1 . Most Famous Paintings in the World

Among the millions of paintings that are created and shown in galleries and museums all around the world, a very small number of them go beyond time and make history. Below are some examples.

The Persistence of Memory — Salvador Dali. Painted in 1931, The Persistence of Memory is one of the most recognizable pieces in art history. This work is known to make people reflect on their way of life and the way they spend their time, and it is also thought that Albert Einstein’s well-known Theory of Relativity gave Dali the idea for this wonderful painting.

Girl with a Pearl Earring — Johannes Vermeer. Considered by many to be “the Dutch Mona Lisa”, this beautiful painting features an unnamed young woman looking over her shoulder to stare directly at the viewer. It was completed in 1665 and is exhibited in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Guernica — Pablo Picasso. The famous painting by Picasso was completed in 1937. It was painted in Paris following the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The painting is on permanent display in the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.

Starry Night — Vincent van Gogh. Painted in 1889, Starry Night is one of the most famous paintings in modern culture, which is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It is based on van Gogh’s direct observations as well as his imagination, memories, and emotions and was the inspiration for the song Vincent (also known as Starry, Starry Night).

3 . If you are currently learning English, 1 highly recommend you check out the apps below.

Quizlet

When learning English, you probably have to memorize a lot of words. If you want to grow your vocabulary as fast as possible, a flashcard app like Quizlet is a great shortcut. With Quizlet, you can create a set of flashcards with new English words you are trying to learn, and practice typing them out until you know them by heart. It's a simple concept, but it's highly effective.

Spotify

Spotify is not a language learning app. But chances are that you already use it or a similar app for listening to music or podcasts（播客）, and one of the effective ways to study is combining something you already use into your existing habits. If Spotify is already on your phone, you can subscribe to some podcasts for English learners or download playlists of songs for learning English, or make your own.

Beelinguapp

Beelinguapp makes reading in English as convenient as possible. It shows you a text in your own language with the English translation side-by-side. Texts are short enough so that you can really dig into every word. They cover topics from fairytales, to science, to current news articles. There's even a "karaoke" feature where you can read along to audio, which helps you match up the English pronunciation with the English spellings.

Tandem

Tandem is a language exchange app which connects learners from all over the world. It can help you find a native English speaker who is trying to learn your native language, so you can swap language skills. If you only have five minutes to spare, you can simply exchange messages with a native English speaker. If you have more time, you can have a longer, digital language exchange" by sharing voice notes, or using video chat. It's a great way to test your English skills out with real people.

4 . You probably take many steps to protect your computer from getting a virus, but what about your cell phone? Cell phones are basically mini-computers, so, believe it or not, they too can get viruses.

“Viruses and malware（恶意软件）should not be a major concern to the average consumer who uses their device to make phone calls, take pictures, and download a few well-known apps from the major app marketplaces,” Tim Katsch Vice President of iDropped said. “If a user is downloading a lot of apps, changing and exploring settings within the device, and visiting a large number of websites from unknown sources, virus and malware protection should be kept on their mind.” If your phone gets a virus it can mess up your data, put random charges on your bill, and get private information such as your bank account number, credit card information, passwords, and your location.

The most common way that you could get a virus on your phone would be through downloading an infected app. Viruses can also get on your phone when you click on strange links or open up an email that contains a virus. Connecting to an unsecured wireless network in a public place is also a way for hackers（黑客）to get private information from your device.

If you're still convinced that your phone might get a virus, there are anti-virus apps that you can download that will constantly scan your phone to make sure it hasn't developed a virus, Apps like these will also check things before you download them to ensure that they are safe. Another tip is to always look over your cell phone bill every month to make sure there aren't charges from apps that you never downloaded.

Technology is getting smarter, but so are hackers, and it's important to always be cautious with anything you do on your phone. Many people store a lot of personal information on their phones, and while that might make life a little more convenient, it can also do a lot of damage if hacked.

6 . Most wouldn’t know what to do if they broke their leg isolated on a beach with no cell phone. One man found himself in that exact _______,but instead of giving up, he used every resource he could to make it to _______.

While enjoying a walk down the beach, Tim Robinson, a former _______of the British Army, slipped on a piece of seaweed and _______, breaking his leg. No one was on _______or within earshot, but as Robinson lay _______he remembered his military(军事的) training.

The army veteran had _______two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, so even though his current situation was _______,there’s no way it was going to be his end. Robinson _______had the ability to crawl(爬), and so he did. The choice was easy but the crawl was________.Robinson said, “After I crawled about a mile and a quarter, I started________my flashlight in SOS and spinning it over my head to create a Buzz-Saw signal which is a way of________helicopters in the armed forces...”

“There was no________to begin with，so I crawled for five minutes and________about 50 meters before making the same signal three times,” Robinson said. Most people couldn’t imagine crawling for any distance with a________leg, but Robinson wasn’t about to________.

