1 . 4 Best Places to Travel in 2023

2023 is the year when travel returns in a big way. To get you started, we’ve rounded up some of the best places to travel in 2023. All you need to do is pick the place that appeals to you.

Copenhagen

With its fantastic houses, clean streets and colorful architecture, Copenhagen is regarded as the most livable city on the earth. Named the World Capital of Architecture for 2023, Copenhagen will offer a series of major artistic events and programs sure to delight architects and design lovers.

Bhutan

For travelers with a sense of adventure and a love of discovery, Bhutan has always been a must-go destination. In 2023, travelers can once again explore the Trans Bhutan Trail, which runs 250 miles from east to west, offering visits to the century-old communities along the journey. The trail spans (横跨)18 major bridges and national parks and connects more than 400 historic and cultural sites.

Bordeaux

The coming years will be sporty in the historical wine region of Bordeaux in France. In 2023, the city will host the Rugby World Cup, an intense and stressful game. Beyond sports, Bordeaux is one of the favorite historical cities, with more than 350 structures that are either nationally or regionally listed as historical monuments.

Namibia

Wildlife and adventure lovers looking for a unique path in African Safari trips should head straight to Namibia in 2023 — this country in southern Africa is the perfect place to travel to reconnect with nature and escape the modern stresses of life. On the wildlife front, you may see lions along with giraffes and elephants.

3 . We are Dr. David and Shannon Biegel, founders of the popular vacation website EnjoyYourParks.com(established 2008). We’d like to briefly introduce the following parks to you.

Glacier (冰川) National Park is unquestionably one of the most beautiful places on this planet. It is home to hundreds of glacier-carved peaks, over 600 lakes, hundreds of rivers waterfalls and streams, and over 730 miles of maintained hiking trails. Glacier National Park is known as “The Crown of the Continent” and the “American Alps” for a good reason—this place is so beautiful that words cannot begin to describe it.

Yellowstone National Park is one of the most amazing places on the planet and is indeed one of America’s most famous symbols. Created in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is the world’s first national park. It is even older than Tongariro National Park. And Yellowstone Park was created 4 years before Custer’s Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn! This magical wonderland is one of America’s most valued treasures.

Grand Teton National Park is home-to-one of the most famous mountain ranges on Earth. The Teton Range is not only a mountain climber’s paradise (天堂), but it is also so beautiful that you’ll find that you’ve walked right into a beautiful post card! Grand Teton National Park is breathtaking, and it’s all yours to explore and discover. We absolutely love Grand Teton National Park and we’re really excited to share everything we know about it with you!

Our passion for National Parks shines through in everything we do. Let our passion for these parks, as well as our knowledge, help you plan the trip of a lifetime. You have one chance to plan your vacation right. We will show you exactly where to go, what to do, where to see animals and where to stay. Call us at 406-404-0222 and let’s start planning your trip today!

4 . My 5-year-old daughter Kai walked around a bus stop, picking up candy wrappers and plastic bottles and throwing them in the waste bin. We were a visiting family here, but she was cleaning the sidewalk, which didn’t shock me, nor was I _________ when strangers looked at us.

Our cleanup project began when we drove past an empty field one day and Kai _________ the field was covered by _________ balloons. We had read about how animals could _________ balloons for food. “Stop,” Kai said, and I _________. Surprisingly, we found the field was full of much trash _________ the balloons. “Can we come back and clean it?” Kai asked. Then each Friday, we returned to have a(n) _________ cleaning.

However, it seems we can never _________ the trash completely. I feel something close to _________! Why are we making kids clean up our __________? It has everything to do with the planet we adults are leaving for kids. Plastic pollution is globally distributed and microplastics have even been discovered in human blood. It is not a __________ story that we have created trash but our next generation cleans up them.

Now Kai hopes to become a marine biologist to protect sharks one day. She still has many years to __________, if adults get serious about solving plastic pollution. We shouldn’t leave our next generation a __________ planet and expect them to save it.

The last time our family was at the beach, we still picked up plastic bottles. Most __________, though, we saw an octopus (章鱼) playing around our feet, a __________ of a harmonious habitat worth protecting.

5 . My mom loved to pass her wisdom to me: ”Nothing beats a good bite that bites back.” She was referring to her bitter-taste foods like dill pickles and rhubarb (大黄叶). But I was not a big fan.

Three years ago, I finally decided to ask if I could ________ out her rhubarb while weeding the garden. “________ not!” Mom gasped, throwing me a(n) ________ look. Clearly, I had underestimated her________ for it. However, as I continued ________, I thought about how rhubarb is one of the first to appear in spring. It ________ the snowy ground before the arrival of other plants. How can anyone fail to ________ it? When those first sprouts (嫩芽) appeared, Mom would count them like a ________ counting a newborn’s fingers and toes.

