me, I will add more scratches on both the shoes.”

I was______and asked why. He explained, “As if the openings were made______for a special style.” I didn’t quite understand him,______I decided to leave the shoes.

Two days later I dropped by from work to______the shoes, only to find more scratches on each shoe, all the openings were patched (缝补) by soft red leather, the stitches (脚针) were twisted with the appearance looking more______and interesting than ever. I couldn’t help praising the master’s______.

Another time, my sister’s blouse was torn, leaving a large opening. My wife checked it______and then said, “Let me take it home and______it.

Three days later, seeing it again, I was greatly______at the torn part. It took on a look of a snowman made of flowery rags. I sighed with______“It’s amazing!”

“I was______by that shoemaker. Patches are supposed to be______, but a skilled craftsman (工匠) can make it take on a kind of perfection.” replied my wife.

Her______influenced me greatly: Perfection is______to achieve in life. Patches appear in the______of injury, disability or disease. Since you can’t change the existence of wound, you should not______people’s sympathy by showing the wound, which is meaningless. Just sew the wound by patches and provide a most beautiful flower on it, that is the______of life.