“Clothes Swapping”has become an increasingly popular activity for women in the United States. The women can give away unwanted clothing at a clothes swap event and get something different in return.

    Recently about 300 women went to a clothes swap at a high school in Springfield, Virginia. It was the largest crowd ever for the area's popular clothing-swapping group.

    Daphne Steinberg was having a good day.“For anyone who knows Ann Taylor LOFT, Ann Taylor is a really nice women's designer and I will totally wear this to work. So I love that, I love that I can equip myself for work, have a good time in doing it, not totally bankrupt myself.”

Sandy Van Dusen likes the idea that clothes are finding new homes instead of being thrown away. “Because it helps to keep the Earth green. There's no point in my opinion in continuing to buy new clothes when we can reuse what's already here. Give it a new home— let somebody else love what you used to love and no longer love.”

    Kim Pratt organized the clothing-swapping event in Springfield. She also organized a money-raising activity for the high school's debate team. It is one of several ways that her group gives to charitable causes. Another is by donating all of the“un-swapped” clothing to shelters for victims of domestic violence.

    “I started doing this four years ago, and we've been doing it for four years, getting bigger and bigger each time we have a swap.”

    She used the social media website meetup.com to help publicize the events. The website has helped her group grow from 30 members to 1,300. Mrs.Pratt says most of the members respect the clothing swap rules. But she say competition for desirable fashion can be strong.

    “We have to tell people sometimes not to hover over the new people coming in with their clothing. As they put it out, some people tend to grab the stuff right out of their hands and it becomes like a free-for-all. We try to avoid that as much as possible.”

    It's not often you get information about a destination from a heavy metal band, but in Debrecen, Hungary's second largest city, locals are used to having to make a noise to get heard.

    Just off the historic center, Roncs bar is a pub that also hosts live music.  It has the atmosphere of a student party in an old building that might soon be knocked down.

    Roncs is owned by Hungary's best-known heavy metal rock band, Tankcsapda. Sometimes referred to as the “Hungarian Metallica", the band has taken a type of music that is famous worldwide and-through lyrics, album covers, and an annual New Year's party and concert-made it all about their home city.

    It's perhaps fitting that Tankcsapda should be seen as ambassadors for Debrecen-the city sometimes needs loud heavy metal rock music to get noticed. “Foreigners think that Hungary is Budapest and there's nothing else,” is a familiar saying on Debrecen's:streets.

    Debrecen has, at times, been more important than the current seat of power, with locals claiming it takes over in times of trouble.

    That doesn't quite add up.

    Debrecen survived an attack from the Mongols in the 13th century, the Black Death, 150 years of struggle against the Ottomans and numerous conflicts, and yet it has still only briefly been the country's capital twice. This happened for the first time after a short-lived revolution in 1849, and for a second time at the end of World War II.

    Today, Debrecen may not be well known to tourists, but that only adds to the charm of this relaxed city. It's a small place; the historical center is sized for strolling (散步) and regular cafe stops. There's also a view of Debrecen's mix of architectural styles, a result of the frequent large fires that back in the 19th century led the city's students to form one of Europe's first-ever fire brigades (消防队).

    You can also see traditional weathercocks from the rooftops, featuring Islamic star and crescent moon symbols that once advertised to Ottoman invaders that the city preferred trading to fighting.

    Trade meant that Debrecen's skilled people became very successful and the city became famous for-among other things-fine foods, hats and clay pipes. In the early 19th century, 10 million clay pipes were reportedly made a year, with thousands bought for Britain's navy.

    It was a morning in January. The jet stream (急流)had dipped down, causing the Arctic cold to reach the mountains of my home. It was only 2 degrees outside, but the cold wind made it feel like it was 15 below zero. Still, I was kneeling in the snow alongside my house trying to open a tiny door, so I eoukl get in. 1 had forgotten to leave my water dripping the night before and now my water pipes were frozen and my faucets(水龙头)were dry.

    The wind cut into me like a knife while I struggled to get two electric heaters in place around the section of frozen pipes. The waterlines were buried except for a small piece that connected up to my house. I put a heater on each side of it, ran the extension cords(软线)into my house and plugged them in. Both heaters roared to life and started blowing hot air on the frozen water pipes. My fingers had already started to go numb, so I stayed inside to wait. I could only hope that this bit of warmth could get my water flowing again. Finally, after twenty minutes, the water started flowing through my faucets again. I went back outside into the biller cold and gathered my heaters up. I looked at the weak January sun shining on the frozen snow and smiled. Then I sent a joy filled with "Thank you" heavenward and returned inside to make myself a hot breakfast.

