1 . Cimabue, the greatest painter in medieval (中世纪的) Italy, was surprised one day when he came back from his lunch break and discovered a fly was under the nose of a character he had been working on. So he reached out to touch the insect. To his surprise, he found only wet paint. Turning around, he saw that his apprentice (学徒), Giotto di Bondone, was doing everything he could to keep from laughing. Giotto had painted the fly when Cimabue was away, and it looked so real that Cimabue had been completely fooled.

Giotto was born into a poor farming family. Legend has it that one day when Cimabue was walking around the countryside, he spotted a young shepherd (牧羊人) boy. The boy was not tending his sheep. Instead, he was drawing pictures of them, and the sheep he drew were so lifelike that Cimabue stopped to ask the boy his name. The boy replied that it was Giotto, and Cimabue immediately asked him to come to Florence so that the young shepherd could learn how to paint.

In the Middle Ages, an artist not only had to concern himself with things like design and technique, but he also had to learn how to make paints. Almost all artists were men, and they began their apprenticeships at an early age. An apprentice’s job was to copy his master as exactly as he could. The unfortunate result of this imitation was a lack of new ideas.

In fact, art in the Middle Ages remained the same for hundreds of years. The people in paintings didn’t look like real people, and the symbolism of art was often so remote that it must have been difficult for viewers to connect with it on a personal level. Giotto used many techniques that were uncommon at the time to bring the paintings to life for viewers. He painted people the way he saw them, instead of the overly tall people that other artists painted. He created three-dimensional space by using perspective, something that had not been done since Roman times. Finally, he threw out parts of the symbolism associated with medieval painting.

2 . On the way to his home the child turned many times and beat the dog, declaring with childish gestures that he held him in contempt as an unimportant dog. The dog apologized for being this quality of animal and expressed regret in fine form, but he continued stealthily to follow the child.

When the child reached his door-step, the dog was a few yards behind, moving slowly toward him. He became so anxious with shame when he again faced the child that he forgot the dragging rope. He tripped (绊倒) upon it and fell forward.

The child sat down on the step and the two had another interview. During it the dog greatly exerted himself to please the child. He performed a few playful jumps with such abandon (尽情地) that the child suddenly saw him to be a valuable thing. He made a swift, greedy charge (猛冲) and seized the rope.

He dragged his captive (俘虏) into a hall and up many long stairways in a dark building. The dog made willing efforts but he could not walk very skillfully up the stairs because he was very small and soft, and at last the pace of the child grew so energetic that the dog became panic-stricken. In his mind he was being dragged toward somewhere unknown. His eyes grew wild with the terror of it. He began to wiggle his head wildly and to brace his legs.

The child redoubled his efforts.They had a battle on the stairs.The child was victorious because he was completely absorbed in his purpose, and because the dog was very small. He dragged his acquirement to the door of his home, and finally with victory across the doorway.

No family member was in.The child sat down on the floor and made overtures to (向……示好) the dog. The dog instantly accepted. He smiled with affection upon his new friend. In a short time they were firm and abiding (矢志不渝的) comrades.

3 . Harbin Ice Festival 2023

Ever think of what Elsa’s ice palace might look like in real life? Ice stairs, ice walls, and ice towers? When winter approaches, Harbin turns into a kingdom of ice and snow.

The annual Harbin Ice and Snow Festival opens in late December and lasts for around 3 months, till late February.

What’s New for Harbin Ice Festival

Every year, there’s a unique theme for the Ice Festival. A huge Snowflake Ferris Wheel (摩天轮) has already been built inside the park. Visitors will be able to ride on the Ferris Wheel and overlook the ice castles in early 2023. For this upcoming festival, the highlight may be when the giant Snowflake is colorfully lit up at night, shining high in the sky.

Click here and Book Now! Tickets for Harbin Ice and Snow World are on sale now!*Dec. 25, 2022—Jan. 5, 2023: ¥170/person (half price for children)

*Jan. 6, 2023—Feb. 28, 2023: ¥230/person (half price for children)

Contact us for available tour dates before they are fully booked.

Attention

As long as the ice and snow sculptures are open to visitors, it is impossible to take photos of the charming ice buildings without any visitors in! This might be different from what you see in the media (that have special access).

5 . Soot (煤) pollution is speeding up climate-driven melting in Antarctica, a new study suggests, raising questions about how to protect the delicate continent from the increasing number of humans who want to visit.

“It really makes us question, is our presence really needed?” says Alia Khan, one of the authors of the new study. “We have quite a large black carbon footprint in Antarctica, which is enhancing snow and ice melt.”

Black carbon is the leftover thing from burning plants or fossil fuels. Soot in Antarctica comes primarily from waste gases of cruise ships (游轮), vehicles and airplanes, although some pollution travels on the wind from other parts of the globe. The dark particles (微粒) coat white snow and absorb heat from the sun the way a black T-shirt does on a warm day. The blanket of dark bits speeds up melting that was already happening more quickly because of global warming.