Luckily, a coast guard crew finally________. They were amazed that this man had crawled such a ________,more than a mile in total,________suffering such a wound.

Mrs. Robinson is grateful her husband was________enough to make it back to safety.

7 . A year ago, Joe Stilin spent the summer training for the Berlin Marathon. The professional proceeded 100-mile weeks in preparation, and his effort paid off, running a 2:17:15—a career-best on a record-qualified course.

This year, almost every racing opportunity was canceled among safety measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak. As a runner who succeeds on a full racing schedule, Stilin was taken aback by the sudden cancellations—but in the face of the upheaval, he used the summer to run for a purpose that went beyond personal achievement.

From May to September, the Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier participated in the One Wisconsin Running Challenge—a virtual(虚拟的) running fundraiser for local charities providing essential goods and financial support to those affected by the global pandemic(流行病).

Weeks after the marathon trials, most major sports competitions were cut off, including the Tokyo Olympics. But Stilin approached the change as an opportunity to steel himself on the stress-relieving benefits of running and use the miles of the One Wisconsin Running Challenge as a way to give back.

For the first time ever, Stilin left one day off in his weekly mileage this summer, which has been vital for recovery and his development as a runner.“That’s actually been a good lesson to learn,” Stilin said.“As someone who puts a lot of pressure on myself before competition, my goal is to remember to move forward next year when we get races back. I want to remember this summer when the pressure was off and we still worked hard, and the fitness came of its own accord(一致).”

“I think this year is breaking down a lot of people a little bit but also building them back up,” he said.“It’s forcing myself and everybody to get out of their comfort zone. Unfortunately, a lot of people are stressed, anxious, and maybe depressed. But I really think that when we heal from it, we’re going to be better for it.”

9 . What do you do with money? Do you spend it or save it? Do you get pocket money from your parents or do you work to earn money?

Pocket money

Most teenagers in Britain receive pocket money from their parents. They might have to do chores to get their pocket money, helping at home with tasks like cleaning, cooking, washing up, taking out the rubbish and ironing.

Different families give different amounts and the average for eight-to-fifteen-year-olds in the UK is about ￡6 (53 yuan) a week. A report found that many children save at least a quarter of their weekly pocket money and that more boys than girls save their money.

Part-time work

A part-time job is an option for teenagers who don’t have pocket money or who want to earn extra money. About 15 percent of teenagers have a job. Only children over 13 can work but there are some exceptions, for example, for actors. Popular part-time jobs for teens include babysitting, delivering newspapers, shop work and restaurant or café work.

There are strict government laws about children working. They can work a maximum of two hours a day on a school day but not during school hours. At weekends and during school holidays, they can work longer hours. As for wages, the national minimum wage for under-18s is around ￡4 per hour and it increases every year. Its minimum wage is higher if you are older.

Banks

In Britain, some children and teenagers have a bank account. There is no legal (法定的) age limit at which you can open a bank account, but a bank manager can decide whether to allow a child or young person to open an account. Parents can put pocket money directly into their child’s bank account.

So, many teenagers are getting experience of working part-time, dealing with banks and deciding whether to save or spend their money. These are all steps towards becoming a financially independent adult and earning and looking after your own money.

10 . As people get older, the types and numbers of friends they have tend to change. As young adults, humans have large groups of friends. With age, they often prefer to spend their time with just a few close, positive individuals. Researchers long believed that this aging attraction toward meaningful relationships was unique to humans, but a new study finds that chimps (大猩猩) also have similar tendencies.

Rosati and her colleagues used 78,000 hours of observations made over 20 years from the Kibale Chimpanzee Project in Uganda. The data looked at the social interactions of 21 male chimps between 15 and 58 years old. The researchers only studied male chimps because they show stronger social bonds and have more social interactions than female chimps.

Researchers found that wild chimpanzees share a similar pattern of social aging with humans. Rosati says, “They prefer strong, mutual social bonds and interact with others in more positive ways as they get older.” The older chimpanzees preferred spending more time with chimps that they had become friends with over the years. They would sit close to these long-time companions and groom (梳毛) each other. By contrast, younger chimps had more one-sided relationships where they would groom a friend, but the action wasn’t returned.

Older male chimps were also more likely to spend more time alone. The researchers said that they showed a shift from negative interactions to more positive ones, preferring to spend their later years in nonconfrontational (非对抗性的), positive relationships. Researchers call the preference a “positivity bias”.

Researchers theorize that chimps, like humans, are able to change their social focus as they age. “We propose that this aging pattern may be the result of shared changes in our abilities to regulate our emotions with age,” Rosati says. “This shared pattern between chimpanzees and humans could represent an adaptive response where older adults focus on important social relationships that provide benefits and avoid interactions that have negative consequences as they lose competitive fighting ability.”