Are you ready for the exhibition?
A cat-themed exhibition (展览) by Chinese illustrator (插画师) Tango
★ Information about the illustrator Real name: Gao Youjun Achievements: ● Millions of fans online ● Exhibitions in China, America and France Style of his cartoons: ● Black and white — to show that the best things in life are the simplest ● Subjects: cats, dogs and young people fascinated with mobile phones ★ Facts about the exhibition ● There are 38 cat-related (与猫有关的) works. ● Visitors can enjoy cat cartoons, play with cat toys and imitate (模仿) cats' actions. ★ Time From April 3, 2024 to June 26, 2024
★ Pricing
★ Notes ● Doctors and teachers can get in at half price, 19 yuan. ● You can't go to the exhibition 30 minutes before it closes. ● Children under 6 have to get in with a parent. |
Many young Chinese people make their effort to get a good night's sleep, according to the results of a major survey published to mark World Sleep Day.
The Chinese Sleep Research Society surveyed nearly 60,000 people aged 10 to 45, and found that 91 percent of them reported "not having enough sleep" or "still being tired after sleep". Only about 5.6 percent of respondents said they felt energetic after sleep. About three quarters of respondents said they experienced difficulty falling asleep, and 13 percent said they really struggled to fall asleep. Only about 11 percent said they could sleep through the night without waking up.
Many respondents said that work pressure has a main influence on their sleep quality, and could lead to bad sleep. The survey showed 60 percent of the respondents would choose to work instead of sleep.
In general, people with good education background were cared to be more self-disciplined (自律的) about getting enough sleep, but only 5 percent of respondents had a routine (常规的) daily schedule.
Sleep problems have little direct connection with income (收入), working conditions or social status, according to the survey. "The part of people with bad sleep is almost the same in different social layers," the report stated.
Surveyors said that stress, worries, and low spirits were the main causes in bad sleep, it would get worse because by the obsession (着魔) with electronic products that could cause blue light effects breaking sleep. Some 93 percent said they would play with smartphones before sleep, watching TV series or shopping online.
Surveyors believed that the random life schedules would lead young Chinese people to have low work efficiency, low appetite, but higher cancer risk.
A teacher decided to let her class play a game. The teacher told each child in the class to bring a bag with a few potatoes in it. Each potato will be given a name of a person that the child hates, so the number of potatoes that a child will put in his/her bag will depend on the number of people he/she hates.
When the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of the people he/she hated. Some had 2 potatoes; some 3 while some up to 5 potatoes. The teacher then told the children to carry with them the potatoes in the bag wherever they went (even to the bathroom) for five weeks.
Days passed by. The rotten (腐烂的) potatoes gave out unpleasant smell and the children started to complain (抱怨). Besides, those having 5 potatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After five weeks, the children felt relieved (如释重负的) because the game finally ended.
The teacher asked, "How did you feel while carrying the potatoes with you for weeks?" The children spoke out their feelings and started complaining of the trouble that they had because they had to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they went.
Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game. "This is exactly the situation when you carry your hate for somebody inside your heart. The unpleasant smell of hate will pollute your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate (忍受) the smell of rotten potatoes for just five weeks, can you imagine what it is like to have hate in your heart for your lifetime?"
Countries like France, Brazil and even Japan have their own hip-hop culture. But where did this strange speaking-singing style come from?
Many centuries ago, in West Africa, traditional storytellers played musical instruments while they were telling stories. When this tradition travelled from West Africa to the USA, it developed into different musical styles. For example, blues and jazz. And in the 1970s, there were many poor areas in New York. There wasn't any money for music lessons in schools, so kids made their own music. Teenagers Africa and DJ Here played their records outside in the streets. Everybody joined in. MCs had rapping (说唱) competitions. Every week, there were talented new dancers, new DJs and new MCs. Hip-hop culture was born.
It was 1980. I was at a party in New York. There was a young DJ at the party. He was playing records. While he was putting a record on, a kid picked up a microphone (话筒) and began tapping. Some other kids were break-dancing to the music. It was loud and boring, and I hated it. I preferred jazz.
