【推荐1】Amsterdam is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, famous for its beautiful canals, top art museums, cycling culture and so on. It is the capital city of the Netherlands and often referred to as the “Venice of the North” because of its expansive system of bridges and canals. Here are some of the key points to remember as you plan your trip to Amsterdam.

Must-See Attractions

Most visitors begin their Amsterdam adventure in the Old Centre, which is full of traditional architecture, shopping centers, and coffee shops. You’ll also want to check out Amsterdam’s Museum Quarter in the South District, which is great for shopping at the Albert Cuyp Market and having a picnic in the Vondelpark. The top museums to visit there are the Rijksmusuem, the Ann Frank House, and the Van Gogh Museum.

If You Have Time

There are several other unique districts in Amsterdam, and you should try to explore as many of them as time allows. The Canal Ring is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was originally built to attract wealthy home owners and is a center for celebrity spotting and nightlife today. The Plantage area has most of the city’s museums and the botanical gardens.

Money Saving Tips

●Unless you really want to see the tulips(郁金香) blooming, avoid booking between mid-March and mid-May. This is when hotel and flight prices rise.

●Look for accommodations in Amsterdam’s South District, where rates are generally cheaper than in the city center.

●Buy train tickets at the machine instead of the counter to save a bit of money.

●Instead of hiring a tour guide, hop on a canal boat. They’re inexpensive and will give you a unique point of view of the city.

Check out our homepage to view price comparisons for flights, hotels, and rental cars before you book.

【推荐2】A new library in Tianjin—Tianjin Binhai Public Library—recently became an online hit. The Daily Mail described it as the “world’s ultimate (终极的) library”, while the word “breathtaking” was the choice of Newsweek magazine. One look at the library and you’ll see why. With its futuristic (未来主义) design and walls loaded with books, it’s the dream library of every book lover.

But as the surprise continues, there’s a burning question lying in the back of our minds: When physical bookstores are closing down one by one, what makes libraries safe from the wave of digitalization (数码化)? And do we really still need libraries now that we’ve got the Internet in our hands?

Reporter Ian Clark has the answer. “Libraries are not declining in importance—people are simply changing the way they use them,” he wrote on the Guardian website.

What Clark means is that libraries have shifted from simply being storehouses of books to a medium to help “bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots” according to website Libraries Are Essential. Since not everyone can afford a smartphone, a tablet or an Internet connection, and not everyone has the know-how to search the Internet correctly and efficiently, it’s public libraries that make sure that these resources and technologies are available to a larger group of people.

“Nobody is trying to sell you anything in the library. There is no pressure to buy and there is no judgment of your choices/’ Anne Goulding, a professor at Victoria University in New Zealand, wrote on the Newsroom website. “There are few other spaces that you can just ‘be’ without somebody questioning your presence or your motivation.”

【推荐3】What’s on your travel list for 2021? I’ve consulted several travel experts to find out the top places in the USA worth visiting in 2021.

Where: New Orleans, Louisiana

Why: New Orleans is known for its music and food—not to mention the festivals.

It has about 130 festivals each year, so there’s really no bad time to visit. Bourbon Street is the obvious choice for food, drink and jazz and it’s definitely a must-visit location, especially for the first timers to the city.

Where: Vail, Colorado

Why: Vail is the perfect destination for travelers looking to find almost everything in one central spot. Stay at the amazing Four Seasons Resort and Residences Vail a few steps away from Vail Village, a popular town with cobblestone(鹅卵石) steets for wandering leisurely. The country’s largest free transportation system runs frequently, making it easy to access almost anywhere from Vail Village to Lionshead Village.

Where: Hudson Valley, New York

Why: The Hudson Valley is where New Yorkers go to escape the city when they need a healthy dose of nature and relaxation. Just an hour and half north of New York City, the Hudson Valley is made up of small, impossibly charming towns, where the air is fresher and things do move slower in the mountains.

【推荐1】Yinxu (Ruins of Yin) is the ruins of the last capital of China’s Shang Dynasty (1600 BC―1046 BC). The capital served 255 years for 12 kings. It shows the golden age of early Chinese culture, crafts and sciences, a time of great prosperity during the Chinese Bronze Age(青铜时代).

Discovered in 1899, Yinxu is one of the oldest and largest archaeological sites(考古遗址) in China and is one of the historical capitals of China and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It lies in central Henan Province, near the modern city of Anyang, and is open to the public as the Garden Museum of Yinxu. It is famous as the source of oracle bone script (甲骨文), the earliest recorded form of Chinese writing. The oracle bone script has recorded everything from dream explaining to events such as harvests, birth of a child, the weather, and the success of military campaigns.

