1 . Unique and Weird New Year's Eve Traditions

German

In some parts of Germany, they do lead （铅）pouring. Pour a dollop （团）of lead into cold water and the shape it dorms may be telling you about the year to come. A heart shape, naturally, means love will come your way. A crown predicts wealth and fortune. A star indicates happiness. But if you see a cross, you're almost dead!

Latin America

If you are in Latin America, make sure you have some colourful underpants to ring in the New Year. End — of — the — year partiers put on colourful underwear to ensure certain types of outcomes of the following year, red for love and yellow for success.

Naples, Italy

Neapolitans like throwing things out of the windows, at least on New Year's Eve. Furniture, kitchen machines, grandma.. Well, maybe not the last one. Let's hope not, anyway. This tradition is meant to symbolize an out — with — the — old gesture and get a new beginning of the new year. These days people are a bit more mindful of what they throw into the street below.

Spain

In 1909, winegrowers in the Alicante region of Spain had a brilliant idea: Start and promote an annual tradition that would involve people in having to buy and eat more grapes. Everyone must eat 12 grapes on New Year's Eve to pray for wealth of the coming year. Now, it's a popular custom in Spain. But the problem is that people have to eat a grape for each bell striking at midnight.

3 . The National Gallery

Description:

The National Gallery is the British national art museum built on the north side of Trafalgar Square in London. It houses a diverse collection of more than 2,300 examples of European art ranging from 13th-century religious paintings to more modern ones by Renoir and Van Gogh. The older collections of the gallery are reached through the main entrance while the more modern works in the East Wing are most easily reached from Trafalgar Square by a ground floor entrance.

Layout:

The modern Sainsbury Wing on the western side of the building houses 13th- to 15th-century paintings, and artists include Duccio, Uccello, Van Eyck, Lippi, Mantegna, Botticelli and Memling.

The main West Wing houses 16th-century paintings, and artists include Leonardo da Vinci , Cranach, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bruegel, Bronzino, Titian and Veronese.

The North Wing houses 17th-century paintings, and artists include Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van de Dyck, Velázquez, Claude and Vermeer.

The East Wing houses 18th- to early 20th-century paintings, and artists include Canaletto, Goya, Turner, Constable, Renoir and Van Gogh.

Opening Hours:

The Gallery is open every day from 10 am to 6 pm (Fridays 10 am to 9 pm ) and is free, but charges apply to some special exhibitions.

Getting There:

Nearest underground stations: Charing Cross (2-minute walk), Leicester Square (3-minute walk), Embankment (7-minute walk), and Piccadilly Circus (8-minute walk).

4 . In the field of educational technology, some apps might be getting too smart. There are more and more apps providing help for students.

PhotoMath

The new, seemingly magic app allows users to take pictures of a math problem, and then receive a step-by-step solution. It is now the number one free app on the App Store. A PhotoMath spokeswoman says educators have welcomed the app with positive reviews, but the software causes a lot of angry public discussion and disagreement. Why? It is because students can use it to cheat when doing their math homework.

Price: Free

iHomework

Whether you’re a high school student or a college student, there’s one thing you’ve got for sure: a lot of homework. iHomework can help you keep track of all your homework. It can help you arrange it in a particular order according to types, or based on deadlines.

Price: Free

Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is similar to PhotoMath, but it focuses on older students studying high levels of math and doesn’t support photos. The service also produces step-by-step solutions to advanced topics, making it a popular tool for college students.

Price: $2.99

Homework Helper

Chinese Internet search company Baidu has launched (发起) an app called Homework Helper with which students can get answers to homework. Users post a picture or type their homework questions onto online forums (论坛), and those who answer the questions can win e-coins that can be used to buy devices like iPhones and laptops. The app has logged 5 million downloads, much to the concern of many parents who argue that the students spend less time thinking about challenging problems.

Price: Free

5 . 1. Scenic landscapes on stamps: A nine-day tour in the cities of Xuzhou,Suqian and Huai'an in northern Jiangsu province.

This route is associated with local culture, characteristics, and creativity. It offers a taste of the famous canal cities.

2.Life on the Grand Canal: A seven-day Jiangsu tour through the cities of Nanjing, Suqian, Huai'an,Yangzhou and Suzhou.

This route presents the most authentic, economic, cultural and entertainment-focused activities along the canal from both ancient and modern times.I allows visitors to ride in boats and observe local fishermen fishing.

3.Food,culture,leisure and health;Seven-day experience of local life in Zhenjiang Changzhou,Wuxi and Suzhou

To increase tourists’ interest in the traditional culture and crafts of Jiangsu, the route will include pottery,embroidery(刺绣), paper-cutting, cooking and other hands-on experiences. It includes scenic spots along the Beijing-Hangzhou Gran Canal, ancient water towns, historical streets and ancient fishing villages.Visitors can join in the recreational farmhouse experience and pick up both fruits and vegetables

4．A walk into history: Six-day tour in Xuzhou, Suqian,Huai’an,Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou and Wuxi

The Beiing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs through the entire province and has been a part of Jiangsu's culture for thousands of years. Inspired by the canal, the route includes historical cities Xuzhou, Suqian, Huai'an,Yangzhou along with Zheniang Changzhou and Wuxi.

