What would it be like to walk on Mars? If you could build the highest building in the world，what would it look like? Do you dream of being the next J. K. Rowling? This summer, you can experience all of these things, and more. All you need is an Internet connection and your imagination.

    A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that kids spend an average of 1 hour and 29 minutes online each day. Many kids like to use that time to chat with friends, play games or check e­mails. But the next time you get on the Web, try exploring the world instead. “With the Internet，you can go back 11,000 years in time，or go 11,000 kilometers across the planet.” said Russell, Web search expert of Google. “The whole scope of history and the world is open to you.”

    There is a wealth of information to be found online. For example, if your family is going on vacation somewhere, do a quick online search on the area before you even get in the car. “What's the background of the place; what's the history？” says Russell. “I like to tell my kids, ‘Whenever you have a question, whenever you have a doubt, search it out.'”

    Ready to launch a virtual journey of your own? Here are a few starting points to get you thinking and to help you on your way. You can invite your parents along for the ride, too. Always ask for permission before downloading programs and software onto your computer. And check with a parent or an adult before visiting any new Web site.

    Navigate the world in 3­D with Google Earth. Begin in outer space and zoom (快速移动) into the streets of any city, from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Or visit ancient monuments, watch the changing rainforests over time, and dive underwater to explore tropical reef.

    With the Moon in Google Earth tool, you can walk in Neil Armstrong's famous footsteps. Take a guided tour of the moon's surface with Armstrong's fellow shuttle mate astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

    When you're exploring that part of the solar system, hop on over to the Red Planet with Google Mars. There, you can move very quickly around the surface and see images from the Mars Rovers.

School Activities

    Our school activities are suitable for all ages and levels including primary, secondary and A-Level. We offer workshops, hands-on activities and a teacher support service to help you get the most out of your visit. All school services are free, but must be booked in advance.

Darwin Centre

    Find out who you really are and where you come from in our interactive films about evolution, described by Sir David Attenborough.

Hands-on Activities

    Get up close and personal with Museum in these hands-on activities, where you can handle real specimens from our collections. Hundreds of real, natural history specimens for students to touch and explore are in our hands-on science centre.

Self-led Activities

    Pupils can engage with specimens through role-play in a self-guided explorer challenge through the Museum.

The Great Debate School Program

    Students are introduced to the history of the debate during a lively tour. They are then divided into groups and use exhibits to prepare presentations representing the views of the debated key characters.

Booking

    All school activities must be booked in advance by calling the schools booking line: 4420 7942 6666.

Opening week specials（大特惠） at Munchies Food Hall.

At the corner of Green and Brown Streets in the city

Monday 7th of January until Sunday.13rd of January 2008

Feast until you're full! Come down to Monetizes time week to enjoy the special dishes on offer it all of our food outlets. Order from the following:

●Succulent chicken rice             ●spicy stays beef

●Delicious noodle dishes          ●plump porky chips

●seafood specialties                 ●crunchy vegetables

●sweet tropical fruit

Halal food（清真食品） is available at the stall. Malay Mood Heaven

Win Prizes and Gifts!

Spend ＄20.00 or more and win instant prizes from our lucky draw box.

Collect a free party balloon and whistle for each young diner.

Enjoy a free meal if you are the first customer of the day at any of our stalls.

Win a holiday to Western Australia.

A free raffle ticket（彩券） is given with every receipt（收据）. Just fill in your information and place your entry in the box provided.

Winner to be announced in The Strait Times on the 15th of January.

Join in the Fun!

Between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm each evening until the 15th of January, your favorite Channel 3 television actors and singers will entertain you:

●May Lee                     ●Jackie Chen

●Kim Yap                     ● Kamala

Autograph sessions will follow each performance! And who will be our extra special mystery star? Come down on Saturday at noon to find out.

    During the first decade of the 21st century, a popular and new word has come into our vocabulary. That word is Facebook. This is the most popular social networking website on the Internet. There are about 350 million active users on this website. The main idea of Facebook is that you can keep in touch with all your friends around the world who has Facebook. In the 350 million users on Facebook, 67% of them are between the ages of 13-25. More than 35 million users update their status every day. 2.5 billion Photos are added each month.

    The highest age groups who use Facebook are teenagers. Most of them keep the website running whenever they are using the computer and general teens nowadays are always on the computer, if they aren't in school or when they aren't asleep. I feel that teens should focus on their schoolwork or be socializing with their friends in person or exercising. Facebook is just changing the new generation of youngsters completely because the teenage life is one of the most important stages of life and wasting it on Facebook is not encouraging this in any way. It is also a complete distraction (分心) to their mind, for they would turn to Facebook just to check if there was anything updated among their friends.