Over 3,000 tombs, 2,200 pits, and 200 houses have been dug out at Yinxu. The large number of burial accessories found there shows the high level of the Shang crafts industry.

The site includes a main palace and an ancient tomb. Besides, there are a number of large buildings, at least 53 of which have been dug out.

Yinxu has seen many years of research, first studied by the Academia Sinica in the late 1920s to the early 1930s and most recently by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

【推荐2】Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is America’s fifth largest city. Once a major American colonial city, it is the home of America’s first library, its first hospital, and its first zoo. Now it is also the first US city to be named a World Heritage City. On November 6, 2015, Philadelphia joined more than 260 other cities that have been recognized for their influence on the world. These cities include Paris, France, Florence, Italy, and Cairo, Egypt.

The exciting news was announced by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Deputy Mayor Alan Greenberger, responsible for economic development and business guidance, and the Global Philadelphia Association. “Today marks the start of a new and exciting chapter in the history of Philadelphia,” remarked Nutter when the announcement was made. “As a World Heritage City, Philadelphia is being officially recognized on the global stage for its wealth of contributions to the world.”

To be named a World Heritage City, a city must be home to a UNESCO World Heritage site. UNESCO World Heritage sites are selected for their universal value and significance. For Philadelphia, the site is Independence Hall.

Independence Hall is where two of the most important documents in US history — the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution — were adopted. The Declaration of Independence, approved on July 4, 1776, united the 13 former British colonies and declared them independent from British rule. From then on, a democratic and free country was born, which changed the course of world history. The US Constitution, signed in 1787, established the American democratic system of government. A democracy is a system of government in which the people elect their leaders. The Constitution later spelled out the basic freedoms American citizens have.

Greenberger says the city’s selection as a World Heritage City also reflects its educational, cultural, and economic achievements. The city is home to dozens of colleges and universities, and many museums, such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “Philadelphia has rightfully earned its place as one of the greatest cities in the world. As we celebrate this milestone, we will focus even more on improving Philadelphia’s status as a World Heritage City to attract more guests to visit, invest, work, study and live here.” Greenberger says.

【推荐3】During his years, American author Mark Twain noted that "life would be surely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18". Twain's words were only one of many complaints about aging that have been recorded for as long as humans have feared the downside of a long life. The ancient Greek poet Homer called old age"hateful", and William Shakespeare termed it "terrible winter".

Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world before he died around 323 BC, may have been looking for a river that treated the damage of age. During the 12th century AD, a king known as Prester John ruled a land that had a river of gold and a fountain of youth.

But the name linked most closely to the search for a fountain of youth is 16th-century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who thought it would be found in Florida. In St. Augustine, the oldest city in the US, there's a tourist attraction that purports(标榜) to be the fountain of youth that Ponce de León discovered soon after he arrived in what is now Florida in 1513. However,elderly visitors who drink the spring's water don't turn into teenagers.

But the tale of the search for a fountain of youth is so attracting that it survives anyway, says Ryan K. Smith, a professor of history. "People are more interested by the story of looking and not finding it than they are by the idea that the fountain might be out there somewhere."

Still, a few grains of truth have helped the story. Kathleen Deagan, a professor,says a cemetery(墓地) and the remains of a Spanish mission dating back to St. Augustine's founding in 1565 have been discovered near the so-called fountain of youth. Michelle Reyna, a spokesperson for the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in St. Augustine, says the fountain has been a tourist attraction since at least the 1900s and may have been attracting visitors since the 1860s.

【推荐3】Patients often come into my office and ask, “How can I look younger?” While I always suggest healthy living — a balanced diet and regular exercise — in order to look and feel younger, I have never thought of facial exercises as part of that plan. That is, until a recent study, published in JAMA Dermatology (皮肤学), showed promising results that routine facial exercise may slow the merciless tide of time.

The theory behind the study originates from the fact that a major part of facial aging is due to the loss of fat and soft tissue, which leads to the growth and spread of wrinkles. If we can lift weights at the gym and enlarge muscles in arms, why couldn’t the same be done for muscles in our faces, therefore to create a more youthful face?

The concept of facial exercise is not a new one. A simple Internet search will produce a lot of blog posts and books on the subject, as well as various programs that promise to be the next fountain of youth. What the JAMA Dermatology researchers did in their study, which was the first of its kind, was to examine this question from a more strict scientific aspect. They enrolled 27 women between the ages of 40 and 65 to perform daily, 30-minute exercises for eight weeks, and then continue every other day for a total of 20 weeks.