When I was a kid and my mom gave me that pie, it made me ________ to try. In my teens, it made me complain about the bitterness. Even ice cream or candies did not ________ the deal for my young taste buds (味蕾). Rhubarb was something to be ________ at all costs.

Then, last summer, I came across the ________ for her rhubarb pie in an old drawer. So I decided to give it a ________. A few attempts later, I served rhubarb pie to family and guests. All agreed, including me, that it tasted incredible.

Since then I’ve come to a ________ about rhubarb. Rhubarb’s taste may be lost on children, but adults can________ it. Like my wise mother, I now understand that “Nothing beats a good bite that bites back.”

6 . When Roosevelt was a kid, his doctors claimed that he was too weak to live a normal life like most children of his age. They strongly recommended him to avoid participation in any physical activities, fearing that it could worsen his health condition and potentially lead to his death. Their opinions implied that he would face up to a life full of all kinds of limitations. Instead of permitting their limiting beliefs about what he could do and achieve, he chose to live a meaningful life.

Despite his doctors’ strong suggestions that he remain inactive, he didn’t want to be a carefree observer of the world as it passed him by. He was determined to force himself to be active. Roosevelt had daily adventures in the woods as a boy.

He continued to play sports when he got to college. In fact, he didn’t just play, but he excelled in both boxing and rowing, both of which require astonishing levels of strength and endurance. When Roosevelt graduated from college, his doctors were still not completely sure about his health condition. They still believed that he would be putting himself in serious danger, because his heart problems had not improved. They firmly believed that it would be best to find a desk job for him after completing a college degree. Once again, Roosevelt decided to challenge himself to his physical limits by living an extremely energetic adult life. In about every field he took part, he would aim to push his physical limits. Impressively, he was excellent as an explorer, a hunter, an author, a soldier and a politician.

Eventually, Roosevelt went beyond the mistaken limitation upon him and lived an amazing life.

7 . Have you ever spent half an hour searching the Internet which, as you find out afterwards, lasted three hours, or opened a book shortly after breakfast and a little while later noticed that the room was getting darker?

Most people can remember experiencing such a state. Your mind wasn't wandering; you were totally focused and concentrated on that activity, to such an extent that you were not even aware of yourself. Psychologists call these fully absorbing experiences flow states, which were discovered and named by a world-famous psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. His celebrated book Flow: The Psychology of Happiness became an instant best-seller, making its way to the top self-help classics.

The state of flow happens under very specific conditions-when we encounter a challenge that is testing for our skills, and yet our skills and capacities are such that it is just about possible to meet this challenge. So both the challenge and the skills are at high levels, stretching us almost to the limit. If challenges exceed skills, one can become anxious. If skills exceed challenges, we usually become bored. Neither of these two cases result in flow.

What is also interesting in flow is the almost total absence of emotions during the actual process. One seems to be almost beyond experiencing emotions, most likely because the awareness of self is not present. Mihaly himself is also very much aware of the potential negative impact of the flow. One philosopher once describes his own experience of flow: “When I get totally involved in the conversation, I am not aware of myself, the world around or the passage of time. Sometimes, I may become addictive to that existence, unwilling to cope with other daily routines of life, like forgetting dinner, and saying goodbye to my children.”

8 . From sleep machines to Al-controlled house cleaning robots, a wide variety of advanced technologies and products are being exhibited at the 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. Here are some products you don’t want to miss.

Electric bicycle Brina 2

For many people,a daily commute (通勤) is often a source of headache. Emove Inc, an exhibitor from Argentina, has presented electric bicycle Brina 2 as a solution. Running on long-ange batteries, the e-bike has a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour. Almost all the components are designed within the carbon fiber frame. Its scientific design makes the ride more stable and comfortable than other conventional e-bikes.

AI robot — a right-hand assistant for life and production

AIrobot from AgileRobotsAG, a leading intelligent robotics company from Germany, helps make life and work easier. With the ability to synthesize (综合) and adjust motion tracks in real-time, the robot is a great assistant. For instance, it can aid humans in tasks like loading and unloading, polishing and quality inspection.

Power-PROXT — a reliable stretcher bed

Power-PROXT is an electric ambulance stretcher bed designed by Stryker Corporation from the U.S.Compared with traditional stretchers, Power-PROXT is driven by a high-speed motor that enables it to easily lift or lower a load weighing 318 kilograms within 2.4 seconds. More importantly, it can smoothly and safely lift and move, providing greater safety for patients.

Sleeping cabin — a night guard for sound sleep

A recent study found that more than two-thirds of surveyed university students in Brazil are experiencing poor sleep quality.The sleeping cabin made by The Dow Chemical Company from the U.S. can provide its users a better sleep. As a combination of great material and technology, the cabin can provide customers with a deeper and more refreshing sleeping experience.