1 . Make full use of your senses, discover hidden talents and enjoy a new interest at the Joseph Regenstein, Jr. School of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Learn the following lessons of the adult education programme. Our expert instructors offer virtual learning in different kinds of topics.

Beginning Watercolor

Wednesday 28 February

Watercolor is a fresh, beautiful way to express the beauty of a sunset or the reflection of trees and clouds on a pond. You will learn to make expressive marks, mix colors, and apply water mindfully to achieve the amazing effects watercolor offers.

Organic Vegetable Gardening Basics

Thursday 29 February

Learn the basic techniques and tools required to grow your own vegetables. Site selection, bed and soil preparation, seed sowing, transplanting, and harvesting techniques will be covered. You will receive a packet of seeds to grow at home.

Essence of Internal Martial Arts (武术)

Friday 22 March

Whether your goal is to improve your practical skills and your well-being, or you are simply interested in the internal martial arts, this class will provide a strong foundation (基础) for your practice. Instead of fixed forms, the class focuses more on the necessary rules and fundamental training. It provides a detailed study into effective ways of body use and a well organized way of building health while connecting the mind and body.

Plants That Attract Beneficial Insects

Sunday 7 April

Are you interested in controlling insect pests (害虫) in your garden naturally? You can finish this by planting a variety of beautiful plants that attract pollinators and other beneficial insects. By learning about adult beneficial insects, their hungry larvae and their preferred plants, you can effectively reduce or remove pest populations.

2 . The rapid increase of the oil price has brought the world to its senses. Scientists are seeking suitable alternative (替换) but so far in vain. They are considering how they can make better use of the two other major fuels, coal and natural gas, but they have found that neither can replace oil in their economics. In recent years, there has been a growing concern for the environment and coal is not a popular fuel with environmentalists. Natural gas, the purest of the three fuels, is also the most limited in supply.

The answer would seem to lie in nuclear power stations. They need very little fuel to produce enormous amounts of power and they do not pollute the atmosphere. Their dangers, however, are so great and the costs of building them are also high. Not only could one accident in a nuclear power station spread as much radioactivity (放射物) as a thousand Hiroshima atom bombs, but the radioactive waste from these stations is extremely dangerous.

Scientists have recently turned their attention to natural sources of energy: the sun, the sea, the wind and hot spring, of which the sun seems the most promising source for the future. Houses have already been built which are heated entirely by solar energy. However, solar energy can only be collected during daylight hours, and in countries where the weather is unreliable, an alternative heating system has to be included.

However, many scientists are optimistic that new ways of generating large amounts of energy will be successfully developed, but at the same time they fear the consequences. If the world population goes on increasing at its present rate, we may, in fifty years’ time, be burning up so much energy that we would damage the earth’s atmosphere. By raising the temperature of the atmosphere,we could melt the Arctic and Antarctic ice-caps and change the pattern of vegetable and animal life throughout the world——a frightening possibility.

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5 . Last year I ruined my summer vacation by bringing along a modern convenience: the iPad.

Instead of looking at nature, I _______ my e-mail. Instead of reading great novels, I stuck to reading _______newspapers each morning. And that was the problem: I was acting as if I were still in the office. My body was on vacation but my _______ wasn’t.

So this year I made up my mind to try something _______: getting away from the Internet. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, _______ I’m not good at self-control. But I was _______. I started by handing the iPad to my wife. Then, a stroke of luck: The mobile phone _______ at our cabin was worse than in the past. I was _______, forced to carry out my plan. Largely cut off from e-mail and my favourite newspaper websites, I had little way to _______ the world. I had no ________ but to do what I had planned to do all along: read books.

With determination and the strong support of my wife, I succeeded in my vacation struggle against the Internet. I finally ________ that it was me, of course, not the iPad, that was the ________.

I knew I had ________ when we passed a Starbucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi. “Don’t need it,” I said. ________, as we return to work, a test begins: Can I survive when I’m back at work? I don’t plan to ________ my iPad completely. But I hope to resist the temptation (抵抗诱惑) to use it every five minutes.

6 . My community and state are still recovering from the disaster that hit the area recently. A wall of storms with hurricane force winds _____ late on a Friday evening knocking down trees, _____ roads, damaging homes, and destroying power lines. Hundreds of thousands of people suddenly _____themselves in the dark without water, electricity, air conditioning, telephones, internet, and television. They were _____ from the modern world suffering unbearable 90 degree plus heat with no help and no idea _____ it would be over.

The most _____ thing happened, however, as the reality of the crisis sank in: it brought out the best in us. While there were a few acts of _____ and stealing, they were overwhelmed (压倒) by the wave of _____ and compassion that came from the hearts of so many. People shared their food, ice, and gasoline. People who still had _____ opened their homes to those who had none. People rushed out to _____roads and homes of fallen trees. Selfless power crews worked around the clock to repair the damage and _____ electricity.

Life’s disasters strike all of us from time to time. No one is _____. We all get hurt. We all get _____. How we respond to them, though, is up to us. We can let them bring out the worst in us or we can let them bring out the best in us. We can _____ them like devils of selfishness or like angels of love. May you always bring the best from your heart and soul to whatever life may _____ at you then. May you live all of your days here with so much love that you sing and smile.

9 . Curiosity — the desire to know, to discover, to learn. Inspired by curiosity, humans are found everywhere on our planet, and beyond it in space. Yet according to human behaviourist and author of Curious, Ian Leslie, although we are all born curious, not all of us bring this into adulthood, and we can lose out as a result.

As Leslie explains, curiosity shapes us from the start. By trying new things, we build knowledge, and want to know more. “We are born aware that we don’t know stuff — we want to experience and discover.” However, the contrast between childhood and adulthood is clear. “We ask 40,000 questions a year between the ages of two and five,” says Leslie — around 110 each day; adults, in comparison, ask just 20.

As we get older, we may feel hesitant about asking questions, believing this reveals gaps in our knowledge. We can become scared to share unconventional ideas for fear of criticism or misunderstanding. We can also be a victim of our success, as Leslie explains. “Once you’ve worked out how to do your job, then you don’t feel curious anymore. The need to learn goes away — in a way, curiosity has done its job. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t cultivate it.”

Leslie’s tips for cultivating curiosity begin with spending time with the experts — children. “Talk to your kids, and try to answer those weird, difficult questions they have — like ‘What is air?’ This makes you think about things you’ve taken for granted — it reawakens your curiosity in what’s around us and how we perceive the world.”

So does finding what Leslie calls an ‘informal mentor’, through work or other circles, who is happy to share their expertise, from a skill, technology, to a field of learning. “Try to think of people the way children think of adults — as sources of secret knowledge, a great store of learning you can tap into,” says Leslie.

Leslie also suggests creating a ‘spark file’ — a digital or physical notebook in which you collect interesting thoughts. “Fill it with facts you’ve come across, sentences you like, insights that strike you. Let it be random. And let it build. Over time you’ll build up a rich source of inspiration, and you’ll think, ‘Oh that’s interesting, that relates to this…’ And suddenly your mind starts firing away with new ideas and ways of thinking.”

10 . Are you still wondering about which club to choose? The following information about the clubs in our school may help you make a good choice.