Subject: “Museums of the World” Travel plan

Here I' m sending you the travel plan for some of the interesting and unusual museums of our "Museums of the World" tour with the full schedule next week.

The Museum of Bad Art (MOB A) (Boston, the U.S.A) shows what it describes as “art too bad to be ignored”. The museum hopes to bring the worst of art to the widest possible audience. As part of the visit, we'll be shown some truly awful portraits, landscapes and sculptures.

The Devils Rope Museum (in McLean, Texas) and The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum (in La Crosse, Kansas) both claim to have the best barbed wire collections, telling the story of the wire's role in the development of America. We'll be visiting both of them.

The Washington Banana Museum (Auburn, Washington, the U.S.A.) contains 4,000 objects related to the history of what the museum describes as “the world’s most perfect fruit". During a guided tour around the museum, we'll learn all sorts of interesting things, such as the fact that the bananas were introduced to the U. S. A. in 1878 in the same exhibition where Alexander Graham Bell's telephone was displayed, and that banana is now the U. S. 's number one selling fruit.

The Hair Museum (Avanos, Turkey) is located in a cave in Cappadocia, in Central Anatolia. It contains 16,000 samples of people’s hair. You'll be offered a chance to add your own hair to the collection. Later in the year, the museum manager will select 10 donors to attend a pottery workshop.

Recently it is said that a dog has received an award for picking up a number of beer cans, coffee cups, and other pieces of trash, helping clean up her neighborhood in the process. It's unclear if Daisy is aware of her service, but her help has not gone unnoticed, by any means.

In fact, it is reported that this nine-year-old dog has picked up more than 5,000 pieces of rubbish. Daisy has been collecting rubbish for the last eight years, at least two times a day. Coming from the city of Worcester in the United Kingdom, Daisy has become the first dog to receive an honor from the mayor(市长). Unlike other dogs, Daisy prefers sniffing around for beer cans, among other things. She carries them back home to her owner, Judy Owens, who then takes her pet's offerings and recycles them.

“I wish Daisy understood how special she was and the award just marks what a special little dog she is,” Judy said. “She started picking up rubbish when she was around a beer can and I think she discovered it by accident.”

“One day she just sniffed out a beer can, then began picking it up," she continued. “She gets very attached to rubbish, and she must think it's some kind of treasure.”

Daisy has become something of a celebrity in her town, often known as the dog that helps get rid of all the rubbish. Then, the mayor invited Judy and Daisy to come to his office. “When we arrived he told us that Daisy would be receiving the award because he wanted to make people more conscious of protecting the environment and to thank her for her contributions over the years,” Judy said. “It was such a surprise... Daisy thought this was great and went to sit on the mayor's chair with a beer can in her mouth. Everyone thought she was funny and started laughing.”

From the very beginning of life, even before the birth of a child, parents start making plans as to what their child will become in the future. They start the research for good schools as they consider that schools are the only learning centers. But is this the truth? Which is more important for learning, school or home? This problem needs a balanced approach.

A child spends about seven hours in a school daily. This time is important as he learns friendship, communications with others, team spirit and a sense of sharing. As far as knowledge is concerned, a child learns more than enough of it in school. But is that the guarantee of his learning? Today in a class there are nearly about 40-50 students. The classrooms are increasingly becoming impersonal so that it is very difficult for a teacher to give personal attention to each and every student. The intelligent students remain in the good books of the teachers while weak students are generally disregarded so they become the prey of bad companies. Schools and teachers are so troubled by the pressure of syllabus (教学大纲) that they are not able to do any remedial teaching.

Moreover, nowadays schools teach very less good moral values in their students. They are more concerned with academic studies, results, competitions rather than ethics.

So now here lies the duty of parents. It is the parents’ responsibility to actually show children where they are right and where and why they are wrong. If they have difficulties, parents have to solve them. If they have to finish a lesson left incomplete at school, parents should make them do it. Parents are responsible for the overall development of a child.

As online technology advanced, web sites, podcasts, and blogs became powerful sources of information that allowed everyone to stay updated on any subject imaginable. Although all of these information sources remain popular, there's a new king of media and it's online video.

There are many reasons why online video has increased suddenly over the past few years. The first is increasing data speeds. It wasn't until recently that people everywhere had fast enough online connections to enjoy high-definition （高清）videos. However, once faster Internet speeds were provided, people quickly fell in love with online videos. The second reason why online videos have become so popular is convenience. Watching videos requires less effort and energy than reading through paragraphs of text after a day of hard work. Videos also seem to provide more satisfaction, as people prefer to connect with people they can hear and see, as against the words of some author whom they know little about.

Advancing digital technology has also helped, as it has made sharing videos easier and more convenient than ever. High-powered smartphones and more affordable video cameras allow anyone to easily record an event or give a few comments about a scorching topic that is on their mind. Meanwhile, sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and Ustream allow users to quickly upload their videos and share them with friends, family, and the general public if they wish.

Last but not least, advertising. Companies have made it easy for people to get rewarded for creating popular videos. Some people with large enough fan bases can even make a very wealthy living by uploading a few videos every week.

The future also looks bright for companies who post online video ads. In fact, new software allows them to watch viewers' emotional reactions to their content through the users' webcams （网络摄像机）.They'll be able to see whether users laugh, cry, or feel bored during videos, so they can adjust their ads. This should prove extremely helpful, as there will be millions of videos competing for viewers' attention.