Have you ever wanted to travel back in time? What about traveling into the future? There's an easy way to do it. One way you can make a time travel journey is by writing a letter to your future self to be opened in the future. To your future self, the letter will be a visit from the past. 

    What can be gained by writing a letter to yourself? Depends on how good your letter is. You have the chance to say something to your future self. What would you want to say? You'll be able to talk to yourself 5,10,15 years down the road. There may be instructions for your future self, or you may have goals that you will want to reach.

    There are a lot of things you could include in your letter or letters to yourself. The more you include, the better the letter will be to you. Be creative with what you put in your letter. Include a picture of yourself or family to show the period from which the letter came.

    You can store your letter in many different ways. You can give your letter to a friend or family member to keep and mail to you. If you can get others to take part, have them write letters to themselves as well and ask someone to be the letter holder until it's time to send the letters. You can also use a service online to store your letter and e-mail it to you. Ready to write to yourself two and a half years down the road?

    Have you heard an old saying “The grass looks greeener on the other side of the fence”? It means other places often look better, more interesting than the place where you live. “Let's go to KFC for dinner and then watch some Japanese cartoons!” We all know it: more and more Chinese kids love American and Japanese food and movies. Some people worry that young Chinese are beginning to feel that way. They see young Chinese ignoring (忽视) Chinese culture and, instead, buying Japanese cartoon books, watching Korean soap operas and even celebrating Western holidays.

    Foreign books and soap operas are good, but Chinese writers and actors are just as good. As for holidays, Christmas is nice, but it can never have the meaning for Chinese that Spring Festival has, and the West has nothing to compare with the Mid-Autumn Festival. China has lots of cool things in its culture: calligraphy, Bejing Opera, quick meals on the streets, and even Jay Chou! And let's not forget the part of Chinese culture I like best: its friendliness. Not all countries are as warm as China.

    It's good to enjoy other cultures and learn from them, but they can never replace your own culture. It's good to look on the other side of the fence, but make sure you take a good long book. You will find that the grass isn't always greener.

    Although some people become worried about that, I don't think they should. Will we get more powerful without learning from other countries? Will Chinese people live more happily without American fast food? Besides, it's fun to learn about different cultures. Chinese kids can learn about other cultures and have fun, but they also need to learn more about their own culture. Be proud of Chinese culture and of being Chinese!

    Amsterdam is a special city. There are many places you should not miss during your visit. Here is our list of the best.

Amsterdam canal ring

    The city old centre is formed from canal rings, which give you the feeling of space, freedom and peace. Walk through these canal streets or better — take a trip by renting a boat yourself. Another way to explore the Venice of the North is to take a ride on a bicycle. Any way you decide for - enjoy this city.

The National Maritime Museum

    The Maritime Museum is an attractive place to visit, especially with children. With many attractions in it, this colourful and enjoyable museum will help you understand the history of the Netherlands - a small nation which was one of the world's greatest sea powers.

Amsterdam Brown Cafe

    When you enter Amsterdam old cafes called Brown, at first it will seem too much from the past and too crowded, but the atmosphere is unique. Relax and watch - most of people around will be locals. Feel like one of them — the real Amsterdammers.

Civic Guards Gallery

    This gallery is filled with old paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. The exhibited canvas may be not always the masterpieces of art, but these group portraits of Amsterdam citizens and their wives are an exquisite (精致的) document of the Dutch civilization and culture centuries ago.

To avoid waiting lines we advise you to buy your tickets in advance online through our Amsterdam attractions and museums tickets webpage.

    Once upon a time, there was a lovely vegetable field, on which grew a very thick tree. Both the vegetables and the tree gave the place a wonderful appearance, which was the joy of the garden's owner. What no one knew was that the vegetables in the field and the tree couldn't stand each other. The vegetables hated the tree's shadow, because it left them only just enough light to survive. The tree, on the other hand, hated the vegetables because they drank nearly all the water before it could get to him, leaving him with just enough to survive.

    The situation became so extreme that the vegetables got totally fed up and decided to use up all the water in the ground so that the tree would dry up. The tree answered back by refusing to give the vegetables shadow from the hot midday sun, so they both began to dry up. Before long, the vegetables were really thin and the tree's branches were drying up.

    Neither of them thought that the gardener, on seeing his vegetable field becoming worse, would stop watering it. When he did that, both the tree and the vegetables really learned what thirst was. There seemed to be no solution, but one of the vegetables, a small courgette（小胡瓜）, understood what was going on, and decided to deal with it. Despite the little water and the unbearable heat, the little courgette did all he could to grow, grow... He managed to grow so big that the gardener started watering the field again. The gardener wanted to enter that beautiful big courgette in some gardening contest.

    They should really learn how to live in harmony）with those around them, doing the best they could. So they decided to work together, and help each other instead of fighting, using both the shadow and the water in the best combination to grow good vegetables. Seeing how well they were doing, the gardener now gave the best of care to his vegetable field, watering it better than any other field for miles around.

Pride and Prejudice for the Modern Woman

    Let us imagine how Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's most famous work, might be updated, 200 years on. Austen's popularity is rooted in her intelligence. But today she would certainly have had a very different life, as would her characters(角色). Here's my own suggestion…

    It is a truth finally and universally acknowledged that a single woman with brains deserves to have equal opportunities to men, however disadvantaged she may feel by sexism.

    "My dear husband," said his hopeful wife one day," have you heard that the local store, standing empty for so long, is taken over by a bright young businesswoman?"

    Her dull and indifferent (漠不关心的) husband replied that he had not. "But it is, it is," she replied excitedly. Mr. Dull-Husband made no reply.

    "Don't you want to know her plans?" she cried with some impatience.

    "Well, clearly you think it matters to your silly little head, so I'd better listen."

    "Well, my dear, the rumour (传言) is that she has already set up a string of successful businesses in northern England, though how a woman can know anything about that is beyond me". She will move in herself next month." "What is her name?" "Bingley."

    "Is she married or single?"

    "What a question! And none of your business. But her coming will be a fine thing for our five boys." "How so? How can it possibly affect them?"

    "My dear love; those lazy boys need something to wake them up. There are bound to be jobs going."

    "Is that her point in settling here? Surely as a woman she has simply taken a fancy to the place."

    "Nonsense, my love, how little you've noticed the world has changed. She's got a first-rate degree and some sort of business qualification, I'm told. She surely needs one of our boys! Perhaps you might give her a call."

    "Me? No. Perhaps you can take an interest. You still have your looks, after all. She may even offer you a job." "Oh, that's not likely. These new chances belong to the younger generation. But now you mention it, I think I'll go along all the same."

    And Mrs Bennet went along. That was 10 years ago. She is now managing director of a FTSE-listed company.

    It would remain the case, of course, that Mrs Bennet would be one of very few women on the company board, that her salary would be lower than her male colleagues, her bonus of a more "female" dimension(方面) and her lifespan (年限) among the city's business leaders shorter than theirs. Still, she'd no doubt have enjoyed Davos(达沃斯经济论坛)—and might even have hobnobbed (攀谈) with influential figures.