2 . Vincent Willem van Gogh is a great Dutch painter. In 2017 one of his paintings was sold for $81 million. 2021 seemed to be Vincent Willem van Gogh’s year. There were at least five different exhibits in nearly 40 U. S. cities regarding his works. It’s very surprising to know he sold only a few paintings in his lifetime, for only little profit (利润). How did this now-famous painter fail to escape attention after his death? It was probably thanks to a woman.

Six months after Van Gogh died, his beloved brother Theo passed away, who had expected to make his brother’s works well-known. Fortunately, Theo’s wife Johanna van Gogh-Bonge, as an English teacher at two different girls’ schools before her marriage, was left with their son and a sizable art collection. She decided to help Tneo’s wishes come true. “During her lifetime, she devoted herself to making people know more about Vincent’s art,” says Luijten, the author of Johanna’s lifetime story.

Johanna tried all her best to improve Van Gogh’s name. To do this, she chose some of his works to sell and encouraged writers and art critics to write about his paintings though she was refused many times. Johanna didn’t lose heart. She lent some pieces to well-known museums and organized countless exhibitions. “One of Johanna’s major achievements was the organization of an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 1905, where she collected no less than 484 of Van Gogh’s works. A Van Gogh exhibition of this size would never again be matched,” Luijten explains. Another particular move happened in 1914 when Johanna published Van Gogh’s letters. Theo had kept hundreds of letters. “This was of great importance, as following the publication of the letters, the appreciation of Van Gogh as an artist increased further,” says Luijten.

“There’s little doubt that although Van Gogh was great, he wouldn’t be remembered to the level seen today without the influence of Johanna.” said Luijten.

4 . Parents have a new tool in the battle over screen time, with an Australian app asking kids to solve one math or English problem before they can unlock their phones.

Sydney entrepreneurs Issac and Ann Elnekave turned their bright idea into an app called 1 Question and tried it on their 16-year-old daughter Alyssa.

“At first I wasn’t sure about it,” Alyssa said. “I didn’t want my friends to blame me if their parents made them get it. But once I started using it, I realized it doesn’t take that long to answer a question and it’s actually pretty cool.”

“Research has shown almost half of children aged between 6 and 16 either have a mobile phone or have access to one. The majority play games or use apps like YouTube for an average of about five hours a day. The 1 Question app creates micro learning moments,” Mrs. Elnekave said. “We created a solution that makes a balance between screen time and study.”

Parents can download the $2.99 a month app onto their child’s phone, select their grade and curriculum subjects, then monitor each time their child correctly answers a question to open a game or app such as YouTube.

“We designed the user experience to be really simple, but underneath the hood is our incredibly intelligent AI engine,” Mr. Elnekave said. “As your child learns, so does the AI, which works out each child’s areas of strength and weakness and creates a customized path for their learning.”

The app has a base of 12,000 questions developed by teachers using the Australian, British and American curriculums designed for primary school children.

6 . Renee William and her friend were happy on the way to a football game. But in all of the _______, they accidentally headed out without their tickets! They had to go back. By the time they arrived at the stadium, it was almost time for kick-off (开球). Then they got more _______ news.

As it turned out, the stadium had restrictions (限制) on the _______ of bags allowed to enter. And Renee’s handbag was too large. She was about to _______ when a couple suggested Renee have a nearby homeless man _______ it.

That sounded unbelievable, but no _______ than throwing away a good handbag. She decided to put her _______ in the stranger. So, she gave the homeless man five dollars and asked if he would _______ keep an eye on her handbag until she finished watching the game.

Renee admitted (承认) her expectation of ever _______ the homeless man again was ________. When she came out, ________, there he was. The man had spent three hours staying in place with her handbag, just as he ________.

Renee had not ________ the homeless man to keep his word. Through this experience, Renee learnt a valuable lesson: you can’t really ________ what’s inside a book just by looking at the ________!

7 . Do you need to throw your smartphone away to live your best life? Not necessarily, according to researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum who suggest that we could all benefit from cutting down on screen time – just only a little bit time.

On average, we spend more than three hours a day looking at our smartphone screens. Between social media, news feeds, endless video games, and an app for pretty much everything else, there’s always something to draw our attention. In recent years, researchers have found connections between smartphones and many modern problems ranging from increasing anxiety cases to neck pain. So here comes the question: Are people all really better off changing back to landlines (座机)?

“The smartphone is both a benefit and a danger,” says study leader Dr. Julia Brailovskaia, whose team set out to answer that question by gathering together 619 volunteers, hoping to know how much the smartphone is good for us. For a week, two hundred people put their smartphones completely aside; 226 reduced the amount of time they used the device (装置) by one hour a day; 193 people didn’t change anything in their behavior.