When snow and ice are uncovered, they reflect an enormous amount of sunlight before it can turn into heat. “These are the mirrors on our planet,” says Sonia Nagorski, a scientist at the University of Alaska Southeast. “When those mirrors are covered in a film of dark bits, they don’t send back that much light and heat. That means more heat is trapped on Earth, speeding up melting and contributing to global warming.”

As a scientist who personally visits Antarctica every year, Khan says she is troubled by her own research results. On the one hand, she goes to Antarctica to collect crucial data about how quickly the snow and ice there are disappearing. “But then when we come to conclusions like this it really does make us think twice about how frequently we need to visit the continent,” she says, “and what kind of regulations should be placed on tourism as well.” That could mean requiring that cruise ships and vehicles be electric, for example, or limiting the number of visitors each year.

6 . Table tennis may not seem a reasonable choice for someone with no arms—but Ibrahim Hamadtou doesn’t believe in limits. The 48-year-old Egyptian Paralympian breaks the barrier (障碍) by holding the paddle (球拍) in his mouth and using his right foot to serve the ball.

Hamadtou, who lost his arms in a train accident at the age of ten, was attracted to table tennis after being challenged by a friend. “I was once watching a match between two of my friends,” Hamadtou explains. “They disagreed on a point, When I counted the point in favor of one of them, the other player told me, ‘Mind your own business as you will never be able to play.’ It was that comment that fired me up to decide to play table tennis.”

It took Hamadtou three years to master the sport. He says the biggest challenge was working out the best way to control his body. “I was trying first to use the bat under the arm, and I also tried using other things, which weren’t working so well. Finally, I tried using my mouth. It took me nearly a year of practice to get used to holding the paddle with my mouth and making the serve. With practice and playing regularly, this skill was improved.”

The Egyptian’s impressive talent came to light in 2014 when he was awarded the best Arab Athlete of the year. He won a silver medal at the 2016 African Championships, qualified for his first Paralympics (残奥会) in 2016 at 43, and then again for the 2020 Tokyo Games at 48.

The inspiring athlete says, “The disability is not in arms or legs but to give up in whatever you would like to do.”

8 . It is calculated that some of the world’s 7,000 languages are in danger of getting extinct. “For example, Ainu, a language in Japan, is now seriously threatened, with only 10 native speakers remaining,“ said lead study author Tatsuya Amano at the University of Cambridge in England.

The scientists found that 25 percent of the world’s languages are threatened(威胁)．After identifying where the endangered(濒危的)languages were，they looked for any environmental and social or economic factors those languages might have in common, such as poor areas or rapid population growth. “We find that at the global scale, language speaker declines are strongly linked to economic growth-that is, declines are particularly occurring in economically developed regions,” said Amano.

“One important finding of this new study is that languages in the tropics and Himalayan region are likely to be increasingly threatened in the near future, because these regions still have many local languages with a small number of speakers, and at the same time are experiencing rapid economic growth,” said Amano.

Economic growth may endanger languages for a variety of reasons. For instance, speakers of endangered languages may view another more popular language as offering economic opportunities, and thus abandon their own languages. “There are other important factors that might endanger languages,” said the researchers. For instance, policies regarding how languages are used and taught in schools can be very different among countries and even within each country, and these factors may explain more detailed patterns in language endangerment.

Amano suggested it could be possible to forecast(预见)future threats to the diversity(多样化) of languages. “There exists detailed information on future changes in the environment， economies and climates(气候)，”Amano said. “Using such information，together with the findings of this study and further analysis, we would like to understand what will happen to the world’s languages, where it will happen and which languages will be threatened in particular.”

9 . As is known to us all, the stories we share with one another are significant, which shows our wisdom, providing our inspiration and attaching importance to our development. But occasionally people choose not to tell.

Consider the negative effects of not sharing a story in the news: People are wondering if public health officials are holding back too much information about the recent outbreak of Ebola.

There is a danger in holding back stories that ought to be told. Bobette Buster said it was like this, “The fact is, history has shown us that stories not told can become like a dangerous genie (妖怪) left in a bottle. When they are finally uncorked, their power to destroy is set free.”

There are a number of reasons why we hide parts of our story: they often show our weaknesses or expose our disadvantages; they require courage and strength to share, and of course, there are some stories that should be kept secret—especially those that embarrass someone else.

Most of us have two selves: the one we display on the outside and the one we actually are on the inside. And the better we get at hiding the stories that show our true selves, the more damage we may be causing to ourselves and to others.

Honesty and openness is important. It proves we are trustworthy. It displays we are human. We are not perfect or better. It highlights the importance of hard work and personal development. Hard work may not allow us to overcome our disadvantages completely. But with hard work, we do not have to be restricted to our mistakes.

Does this mean we admit every weakness, every disadvantage, and every secret regret to everybody we meet? No, of course not. There is a time and a place and a certain level of relationship necessary for some stories to be told in an appropriate manner.