6 . How many phone numbers can you remember by heart? It’s probably fewer than you would like. Actually, you are not alone. Out of more than 1,000 Americans who were surveyed, more than half said that they couldn’t recall the phone numbers of their friends and neighbors. In their eyes, there is no point in filling their heads with phone numbers if they are all stored in smart phones that are with them almost all the time.

In fact, most people are suffering from a sort of digital amnesia(健忘). more than 90% of those surveyed agreed that they used the Internet as an online of their brains. Rote memorization(死记硬背) was once an important part of modern education, but we just need a click or slide now. That’s making us worse at remembering things.

Researchers found that when people expected to use the information online, they were less likely to remember actual facts, but more likely to remember how to find them. As a result, we are already becoming ones with our computer tools, growing into interconnected systems that remember less by knowing information than by knowing where the information can be found.

However, some believe it isn’t necessarily a bad thing--maybe it gives them more chances to think through things. We certainly acquire more knowledge now than ever, even if it isn’t all stored in our brains.

Even so, I still believe that there are more risks to this new world of memory beyond losing our ability to recall some information such as who the 15^th President was. That kind of information may always be a click away, but the important things are personal ones, like the way your parents smiled at your wedding. It’s harder to recall or find online. If you’re relying on yourself to keep track of those memories, they will be much more meaningful.

7 . Here are free online classes offered by several universities.

8 . It’s cold and dark outside, and your bed is so warm and comfortable. Going for a run seems like such a bad idea. But before you put your running shoes away, it might be worth giving that crazy idea a try.

According to The Huffington Post，an outdoor run in winter, instead of running on a treadmill (跑步机), burns more calories (卡路里) because the body is working hard to regulate (调节) its temperature. Besides, research shows that race times are faster in cold weather than in warmer temperatures—and quicker runs burn more calories. Similarly, cold weather also makes the heart work harder to distribute blood through the body, making that vital muscle even stronger.

Outdoor exercise also turns up your energy and rids you of the stress and depression that build up every day. The heat and humidity in summer can drag you down and tire you faster, but cold weather is refreshing. It adjusts you to your surroundings, making you feel energetic.

Of course, the threat of smog in some built­up areas is a further problem to winter exercise. Heart attacks, strokes and lung cancer are all dangers of running in smog. The combination (结合) of air pollution and exercise increases the potential problems. If you do choose to run outside on smoggy days, take a path in a park or residential area to avoid polluted air, and go early in the morning, before rush hour. But staying inside on smoggy days and waiting for the next clear day to run is best.

9 . Non-Credit Courses

The Pre-College Program offers non-credit courses. Students will experience college-level courses given by some of our college’s leading experts and will receive written feedback (反馈) on their work at the end of the course. Pre-College students will also receive a grade of Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and a certificate of completion at the conclusion of the program.

All non-credit courses meet from 9:00 a. m.-11:30 a. m. daily and may have additional requirements in the afternoons or evenings.

COURSE: Case Studies in Neuroscience

·June 11— July 2

·Leah Roesch

Using student-centered, active-learning methods and real-world examples, this course is designed to provide a fuller understanding of how the human brain works.

COURSE: Psychology of Creativity

·June 15—June 28

·Marshall Duke

Why are certain people so creative? Is it genetic (遗传的), or a result of childhood experience? Are they different from everyone else? This popular psychology course highlights the different theories of creativity.

COURSE: Creative Storytelling

·June 21 — July 3

·Edith Freni

This college-level course in creative storytelling functions as an introduction to a variety of storytelling techniques that appear in different forms of creative writing, such as short fiction and playwriting.

COURSE: Sports Economics

·July 19 — August 1

·Christina DePasquale

In this course we will analyze many interesting aspects of the sports industry: sports leagues, ticket pricing, salary negotiations, discrimination, and NCAA policies to name a few.

10 . One day about eight years ago in the departure lounge (休息室) of a flight from New York's LaGuardia airport to O'Hare in Chicago, I found a young boy in tears and his mother at his side also appeared upset, I walked to them and invited them to our VIP lounge.

As it turned out, the boy, Miles and his mom were returning to their home in Kansas City. Miles has had some health problems. Though he had received more than thirty operations in a Jewish Hospital in New York, he would be back for more.

Miles enjoyed spending his time in our VIP lounge looking at the entire wall filled with the pictures of many celebrities (名人) who often came to our office. We soon added Miles' picture to the wall among those celebrities.

Among the celebrities, Miles like the country singer Garth Brooks best. Miles would just sit and stare at Garth's picture,

One day, Mr. Brooks was waiting in the lounge for his flight. As he looked at the collection of photographs, Garth asked about the youngster with the big smile. We told him about Miles. We also told him how much Miles loved and respected (尊重) him. He nodded and left.

About six months later, Garth was going to be performing in Kansas City and he asked our workers to help him get in touch with the family. He wanted Miles to be his guest. That evening, not only did Miles sit in the front row, but he and Garth also had a private meeting after the performance.

Although Miles would receive many more treatments after that special evening, his smile greeted us with every following visit. The face of a sick boy was changed by the joy of a stranger.