【推荐3】Some of the best museums across China are putting their exhibitions online in VR format for free. While stuck at home due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, why not take a detailed online tour at museums that you would not otherwise have time for?

The Palace Museum

The Palace Museum is known as the Forbidden City. Visitors can browse all the buildings of the Palace Museums. More than 400,000 imperial artifacts have been digitized online, which can definitely help you gain knowledge and immerse yourself in a cultural atmosphere.

The websites: https://pano.dpm.org.cn/gugong_app_pc/index.html

https://www.dpm.org.cn/shuziduobaoge/html

Shanghai Museum

Shanghai Museum is a large and famous museum, which collects over 120,000 precious artistic relics from more than 5,000 years ago to the Qing Dynasty. The marvelous bronze, ceramics, paintings and calligraphies offer a visual feast for the eyes, and also provide a good chance for people to learn the profound Chinese history and culture.

If you are into ancient Chinese arts and crafts, then the online Shanghai Museum is definitely worth your time.

The website: https://www.shanghaimuseum.net/treasure/show/show

Mogao Caves

The Mogao Caves, also known as Thousand Buddha Grottoes, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located near Dunhuang in northwest China's Gansu Province.

Now visitors can directly browse dozens of classic caves and appreciate the murals(壁画) by cave rooms through the “Digital Dunhuang”, the website of the Mogao Caves. The development of “Digital Dunhuang” not only shocks visitors in a visual sense but also “moves” the Mogan Grottoes outside.

The website:   https://www.e-dunhuang.com/index.html

【推荐2】Art is everywhere. Any public space has been carefully designed by an artistic mind to be both functional and beautiful. Why, then, is art still so widely considered to be “the easy subject” at school, insignificant to wider society, a waste of time and effort?

Art can connect culture with commercial products in a way that not many other things can; art generates money and holds significant emotional and cultural value within communities. When people attend a concert, they are paying for music, sure, maybe even hotel rooms, meals, and transport, but they also gain an incredible experience, a unique atmosphere and a memory that will go through the rest of their lives. People don’t just want material things anymore, they want to experience life — the arts are a perfect crossover (交迭) between culture and commerce.

Furthermore, the arts can bring communities together, reducing loneliness and making people feel safer. Social bonds are created among individuals when they share their arts experiences through reflection and discussion, and their expression of common values through artworks in honour of events significant to a nation’s experience.

The arts clearly have a pretty positive impact on physical and psychological health. It is found that people who frequent cultural places or participate in artistic events are more likely to gain good health compared to those who do not; more engagement with the arts is linked to a higher level of people’s well-being. The Royal Society of Public Health discovered that music and art, when used in hospitals, help to improve the conditions of patients by reducing stress, anxiety and blood pressure.

Children who are involved with the arts make greater achievements in their education: those engaged with drama have greater literary ability while others taking part in musical practice exhibit greater skills in math and languages. Kids with preference for the arts have a greater chance of finding employment in the future. Participating in the arts is essential for child development; encouraging children to express themselves in constructive ways could help to form healthy emotional responses in later life.

Vital to human life, art is celebrated and used by nations across the world for various purposes. Life without art would be boring and dead still, for art is a part of what makes us human.

【推荐3】I was reading these interesting stories behind a group of great logos (标识) in the world. Personally Nike is my favorite one — it's so simple. And I liked the stories behind them, which made me forget all other things. McDonald's, Apple, and Mercedes Benz own great logos as well, and they are among my favorites.

Nike

In the Greek myth, Nike is the goddess of victory and the source of inspiration for soldiers. This logo represents (代表) the wing in the famous statue (雕塑) of the Greek goddess. Nike's logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971 for $ 35, and was registered as a trademark in 1995.

McDonald's

The logo was designed in 1962 by Jim Schindler to resemble the arch-shaped (拱形的) signs on the side of the company's then walk-up hamburger stand. Later on, the two golden arches were combined together to form the M. The McDonald's name was added to the logo in 1968.

