If you want to try out some unique and strange hotels, the following might be interesting to you.
Dog Bark Park Inn
Located in Cottonwood, Idaho, this hotel is actually in the shape of a dog. Every detail inside displays the love of dogs. The room sleeps 4 and contains a full bath, a microwave, air conditioning, books, games, but no television or telephone. You will feel the rural atmosphere more vividly without outdoor influences. Since this hotel is extremely popular with visitors, you should book in advance.
Palacio de sal Hotel
This hotel is located at the eastern shore of the Great Salar de Uyuni, near the world's biggest salt flat. Since the building and some furniture are made entirely of salt, there are some specific rules the guests should follow. For example, visitors are banned from licking（舔）the walls and they also should be careful with salt furniture. Typically, the Bolivians treat their guests to salty meat.
Das Park Hotel
Das Park Hotel, located in Linz, Austria, is actually a number of drainpipes（排水管）that have been turned into rooms. It's one of the greatest example of how people can reuse materials. Since the space of each room is about 2 square meters, there are only a bed, light, power and ventilation（通风设备）. You should pay for the bathroom and kitchen equipment. It uses a wonderful sound-proofing material to protect from being disturbed by the outer noise. The hotel is only available from May to October.
V8 Hotel
Are you a car lover？ The V8 Hotel in Meilenwerk, Germany may be your cup of tea. Both design and architecture are about automobiles, which will surely create the racing mood! Each room has an automotive theme as well. You can sleep in a bed made from a white Mercedes or sleep in the workshop room where your car bed is actually lifted up on jacks.
Moreover, the V8 Hotel isn't located in somewhere; it is located in a special and unique area-the Motorworld Stuttgard. Car specialists, enthusiasts, people who love technology and technical aesthetics（审美学）can find everything here.
Some African schools are adding programs that teach what officials are calling "soft skills" to students. Soft skills are personal qualities that help a person relate effectively to others. Officials say this kind of training can help students succeed in the job market and in life.
The training is being offered at the St. Bernadette Kamonyi Secondary School in Kigali, Rwanda. For weeks, its students have been visiting neighborhood businesses. The goal of these field trips is for the young people to learn what is necessary to secure a job.
For the secondary school students, this information is important. In a few months, they'll complete their studies and try their best to find work. One of the Rwandan students is 22-year-old Aminadab Niyitegeka. He says he will look for any job available. He hopes that what he learns in his work readiness class will help. Traditionally, secondary schools in Africa have spent more time on subjects like mathematics and science, largely ignoring areas like public speaking and teamwork. But that is changing. Schools are exploring new teaching models to offer soft skills and professional training. It is part of an effort to perpare students to become better communicators, problem solvers and citizens（公民）.
Rwanda has started a work readiness training program called Akazi Kanoze Access. It means "work well done" in Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda. The program has trained more than 20, 000 students to help make them more appealing to employers.
Emmanuel Ntagungira is a teacher and works as a trainer for Akazi Kanoze Access. He often visits employers who have given jobs to high schools. The employers are very happy because the graduates are ready to work. He says he hopes the program will help lower unemployment, which stands at over 13 percent nationwide. He also explains that the graduates have a healthy mindset and employers are satisfied with the job they've been doing.
Do you ever find yourself spending time on product reviews when you buy something online, only to find that the product you bought is junk（废物）？ New research led by Dr. Powell of Stanford University may explain why this happens： it boils down to the number of reviews a product has.
The study found that when choosing between two products online, people tend to favor the one with more reviews despite the fact that the more reviewed product is of lower quality. This is because when shopping online, consumers engage（从事）in a type of "social learning", where they learn from observing the decisions of other people and the results of those decisions. People attach more importance to the choices of others. When evaluating online products, the item's rating and number of reviews can be helpful to an unsure customer. But a new study, published in the journal Psychological Science, found that consumers don't check those figures to learn their true meaning enough. So they fail to do a simple task when viewing online rating and reviews, leading them to purchase products of poor quality. When shopping online, consumers engaging in social learning become informed from the decisions of others. For example, you're more likely to buy a book at the top of the New York Times' best-sellers list or buy an app that's been downloaded millions of times. But looking at other people's choices is only a part of social learning. However, how people understand or fail to understand this data is affecting their decision-making in a negative way. Overcoming this bias（偏见）is difficult because consumers find comfort in popularity.
Powell and his colleagues also found evidence of this trend beyond the study. "It doesn't necessarily mean that better things don't become more popular, but as a consumer, when you're looking at the number of reviews, it's not telling you anything," said Dr. Powell.
Google's self-driving car is designed to work without a gas pedal（踏板）or steering wheel（方向盘）. Now, the company has confirmed that the car doesn't have any windscreen wipers either, because there's no need for passengers to see where they are being driven.
