【推荐1】It’s not often sunny in Paris, but people still love to walk along the bank of the Seine. They love the view of the city’s old buildings, especially Notre Dame Cathedral, with its iconic spire(标志性塔尖).

Unfortunately, that view has been forever changed. On April 16 a fire destroyed the spire of the 850-year-old wooden Notre Dame Cathedral built in 1163, and two-thirds of the roof.

The fire shocked and saddened Parisians. Citizens gathered around the giant church, singing hymns(赞美诗) and praying for the hundreds of firefighters who fought the flames.

“The importance of Notre Dame, not only to Catholics (天主教) but to all Parisians, cannot be underestimated,” wrote French author Bernard-Henri Levy. “For many in France, it’s more than a house of worship. It’s a symbol of French culture, architecture and history.”

The church is also home to many religious artworks, paintings and sculptures. Luckily, its world-famous colored glass windows survived the fire. These windows are made of many small pieces of glass and feature various Christian images.

Despite its long history and many treasures, the cathedral needed the help of a writer to become truly famous. Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, presented the building to a wide audience of readers. The book’s ugly lead character, Quasimodo, serves as a symbol for Paris’ forgotten Gothic(哥特式的) architecture. Hugo wrote the book to remind people of it, with the hope that they would work to protect the beautiful old buildings of Paris.

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to reconstruct the historic building. “Notre Dame is our history, our literature and it’s our imagery,” he said in a public speech following the fire.

【推荐2】In today’s world, cultural heritage — a term Yale University President Peter Salovey referred to as “the record of humanity” — is increasingly under attack by threats ranging from climate change, theft, mass tourism, and war. Historic buildings, works of art, traditions, and even local languages are disappearing at an increasingly rapid rate.

Yale is leading a new organization, the Global Consortium for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (GCPCH), to work on the preservation of cultural heritage. The first official meeting of the organization took place in Milan, Italy, which gathered 36 international university officials and experts from around the world to determine next steps for advancing GCPCH’s mission(使命).

During the meeting, experts and officials determined that the mission of GCPCH is to share knowledge and to promote relationships between the parties that seek to protect various forms of cultural heritage worldwide. More specifically, GCPCH will create a map of education programs and field experiences, research projects, and funding sources.

The two-day meeting of GCPCH was hosted by Bocconi University. It kicked off with an address by UNESCO Director — General Irina Bokova. “Knowledge-sharing gets all stakeholders(有利益关系者) involved at a global level,” said Bokova in her inspiring speech. “Together we need to strengthen the networks and build more bridges between all actors.”

Stefano Baia Curioni, vice-president of ASK Research Center of Bocconi University. commented on what an honor it was for Bocconi to host the meeting. “It is with great pleasure that we gather such a set of leaders who bring so many valuable points of view on challenges related to the preservation of cultural heritage,” Baia Curioni said. “We know how important the work of this body is to advancing our collective work, and are honored to support such efforts.”

【推荐1】It is a good time to travel in summer for many Americans. They can take their children who don’t need to go to school. And most important of all, people all need a rest after working hard for half a year. When Americans take a rest, they often go to their favorite places.

Most Americans want to make their vacations very special. So families would like to plan their trips with the kids ahead of time. There are special programs for children in more and more “family friendly” vacation resorts so that children can also have a great time there.

Not only Americans like traveling. People from all over the world choose to relax themselves in different places. For example, history lovers search for places of interest and museums where they could see some wonders. Some parents take their children to see many flowers and animals very closely, without disturbing(破坏) the sensitive(敏感的) balance of nature. Some people like to go boating, fishing or skiing. Still others even travel around the world.

Nowadays, it is very easy and fast for people to travel by plane, train, car or bus. Though traveling makes people very busy, we can get knowledge and relax ourselves. So try our best to spare some time to travel and enjoy ourselves.

【推荐3】Mid-Autumn Festival is the second grandest festival in China after Chinese New Year. It’s a time when families come together to appreciate the full moon and eat mooncakes during the festival. In fact, besides these two traditions, there are many others.