Dermatologists who did not know the participants were asked to rate their photographs before and after the exercise. The dermatologists found an improvement in cheek fullness and estimated the age of the participants at 51 years of age at the start of the program and 48 at the end of the 20-week study. Furthermore, all the participants felt improvement in their own facial appearance at the end of the study.

While these results seem exalting, the study has some obvious limitations. Of the 27 patients involved, 11 gave up before completing the study. One reason may be that the program was too time-consuming, clocking in at 30 minutes a day. The overall small size of the study also limits its generalizability to the larger population. In addition, there was also no control group, which would have helped reduce the possibility that this improvement happened by chance.

It’s also hard to draw conclusions about the longevity of these results. Probably the exercises must be continued to keep their effects. But for how long? And how frequently? Which exercises are most effective? Most studies are needed to answer these questions.

【推荐1】“I will need to open your neck to remove the tumor,” the surgeon told me on a hot summer day. The words turned into white noise.“So ,an ugly scar across my neck, then?” I asked. The nurse said: “Don’t worry. The closure is like his signature. Just like you want a perfect scar, he wants to give you one. You’ll barely see it.” I found some comfort in that.

I googled “cancer surgery scar”and was presented with neck images: necks with red and purple lines. closed with stitches or glue; necks with multiple scars....It was enough to make me shut my Macbook, as anxiety pulsed through my body. In the mirror, I admired my neck, running my finger across a gold chain I wore. Then a tiny voice said:“Mummy!”

My then fie-year-old son,. Jack, appeared in the mirror behind me. Our reflection was a big reality check. See, my son didn’t know I had cancer and was having surgery. I'm a single mom. Jack lives with me and doesn’t have a relationship with his father. I’m his hero. I'm the homework helper, nurse, chef, taxi driver, and every other variation of parent. I knew I couldn’t lose heart over cancer or some scar on my neck --I’m this kid's life!

So I did the next best thing I could think of: I made an appointment to get my hair done a few days before the first surgery. My goal was simple: golden hair to frame my scar. If I couldn’t hide it, I might as well show it off. I never had any intentions of hiding the scar. I didn’t want my son to think my scar was something to be ashamed of. I'm his role model and I needed to set a good example. Bad things can happen, but it's how you deal with them that matters.

The scar proves I faced my fear and won. If I got through that I can get through all the hardships, land on my feet and live boldly.

【推荐2】Learning Chinese characters can be a hard job for foreigners and even for young Chinese. The good news is that Chinese Character Origin Cards, a new product, can make learning them easy and fun.

Can you picture 108 Chinese characters such as ren (person), niao (bird), and lei (thunder) coming alive right in front of your eyes, telling you how they have developed from the symbols carved on ancient animal bones all the way to what they look like now? This may sound impossible, but it's just what the cards promise their users.

The cards were co-developed by an American expert Richard Sears and Shiwangme, a company mainly developing AR and AI applications. “I liked the idea of using 2D animation, together with 3D AR to show the correct origin ( 起源) of Chinese characters to Chinese children,” said Sears, who decided to work as a special expert with Shiwangme to develop the product in 2018.

“With Sears's years of research and his strong database, we are able to show learners the development of Chinese characters correctly," said Shiwangme CEO Zhang Shuai. The AR featured in the cards “would surely offer users high-tech excitements and make the learning experience much more fun”, Zhang added.

The cards have been welcomed in the market and Sears won the Jinling Friendship Award. However, Zhang and Sears won't rest on their achievements. According to Zhang, this is only the first set of cards. They will roll out two more. A total of 324 Chinese characters will be included to help Chinese learners build a strong basis.

【推荐3】In Wiltshire, England, volunteers are needed to visit a nature protection area to count the butterflies living there and on surrounding fields. The project is started by an environmental protection organization, which has contributed to improving the living environment for wild animals. Recently the organization has asked volunteers to help it observe environmental changes based on the record of butterflies and protect the environment.

In the area, the local people have planted many special flowers with the help of the organization, aiming to see whether these flowers will interest the rare and beautiful butterflies. The project officer Sarah Marshall says, "It will be a suitable habitat(栖息地) for butterflies. They are great 'indicator species' as they are easily affected by weather changes so they make an early-warning system for the environment." She also points out that volunteers are needed to record the number or species of butterflies, and based on the change happening to the butterflies, the hidden environmental problems in the area can be found out in time.

The organization is seeking volunteers to help monitor butterflies from April through to September. They will walk a fixed way and record the different butterflies they met along the way. Each visit should take no more than two hours, and each volunteer is expected to visit once a month to count the wildlife.

No experience is necessary as training and support will be provided, but an interest is important. If you are interested, please contact Sarah on (01380) 725670, exe 278, email sarah@ wiltshirewildlife.org.