Are you looking for a museum off the beaten path? Try these places.

Bata Shoe Museum

The Bata Shoe Museum opened in 1995 on the premise(前提)that "footwear is a source of delight and reflection of human history". The space was designed by Raymond Moriyama. Permanent collection includes 12000 pairs of shoes and artifacts. Notable shoes are those belonging to Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, Elton John and Madonna.

Campbell House

Campbell House was built in 1822 by Sir William Campbell-chief justice of Upper Canada from 1825～1829. Campbell lived in the house for 12 years before he died. The house was occupied by various other families and used for various other uses (vinegar factory, glassworks). In 1972 in order to preserve the building, the Advocate's Society moved from its location on Adelaide St to its current home at Queensland University. The building was restored to be as historically accurate as possible.

Gibson House Museum

The Gibson House Museum is an example of Georgian architecture. It was built in the mid 19th century as a farm house for David Gibson-a-member of the Legislative Assembly. After being used as a boarding house for many years, the building interior was restored. The museum has a hands-on "discovery gallery" with interactive(互动的)games and exhibits. On weekends workshops are offered on cooking, desserts, breads and preserves.

Black Creek Pioneer Village

Black Creek is a recreation of a Victorian Farm with buildings moved and reconstructed from around Ontario. The result is a 1860s Ontario village. Exhibits demonstrate how domestic tasks were completed before modern technology. Activities include spinning, baking, and a history lesson.

Historical interpreters dress in the clothing of the period and answer visitors' questions. Favorite destinations in the village include the farm, doctor's house, and the mill. At the historic brewery, beer is brewed using all natural ingredients. The restaurant serves meals using locally sourced ingredients. On site are also areas for concerts and gift shop. Black Creek is operated by the Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA).

My grandson Jason was no where to be seen-normal behavior for a ten-year-old. I sat down on a chair and noticed the ladder(梯子)lying on the ground under the big tree beside the driveway. It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out Jason was up in that tree and had accidentally kicked the ladder away. He wasn't about to come down, and he wouldn't let me know he was trapped. I could put up the ladder and rescue him, but then I recalled an event in my youth that I now, more than 50 years later, suddenly understood.

Raymond Cutting was a white haired gentleman, who entered my life when I was Jason's age. My parents said I was free to wander around the village except for the abandoned quarry(采石场)at the foot of a local mountain, but it was an interesting place: full of milky green water and rusty machinery hiding in the bushes. One afternoon I went there with some older boys, who later abandoned me when the sun was low. I tried for an                    hour to find my way, climbing over fallen trees but got caught in the bushes. Panicked, I cried.

Stopping to catch my breath, I heard someone whistle(吹口哨). "Hello,"said Cutting. "Out for a walk?" I nodded, "I've just been out exploring the old quarry, but I've got to get home now." "If you'd wait a minute, I'll walk back to town with you after I finish this willow whistle."

So we walked back down the path together, and the willow whistle was mine, sounding loud and clear. It suddenly dawned on me what an unusual act of kindness that was-Mr. Cutting had heard me crying, but he didn't play the role of a rescuer. Instead, he whistled so that I could find him.

I got up from the chair and drove my truck right under the big tree, where Jason was. I picked up the ladder and carried it around to the back of the house. When I returned, Jason was sitting in my chair.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Exploring, "Jason said. "I am a Cub Scout, you know.”

"Yes, "I smiled and said, "I know.”

You know that squeak(吱吱声)you hear from your pet mouse or the pest mouse? It turns out that it is 'not really a squeak, but a sweet song by male mice to attract females. This is the conclusion reached by biologist Dustin Penn and his team at the Veterinary University of Vienna.

The scientists who have been conducting a series of studies on house mice for a number of years, began by recording the high-pitched(声调高的)sounds male mice made the moment they sensed a female mouse around. What they discovered when they played them back to females was that the ladies could tell between those made by their brothers and the ones made by unrelated males. Just like human, they tended to ignore the ones made by their brothers.

The researchers then took the experiment one step further and analyzed the squeaks. To their surprise they discovered that while the squeaks sounded similar, they each had a different "tune". The biggest surprise of all was that the mice could even learn tunes from each other.

However, not all scientists agree with this finding. Some like Kurt Hammer, a scientist at the German Primate Center believe that the test sample was too small to make such a conclusion.

The researcher's next plan to test if the females care about the quality of the “song”. In some bird species, males that can sing the most complex tunes seem to get the most attention.

So why do we care whether mice can sing or not? Clearly, since they are being used as laboratory testers, it will help us make advances in human speech disorders like the ones found in people suffering from autism(自闭症).

As the commercialization of 5G accelerates in China, more companies are exploring what smart cities will look like in the 5G times.

US chip giant Intel Corp, for instance, is teaming up with partners such as China Unicom to build a 5G smart park in Nanjing, to offer a peek into the future of such smart cities.

The future smart city must be data-centric (以数据为中心) and intelligently interconnected. So how to better capture, transmit, store and analyze data will be the center of the future. Intel’s advantages can be found in its hardware and software solutions which can meet demands of multiple scenarios (多情景分析). The company will be devoted to opening cooperation, creating an innovative ecology and working with partners to create an intelligent future.

The company’s project, the Future Technological Smart Center in Nanjing, aims to gather a wide range of domestic and foreign partners around artificial intelligence, internet of things, 5G, cloud computing and other technological innovations to explore what future cities will look like. Intel said the Nanjing project is designed to build industry benchmarks, implement excellent solutions, and offer experience for the construction of smart cities and parks in the Yangtze River Delta region and even the entire country.

A Deloitte report said that China has already included the smart city initiative in its national strategy and made significant investments in these projects.

Both first-tier cities and small and medium-sized cities are home to smart city projects. The nation has formed many smart city groups across the eastern and southern coastal areas of China, Deloitte said.

Deloitte senior partner Ma Jionglin said in an earlier interview that China is one of the most active countries in the world in building smart cities. With advances in urban management and the increasing emphasis on the work and lifestyle of people, smart cities will be entering a new stage of development.