1. Watching the tide

In ancient times, watching the tide on the Qiantang River in East China’s Zhejiang province was another grand event of Mid-Autumn Festival. It has been recorded in detail since the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220). Many famous ancient poets, like Su Shi in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) wrote about the grand occasion in their poems.

2. Making colorful lanterns

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, people usually make colorful lanterns to decorate th beautiful night. They also make Kongming lanterns, which can fly because the burning candles h t the air in the lanterns. Children write good wishes on the lanterns and let them fly up into the sky.

3. Burning pagodas (佛塔)

When night falls, people gather together in an empty place, and pick up broken bricks and tiles to pile up several pagodas. The pagodas are hollow and are filled with firewood. Then the firewood in the pagodas is lit, and the red flames rise and sparks explode, through which people express the joy of harvest in autumn.

4. Stealing vegetables

Among the Dong ethnic group in Central China’s Hunan province, it is the custom for young ladies to steal vegetables on Mid-Autumn Festival night. Whoever eats vegetables with sweet dew on this night will be healthy and happy. Also, women and girls express their adoration to their favorite young men by this way.

5. Drinking osmanthus-flavored wine

Osmanthus-flavored wine is a gift during this season. Drinking Osmanthus fragrance wine at Mid-Autumn Festival implies sweetness, wealth and luck, and prosperity of the family.

People gather together to appreciate the moon, on which Wu Gang, who chases Chang’e, is cutting a sweet-scented osmanthus tree outside the Moon Palace, according to a legend. They drink the sweet osmanthus-flavored wine to echo the festival atmosphere.

【推荐1】Almost everyone has heard the expression, “the calm before the storm”. It is usually used to describe a peaceful period just before a very stressful situation or a tense argument.

British sailors coined the phrase in the late 1600s; they noted that before certain storms the seas would seem to become static and the winds would drop.

But why is it often so calm before a storm?

Science has given us the answer. According to US infotainment (资讯娱乐) website HowStuffWorks, a calm period occurs because many storms, such as tornadoes and hurricanes, draw in all the warm and humid air from the surrounding area. As this air rises into the storm clouds, it cools and acts as “fuel for the storm, like petrol in a car”.

Once the storm has taken all the energy it can from the air, it is pushed out from the top of the storm clouds and falls back down to ground level. As the air descends (下降), it becomes warm and dry. Warm, dry air is stable, so once it covers an area, it causes a calm period before the storm.

This same process also causes the “eye of the storm” in hurricanes and tornadoes. In these conditions, the calm occurs in the center of the storm because of the strong rotating (旋转的) winds.

The Weather Network has a tip for working out how far away a storm is. First, count how many seconds there are between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. Roughly three seconds equal one kilometer. So, for example, if you count nine seconds, the storm is about 3 kilometers away. A good gauge (评估) is that if your count is below 30 seconds, you should seek shelter straight away.

However, due to the complexity of storm system, not all storms are preceded by calm. Given the right conditions, some storms announce themselves with heavy rain and chilling (寒冷的) winds. So, your best bet is to keep yourself updated with weather reports for any predictions regarding a coming storm in your area. That’s the most reliable and sensible way to predict the next display of nature’s temper (脾气).

【推荐2】Movies we have enjoyed

Gattica Samantha Wynter from Mexico finds this movie interesting because it examines the results of genetic engineering of humans in the future. It shows the struggles of Victor, a man born naturally and with imperfections, to succeed in a world of genetically-designed, perfect humans.

Central Station Stella Tupinamba from Brazil reviews this excellent Brazilian film which was recently nominated(提名) for Academy awards. This movie which features the talented actress, Fernanda Montenegro, in Stella’s words, is “like a prize” for Brazilians. It’s a very special film. Don’t miss it!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Masako Kanki from Japan was pleased to find the movie so faithful to the book, but a little disappointed in the lack of character development. Nonetheless, she found the movie fantastic and is eagerly looking forward to viewing more movies based on Harry Potter books.

Life is Beautiful Akiko Tanaka from Japan feels this Italian movie is a very special one. She found the story very beautiful, but very sad. She tells us the basic story of this heartrending movie, which shows us we should never forget what happens during wars.