【推荐1】Brooklyn Children’s Museum

Free Thursdays, 2-6 pm

The Brooklyn Children’s Museum has something for kids of all ages. With fun, educational exhibits（展览）that teach children about world cultures, history, science and nature, including live animals and a collection of 30, 000 historical objects, even parents will enjoy it. There’s also a special area for children under five, with activities for, the youngest of youngsters.

New York Han of Science

Free Fridays, 2-5 pm, and Sundays, 10-11 am

Kids get hands-on experience with science and technology at this place that offers more than 450 exhibits. There are a few worthwhile things to spend money on during your visit: a round of Rocket Park Mini Golf, a turn in the 60,000-square-foot Science Playground and a screening inside the 3-D theater.

Queens County Farm Museum

As the oldest working farm in New York City, the museum feels like a totally different world than Manhattan. Feed and pet animals like sheep, ponies and goats, tour farm buildings from three different centuries, and come back during fall when you can go pumpkin picking. Don’t forget to stop by the store on your way out for fresh fruits and vegetables grown on the farm!

Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge

Free Thursdays, 4-8 pm, and Saturdays, 1-5 pm

Come tour this large history wooden boat that lies in Brooklyn’s Red Hook, not far from the Fairway Market. Check to see if performance is taking place—perhaps a magic-, music-or history-related event that may cost money.

【推荐2】Welcome to enjoy the weekend and learn the outdoor skills you’ve always wanted to master!

Participants must be 10 and up. (17 and under must be accompanied by a registered adult.)

We offer various classes including archery, basic camping, cold weather survival, map and compass and more. Here are details just for four of them:

Archery:

Participants will be introduced to natural archery shooting techniques and will have the opportunity to improve their shooting skills through instructor guidance. Participants should wear appropriate shoes (hiking shoes or boots are best). If you have your own bow /arrows, you're more than welcome to bring it/them to the class for use.

Basic Camping:

If you'd like to try camping but are unsure where to start, this is the class for you! Here you can learn the basic skills and how to select necessary equipment needed for a simple outing.

Cold Weather Survival:

During a survival situation, cold weather can rob you of the ability to think clearly and weaken your will to survive. You’ll learn invaluable skills, proper planning and how to select appropriate equipment needed to better prepare yourself for surviving.

Map and Compass:

Do you know how to use a map and compass to navigate(导航) to a destination? This course covers the basics of map and compass navigation such as what's on a map or compass, determining distances and following a path of travel. After a short overview of skills the class will be outside for “hands-on” navigation in a woodland setting.

COST:

$155. Price includes meals, lodging, and instruction for the entire weekend.

SCHEDULE:

【推荐3】I waited in line for hours in Central Park for tickets to Shakespeare, so I could share my experience with you. I hope my experience will be helpful to you!

1. Plan for the weather.

You’ll be sitting outside for several hours waiting for tickets. If it’s going to be a sunny day, bring sun cream and water. If you think it might rain, bring your umbrella or raincoat. If the day promises to be unseasonably cool, you’ll be happy you’ve brought a sweater or jacket along.

2. Keep yourself entertained.

Bring an iPad, a good book, some magazines or even some work along with you to pass the time. You’ll be in line for about 3-4 hours, and you’ll be glad to have a crossword puzzle or other games to kill the time once the people-watching starts to get boring.

3. Know the basics.

Free tickets are being given out for the same day’s performance and they are not changeable. That means if it rains, you’re out of luck. That also means that you have to wait for tickets in the morning and attend the evening’s performance the same night (Doors open around 8 p.m. for the 8:30 p.m. show.).

4. Feeling fortunate? Enter the online ticket lottery(抽签获票).

If you don’t want to spend several hours waiting in line for tickets, you can try your luck on the Internet. Once you set up your account, you can enter the online ticket lottery between midnight and noon. You’ll get an email message around noon if you’ve gotten tickets, and you can pick up your tickets at the Delacorte Theater between 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm.

【推荐1】According to a report from the Ministry of Public Security. Yichen (奕辰) and Yinuo (一诺) are the most popular names for newborns in 2020. More than 14,000 boys were named Yichen while over 24,000 girls were given the name Yinuo.

More and more parents are giving their babies longer names to make their names stand out. There are around 3 percent of people with four or more characters in their names.

To help avoid too common names, new parents are able to check how many people are using a certain name on the website of the Ministry of Public Security.

As to the ranking of surnames (姓), the largest group of newborns shared the surname Li, with 726,000 new babies have this surname. Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu and Chen are the top five common surnames in China in 2020, the same as in 2019. 30.8 percent of the total population in China has these five surnames.

Although the common practice is to adopt (采用) the surnames of their fathers, more children have taken their mothers’ surnames because of the country’s second child policy. In 2020, about 7.7 percent of the 10 million newborn babies used their mothers’ surnames.

【推荐2】Waste can be seen everywhere in the school. Some students ask for more food than they can eat and others often forget to turn off the lights when they leave the classroom. They say they can afford these things. But I don’t agree with them.

