America's Best National Parks

Pacific: Yosemite National Park, California

Closest city: Oakland, Calif. (3.5-hour drive)

    This Golden State treasure has thick forests and rock formations like the Half Dome—a naturalist's dream in winter, spring, summer or fall. “Anytime of year, it's such an important park,” says Patricia Schultz, author of 1000 Places to See Before you Die. She recommends taking a tour with a naturalist guide to learn about the reintroduction of wolves into the park.

Pacific: Denali National Park, Alaska

Closest city: Fairbanks, Alaska (two-hour drive)

    Denali National Park includes the towering Mt. McKinley. At 20,320 feet, it's America's tallest peak. “But the park's real glory is the wildlife viewing in a setting that is vast, terrific and pristine(原始的),” says Schultz.

West: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

Closest city: Jackson, Wyo. (45-minute drive)

    Home to ski paradise Jackson Hole, the Grand Tetons offer a charming Wild West view in any season. Schultz especially likes the park for its cross-country skiing and wildlife sighting opportunities.

East: Acadia National Park, Maine

Closest city: Bangor, Maine (45-minute drive)

    A former haunt(消磨时光的去处) of an older generation of America's wealthiest, this stretch of coastline once played host to Rockefeller, Astor and Vanderbilt. Easy hiking trails(小道) lead through forests dotted with small lakes.

    MySpace, the social networking website, is different from other websites which only provide stories about other people. MySpace is a place that allows you to broadcast your own stories and personal information to as many people as you like. Started two years ago, it is a big source of information for and about American kids.

    Teenagers and their parents feel very different about it. Teens are rushing to join the site, not sharing their parents' worries. It signals yet another generation gap in the digital era.

    For teenagers, it is reliable network to keep in touch with their friends. They will often list their surnames, birthdays, after­school jobs, school clubs, hobbies and other personal information.

    "MySpace is an easy way to reach just about everyone. I don't have all the phone numbers of my acquaintances. But if I want to get in touch with one of them, I could just leave them a message on MySpace, "said Abby Van Wassen. She is a 16­year­old student at Woodland Hills High of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

    Parents on the other hand are seriously concerned about the security problems of MySpace. "Every time we hold a parents meeting, the first question is always about MySpace, "said Kent Gates, who travels the country doing Internet safety seminars(研讨会). The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children has received at least 288 MySpace ­ related complaints, according to Mary Beth Buchanan, a lawyer in Pittsburgh.

    "Your profile on MySpace shows all your personal information to anyone on the Web. And MySpace even lists this information by birthplace and age. It's like a free checklist for troublemakers and it endangers children, " Buchanan said.

    In the coming months, we are bringing together artists from all over the globe, to enjoy speaking Shakespeare's plays in their language, in our Globe, within the architecture Shakespeare wrote for. Please come and join us.

    National Theatre Of China  Beijing｜Chinese

    This great occasion(盛会) will be the National Theatre of China's first visit to the UK. The company's productions show the new face of 21st century Chinese theatre. This production of Shakespeare's Richard III will be directed by the National's Associate Director, Wang Xiaoying.

    Date & Time: Saturday 28 April, 2.30 pm & Sunday 29 April, 1.30 pm & 6.30 pm

Marjanishvili Theatre  Tbilisi｜Georgian

    One of the most famous theatres in Georgia, the Marjanishvili, founded in 1928, appears regularly at theatre festivals all over the world. This new production of As You Like It is helmed(指导) by the company's Artistic Director Levan Tsuladze.

    Date & Time: Friday 18 May, 2.30 pm & Saturday 19 May, 7.30 pm

    Deafinitely Theatre  London｜British Sign Language(BSL)

    By translating the rich and humourous text of Love's Labour's Lost into the physical language of BSL, Deafinitely Theatre creates a new interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy and aims to build a bridge between deaf and hearing worlds by performing to both groups as one audience.

    Date & Time: Tuesday 22 May, 2.30 pm & Wednesday 23 May, 7.30 pm

    Habima National Theatre  Tel Aviv｜Hebrew

    The Habima is the centre of Hebrew-language theatre worldwide. Founded in Moscow after the 1905 revolution, the company eventually settled in Tel Aviv in the late 1920s. Since 1958, they have been recognized as the national theatre of Israel. This production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice marks their first visit to the UK.

    Date & Time: Monday 28 May, 7.30 & Tuesday 29 May, 7.30 pm

    Like a lot of health-care professionals, Dr. Brian Goldman finds it extremely difficult to draw boundaries between his work and personal lives. "There's this view that you should suck it up and do one more thing," says the ER physician and host of CBC's White Coat, Black Art. But that "one more thing" often comes at Goldman's expense.

