2 . At school, art class is fun. We _________with different techniques and generally get creative. However, a field trip to an art gallery is often _________. Last year my art teacher organized a trip to an art exhibition. The gallery was full of older people, who obviously didn’t want to be with _________students. We all got _________ and couldn’t stop chatting. Our teacher was getting _________ and kept telling us to be quiet.

The next day we complained to our teacher about the _________ of activities for teens at art galleries. She _________ that a visit should be both educational and fun. That’s when I decided to go online and look for art galleries that have special_________ for teens. Eventually, I _________to find a huge range of activities and proposed some to my teacher.

I also used the ________________ to learn about artists. Recently, I found a contemporary artist called Martin Bailey. I’ve ________________ seen artists who combine different techniques, but Bailey is totally different. He does unique illustrations with ________________ household objects such as umbrellas, headphones and even cookies. His art is simple, but it makes you see things ________________. For example, he notices that a flower is similar to a mop(拖把) and puts this ________________into life by drawing a little man with a real flower mop. It’s really ________________ ! I hope I’ll be able to go to an exhibition of his work in the future.

5 . When his daughter Morgan was growing up, Gordon Hartman was heartbroken after watching her on the playground. Other children refused to play with her, mostly because her disabilities meant she couldn’t access the places where they were playing. The family tried other places but were never satisfied.

“What we found was there was no place that was an easily-accessible, fully inclusive park,” Gordon said. So he went home and sold his construction business, bought a large piece of land, and went to work building an entire amusement park for disabled children.

All kids need playtime, and Morgan was no different. The park—named Morgan’s Wonderland—finally offered Morgan that opportunity. What the Hartmans discovered is that kids without disabilities enjoy the park just as much, and they interact a lot more with everyone when all are included. In fact, three quarters of the park’s visitors are not disabled. And that makes it all the more fun.

Watching the kids play together without barriers makes you realize that we are all the same, and having fun is for everybody. But it doesn’t end there. One-third of the staff also has special needs. Seeing the way they interact also puts a smile on your face. They take their jobs seriously, and they make sure everybody is having fun.

“It feels fantastic because we get to see people who are not given the opportunity to experience the types of rides we have, get on a carousel, get on a train easily, and go fishing,” says Gordon. The park has been visited by people with special needs from over 67 countries. “When we opened this, we didn’t know if it was going to work,” says Gordon. “All we wanted to do was bring people together and play.”

Just look at the smiles at Morgan’s Wonderland, and you’ll see how much good it does.

6 . The Art Institute of Chicago

Visitor Information

Museum Hours

Members: The first hour of every day, 10 a.m. —11 a.m., is reserved for member-only viewing.

Monday—Wednesday Closed

Thursday: 11 a.m.—8 p. m.

Friday—Sunday: 11 a.m.—5 p. m.

Audio guides can be rented at the admission counter, audio counter and outside some special exhibitions. The guide is free to visitors with visual or hearing disabilities.

With the digital interactive JourneyMaker, you can build custom family guides based on your child’s interests-from superheroes to strange and wild creatures. Start your museum journey in the Family Room of the Ryan Leaning Center, and make your visit to the Art Institute an adventure for the whole family.

Your personal, pocket-sized guide to the collection, this new iOS app features podcast-style audio tours, location-aware technology, access to the digital member card, and so much more. Download it today from the App Store.

We encourage you to take pictures of the collection and special exhibitions for personal use. Signs indicate the few works that are not allowed to be photographed due to a lender requirement.

You are welcome to use your phone to take pictures, text, and use the museum’s app-anything that does not disturb other visitors. If you need to make a phone call, please do so in a non-gallery space.

Art Institute visitors can drop off their cars at the Modern Wing entrance (159 East Monroe Street) and walk right into the museum. The valet service is available daily from 10:30 a. m. until one-half hour after closing.

Adult: $ 32

Student: $ 26

Child (aged 13 and under): Free

Help us protect the collection-please do not touch the art.

7 . A bill to conserve endangered species was passed by the U.S. House in a 231-to-190 vote on Tuesday.

The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would create an annual fund of more than $1.3 billion, given to states, and territories for wildlife conservation on the ground. While threatened species have been recognized and protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1973, that law does not provide constant funding to actively maintain their numbers.

The effort comes as scientists and international organizations sound the alarm about accelerating species decline.