Waste can bring a lot of problems. Although China is rich in some resources, we are short of others, for example, fresh water. It is reported that we will have no coal or oil to use in 100 years. So if we go on wasting our resources, what can we use in the future and where can we move? Think about it. I think we should say no to the students who waste things every day. Everybody should stop wasting as soon as possible.

In our everyday life, we can do many things to prevent waste from happening, for example, turn off the water taps when we finish washing, turn off the lights when we leave the classroom, try not to order more food than we need, and so on. Little by little, everything will be changed. Waste can be stopped one day if we do our best.

【推荐3】The world’s top automakers are increasingly offering more electric vehicle models. This growth is expected to continue， with more people choosing to hit the road with clean-running electric- powered cars.

Environmentalists have praised the automakers for taking major steps to limit harmful pollutants linked to worldwide climate change. But electric vehicles are also known for not producing another kind of pollution—noise. They run on batteries instead of fuel， and can operate in silence.

While many people might consider this a good thing， quiet cars can also cause problems. The main danger is that people walking in areas around electric vehicles face a greater risk of being hit if they cannot hear the cars coming.

Governments in the United States and Europe have recognized this problem. So， they have set requirements for manufacturers to add warning sounds to vehicles operating on electricity.

The U.S.Department of Transportation finalized its rules a year ago. The rules require electric and hybrid (混合能源) vehicles to be equipped with some kind of warning sound when moving at speeds up to 30 kilometers per hour. The rules are aimed at preventing injuries among people walking or riding bicycles and to protect the blind.

So what kinds of sounds can we expect to hear from the next generation of electric vehicles? One of the easiest solutions would be for carmakers to simply reproduce the sound a car would make if it actually did run on fuel. But many industry officials believe this would be a mistake.They say this would not support the electric vehicle’s true identity. It would also limit great possibilities to link the car’s sound to a whole new image, which could help increase sales.

Frank Welsch is head of technical development at Germany’s Volkswagen. He said that finding the perfect sound mix is not an easy process. “The electric vehicle sound is its identity,” he said. “It cannot be too annoying. It cannot sound like anything we had in the past.”

An official from Mercedes-Benz said the sound was designed to provide a safe warning without annoying passengers inside the vehicle. He said the goal was to create a car that remains completely quiet on the inside, but fills the sound requirements and supports the model’s image on the outside.

It might seem strange to think that part of our automotive future is currently being developed in the same kinds of recording studios used by musicians. But that is exactly what is happening.

【推荐2】Located in Pisa, the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy has become the sign of Italy. It is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square. There are eight floors in the Leaning Tower of Pisa including the observation deck at the top. The weight of the tower is about 14,500 metric tons. There are amazing facts of the Leaning Tower of Pisa that we will mention here.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was not originally intended to lean, but because it was built on soft soils the tower gradually leaned to one side. Prior to its restoration (修复) from 1990 to 2001, the tower had a tilt (倾斜) of 5.5 degrees. Many people think that it will fall one day. Millions of tourists come to the lawns around the tower to take the classic photo pretending to hold up or knock down the tower.

It is said that you must visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa during the day. At night the shops are closed and it appears unimpressive. But, if you plan to visit on a full moon night, the tower will look charming. Mornings are the best time to beat the crowds. Summer in Pisa is very hot and wet, but you can expect rain in fall and winter.

Even though some people regard the tower as an engineering failure owing to the tilt, the tower has acquired a special place in history. The tower has also been used for experiments by the famous Italian scientist named Galileo Galilei. He is believed to have thrown two balls of different mass from the tower to prove that their falling time is not related to their mass.

On your tour you should not miss various places of interest near the Leaning Tower of Pisa including Lucca, Florence, and Santa Maria della Spina.

【推荐3】Tall, long-necked giraffes are famous for their spots. The spots are believed to help the animals hide from their enemies. The skin beneath the spots may also help giraffes stay at the right temperature. Just like no two humans have the same fingerprints, each giraffe has its own special pattern of spots.

Unless, of course, it doesn’t have any spots. Recently a baby giraffe was born at Brights Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee with no spots at all. Instead, its fur is a light brown. The giraffe is a reticulated (网纹) giraffe, which is one of the four different kinds of giraffes. It was born perfectly healthy. It just doesn’t have any spots.

David Bright, who runs the zoo, said, “This is beyond rare. The last time this happened was1972 in Japan.” Currently, the young giraffe is believed to be the only spotless giraffe in the world. The young giraffe is a girl. Giraffes are born quite large. This one isn’t quite a month old, and she’s already about 1.8 meters tall. Mr. Bright says she’s very sweet, and has a relaxed personality. A giraffe’s pattern of spots is created when the animal is still growing inside its mother. That means that this giraffe will never have spots.