Today's successful American artists like Missy and her friend Tim heard it on the radio when they were growing up.
The last time I heard hip-hop, I was in West Africa. I was going to interview a traditional storyteller when I met a young hip-hop artist. He told me there are hundreds of rap groups in Africa today. We live on a hip-hop planet.
A. I remember the first time I heard hip-hop. B. You can find hip-hop everywhere you go. C. I was writing a book about African-Americans. D. These styles all started in poor African-American areas. E. During the 1980s, hip-hop became popular all over the USA. |
Once 1 a time, a tortoise (乌龟) and two swans (天鹅) lived on a 2 . They were very good friends. They spent many hours happily together.
To their bad luck, there was no rain that year. The lake became dry. So they had to 3 the lake in search of another one to live.
The two swans could fly easily, 4 for the tortoise it was difficult. The three of them began to wonder, unsure of what to do next.
At last, the two swans had an idea. They said to the tortoise, "We will place a stick (棍子) in your mouth. We will carry the stick in our beaks (鸟嘴) on 5 side. This will make us fly together. But remember, you must not 6 your mouth. If you do, you know what will happen to you."
The tortoise was sad to leave the lake, but it 7 to the idea happily.
One fine morning, they were flying over a large town. The people of the town were surprised at what they saw in the 8 . They were very curious about it and started shouting excitedly.
The tortoise heard the noise and wondered what it was about. It forgot its promise and opened its mouth to ask curiously, "Why is there... Ah...!"
Sadly, down fell the tortoise, and 9 .
The swans had no chance to save it. They were sad to lose their best friend but had to fly away and 10 their new life.
On May 29, 1953, mountaineers Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set foot the top of Qomolangma, the world's highest mountain. They were the first ever to reach (it) 8,848-meter top, which was expected (mark) a big moment in history. So how did they do it?
In a 1974 interview, Hillary talked about the climb. He said that to do climb like this, being skilled and experienced in climbing is not enough. You also need to have enthusiasm (热忱). "The really good mountaineers that I know never lose that sense of enthusiasm," he said. And then, there was the team. Helping Hillary and Norgay to the top were no less than 700 people, said Hillary. Some of them were helping to carry supplies (物资) into the area. It might be much (easily) these days, with better transport (交通) and technology, back then, a lot of the work needed to be done by people. "It is a team job ... The two men who reach the top are totally (depend) on the whole team," he said.
Even though Hillary had a good team and all he needed, he wasn't sure if they would reach the top. Because of the height, anything can happen, and it can happen really fast. "On a mountain like this... you can never be (complete) confident (自信的)," he said.
Hillary and Norgay's amazing (achieve) shows the importance of enthusiasm and teamwork. Then, people (write) their story about encouraging many others to try to climb the mountain in the past few years.
With a round head and soft face, giant panda Meng Lan at the Beijing Zoo has again become a hit for his naughty behavior (行为).
In December 2021, the lovely panda successfully "broke through" the enclosure (围墙) in the zoo, surprising visitors with his "kung fu skills" and attracting many fans.
Meng Lan was born in July 2015 in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province. He has received much attention and popularity for his famous family. His grandparents are Yang Yang and Lun Lun from the Atlanta Zoo in the US. His parents are also "big stars". His mother Meng Meng is a famous "movie star" and his father is Mei Lan, also a well-known "returnee (海归) panda".
He came to the Beijing Zoo in September 2017 and met the public later. As he is the third child of his parents and lives at the zoo in Xizhimen in Beijing, he has got the name "the 3rd Prince of Xizhimen".
Meng Lan has many hobbies like climbing, digging, doing sit-ups (仰卧起坐) and feeding birds. He is sometimes naughty. He once tried "stealing" keys from a keeper's back. He is also very friendly and helpful. For example, he "helped" the zoo keepers check whether the cameras were working normally. He also "helped" his mother keep balance when she was climbing a tree. His kind actions have won him many friends in the zoo.
He is happy these days, as he will welcome his new friend — giant panda Ya Ya.
