CHOOSE YOUR VIRGINIA

Rock House Museum

Take a journey through history with a visit to the exciting museum and historic sites of Wytheville. The Rock House Museum offers glimpses into daily life in the 19th century. The museum is part of the 50 structures featured in Wytheville’s Historic Walking Tour. 540/233-3330.

Grand Caverns

Grand Caverns is America’s oldest cave. Beautiful and massive formations. Union troops visited the caverns. Thomas Jefferson visited—you should, too! Open weekends in March, daily April—October,9 a.m.—5 p.m. Hour tours leave every 30 minutes. 703/249-5705.

The News Museum

The News Museum in Arlington is the world’s only interactive museum of news. Visitors can be reporters or television newscasters, see today’s news as it happens on a block-long video news wall, and be taken behind the scenes to see how news is made. The News museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m.—5 p.m. You can visit www.News museum.Org.

Kenmore Plantation & Gardens

Kenmore Plantation & Gardens has over two hundred years of history from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and into the 21st century. Home of Betty Washington, George Washington’s only sister, and Patriot Col. Fielding Lewis. Explore this historic building and city block of restored gardens . Tea and ginger cookies served. 540/373-3381.

Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach offers 11,000 hotel/motel rooms, plus cottages and campgrounds. Enjoy miles of clean beaches and a variety of family attractions. Fine restaurants, various shopping areas, exciting nightlife, and special events are offered throughout the year. 800/822-3224 .

When I was 9, we packed up our home in Los Angeles and arrived at Heathrow, London on a gray January morning. Everyone in the family settled quickly into the city except me. Without my beloved beaches and endless blue—sky days, I felt at a loss and out of place. Until I made a discovery.

Southbank, at an eastern bend in the Thames, is the center of British skateboarding, where the continuous crashing of skateboards left your head ringing .I loved it. I soon made friends with the local skaters. We spoke our own language. And my favorite: Safe. Safe meant cool. It meant hello. It meant don’t worry about it. Once, when trying a certain trick on the beam(横杆), I fell onto the stones, damaging a nerve in my hand, and Toby came over, helping me up: Safe, man. Safe. A few minutes later, when I landed the trick, my friends beat their boards loud, shouting: “ Safe! Safe! Safe!” And that’s what mattered—landing tricks, being a good skater.

When I was 15, my family moved to Washington. I tried skateboarding there, but the locals were far less welcoming. Within a couple of years, I’d given it up.

When I returned to London in 2004, I found myself wandering down to Southbank, spending hours there. I’ve traveled back several times since, most recently this past spring. The day was cold but clear: tourists and Londoners stopped to watch the skaters. Weaving(穿梭)among the kids who rushed by on their boards, I found my way to the beam. Then a rail—thin teenager, in a baggy white T—shirt, skidded(滑)up to the beam. He sat next to me. He seemed not to notice the man next to him. But soon I caught a few of his glances. “I was a local here 20 years ago,” I told him. Then, slowly, he began to nod his head. “Safe, man. Safe.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Safe.”

Who is a genius? This question has greatly interested humankind for centuries.

Let’s state clearly: Einstein was a genius. His face is almost the international symbol for genius. But we want to go beyond one man and explore the nature of genius itself. Why is it that some people are so much more intelligent or creative than the rest of us? And who are they?

In the sciences and arts, those praised as geniuses were most often white men, of European origin. Perhaps this is not a surprise. It’s said that history is written by the victors, and those victors set the standards for admission to the genius club. When contributions were made by geniuses outside the club—women, or people of a different color or belief—they were unacknowledged and rejected by others.

A study recently published by Science found that as young as age six, girls are less likely than boys to say that members of their gender(性别)are “really, really smart.” Even worse, the study found that girls act on that belief: Around age six they start to avoid activities said to be for children who are “really, really smart.” Can our planet afford to have any great thinkers become discouraged and give up? It doesn’t take a genius to know the answer: absolutely not.

Here’s the good news. In a wired world with constant global communication, we’re all positioned to see flashes of genius wherever they appear. And the more we look, the more we will see that social factors(因素)like gender, race, and class do not determine the appearance of genius. As a writer says, future geniuses come from those with “intelligence, creativity, perseverance(毅力), and simple good fortune, who are able to change the world.”

Swap, Don’t shop!

You keep hearing about recycling, right? But it doesn’t end with bottles, cans, and paper. Clothing takes a huge amount of natural resources(资源)to make, and buying loads of new clothing(or throwing out old clothing)is not healthy for the environment. So what to do with all those perfectly-good-but-you’re-maybe-a-little-sick-of-them clothes piled on your bedroom floor?     16    . It’s the best way to get rid of your used clothes, score clothes from your friends, and have a party all at the same time.

A successful swap depends on the selection of clothes, the organization of the event, and, obviously, how much fun is had. It’s really easy to do! Here are a few pointers.

●Invite 5—10 people so you have a nice selection.     17     , and there may not be enough things to choose from; more than that, and it becomes uncontrollable.

●    18    . They should also prepare plenty of reusable bags to carry their “new” clothes home.

●Put different types of clothing on different surfaces in the room.    19    . Place a few mirrors around your room so people can see how things look when they try them on. One of the ground rules of the swap should be that everyone must try on the clothes before they take them—things always look different when you put them on.

●Set a starting time. Maybe you say “go,” or turn on a certain song, or whatever.     20    . And don’t forget to put out some cookies and fruits. Remember, it’s a party!

The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It     36     (build) originally to protect the city     37     the Tang dynasty and has now been completely restored (修复). It is possible       38     (walk) or bike the entire 14 kilometers.

We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.

After     39     (spend) some time looking at all the defensive equipment at the wall, we decided it was time for some action and what     40     (good) than to ride on a piece of history!

We     41     (hire) our bikes from the rental place at the South Gate. My bike was old and shaky     42     did the job. It took us about 3 hours to go all     43     way around the Xi’an City Wall. Supposedly you can do it in two hours, but we stopped at the different gates and     44     (watchtower) to take pictures or just to watch the local people going about their     45     (day) routines.