【推荐1】As an alternative to going straight from high school to college, many young adults are taking a gap year as a chance to travel, volunteer or explore new skills. We’ve rounded up a selection of some of the top gap year programs, which will help you get started searching for your perfect post-graduation experience.

As a UK-based organization, it offers volunteer travel options in both group-structured and independent plans. The Leap creates amazing hands-on opportunities to travel while working on sustainability projects, such as repairing coral reefs in South Africa or conservation efforts on the beaches and forests in Costa Rica. The organization is responsible for half tuition costs.

Workaway encourages cultural exchange through work, from working on a farm in British Columbia to teaching art to children in Peru. Living expenses will be provided as long as young adults work there. This can be a good option to gain some new skills and see the world for free.

This nonprofit organization offers full-year service positions at local habitat organizations across the US. In this program, participants can learn and develop new skills while serving a critical role in helping HFH build, create or improve homes for those in need. There is a small living allowance for those who qualify.

WTBD has some of the most in-depth foreign travel programs available. It offers political science, history, sustainability, economics and language immersion in remote locals as well as those closer to home. WTBD offers college credits as part of their programs. This program is one of the most expensive options, but financial aid is available.

【推荐1】Finally, the holidays are upon us! What better way to spend the hot days ahead than curled up on the sofa with a cold drink?

Atomic Habits by James Clear

If you’re looking for some self-reflection time these holidays, then you absolutely need to read Atonic Habits. This book is one of the world’s best-selling works in self-help and is sure to awaken some new thoughts within you.

Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

This novel consists of three stories about a massive snowstorm in a small North Carolina town, and all feature some aspect of romance. Reviewers have praised the novel’s strong characters and humorous hidden meanings. The stories are appealing and optimistic, and would make for a wonderful holiday read! You can also watch its movie edition to find out more!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver revolves around the main character, Grace, who becomes convinced that a wolf is watching over her and protecting her each winter. She loves to watch the wolves, but she especially loves to watch a wolf with beautiful, yellow eyes, who watches back. When her wolf becomes a human named Sam, they instantly fall in love with each other. Are you hooked yet? The novel has been adapted for the screen.

A Year of Sundays by Belinda Jeffery

If you’re looking for a soft reminder to enjoy your slow days, this book, A Year of Sundays, is the perfect holiday pick-me-up. Join Belinda Jeffery as she shares the recipes and memories that made up her memorable year of Sundays. This is however more than just a cookbook! It is reflective, inspiring and a beautiful reminder to slow down.

【推荐2】Four wonderful books you can’t miss

Old Herbaceous: A Novel of the Garden by Reginald Arkell

If you’re yet to read a “novel of the garden”, pick up Old Herbaceous. Perfect for fans of P. G. Wodehouse, this is the story of Bert Pinnegar, an awkward orphan(孤儿) who spends his childhood days picking wildflowers and avoiding farmers, before slowly maturing into the famous head gardener “Old Herbaceous”.

The Rural Diaries by Hilarie Burton Morgan

If you dream of quitting the corporate world and starting a farm, The Rural Diaries should be your kind of book. This is actress Hilarie Burton Morgan’s bestselling story of leaving Hollywood for a different life after the birth of her son, buying a working farm in upstate New York to explore a slower way of living.

The Art of Frugal Hedonism by Annie Raser-Rowland and Adam Grubb

If you want to live a life with less consumerism and more low-cost experiences and pleasures, you should absolutely read The Art of Frugal Hedonism. It’s about letting go of society’s expectations, peer (同龄人) pressure, and the fear of missing out to rediscover the most simple and joyful ways of living.

Recipe for a Kinder Life by Annie Smithers

Part memoir (回忆录), part recipe book, and part guide to caring for the land, this comforting and wholesome book is full of practical advice and wisdom collected from a life devoted to seasonal food, simplicity, and gentle living.

【推荐3】This Mother’s Day, we’ve rounded up a few books about the joys and heartaches of motherhood and what it means to be a mom.

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

Fairy tales are some of the first stories children are exposed to, but Helen Oyeyemi knows they’re not just for the young. The novel follows Harriet Lee and her 16-year-old daughter, Perdita, as the mother tells her childhood in Druhastrana. With Oyeyemi’s singular use of language and her wonderfully unusual world-building, Gingerbread is a delicious reinvention of the stories many of us grew up with.

American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption by Gabrielle Glaser

A bittersweet history of adoption in the United States, American Baby records the lives of Margaret Erle and her son David Rosenberg. One of the many young mothers of the U.S. baby boom in the 1960s, Margaret was forced to hand over her son for adoption, who was eventually able to reunite with Margaret thanks to modern DNA testing. Glaser follows the impact this closed adoption had on one Jewish family.

Las Mamis: Favorite Latino Authors Remember Their Mothers edited by Esmeralda Santiago

In this collection, Esmeralda Santiago asks some favorite Latin authors — such as poet and political activist Gioconda Belli, and writer Dagoberto Gilb — to share stories of their mothers. As the essays spread across Latin America and the United States, the results are a moving tribute to the beautiful, funny and occasionally troubled legacies mothers leave their children.

