Art Institute of Chicago

Overview

Explore the Art Institute, Chicago’s world-class art museum and the second-largest in the United States, with this Fast Pass Admission ticket. Situated in Grant Park, the museum is listed as one of Chicago’s must-see sights owing to the incredible range of impressionist, post-impressionist, modern and contemporary works.

What to Expect

Start your visit any time during the museum’s regular hours of operation. Once inside, download the new Art Institute of Chicago mobile app, using the museum’s free Wi-Fi. Explore the Art Institute’s unsurpassed collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces (杰作).

Explore JourneyMaker, a new digital tool that allows your family to create its very own tour of the museum, located at the Ryan Learning Center.

Then head over to the museum’s celebrated Modern Wing, a quick stroll (溜达) across an eye-catching bridge from the main building. Inside you’ll have the chance to admire one of the world’s premier collections of modern and contemporary art, including celebrated creators like Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Marc Chagall and Gerhard Richter.

Continue your visit with a look at the museum’s range of European and American decorative art items, Asian art and a collection of architectural, graphic (书画的) and industrial design.

Cancellation (取消) Policy

The admission is 30 dollars. If you cancel at least 7 days in advance of the scheduled departure, there is no cancellation fee. If you cancel between 3 and 6 days in advance of the scheduled departure, there is a 50 percent cancellation fee. If you cancel within 2 days of the scheduled departure, there is a 100 percent cancellation fee.

I used to be bad at playing basketball. Gym class in middle school was the worst. I was always the last kid to be picked. The only reason why I was even picked at all was that I was good friends with the best player in the class.

In the eighth grade, I finally decided I was sick and tired of being a scrub. I dedicated that entire summer to getting better. I spent every day playing basketball, practicing for hours in the gym. I remember playing pick-up games with one group of kids until they all eventually got tired and left. Then a whole different group of kids would come in and I’d play with them too.

After months of this devoted routine, something amazing started to happen. People began passing me the ball. They trusted me to take the shot. They even started picking me first to be on their team! The last game of organized basketball I ever played was the culmination of all my hard work. Against a team far more talented than mine, I scored 27 points. We still lost, but I walked away from that game feeling like a total champion.

What I learned from those years of rejection and waiting to be picked was that life really isn’t any different. Most of us spend our lives waiting for opportunities to land in our laps. What’s worse, sometimes we feel entitled to them. And when things don’t go our way—when no one picks us—we find something or someone to blame.

I could have complained when no one wanted me on their team. I could have convinced myself that I deserved to be picked. But I didn’t. Instead, I took matters into my own hands and put in the work to become better.

Should we have our fate controlled by a few people who in most cases don’t even know us? I certainly don’t think so. We have a choice. We can choose to create something meaningful, to move forward with our ideas.

Pop music superstar Rihanna is teaming up with one of the world’s leading bike-sharing firms, China-based ofo(共享单车), to give girls in the African country of Malawi a chance of education and the convenience of bikes.

In a new “1 KM Action” partnership announced on Monday, the singer’s Clara Lionel Foundation will fund scholarships for girls in Malawi through the foundation’s Global Scholarship Program, while ofo will donate bikes to those students to relieve transportation challenges in getting to class.

“I’m so happy about the Clara Lionel Foundation’s new partnership with ofo because it will help so many young people around the world receive a quality education, and also help the young girls of Malawi get to school safely,” Rihanna, a Barbadian singer, songwriter and actress, said in a statement. She stressed the importance of ofo’s contribution in “cutting down those very long walk they make to and from school all alone,” Rihanna said.

Before starting ofo and becoming its chief executive officer(总裁), Dai Wei said he had worked as a volunteer teacher for one year in one of China’s most impoverished(贫困的) regions.

“We believe in unlocking every corner in the world with equal access to education as well as with our bike-sharing scheme,” Dai added.

This announcement is part of a five-year plan that will also provide scholarships for girls to help with their higher education pursuits(追求).

Earlier this year Rihanna, a global ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education, visited Malawi where only eight percent of the 4.6 million students in primary school go on to a secondary one.

The Chinese firm ofo is also helping the Foundation to offer scholarships to students from China, Brazil, Barbados, Cuba, Haiti, Grenada, Guyana and Jamaica who are accepted to colleges or universities in the US. The company is particularly interested in students focused on the environment and sustainability(持续性).

Recently, a computer virus called “WannaCry” hit about 100 countries worldwide. With computer security agencies taking responsive measures, the attack has weakened. Actually, the virus is not totally new — it used the EternalBlue exploit developed by the United States’ National Security Agency that was stolen by hackers.

The incident teaches us at least two lessons. First, there is nothing absolutely safe in the Internet age. Even if developed by law enforcers, a powerful computer attack tool is at risk of being acquired by lawbreakers.

In early 2016, there was a debate between the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and some Internet companies over the question of whether electronic device producers should leave a “backdoor” for legal enforcers to better strike at terrorists. Now we have the answer — No.

No one can ensure that such a “backdoor” will never be used by lawbreakers and the best choice is not to open such a door in the first place.

Second, it is important for computer users to purchase and install genuine (正版) software. If a computer user updates his or her windows operating system regularly, he or she is relatively safe. A patch (补丁) released Microsoft in March had already filled in a security loophole in the Windows operating system that could be made use of by the new virus. However, only genuine software could be updated. Computers that use pirated (盗版) copies of the windows operating system have no choice; they will be exposed to the risk.

Fortunately, with the protection over copyrights (版权) strengthened, increasingly more people are acquiring the habit of using genuine products. Hopefully, next time the virus will not spread so rampantly (猖獗).