Street art is always something I look out for when I travel. At the very beginning, street art was a means to share social comments or political ideas, but now it's increasingly used in many places around the world to beautiful the environment, sometimes becoming popular tourist attractions. Here's my collection of street art around the world.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
My hometown has plenty of fantastic street art. You can find some cool pieces in the Jordaan neighborhood and in the North and West parts of the city. One place you absolutely have to visit in Amsterdam is the STRAAT Museum in Amsterdam North. This museum houses huge murals created by artists from around the world in an old industrial warehouse, and is a rich addition to the Amsterdam street art scene.
Bristol, United Kingdom
The birthplace of Banksy, one of the world's most famous street artists, Bristol is another of the world's great street art cities. You can find street art across the city on buildings, streets and bridges. The annual Upfest, in the Bedminster suburb, during which artists from around the world are invited to create street art on houses and buildings, is a popular attraction.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro also has a fantastic street art scene. For the 2016 Olympic Games, the city invited famous Brazilian street artist, Kobra, to create the world's biggest mural along the Olympic Boulevard. The result is simply amazing! Click here to see street art in Rio de Janeiro, or my photos of Rio de Janeiro.
There are times in life when we don't have the energy to get through our problems or the strength to push ahead. That's when our friends carry us. They remind us that we are not alone — they stand with and comfort us. Even when some friends don't always know how best to help, they want to be there for us.
Author Parker J. Palmer in his book,Let Your Life Speak, shares about the time he was battling depression（抑郁）. He recalls that some people who visited him tried to cheer him up. "It's a beautiful day. Why don't you go out and soak up some sunshine and look at the flowers?" Although he understood their purpose, it made him more depressed. Others reminded him that he was a teacher and writer who had helped so many people. "Try to remember all the good you've done and surely you'll feel better. " That advice, too, left him depressed.
Then there were those who had the courage to stand with him in simple and healing ways. One was a guy named Bill who asked Parker's permission to visit him in the afternoons. Bill would sit Parker in the chair, kneel in front of him, remove his shoes and socks and for half an hour, massage（按摩） his feet. Bill had found the only place in Parker's body where he could still experience feelings and reconnect with the human race. Bill would simply do this and say very little. When he talked, he would not give advice but mirror Parker's feelings. This simple act of care was what carried Parker through his dark time.
We are thankful for the friends who sit with us in easy and healing ways. And we are thankful for the opportunity to be that friend, to offer our presence to those who are hurting, sick, battling depression, suffering great pain and more. May the pathways of love, patience and kindness lead us to friends who are suffering. And once there, even if we are unsure of what to do, we can simply be present.
If there was to be a praise to the frog, it would have to contain one new piece of information: its ability to predict earthquakes. A scientific study has suggested that they escape an area just before such disaster strikes.
The evidence, published yesterday in the Journal of Zoology, centers on a population of breeding（繁殖） frogs in Italy. It seems that, a few years ago, these creatures had suddenly escaped from their home five days before an earthquake struck their breeding ground.
The frogs' ability to sense the earthquake is not fully understood, but 96 percent of male frogs escaped and returned a day after the danger had passed. This discovery baffled Dr. Rachel Grant, who hadn't set out to learn about frogs' reactions to earthquakes, but to study the effect of the lunar cycle on them. She now believes that frogs may be able to sense some signs and use them as an early-warning system for earthquakes.
Frogs are not the only creatures born with an unusual power to predict natural disasters. In 2004, elephants in Thailand made loud noises before the tsunami hit, while bats in Sri Lanka flew around in anxiety before the disaster.
While most of these animal warnings have been ignored, there are times when they have been noticed. In 1975, scientists in Haicheng, China, noticed unusual behavior in the city's dogs and cats. They demanded the evacuation of the city, expecting a major disaster. Their warning came five-and-a-half hours before an earthquake struck, resulting in 2, 000 deaths. Without the evacuation, another 150, 000 people could have been killed.
"There are things we can't see and sounds we can't hear. But many animals can. There is a sense called electro-perception that fish and sharks use to form a picture around them, while dolphins and bats use sonar to find their way around, " says Professor Daniel Mills, an expert in animal behavior at Lincoln University.
Anxious thinker. Loner. Wallflower. These are some negative comments for "introvert" （内向者）, showing a common mind-set in America. Actually they just interact differently; they do well when given time alone to think and prefer close conversations.
American society is ruled by the "Extrovert Ideal（外向理想型）": successful people take risks and always voice their opinion, whether or not they know what they're doing. The problem is that people value this ideal so much that they often ignore meaningful opinions from the quieter introverts. Isn't there something problematic about having to get our thoughts out before we finish thinking about them?