Listen to Your Mother: What She Said Then, What We’re Saying Now edited by Ann Imig

Ann Imig founded Listen to Your Mother on Mother’s Day 2010, when she and 11 other writers read their stories of motherhood before an audience of 300 people. Since then, the production has gone national. The book honors the vast complexities of motherhood and shares a diverse collection of short essays by everyday people covering topics from poverty to infertility and everything in between, with humor and grace.

【推荐1】Explore the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, which offers a relaxing setting for you to enjoy works of modern sculpture.

Chair Transformation Number 20B, made in 1996-by Lucas Samaras

Here, Samaras explores the double meaning of "flight", referring to both the starlike form created by the stacked chairs, and the movement of a single chair moving through space. From different viewpoints, the sculpture appears to be upright, leaning back, or springing forward. From the side, it even appears like a zigzagging(之字形的)line.

Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, made in 1998-by Coosje van Bruggen

The artist chose the typewriter eraser as his model for this work based upon childhood memories of playing with the object in his father's office. Here the brush arcs(作弧形运动)back, conveying a sense of motion, as if the wheel-like eraser were rolling down the hill and making its way towards the gate of the garden.

Moondog, model 1974, made in 1998-1999-by Tony Smith

The title itself comes from two sources: Moondog was the name of a blind poet and folk musician who lived in New York City, and Smith has also compared this sculpture to Dog Barking at the Moon, a painting by Joan Miro. He first created Moondog in 1974 as a 33-inch cardboard model and cast it in bronze as a garden sculpture in 1980. This version was designed by Smith, but it was not completed until after his death.

Cheval Rouge (Red Horse), made in 1964-by Alexander Calder

During the last two decades of his life, Alexander Calder devoted his greatest efforts to large- scale mobiles and stabiles(立式抽象派雕塑), many of which have become popular public landmarks in cities around the world. Here the silky legs and tensile(张力的)up-thrust "neck" recall the power of a horse. This stabile reflects Calder’s statement: "I want to make things that are fun to look at."

【推荐2】Invisible hearing aid uses advanced technology so powerful that it can pick up a whisper across the room Here’s how you can get them today to hear more clearly and stay engaged in conversations.

Most modern hearing aids have serious flaws:

Everybody notices them-they’ll make you look 20 years older the instant you put them on.

They collect sounds from behind you-which makes hearing your friends in a restaurant or crowded room impossible.

They use 10-year-old technology that amplifies (放大) everything, which can cause even more hearing loss!

Fortunately, there is a better way, the Soundwise Aria!

It is the world’s most affordable, advanced in-ear hearing aid. Soundwise uses advanced technology that was specifically designed to pick up whispers so hearing your loved ones or the television so much clearer is virtually guaranteed. Thanks to Soundwise, you can hear your friends and enjoy life with no need to avoid noisy restaurants, movie theaters, or crowded places.

This hearing aid is incredibly advanced and packed with new technology:

Advanced noise cancelation

Ultra lightweight, hidden in the ear completely

USA-developed digital audio enhancement

FDA registered

Backed by Board Certified Hearing Specialists and Audiologists

Free portable charging station so you’ll never have to worry about batteries-the charge lasts 2 full days!

Risk-Free Home Trial with ONE YEAR Guarantee-the only one of its kind in the industry!

And the best part: it costs a small part of what audiologists will charge you for hearing aids. Our patients are saving 90%!

Call 800-403-1325 or visit GetSoundwise.com/RD9.

【推荐3】Take a Trip to Alaska’s Distant Aleutian Islands

Natural landscapes

Halfway between the United States and Japan is Alaska’s Adak Island. It is one of the remote Aleutian islands. It is a place best known for its natural beauty. The coast is home to rich wildlife. Purple lupine flowers can be seen along roads through grassy hills. Hot springs cover the landscape. Snow-topped mountains and the Great Sitkin volcano rise in the distance.

Locals

Adak Island is home to the native Aleut people. In town, fewer than 100 people live fulltime in old military houses. These houses sit in mostly empty neighborhoods with other buildings in need of repair.

Activities

It is not easy to get to Adak Island. It requires a four-hour plane trip from Anchorage. People visit Adak to hunt, watch birds, climb mountains, or examine one of the many abandoned military bases. People also come to hike. There are many beautiful hikes on the island. One at Finger Bay offers views of the volcano. A hike to Lake Bonnie Rose includes an old abandoned military building built into hills.

At Horseshoe Bay, brave people can climb down a rope to the coast below and nearby hot springs. At Clam Lagoon, people can watch harbor seals and sea lions playing in the water and warming themselves on the rocks.

For bird watchers, the area is wonderful. And Adak’s strange “National Forest” is also worth a visit. This is a small collection of evergreen trees in an otherwise nearly treeless landscape.

Charge for 8 days

The single price: $1,400 per person

The group price: $1,200 per person (over 2 persons)

Accommodation and train tickets included

For further information, please call 01223 810080 or visit https: //www. vacationsbyrail. com/united-states/ usa-fall-foliage