Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

Where: Becket, Massachusetts

When: June 15-Aug 24

    Each summer, this influential dance center presents a number of classes and performances by more than 50 companies from around the world. Highlights (最精彩的部分) this season include the Dance Theater of Harlem's production of Alvin Ailey's “The Lark Ascending”, which opens the festival.

    Many events are free. Ticketed performances start at $22. jacobspillow.org.

Moab Music Festival

Where: Moab, Utah

When: Aug 29-Sept 9

    This area is better known for mountain biking than for music. But since 1992, it has hosted a private festival that brings classical, jazz, Latin and other types of music to the land. This year there will be 16 concerts, including three “Grotto Concerts”, where guests take a 45-minute boat ride down the Colorado River to performances.

Events start at $25. moabmusicfest.org.

Cheyenne Frontier Days

Where: Cheyenne, Wyoming

When: July 19-28

    There's something for everyone at this 117-year-old festival, from an “Indian village” and Old West museum to country concerts. But the competition is still the main attraction, with cowboys and cowgirls competing for major money in the world's largest outdoor stage.

Competition tickets start at $18, and concert tickets at $23. cfdrodeo.com.

The Glimmerglass Festival

Where: Cooperstown, New York

When: July 6-Aug 24

    Each summer, opera lovers from around the country (and the world) travel to upstate New York to watch productions that include stars like Nathan Gunn and Ginger Costa-Jackson. This year's performances include Wagner's “The Flying Dutchman” and Verdi's “King for a Day”, in honor of the 200th birthdays of both composers (作曲家).

Tickets start at $26. glimmerglass.org.

    People are being lured(引诱)onto Facebook with the promise of a fun and free service without realizing they're paying for it by giving up large amounts of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.

    Most Facebook users don't realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they're paying for Facebook, because people don't really know what their personal details are worth.

    The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you could keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook—you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things—your city, your photo, your friends' names—were set, by default(默认), to be shared with everyone on the Internet.

    According to Facebook's vice-- president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don't share information, they have a “less satisfying experience.”

    Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they're online connecting with their friends?

    The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator(议员) Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites. “I think the senators rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.

    I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it's only the beginning, which is why I'm considering deactivating(撤销)my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I'm upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don't know. That is too high a price to pay.

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    Four Must-See Route 66 (66号公路) Attractions

    The United States is full of odd roadside attractions. Route 66 is home to some of the oldest and most known attractions of them all. Here are four attractions you should see along the Mother Road:

    ⒈Paul Bunyan and a Hot Dog

    Route 66 travelers pass by many fiberglass giants（巨人）right along the road. These giants were a popular form of advertising in the 1960s.Many of them stood in front of service stations. They held car parts, such as mufflers. The collection of Route 66 giants became known as “Muffler Men”. Businesses hoped the strange statues would get travelers' attention.

    The first fiberglass giant was a “Paul Bunyan” figure, built in the early 1960s. It's said that Paul Bunyan is a famous wood worker.

    ⒉Crown Candy Kitchen and Jamaica Ray

    Crown Candy Kitchen has been serving Route 66 travelers from the very beginning. It is just a few short blocks from the 66 path through St. Louis, Missouri. The family-run soda fountain shop opened more than 100 years ago, and has been making candies and meals ever since.

    On weekends, people sometimes wait in line for a table at Crown Candy for over an hour. Luckily there is free entertainment right outside. Jamaica Ray, a local folk artist, creates unusual sculptures.

    ⒊The World's Largest Rocking Chair

    Fanning, Missouri, is home to one of the strangest Route 66 attractions. Just off the road sits an almost 13-meter-tall rocking chair.

    The structure was completed in 2008 on the first of April, or April Fool's Day. At one time the chair actually rocked. But officials decided it had to be still to be safe for ever. People are not permitted to climb the chair. We think, however, that it probably happens once in a while, when no one is watching.

    ⒋Big Texan's Steak Challenge

    Few places better represent the common expression “Everything's Bigger in Texas” than the Big Texan Steak Ranch. Since 1960.it has appealed to travelers with big appetites and a big love of beef.

    It is hard to miss the huge yellow restaurant or the giant cow statue that sits out front. The cow advertises Big Texan's special deal, and what has made this steak ranch famous: a “free” 72-ounce（英两）or 2-kilogram steak. There is one trick: the steak is only free if you can eat the entire thing in one hour.

