Once upon a time, there was a beautiful bird, which was very curious about hell. When she was little, her mother always told her that if she didn't master the flying skills, she would go to hell. She was so curious about hell that she always asked others what hell looked like, but no one was sure, because none of them had ever been there. Some said hell was a place full of water, and others told her that hell was full of burning fire. However, the bird knew they were lying. She wanted to find out what hell was.

    When other birds were learning flying skills, she always hid herself and watched them. She thought in this way she could go to hell and see what hell looked like. However, she spent so little time learning flying skills that one day she was caught by a little boy. The little boy gave her to his grandpa in the countryside as a gift. The old man liked her very much. He made a delicate cage and put her in it. The bird was very worried because she thought she couldn't find out what hell was like staying in this small cage. However, she couldn't escape. Day after day, she just stayed in the cage, watching other birds flying. She lost her freedom and she became sadder and sadder. At last, she became ill. The old man finally opened the cage, but she was too weak to fly. Lying on the ground, she thought of the question that she ever asked all the time.

    “What does hell look like?”

    “Hell is a small well-decorated cage.” Before she closed her eyes forever, she finally answered that question herself.

    Some people shy away from traveling alone while a few welcome it. So, what is it that makes traveling alone an attractive choice?

    First of all, the travel plan and all the decisions you make are yours alone. You don't need to worry about any other person or group. In other words, there are no arguments. Actually, you can be completely selfish.

    Traveling alone is also a great confidence builder. Yes, at times it can feel a bit lonely, but that is just one of many problems you will have to solve yourself, along with making your own preparations and setting your own goals.

    Besides, have you noticed that when you're on your own, people are more willing to start a conversation with you? Interestingly, people tend to keep a distance from couples and groups. However, the lone (独自的) traveler looks ready to connect with their fellow human beings and more likely to get into pleasant conversation about their trips.

    Here are two more exciting reasons why you should consider traveling alone. You will find you learn the language faster when you don't have someone else talking to you in your own language all the time. You are forced to communicate in the foreign language when you travel alone in a country that doesn't speak your native language. In addition, when you're on your own, you're free to meet someone who might turn out to be very important in your life.

    Of course, there may be things stopping you: You fear the unknown, or you have friends who may be upset by your decision to take off by yourself. You will have to make them believe the value of traveling done and allay any fears they might have, but with the technology at our fingertips, you can include them in the adventure.

    When we talk about Americans barely into adulthood who are saddled with(担负着) unbearable levels of debt' the conversation is almost always about student loan debt. But there's a growing body of evidence suggesting that today's young adults are also drowning in credit-card debt and that many of them will take this debt to their graves（坟墓）.

    More than 20% overspent their income by more than $ 100 every single month. Since they haven't built up their credit histories yet, it's a safe bet that these young adults are paying relatively high interest rates on the resulting credit card debt.

    Although many young people blame "socializing" as a barrier to saving money, most of them aren't purchasing $ 20 drinks in trendy bars. They're struggling with much more daily financial demands.

    To a disturbingly large extent, the young and the broke are relying on credit cards to make it until their next payday. This obviously isn't permanent in the long run, and it's going to put a huge drag on their spending power even after they reach their peak earning years, because they'll still be paying interest on that bottle of orange juice or box of spaghetti (意式面条）they bought a decade earlier.

    A new study out of Ohio State University found that young adults are accumulating credit card debt at a more rapid rate than other age groups, and that they're slower at paying it off. "If what we found continues to hold true, we may have more elderly people with substantial financial problems in the future'" warns Lucia Dunn, professor of economics at Ohio State. "If our findings persist, we may be faced with a financial crisis among elderly people who can't pay off their credit cards."

    Dunn says a lot of these young people are never going to get out from under their credit card debt. "Many people are borrowing on credit cards so heavily that payoff rates at these levels are not plenty to recover their credit card debt by the end of their life which could have loss impacts for the credit card issuing banks,"

The Valley Art Center energizes and encourages art appreciation in people of all ages and backgrounds through education, inspiration, and opportunities to experience the visual arts. We support art students and artists through quality curriculum and programming along with exhibition space. We promote the growth of each individual's potential and the advancement of the arts in the community.

Basic Oil Painting

This course, with a four-hour format, is for serious artists of all levels from beginners to advanced learners. Guidance will be offered on issues such as composition, colors, tools and techniques, but the emphasis of the course will be on thinking creatively. Individual attention will be available whenever needed. The course will end up with a group discussion of the students' works.

IMPORTANT: students will be responsible for bringing all necessary materials, including any desired photographic reference. Supply list is available online. And don't forget your lunch. $192/$173.