    Remember back in the good old days, when teens would do their homework handwritten, play sports and hang out with friends. Today, most teens would only speak to their friends on Facebook, while we can see them battling obesity as they stare at their friend's message on their wall. In summary, teens don't have a life because they are on Facebook 24/7, except for those who don t use Facebook or occasionally do.

    Facebook is also where people can see the conflicts among their friends, virtual arguments, relationship status and updates, who is in whose 'top friends, and so on. You can join groups, post pictures and videos, play games, and invite friends to parties. Mainly, all this would just disturb people into living life to its fullest.

    The year of 2017 marked the 100th birthday of the honoring Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei.

    From museums to business headquarters, Pei had designed many notable buildings around the world throughout his long professional career. According to the organizers of ''Rethinking Pei: A Centenary Symposium (百年纪念座谈会)" held that year, Pei remained one of the most celebrated architects of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

    The Hong Kong Bank of China Tower is one of his most famous works in Asia. As the bank itself also celebrated its centenary in 2017, it's worth examining the building's historical and architectural background to gain a deeper understanding of the architect who changed Hong Kong's skyline forever.

    The Bank of China Tower (BOC Tower) was completed in 1989, a year which the "New York Times" called, the year of I.M. Pei." For it was in this same year that Pei also completed the glass pyramid of the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, the Creative Artist Agency Headquarters in Los Angeles, and other marvellous architectures all around the world.

    Pei was commissioned (委托)in 1982 by the Beijing-based Bank of China to design it shead quarters in Hong Kong, but construction did not start until 1985.

    There were many reasons for the delay. One of the biggest was the huge challenges posed by the location. The land parcel had been the address of a Victorian building which served as a prison during Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between 1941 and 1945. This terrible heritage might be one of the reasons why it was dismantled in 1982.

    For I.M. Pei, the challenge of the site was not its past, but its present: the relatively small land parcel was surrounded on three sides by elevated roadways serving high-speed heavy traffic, meaning there was no possible public pedestrian access. Then there was its awkward trapezoidal (梯形)shape and the fact that the site also had a deep north-south height difference.

    Another challenge was the unavoidable comparison of the BOC Tower to the neighboring Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Headquarters(HSBC), which was also under construction. A spectacular building generously funded, its architect Norman Foster was simply told to create "the best bank building in the world." At that time it was also the world's most expensive building, costing $668 million. The Bank of China Tower's budget was approximately one fifth of the budget allowed by HSBC.

    The Hong Kong government had promised HSBC that no tall buildings would ever be built in front of its headquarters. Besides, in between the site of the Bank of China and the harbor, there were already a few buildings over 70 meters tall blocking views.

    Recognizing that going tall was the only way to create a landmark at this site with his budget, Pei came up with an architectural tower design that was simple, expressive, innovative, and upon its completion, the tallest building outside of America and the fourth tallest in the world.

    After the Bank of China officially moved into the tower in 1991, noted architect and critic Peter Blake visited the building and declared it to be "probably the most innovative skyscraper structure built anywhere to date."

    Now 30 years after the building^'s construction, the Bank of China Tower continues to offer valuable lessons of architectural and structural creativity under the most demanding conditions. Most importantly, the tower has become one of the most important cultural icons for the city of Hong Kong.

The age of technology is a great and convenient thing, but it does have effects on us in many different ways.

It causes long-term memory loss. Thanks to Baidu, we don't really have to remember much of anything. Questions are answered at the drop of a hat because Baidu is all-knowing! Is that a good thing, though? People aren't digging through their brains anymore to find answers. Here's the good news: we can still exercise our long-term memory by simply thinking before we Baidu. If we don't want to go down that road, we can search Baidu for some memory games to play. Turn Baidu into an asset instead of an enemy.

It makes us lack patience. Baidu gives us what we want. Everything is instant. In fact, if we have to wait for even a handful of minutes for anything, we start losing our minds. This idea of instant satisfaction carries through to many other aspects of our lives, too, like when we go out to eat, drive in traffic, or even deal with workplace accidents. Instead of using Baidu to lessen our anger, try searching for some mindful meditations (沉思).Focus on our breath and realize everything doesn't have to move at lightening speed. We can actually listen to some peaceful spa or meditation music on our Pandora, too!

It wastes our time. Be honest, how much time are we spending on Baidu every day? Whether we're doing research for our own personal needs, buying clothing, or writing a research paper, we all spend a ton of time on the trusty Internet. Are we always being efficient with this time? For the sake of our precious time, if we haven't used Baidu Drive, we should. Keep spreadsheets, text does, PDFs, slideshows, and even recordings exactly where we can easily find them. Keep a running list of websites we know we'll revisit.

Overall, things are different these days. Yes, there are noticeable negative side effects because of the Baidu invasion, but we don't have to fall into that trap. Stay sharp and don't let ourselves become imprisoned doing the Baidu god's bidding.