Apple

There are different stories behind Apple's logo. The first logo was a reference to the religious story of Adam and Eve, in which the apple represented the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. One year later, the second logo was designed in 1977 by Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, and it described Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. This logo didn't stay long. One year later it was replaced almost immediately by graphic designer Rob Janoff's “rainbow apple”, a rainbow-colored silhouette (轮廓) of an apple with a bite taken out of it. And then the rainbow-colored apple was replaced (代替) by the one-colored logo in 1998. It has not been changed so far.

Mercedes Benz

The Mercedes Benz logo, which was originally created by Gottlieb Daimler in 1909, consists of a simple description of a three-pointed star that represents its rule of the land, the sea and the air. The company was founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. Mercedes is the name of Maybach's elder daughter, while Benz came as a result of a combination with Benz, Cie and DMG in 1926.

【推荐1】Clothing rental (租赁) is a hot new industry and businessmen are trying their best to attract shoppers. This past summer alone, Urban Outfitters, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and American Eagle have all announced rental subscription services — a sure sign of changing times.

But is renting fashion actually more environmentally-friendly than buying it, and if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline researched this question in an article for Elle, and she concluded that it’s not as green as it seems.

Take shipping, for example, which has to go two ways if an item is rented — receiving and returning. Cline writes that consumer transportation has the second largest footprint of our fashion habit after producing.

She writes, “An item ordered online and then returned can send out 20 kilograms of carbon each way, and increases to 50 kilograms for rush shipping. However, the carbon effect of a pair of jeans bought in a store and washed and worn at home is 33.4 kilograms, according to a 2015 study.”

Then there’s the burden of washing, which has to happen for every item when it’s returned, regardless of whether or not it was worn. For most rental services, this usually means dry-cleaning is a high-effect and polluting process, which can produce dangerous waste and air pollution if not dealt with correctly.

Lastly, Cline fears that rental services will increase our, desire for fast fashion, simply because it’s so easy to get. There’s something called ‘share-washing’ that leads to more wasteful behaviors mainly because a product or service is shared and thus is regarded as more eco-friendly. Uber is one example of this, advertised as “a way to share rides and limit car ownership,” and yet “it has been proven to discourage walking, bicycling, and public transportation use.”

Renting clothes is still preferable to buying them cheap and throwing them in the waste after a few wears, but we shouldn’t let the convenience of these services make us satisfied. There’s an even better step—and that’s wearing what is already in the closet (衣柜).

【推荐2】Frances Stevens Reese Wooldland Trail Guide

The Woodland Trail was opened to the public on October 21, 1997. Boscobel’s Board of Directors adopted a formal decision of naming the Woodland Trail in honor of former Boscobel board member, Fances Stevens Reese (1917-2003), one year after his death.

The trail(小径) is approximately 10 miles in length, leading down to Constitution Forest. When the West Point Glass Factory was operating during the Civil War, trees for miles around were cleared to provide firewood. Walking out of the forest, you will find a large mass of native hard rock about three billion years old.

Throughout this country path, you will find picture boards identifying birds and plants local to this region. You will also find signs with historic and environmental information written by area specialists.

When you take a walk through this “undiscovered” forest land, please be a considerate guest.

Before walking the trail, please purchase a pass in the Carriage House. Plan ahead, so you will be back by closing time.

Follow the trail markers and remain on the trail. Besides protecting the fragile forest ecosystem, you will reduce the risk of poison plants and snakes.

Leave rocks, plants, animals and art works where you see them so that the person behind you can have the same experience.

Carry out whatever you carry in because there are no rubbish containers on the trail. If you happen to see a piece of litter, be a good guest and pick it up.

【推荐1】If you use social media to chase away loneliness, a new study suggests you’re going against the gain.

We may have heard a lot about the benefits of interacting with others online, but the findings of a study conducted by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists show a direct relationship between social media usage and feelings of isolation (隔绝). In short, the more time you spend on social media, the lonelier you may feel.