Over-stressing the Extrover t Ideal can lead to unwise decisions. In one case, several introverts, who tend to be more careful and think more, pointed out warning signals before the economic downturn of
2008. But the decision makers — often the bold, risk-taking types —ignored their opinion. People say introverts often overthink every decision. Yes, maybe we think before we speak. But is that really so bad?
Of course, social skills are important for everyone. But the misunderstanding about how introverts work creates a cultural bias（偏见）. Required class participation at school often leads to students shouting out whatever thoughts come to their mind, too pressured by their participation grade to take the time and think of a meaningful response. During the Covid-19quarantine, some of my classes started using Parlay, a website that allows for discussions through anonymous（匿名的） written comments. I saw that many of my classes were able to have deeper conversations this way, freed from the pressures of having to speak up on the spot. So encouraging a balanced variety of learning methods can reduce the existing bias.
Society seems to think only the loud and outgoing ones can make a difference. But Rosa Parks was known for being "soft spoken" and "timid. " Gandhi said, "In a gentle way, you can shake the world. " So please, give us introverts a chance to change the world in our own quiet way!
Four Tips for Using Less Plastic（塑料）
As we all know, the world has a plastic problem — and it is increasing. Scientists are working to find along-term solution by making plastic more biodegradable（生物可降解的）.
Quit using plastic bags. People use a trillion plastic bags worldwide every year About 10 percent a reused in the United States alone. That's almost one bag per American per day. In contrast, the average Danish uses four single-use bags per year. Today, other countries （such as Germany and New Zealand） either make customers pay for plastic bags or have stopped using them completely.
Today, around 8 3 billion plastic straws（吸管） pollute the world's beaches. So when you order a drink, say no to the straw, or bring your own reusable one. In 2018, Seattle became the first major U. S. city to ban plastic straws, and many other cities are set to follow its example.
Don't use plastic bottles. Buy a reusable bottle and fill it with any type of drink you like. Some cities, like Bundanoon in Australia and San Francisco in the U. S. , have completely or partially（部分地） started quitting bottled water .
Avoid plastic packaging. Buy bar soap instead of liquid soap in plastic containers. Don't buy fruit or vegetables in plastic packaging. They also want to ta x plastic take out containers.
A. Don't use plastic straws.
B. Don't pollute the beaches.
C. Instead, take your own reusable shopping bag to the store.
D. Therefore, pollution has been largely decreased across the world.
E. In the U. K. , leaders are calling for supermarkets to have plastic-free areas.
F. Globally, however, people still buy nearly a million plastic bottles every minute.
G. But in the meantime, here are four things you can do to reduce plastic waste now.
Hey, That's Me!
Dolls are usually seen as a toy that can be played with. However, Amy Jandrisevits knows the1 of a good doll "Dolls have a power we don't2 understand, " she told The Today Show. It's a （an）3 she got while working as a social worker in the childcare center using dolls to help her young patients4 to their changing medical situations. Many of the kids5 themselves in those dolls. But for the kids without a leg or who had lost their hair, there were none they could6 .
So, seven years ago, when a friend mentioned that her child was under depression, Jandrisevits knew what might help the youth through this 7 period. She made a doll by hand— using fabric（纤维）, stitching（缝补）, and markers — and sent it off. After the friend 8 a photo online of the happy child and doll, another woman asked Jandrisevits to make a doll that looked like her baby, who was 9 a leg.
Word10 , and soon Jandrisevits was making dolls for children with scars, birthmarks, facial deformities（缺陷） in short, a doll that looked like them. She11 her job and started a nonprofit, A Doll Like Me. Working out of her home, it12 Jandrisevits about seven hours to make each doll. A GoFundMe page helps her13 costs and allows her to donate her services. She hasn't asked for any money for a doll since she began her nonprofit.
As she explains on her GoFundMe page, "Every kid,14 gender, race, age, medical issue, or body type, should look into the15 face of a doll and see their own "
On March 29, 1974, farmers（dig） a well northeast of Xi'an when they found the bodies of life sized figures, made of terracotta. Archeologists later confirmed that the（object） were from the Qin Dynasty. The first emperor of the Qin Dynasty was Qin Shihuang, made the city of Xianyang his capital. It was no secret that when Qin Shihuang died, he（bury） in a huge tomb more than 70 meters tall, northeast of Xi'an. Through the ages, details of his tomb had become forgotten, and so when it was dug up in 1974, the whole world reacted surprise.
We now know that the army was built for the（protect） of Qin shihuang in death Each statue was painted in bright color,（base） on a real soldier, although the paint has faded. However, what's inside the tomb is still secret. The tomb has not been unearthed because there are still a lot of challenges（preserve） what is found. It is（wide） recognized that it could be many more years before all the secrets there are discover.