The car requires no input from a driver, other than telling it the destination. There is no driving in the way we know it and all people inside the cars will be passengers who can spend their time paying no attention to the road. While the car may not need windscreen wipers, the lack of them may make passengers feel helpless if they are unable to see where they are going clearly.
Google's two-seater "bubble" cars have buttons to begin and end the drive, but no other controls. An on-board computer uses data from sensors, including radar（雷达）and cameras, to make turns and navigate its way around pedestrians and other vehicles. Under the vision made public by Google, passengers might set their destination by typing it into a map or using commands. The new car can't go faster than 25 miles per hour（40 km/h）. It is electric and has to be recharged after 80 miles（129 km）. They can only be used in areas that have been thoroughly mapped by Google.
Google has been testing its self-driving cars since 2009 and its steering wheel-less sample since early this summer. It intends on making its driverless cars available to consumers in the next five years. The ultimate goal of the project is computer-controlled cars that can get rid of human error, which results in about 90 percent of the 1. 2 million road deaths that occur worldwide each year and it was also inspiring to start with a blank sheet of paper.
Moving abroad, whether you are teaching, studying, volunteering or just traveling for a long period of time, is complicated. Before you start working abroad, consider the following homesickness reduction techniques, so that you'll be able to enjoy your adventure.
Make Your New Home a Home
You can't bring your entire room from home abroad with you, but you can find ways to make your new space feel more like home. Spend a little time and money making your home a place you're excited to come back to every day.
Host a Cooking Class or Exchange
Food is one of the biggest causes of homesickness for almost everyone living abroad. Combine a taste of home with a social exchange by teaching your host family how to cook a dish you especially like. It's two for-one. .
Send Gifts Back Home
Staying connected to your family and friends back home is important. Consider giving gifts from your new country and sending them back home.Also you can share your experiences abroad with your friends and family back home.
Schedule Some "Me" Time
It's not a good idea to hide from your problems, but 30 minutes of pure alone time in a calming environment can be very helpful. Try to find an empty room-even if you're living in student housing or with a family-diam the lights, close your eyes, and just breathe deeply and relax.
A. Taking this type of break can be very calming.
B. Moving abroad isn't an excuse to eat fried food three times a day.
C. One of the most significant challenges that you face is homesickness.
D. Little actions can go a long way toward creating a more comfortable space.
E. Lots of things change when you move abroad, but not everything has to change.
F. This will give your days a fun purpose, keep you connected to those who are important to you.
G. You get to eat delicious food, plus it's an opportunity to spend some quality time with new friends!
Courtesy（礼貌）wasn't really optional in my childhood home. I grew up with two sisters just older than me. If I wasn't 1 to them, they would strike me hard.
Kathy, my youngest sister, was crazy about my 2 habits. Whenever we traveled and Dad bought 3 for us to have on the way, Kathy would 4 wait until I had hungrily wolfed mine down 5 she would start eating her burger slowly and happily. She said it was 6 . Wanda Lynne, on the other hand, was 7 to make me a courteous gentleman. Never mind that I was still years away from actually 8 . Wanda Lynne wanted to make sure I would treat the girls I dated better than the boys she was dating were treating her. So she made me9 doors for her every day and 10 me to walk on the inside closest to the road. She said it was courteous for me to do this.
Years later I went away to 11 , and I remembered the things my 12 had taught me. One day in the university library, I 13 an older woman walking behind me, and I held the 14 open for her. "What's the matter？" she asked, glaring at me. "Do you think that because I'm a woman, I'm not 15 enough to open a door for myself？" She rolled her 16 and shook her head. "Freshman, " she whispered,17 past me. I decided that there would be no more door opening or chair holding or closest-to-the-traffic walking for me.
As I stood there, however, another upperclassman 18 the library door, her arms overloaded with textbooks. Instinctively I reached to open the door for her. "Thanks!" she said 19 . "It's nice to see we still have a few gentlemen around here!"
Three years later I met a beautiful freshman who actually20 my courtesy to her, and for 35 years we've been trying to out-nice each other.
Silk is mainly produced in the south of the Yangtze River Delta. The people （live ）in the region were the inventors of silk fabric, and no other culture discovered this process independently. The history of silk making （begin）6, 000 years ago, and the earliest example of silk fabric has been discovered dates from 3630 BC in Henan. Silk cloth producing process was well advanced during the Shang Dynasty（1600-1046 BC）era.
China produces about 150, 000 tons （annual）. This is much more than the rest of the world. Only India has a comparably large industry that produces about 30, 000 tons.
It is thought that silk （export）along the Silk Road routes about 400 BC ago. But after that, the （variety）kingdoms kept secret the methods of silk （produce）for another thousand years. It might have been one of the most energetically guarded secretes in history. Anyone （find）secretly carrying silkworm eggs, or mulberry（桑树）seeds was put death.
Silk garments were worn by emperors and royalty. It was a status symbol, common people were prohibited from wearing silk. Silk was also used for a number of other applications including luxury writing material.