Researchers interviewed each person about both their lifestyle habits and well-being (健康) four months later after the experimental week ended. “We found that both completely giving up the smartphone and reducing its daily use by one hour had positive effects on the well-being of the participants (参与者),” as Brailovskaia studies and reports the upshots. Especially, changing their smartphone habits for just one week appeared to produce lasting outcomes among volunteers. Even four months afterward, participants who were told to avoid using their smartphones totally were using their phones for an average of 38 minutes less per day.

Meanwhile, the “one hour less” group were using their phones as much as 45 minutes less per day after four months. This group also showed improved life satisfaction, more exercise, and less depression (抑郁). “It’s not necessary to completely give up the smartphone to feel better,” Brailovskaia concludes.

8 . We’ve explored London many times and come away with quite a few lessons. Here are our tips.

Visiting Buckingham Palace

Being London’s most famous landmark, this 775-room building is where Queen Elizabeth hosted feasts (盛宴) and met heads of state. But if you’re dreaming of taking a visit to it, you’ll need to plan your trip carefully. The palace is typically only open during the summer months from July 23rd to October 3rd. Visiting hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. If you’re visiting when the palace isn’t available to tour, you can still see the Changing of the Guard.

Hitting the London Eye

The London Eye is a playful addition (添加) to the city skyline. Standing near centuries-old buildings, this huge Ferris wheel spins (旋转) slowly over the left bank of the Thames, serving up views over the London Bridge and the Shard to the west, plus a wide perspective (视野) of the Palace of Westminster. Buy your tickets beforehand online, choose a clear day and go in the morning to avoid the crowds peak.

Drinking afternoon tea

Afternoon tea is reason enough to come to London. The British have taken a simple tea break and turned it into a luxurious (奢侈的) ceremony, complete with patterned china, fine plates of finger sandwiches, cakes and scones in cream and jam. When making a booking, remember that afternoon tea isn’t a snack but a full meal with sweet and salty elements (元素), and you’ll be full. The smart move is to leave out lunch and maybe even dinner.

9 . In a classroom in rural Kenya’s Rift Valley, a student, Priscilla Sitienei, takes notes alongside her fellow classmates. She wears the same school uniform. However, there is something different.

Sitienei is more than 80 years older than them. February 11 was Sitienei’s ninety-ninth birthday. “The main reason for my returning to school was that I would like to become a doctor because I used to be a midwife (助产士),” she said. She added that her children supported her decision.

Back in 2003, the government of the East African country began helping to pay for the cost of primary schooling. This has allowed some older members of society, who had missed out on education in their younger days, to go back to school.

This has given Sitienei more than an education. She has become a film star. Sitienei travelled to Paris last year for the launch (发布) of a film about her journey. It is titled Gogo, which means grandmother in her native Kalenjin language. She will also be heading to New York City soon for a showing of the film there.

Sitienei is in her sixth year of primary school. She said her aims were far more practical than becoming a movie star. She said, “I also enjoy school activities, including physical education classes. They keep me fit. I get to jump around, even though not as much as they do, but I at least move my body. That is my joy.”

Sitienei shares her wide experience and knowledge with the children. Her teachers also use her experience to keep the peace during lessons. Her class teacher, Leonida Talaam, said, “I use Sitienei to help control the class. And it works! When I go outside, the class remains silent.”

10 . Researchers say they have translated the meaning of gestures that wild chimpanzees use to communicate. They say wild chimps communicate 19 specific messages to one another with a“vocabulary”of 66 gestures. The scientists discovered this by following and filming groups of chimps in Uganda, and examining more than 5,000 incidents of these meaningful exchanges.

Dr Catherine Hobaiter, who led the research, said that this was the only form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom. Only humans and chimps, she said, had a system of communication where they intentionally sent a message to another group member.

“That’s what’s so amazing about chimp gestures,” she said. “They’re the only thing that looks like human language in that respect.”

Although previous research has shown that apes and monkeys can understand complex information from another animal’s call, the animals do not appear to use their voices deliberately to communicate messages. This was a significant difference between calls and gestures, Dr Hobaiter said.

Chimps will check to see if they have the attention of the animal with which they wish to communicate. In one case, a mother presents her foot to her crying baby, signalling: “Climb on me.” The youngster immediately jumps on to its mother’s back and they travel off together. “The big message from this study is that there is another species out there that is meaningful in its communication, so that’s not unique to humans,” said Dr Hobaiter.

Dr Susanne Shultz, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Manchester, said the study was praiseworthy in seeking to enrich our knowledge of the evolution of human language. But, she added, the results were “a little disappointing”.

“The unclearness of the gesture meanings suggests either that the chimps have little to communicate, or we are still missing a lot of the information contained in their gestures and actions,”she said.“Moreover, the meanings seem to not go beyond what other animals convey with non-verbal communication. So, it seems the gulf remains.”