【推荐2】The English language is constantly evolving (演变), and there are a great number of words out there that don’t mean what they used to. We’re talking about common words that you use every day. We take them for granted, but at some point in history, their meanings totally changed, and they all originally meant something much different.

Generally speaking, the word “nice” is one with good meanings. However, back in the late 12th century, if someone said you were “nice”, it was far from nice. Way back when, “nice”was used to mean “foolish” and “stupid”. Later on in the 13th century, “nice” came to mean “shy”, and during the 14th century, it even meant “being careful”. But finally in the 18th century, it changed to the kinder definition we know today, and ever since then, people have been using it in a popular way.

All of us get sad every now and then. It’s a normal part of life. A loved one passes away, we get overlooked for that big promotion at work, or the grocery store is out of your favorite flavor of Hawaiian Punch. These are all things that can make us very sad. However, once upon a time, “sad” had a very different definition. Back in the 1300s, it was the perfect word if you’d eaten too much food at dinner. Through the years, the definition of “sad” changed to “heavy” and then “tired”, all before evolving into the word we use today.

“Awful” is perhaps the one word on this list that should have stuck with its original meaning. While today it means “bad” or “terrible”,   “awful” used to mean “awe-inspiring” or “full of awe”. In other words, if something was “awful”, then it was worthy of respect or even fear. However, over the years, “awful” has come to have a completely opposite meaning.

【推荐3】Four best fall festivals in the United States

Fall might be America’s favorite season, when we celebrate the art of getting together. Here are four fall festivals too good to miss.

Trailing of the Sheep Festival

October 9-13 | Sun Valley, Idaho

This fall, more than 25,000 people from around the world will watch 1,500-plus sheep march down Ketchum’s Main Street. Even if nobody showed, third-generation farm owners would still tend their sheep through town to the grasslands on the Colorado River. It has become a reminder of a 150-year-old way of life.

Apple Butter Festival

October 12-13 | Berkeley Springs, West Virginia

Copper kettles (铜壶) balanced over the fire have been used in Appalachia for centuries. In Berkeley Springs’ town square, the tradition is respected at the Apple Butter Festival: Competing cooks use long wooden sticks to mix the silky apple butter in copper kettles and sell it on site.

Nantucket Cranberry Festival

October 12 | Nantucket Island, Massachusetts

Every October, the island hosts the Nantucket Cranberry Festival, a free outdoor festival where visitors can pick cranberries (蔓越莓) in a traditional way and tour cranberry bogs (沼泽) on foot with local experts. Hourly public buses run directly from the ferry (渡船) landing to the bog, but book ferry tickets to the island ahead of time.

Kona Coffee Cultural Festival

November 3-10 | Kona, Hawaii

Festivities during Kona’s Annual Coffee Cultural Festival tell the 200-year-old story of the Big Island’s multicultural coffee history. The festival includes many coffee-related competitions. Visitors can also tour more than 30 of Kona’s 650 coffee farms.

【推荐2】Some of the most well-known cities in the world have gone through at least one name change. The new names often exhibit shifts of power, or may honor a specific person. Here are some that were once known by other names.

Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City in 1975 when it joined the Gia Dinh Province of Vietnam after the end of the Vietnam War. It was renamed after a previous communist prime minister, as the new name represented the north’s success. However, many people still refer to the city by its original name.

The city formerly known as Bombay officially became Mumbai in 1995 when the Shiv Sena political party rose to power. The Shiv Sena party saw Bombay as a relic of Britain’s colonial legacy (殖民遗产), and Mumbai was just one of many places in the country to receive a non-British name.

Constantine the Great originally gave the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire the name of Constantinople, or “City of Constantine. ” The city went by this name or variations of it even after the Ottomans took it over in 1453; it was formally renamed Istanbul in 1930, not long after the Republic of Turkey was created.

A fire destroyed the city of Oslo in 1624, during King Christian IV’s rule. When the settlement was being rebuilt, King Christian IV insisted on renaming Norway’s largest urban center after himself as Christiania (which later became Kristiania). In 1925, the city’s original name was restored to Oslo.

【推荐3】There are a number of old cities in the United States. Learn more about America’s roots with this list of the oldest cities in the United States.

Jamestown, Virginia

The city of Jamestown is the second-oldest city in the United States in North America. It was founded on April 26, 1607. By the end of 1865, most of the settlement had fallen into ruin. Preservation efforts began in the 1900s. In 2007, Queen ElizabethⅡ of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was a guest for the 400th-anniversary celebration of Jamestown’s founding.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe holds the distinction of being the oldest state capital in the United States as well as New Mexico’s oldest city. Santa Fe (and present-day New Mexico) didn’t become a part of the United States until 1848. Today, Santa Fe is known for its Spanish territorial style of architecture.

Kecoughtan, Virginia

Jamestown’s founders first met the region’s native people at Kecoughtan, Virginia, where members of the Kikotan people lived. In 1690, the town was developed into part of the larger town of Hampton. Today, it remains a part of the larger municipality (自治市).

Plymouth, Massachusetts

Plymouth was the site of what most of us know as the first Thanksgiving. Located on the southwestern shores of Massachusetts Bay, present-day Plymouth had been occupied by native people for centuries.