With increased interaction on a large number of apps that allow for endless virtual (虚拟的) connectivity, loneliness seems like the last problem frequent social media users would face, but according to the leader of the study Brain Primack, it has the exact opposite effect

“Mental health problems and social isolation are at widespread levels among young adults nowadays,” Primack said, “We are naturally social creature, but modern life tends to separate us instead of bringing us together. While it may seem that social media presents opportunities to fill the social void (空隙), I think this study suggests that it may not be the solution people were hoping for.”

Primack and his team examined the social media habits of 1787 U.S. adults aged 19 to 32 via a questionnaire that asked about the time and frequency they spent on the most popular social media platforms. Eventually, they determined that young adults who are constantly logging into social media reported more feelings of isolation than those with less social media usage. Frequent exposure to unrealistic descriptions on social media instead of face-to-face social interactions may give people the impression that others are living happier, more connected lives, and this may users feel more socially isolated in comparison.

【推荐2】“Food is the first necessity of the people” is a famous Chinese old saying, which reflects that Chinese have paid much attention to food since the ancient times. The importance of food in people’s daily life in China can be seen in the way they send greetings to each other, “Have you eaten?”, which is far away from the way people greet in western countries and has been seen as a characteristic of Chinese culture.

Food in China generally includes rice, wheat, buckwheat, corn, potato, sweet potato, beans and varieties of vegetables. Besides, wheaten food such as Mantou (steamed bun), noodle, Youtiao (deep-fried dough stick), Xiaolongbao (steamed pork-stuffed dumpling in bamboo basket), and: many other local snacks, are commonly seen on the table in China.

Regionally, a general feature of spicy east food, sweet south food, sour west food and salty north food can be summarized, but flavors of food in places differ from each other as a matter of fact. Generally, people living in South China pay more attention to nutrition and prefer delicate, tasty and refreshing food such as rice porridge and soup; however, spicy hotpot is always people' s favorite in the southwest areas due to the wet and rainy climate. And, people living in North China prefer wheaten food such as Jiaozi, noodles, while all kinds of steamed bun and beef and mutton are most popular in northwest areas.

【推荐3】Imagine taking to the skies, spreading your arms out and soaring（翱翔）through the clouds. Flying is indeed possible-in your dreams. But no one can control what happens in dreams, right? Wrong.

Dreams in which you are aware that you are dreaming and can control what happens are called lucid dreams（清醒梦）. These dreams are most common during the stage of sleep known as rapid eye movement（REM）sleep.

Lucid dreaming has been referenced throughout history. It’s mentioned in Greek philosopher Aristotle’s writing, as well as in Egyptian hieroglyphics（象形文字）and in the oral traditions of Australian aborigines. However, it wasn’t until 1975 that British psychologist Keith Hearne was credited as the first person to produce scientific proof that lucid dreams occur. Since then, we have learned much more about this phenomenon.

According to a study published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition, 55 percent of people have had a lucid dream at least once in their lifetime, while 23 percent experience lucid dreams once a month or more. Though these numbers show that the majority of people don’t have lucid dreams regularly, scientists are developing new technology for those who want to have this experience. For example, Curzio Vasapollo invented a device called ZMax, a headband that can monitor eye movements, body movements and heart rate to help people have a lucid dream.

But why would someone want to have lucid dreams? As it turns out, lucid dreaming can have many benefits. Alix Generous, a young woman suffering from autism（自闭症）, said in her TED talk：“I love lucid dreaming because it allows me to be free，without judgment of social and physical consequences.” Also, learning how to have lucid dreams may help those who suffer from nightmares. Through being able to control their actions, they may be able to overcome the cause of their fear.

Lucid dreams may encourage creativity as well. According to the website Notes Read, those who experience this dream state will find access to “an unbelievable fund of knowledge and inspiration”. For example, British American filmmaker Christopher Nolan took inspiration from his own lucid dreams when he wrote the 2010 sci-fi movie Inception. Maybe one day, everyone can indulge in（沉浸在）lucid dreams.