    A special table is in the middle of the restaurant for the daring diners who accept the challenge. Since 1990, more than 9,000 diners have eaten the entire 2-kilogram steak.

    In a world with limited land, water and other natural resources (资源), the harm from the traditional business model is on the rise. Actually, the past decades has seen more and more forests disappearing and globe becoming increasingly warm. People now realize that this unhealthy situation must be changed, and that we must be able to develop in sustainable (可持续的) ways. That means growth with low carbon(低碳) or development of sustainable products. In other words, we should keep the earth healthy while using its supply of natural resources.

    Today, sustainable development is a proper trend in many countries. According to a recent study, the global market for low-carbon energy will become three times bigger over the next decades. China, for example, has set its mind on leading that market, hoping to seize chances in the new round of the global energy revolution. It is now trying hard to make full use of wind and solar energy, and is spending a huge amount of money making electric cars and high-speed trains. In addition, we are also seeing great growth in the global markets for sustainable products such as palm oil (棕榈油)， which is produced without cutting down valuable rainforest. In recent years the markets for sustainable products have grown by more than 50%.

    Governments can fully develop the potential of these new markets. First, they can set high targets for reducing carbon emissions (排放) and targets for saving and reusing energy. Besides, stronger arrangement of public resources like forests can also help to speed up the development. Finally, governments can avoid the huge expenses that are taking us in the wrong direction, and redirecting some of those expenses can accelerate the change from traditional model to a sustainable one.

    The major challenge of this century is to find ways to meet the needs of growing population within the limits in this single planet. That is no small task, but it offers abundant new chances for sustainable product industries.

    The importance of reading literature often seems lost on many Chinese people. Even experts in education think that the first goal of education is to encourage a love of learning. There is therefore the possibility of something wrong with the way students are taught here.

    Why should they read literature? Do stories have value compared with the reading and learning of facts? Studies show clearly that the most powerful ways of learning are by experience, action and doing experiments and taking risks. Yet there are so many important things to learn that cannot be learned in these ways: feelings, problem solving, danger and relationships, for example. Research into this has shown how deep reading is a valuable experience different to a learning of words or facts. Keen(热心的) readers of -literature show a better understanding of others. Their abilities to make good decisions are raised. Young children who enjoy a parent reading stories to them show greater awareness(意识) when they reach school age.

    The best schools do seem to provide a limited (有限的) chance to enjoy literature, usually about the Chinese classic stories but there is not enough "free" time for students. There are enough reading materials (材料). Chinese book shops are full of story books, and most of them are of good quality (质量) in terms of content, plot (情节) and language. Was there not a Chinese author who received a Nobel Prize for literature recently? There are moves in Chinese education to promote (提升) decision making and shared values. The value of literature is helpful to these as well as to the future of China.

English businessman Richard Branson made history on July 11, 2021 as he and three other crewmates became the world's first space tourists. The flight was made by a spacecraft named VSS Unity that was built by Branson's company, Virgin Galactic. The flight lasted slightly more than an hour, and took Branson and crew to an altitude（海拔）of 53.5miles above the Earth, just a little above the boundary（边界）of space which lies 50 miles above the Earth.

At that height, the atmosphere turns into the black of outer space and the Earth becomes a bent ball of blue. Travelers also exhibit weightlessness as there is no gravity, the force that keeps our bodies walking on the Earth's surface. Therefore, Branson and his fellows were able to float around in VSS Unity while enjoying the views. They were able to do that for three minutes before the spacecraft began its downward journey. It landed back at Virgin Galactic's space port in New Mexico, United States, which is the same place from where it had taken off 90 minutes before.

On landing back, Branson said, "I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid but honestly, nothing could prepare you for the view of the Earth from space. It was just magical. I'm just taking it all in, and it's unreal."

July 11's flight is the start of space tourism for one and all. In early 2022, customers who can afford a ticket for a quarter of a million dollars can line up for a seat on a trip to space. And guess what—they will have a choice of spacecraft. Jeff Bezos, who owns a famous company, is all set to launch himself into space on July 20 on board a spacecraft built by his new branch company Blue Origin. Blue Origin will also carry tourists to space.