Mr. Bright says that the new giraffe might not have survived if she had been born in the wild. “Being solid colored, she may not be able to hide quite as well,” said Mr. Bright. He also thought it was likely that the giraffe would be a “key target for poachers” because she’s so unusual.

Reticulated giraffes are already struggling. In 2018, they were officially listed as “threatened”. Thirty-five years ago, there were 36,000 reticulated giraffes. Now, those numbers have been cut by more than 50%. Only about 16,000 reticulated giraffes remain. Brights Zoo is hoping to use the young spotless giraffe to bring attention to efforts to protect giraffes. Mr. Bright says the zoo hopes to raise money for groups like Save Giraffes Now and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

【推荐1】Soaps are television serial (连续的) dramas of a highly dramatic and sentimental (情感的) nature. They are called soaps because many of them were originally funded by soap companies. They were appealing to an audience primarily made up of house wives. Soaps tell us a lot about the viewers they are produced for. These long-running serials, with potentially endless episodes (集), are concerned with everyday life. They are generally aimed at the lower classes in a country.

In the US, the most popular soaps usually feature the lives of the rich, the charming and the beautiful. Their houses are always beautiful, big and well decorated. The characters lead exciting lives. Most of these characters are very ambitious. One of the most popular soaps is The bold and the Beautiful. The name says it all really! It is set in Los Angeles and centred on the attractive and wealthy Forrester family and their impossibly gorgeous fashion house business. It is probably the most watched soap in the world.

The British prefer to see ordinary characters rather than the gorgeous high-flyers of the US soaps. They prefer to view on TV what they have experienced personally and what they actually see around them. They believe that one should accept one’s station in life and not attempt to be more than one actually is.

Coronation Street, first shown in 1960, is the longest-running British TV soap opera. It is watched by about one-third of the British population, more often by women, by older people, and especially by people from lower socio-economic groups. EastEnders is another popular British show, though it appeals to a younger generation. Again the characters tend to be working class. In addition to women, young people and men are also given strong roles in order to reach a wider audience.

Thus the soaps can teach us a lot about the audience that they are intended for. The characters, settings and even the story lines can show us what appeals to British and American people.

【推荐2】Best activities for this weekend on Long Island

Looking for activities on the weekend? We’ve rounded up the best concerts, fairs, parties and cultural events going on in Nassau and Suffolk.

The acrobatic performance

Traditional Chinese acrobatics and circus arts go hand and hand at a performance of “Cirque Mei,”8 p.m. Saturday at the Patchogue Theatre. Collective bicycle skills, foot juggling with umbrellas, ladder balancing, and hoops diving will be performed. Tickets must be reserved in advance.

INFO 631-207-1313, patchoguetheatre.org

ADMISSION $69

The return of Elvis

The“King of Rock and Roll”is in the spotlight once again during “Elvis Seen Unseen,” at NYCB Theatre at Westbury, 8 p.m. Sunday. The concert features never-before seen video footage of Elvis Presley, live music performed by the TCB band.

INFO 516-247-5200, thetheatreatwestbury.com

ADMISSION $50

The book signing

The award-winning actress and one of the hosts of “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg comes to Huntington to sign her new book, “The Unqualified Hostess,” 7 p.m. Friday. The book gives her personal advice including tips on entertaining, setting a unique table, and decorating for guests. Visitors must buy the book at Book Revue to get on the signing line.

INFO 631-271-1442, bookrevue.com

ADMISSION Free; $35 plus tax for the book

The Drip Painting workshop

The Drip Painting family workshop for ages 4 — 12 teaches children how to express their feelings creatively through art, 10:00 — 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Meet at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, 830 Springs Fireplace Rd., for the workshop. Everyone leaves with a masterpiece of their own.

INFO 917-502-0790, imaginearted.com

ADMISSION $40

【推荐3】My sister Alice and I have been trying to get people to stop dropping cigarette(香烟) butts(烟头) for seven years. One day, we were walking in our hometown and saw hundreds of cigarette butts on the ground. They made the town look so ugly that we decided to start a group to stop people dropping butts. We called it “No Butts About It”.

At first, we drew pictures with “The Earth is not your ashtray(烟灰缸)” written on them. We put the pictures around our hometown—in parks, by beaches, and along roads. We wanted to make people understand that dropping butts hurts the environment. Most smokers don’t think that dropping butts hurts the Earth. But it does, and all rubbish does!

Later, we wrote to companies and asked them for money to help us. We used the money to buy ashtrays to give to smokers. We wanted smokers to carry the ashtrays with them so they didn’t have to drop butts.

At the moment, we are trying to get cigarette companies to put an ashtray in each pack of cigarettes. Some companies want to do it. Many people have started to join our group since it began. Today there are 45 other “No Butts About It” groups in America.

Now there are even groups in England, Australia and India! Many newspapers have written about my sister and me over the last seven years. And we have won many prizes for what we do. But we are not interested in prizes. We just want to make the Earth a better and cleaner place for animals, plants and people.

One day, it will be.