“Too many people don’t realize that about one-third of our wildlife is at increased risk of extinction,” said lead House sponsor Debbie Ding-ell, echoing (呼应) a recent study about climate change.

In the United States, there are more than 1,600 endangered or threatened species, but state agencies have identified more than 7 times that number in need of conservation assistance in their wildlife action plans.

“The bottom line is, when we save wildlife we save for ourselves,” said Collin O’ Mara, CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, which supports the bill. He said species loss threatens everything from the insects that pollinate (授粉) plants in the food chain, to sea life that helps to reduce damages to coastlines from storm.

The bill would improve a 1937 law, the Pittman-Robertson Act, which was passed in response to decreasing game and waterfowl species. That law allows states to tax hunting supplies to pay for wildlife and habitat restoration, but that money is not enough to do the same for non-game species.

The act would also invest more in conservation than the existing program for threatened non-game species, called the State Wildlife Grant Program, which awarded states a total of $56 million this year.

8 . The Curb-cut Effect (路缘坡效应) refers to the fact that supporting small groups of people often ends up helping much larger ranges of society.

Curb cuts: Easing the walking

In the 1940s, hundreds of thousands of World War Ⅱ soldiers returned home with disabilities. Disappointed by the difficulties they faced, Jack Fisher of Kalamazoo, Michigan, as one of them, asked his city government to build an experimental curb cut-a gentle slope that brings the end of a sidewalk down to meet the level of the street-at the corners of several blocks downtown. A few months later, Fisher reported that even residents without wheelchairs were enjoying the impact of the little slopes.

Reading machines: Getting the message

In 1976, technologist Ray Kurzweil invented a machine for the blind and visually damaged to change images into text that it then read aloud. Smart speakers with those voices are now in roughly one-quarter of US homes. By detecting street signs and house numbers, it is helping build the maps that self-driving cars use to navigate the world.

Closed captions (字幕): Following the conversation

Sears launched the first TV with a built-in equipment that allowed deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers to read along with their favorite programs in 1980. In the 1990s, text became increasingly common as DVDs and, later, streaming services added the ability to switch the words on at will. A 2006 survey found that only around 20 percent of the people using captions had hearing problems.

DeafSpace designs: Keeping things quiet

More than 150 designs of the DeafSpace Project came from architect Hansel Bauman. One aim is to clear distracting noises, which can make it difficult for people to use their limited hearing abilities. By keeping conversations and other sound disturbances from walking and jumping around the room, these ways also make it easier for all sorts of students and workers to focus.

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10 . Billionaire Sir Christopher Hohn expects the greatest “demand disruption (中断)” for oil since the 1970s shock to cause an increase in renewable energy investment.

He said high oil prices are “a positive thing” for the climate as the energy crisis results in a “dramatic speed-up” in decarbonisation (碳减排). “The whole world should now be focused on seeking alternatives, whether they’re renewables or hydrogen fuels. All of these things are far more economic.”

He pointed to the recent boost of EU (欧盟) for renewable energy funding, as part of a plan to reduce imports of gas. Even as oil and gas companies obtain record profits from the high prices at present, Hohn said climate-focused investors will ultimately benefit from the energy price shock.

“The oil price increase leads to plans for accelerated decarbonisation,” said Hohn. “I personally believe that we’ll have demand disruption as we had in the 70s, and that there will be a dramatic acceleration in decarbonisation. I actually view it as a positive thing.”

Hohn has pressured companies to give shareholders a vote on their climate plans. Spanish airport operator Aena and aircraft manufacturer Airbus improved their emissions (排放) tar-gets as a result. Hohn has also pushed for stricter regulation on corporate climate promises. “Corporate decarbonisation isn’t going to happen through voluntary methods,” Hohn said.

Hohn is also backing a new rating agency that will grade company emissions strategies, through his charity, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. The Climate Action-plan Rating Centre (Climate-Arc) will analyse public company data and publish climate plan ratings.

Investors often struggle to analyse corporate climate plans. “Because though some organizations declare their commitment to environmental protection, they actually do the opposite,” Hohn said, “I expect a large proportion of companies will get graded F if they’re not doing enough. Even companies with net zero emissions targets have failed to set out plans about how to reach those goals. The impact is going to be a bit like, ‘the emperor has no clothes’.”