Digital Photography for the Fraidy Cat

Learn the basics of digital photography. We will start with understanding what those symbols on your camera mean. We will explore how to set your own film speed, aperture (孔径) and shutter (快门) speed. We will also learn when to use a flash. We will explore taking action shots, landscapes and family portraits (全家福). In this class you will practice and apply what you have learned using your camera! $96/$86.

Drawing for the Fraidy Cat

Everyone can draw! If you have ever wanted to learn how to draw or just want to refresh yourself in drawing basics, then this is the class for you. This class will focus on building drawing skills through the use of line, value, perspective, and composition. Students will work on a variety of projects with different drawing mediums to develop their personal style. A list of suggested supplies is available online. $96/$86.

Enamel on Metal

In this art form, drawing skills are not required for this colorful and expressive craft. Beginners learn several basic classical techniques and those with experience are guided in other techniques of choice. For those who are making jewelry, this is another form to add to your artist's toolbox!

All equipment and supplies are included in the first project fee of $8, payable to the instructor at the first class. $96/$ 86.

How do you kill your time when you go to work? Most of us stare at our cell phones, and refuse to make eye contact with others. We just read, chat with others online or play games online. Or maybe we're using the time between stops to do our make-up, catch up on emails, or read a few chapters of a book. However, Dina Alfasi takes a very different approach.

Each day she has to travel hours on buses and trains to get to her engineering job at a hospital in Israel. Rather than look at her cell phone in silence, she uses one very special way to have connection with strangers. It is portraits of the people she meets on public transport every day that she is taking. The photographs catch those quiet and personal moments of people readying themselves for the day ahead. Some people lean their heads against the window and go to sleep, some stare into space and have a daydream, and others sit quietly to read their documents or books. Each picture captures one tiny moment in people's lives, ripe with potential for your imagination. It is wonderful for her to look at someone's commute(上下班) and make up an entire story about the rest of their daily existence, from the father travelling with a baby to the woman welcoming a change.

"What inspires me very much are the little moments that happen every day," Dina told My Modern Met. "My work is to tell stories through a single portrait, and it proves that all you need is just to look around and find those magic moments."

The rejuvenating effects of a restorative nocturnal repose are widely recognized; it can engender a state of enhanced well-being. Academics in the field posit that the excellence of one's slumber may indeed be instrumental in the prolongation of one's lifespan.

Male subjects who enjoy a state of somnolent tranquility could potentially extend their existence by a span of nearly five decades in comparison to those bereft of such repose. The female counterparts stand to gain an increment of two decades. Additionally, it has been observed that youthful individuals who adhere to salutary somniferous routines are less susceptible to a premature demise. However, the mere quantity of repose is insufficient to reap the potential healthful dividends; the caliber of one's slumber is equally pivotal.

The parameters of commendable slumber were delineated by a quintet of distinct criteria. These encompassed an optimal duration of seven to eight hours of repose per nocturnal cycle; experiencing difficulty in the initiation of sleep no more than twice per hebdomadal period; similar challenges in maintaining somnolence no more than twice weekly; abstaining from the consumption of any soporific pharmaceuticals; and awakening with a sensation of invigoration on no fewer than five days per septenary cycle.

The conclusions derived from the study intimate that approximately 8% of fatalities, irrespective of their etiology, could be imputed to inadequate somniferous patterns. Dr. Frank Qian, a resident physician specializing in internal medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, America, remarked, "A distinct proportional response relationship was discerned. Consequently, an increase in the beneficial elements pertaining to the quality of sleep correlates with a progressive diminution in mortality from all causes."

The research collated data from a populace of 172,321 individuals with an average age of 50, of which 54% were female. These participants were engaged in the National Health Interview Survey, spanning the years 2013 to 2018, which sought to scrutinize the well-being of the American populace, inclusive of inquiries into their somniferous habits.

The subjects were tracked for a mean period of 4.3 years, during which 8,681 succumbed to death. Of these fatalities, 2,610 (30%) were attributable to cardiovascular afflictions, 2,052 (24%) to oncological disorders, and 4,019 (46%) to a miscellany of other causes. Among the male and female participants who reported adherence to all five indices of quality sleep (an optimal quintile score), the expectancy of life was augmented by 4.7 years for males and by 2.4% for females, in contradistinction to those who possessed none or a solitary factor.

Further scholarly endeavor is warranted to elucidate the raison d'être for the dichotomy in the enhancement of life expectancy, with males exhibiting twice the increment observed in females despite equivalent somniferous quality.

A caveat of the study lies in the reliance on self-reported somniferous habits, which were not subjected to objective quantification or verification.