    Sometimes the coldness of this life can get to us as well. It can make our hearts feel icy and frozen. It can keep our kindness and love from flowing out to others. Sometimes, though, all we need is a bit of warnth to get us going again. It can be a simple smile, a kind word, a heart-felt hug, a morning sunrise, a bird's song or any gentle reminder of just how much God loves us. Let us all be grateful for those bits of warmth that gel us going again. And let us all try to be that bit of wannth for others every chance we get.

    The values of artistic works, according to cultural relativism(相对主义), are simply reflections of local social and economic conditions. Such a view, however, fails to explain the ability of some works of art to excite the human mind across cultures and through centuries.

    History has witnessed the endless productions of Shakespearean plays in every major language of the world. It is never rare to find that Mozart packs Japanese concert halls, as Japanese painter Hiroshige does Paris galleries, Unique works of this kind are different from today's popular art, even if they began as works of popular art. They have set themselves apart in their timeless appeal and will probably be enjoyed for centuries into the future.

    In a 1757 essay, the philosopher David Hume argued that because" the general principles of taste are uniform(不变的) in human nature," the value of some works of art might be essentially permanent. He observed that Homer was still admired after two thousand years. Works of this type, he believed, spoke to deep and unvarying features of human nature and could continue to exist over centuries.

    Now researchers are applying scientific methods to the study of the universality of art. For example, evolutionary psychology is being used by literary scholars to explain the long-lasting themes and plot devices in fiction. The structures of musical pieces are now open to experimental analysis as never before. Research findings seem to indicate that the creation by a great artist is as permanent an achievement as the discovery by a great scientist.

    A thrilling polar competition between two adventurers to cross Antarctica alone, unsupported and unassisted had a happy ending with both explorers achieving the unprecedented feat (功绩). American professional athlete Colin O'Brady and British Army Captain Louis Rudd set off a mile apart at the same time on November 3, 2018, from the Atlantic coast with the aim to become the first person to ski across the remote continent alone.

    Louis Rudd maintained the lead at first. However, O'Brady caught up with Rudd on November10 and never let the British man get close to him again. O'Brady was the first to conquer the 930 mile icy land, arriving at the Ross Ice Shelf on the Pacific coast by way of the South Pole on December 26, 2018. The 33-year-old spent 54 days skiing the world's coldest continent while pulling a 300-pound sled(雪橇) with supplies.

    Instead of leaving the harsh environment after completing the historic adventure, the explorer set up a tent on the world's largest ice sheet and waited patiently for Rudd to complete the great undertaking. On December 29, just three days after O'Brady arrived, the British explorer finished his adventure, becoming the world's second person to complete the solo crossing of the frozen continent.

Rudd was not disappointed at being second since he never considered it to be a     "race". Besides, the 49-year-old British Army Captain had a more selfless motive for attempting the feat. He was doing it in memory of his friend Henry Worsley, who had introduced him to polar exploration. The disaster happened while Worsley was trying to cross the continent alone in 2016. Rudd said, "I didn't want to get drawn into a race. All that mattered to me was that I completed it, and that I skied solo and unsupported, carrying the flag with Henry's name on it."

    After spending a few days camping 10 feet away from each other, the two adventurers were picked up by a helicopter to the South Pole scientific research station.

    Good evening, everyone. As we celebrate International Dog Day, I want to focus on a specific type of dog that is perhaps the most misunderstood breed in the world—the pit bull. It makes me unhappy that public opinion about pit bulls is that they are extremely dangerous. If a pit bull is that meaning, that's only as a result of being taught to fight other dogs to the death in dogfights. The truth is that a pit bull is very faithful and loving.

    A pit bull is a cross between a terrier and a bulldog. That's why their coloring can be different from one dog to the next. Pit bulls all have short fur. They came over to the U.S. from Britain with their immigrant farming families. Pit bulls guarded the cows, sheep and family from thieves. They were beloved members of the family because they were so faithful and loving. They were also very strong, especially their jaws.

    Unfortunately, bad men turned a good thing into a bad thing. Since these dogs would do anything to please their masters, it was easy for these men to teach the dogs to be killers. Dogs fought other dogs in fenced "pits". Dog fighting became illegal in the U.S. in 1875, but it still goes on. Today, pit bulls continue to be farm dogs, but they are also trained as police dogs, search dogs and of course they make great pets!

    I have a pit bull myself. Piper is the friendliest dog you'll ever meet. He sleeps next to me at night. Even though he is an adult dog now, he still acts like a puppy sometimes. He would never bite me or anyone else! With proper and loving training, pit bulls are the best pets ever!