    "You're exhausted and a patient or their family look at you with begging eyes," he says. "So you have this dilemma: say that your shift is over or give until you're totally spent?" Goldman's work stress combined with family tension after his mother was diagnosed with dementia 20 years ago. Caring for her over a decade was difficult, as was dealing with his father's grief. "When someone else is drowning you, you have to grab a life preserver and save yourself," says Goldman.

    Setting boundaries isn't just important for busy professionals; everyone can benefit from managing situations that cause undue stress or pain. Here are some tips.

First, "If someone's behavior makes you unhappy — and it could be anything from the way they speak to you to repeatedly failing to stick to their promise — then there's room to set limits," says Patrick Keelan, a Calgary psychologist. We often avoid setting limits because we prioritize the happiness and comfort of others over ours. In order to control this impulse, Goldman suggests framing the development of boundaries as a form of self-kindness. When facing an overwhelming situation like the one he was in with his father, Goldman suggests reflecting on what is making you feel uncomfortable, unhappy or unappreciated. "You can't relate to others or be kind to others if you aren't kind to yourself," he says.

Second, once you've become aware of your needs, setting and maintaining boundaries requires clear verbal communication. There are three obstacles to enforcing boundaries in a relationship: fear, guilt and self-doubt, says psychologist Nicole MaCance. We often fear that if we set limits, the other person will reject us, or we feel bad claiming our needs. Keelan proposes setting ground rules before relationships become tense. Start by cooperatively listing values — like mutual respect, support, and loyalty — and then building the guidelines from these values. If you're struggling to reach a consensus, Keelan recommends engaging a third party, such as a therapist, to help.

    Now, if you want a boundary to stick to, you can't enable someone in breaking it. As such, it's crucial to establish consequences for  transgressions (越轨). Otherwise, McMance says," you're giving them permission to violate that boundary." If they won't respect your boundaries, you have to do some soul- searching about the value of the relationship. "When you feel bad more than you feel good in this person's presence, and when the relationship is impacting your self-worth and happiness, it's time to reassess," says McCance. Saying no is hard, but she suggests framing it as saying yes to healthier relationships. "We're all better mothers and partners and brothers when we have boundaries."

    Every year in May, art galleries and museums prepare shows to honor Leonardo Da Vinci, who died in France on May 2, 1519. He is remembered as one of the greatest artists and creative thinkers of all time. His most famous paintings are The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

    Recently, researchers have been studying a painting-Landscape 8P which, they think, is Da Vinci's earliest-known artwork. They used special lighting to study the artwork and discovered there were two images(图像), not one. One drawing is on the back of the piece, which dates back to August 5, 1473.

    The drawing on the front was painted when Leonardo was 21 years old. It shows a river valley and a castle outside the city of Florence. There is little left of the drawing on the back, perhaps because it was wiped off. Only a bridge over a river can be seen. But there is writing on both sides.

    The writing on the front gives the date and goes from right to left. Some people would call this "mirror-writing". It's a way Leonardo often wrote in his notebooks. The writing on the back goes from left to right and tells about an agreement, probably to produce a work of art.

    Cecilia Frosinini is an art historian. She said, "Leonardo was born left-handed, but was taught to write with his right hand from a very young age. By looking at his writings, including from this drawing, we can see his right-handed handwriting is educated and well done. "

    Experts compared the two handwriting samples(样本)and said they were both made by Leonardo. They show he could write well using his left hand or his right hand.

    The drawing is known as Landscape 8P from its number in an art list. It will be part of an exhibit at Italy's Uffizi Gallery. The gallery director, Eike Schmidt, said by studying the drawing researchers gave us a new way of looking at Leonardo's drawing technique and his abilities in writing.

    A population of the world's most aggressive mosquito species was almost completely wiped out by an experiment on two islands in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, according to a study published.

    The experiment successfully reduced the female Asian Tiger Mosquito population — the main source of bites and disease spread — by up to 94%, reducing the number of reported human bites by 97%.

    One of the Chinese study's researchers, Xi Zhiyong, a professor at Michigan State University, has been a longtime pioneer in this field of study. Running a mosquito factory in southern China, he previously attempted to use sterilized male mosquitoes to mate with unaltered females which developed normally. In the new study, published by the International Journal of Science, Xi and his colleagues attempted to cut mosquito numbers even further by limiting both males and females' ability to reproduce. The results were so successful that they nearly killed the entire female mosquito population on the two islands.

    It isn't the first attempt by researchers to reduce mosquito populations across the world. In 2018, scientists from the Imperial College of London used gene-editing tools to make female mosquitoes sterile, while males developed normally and continued spreading the genetic mutation (突变).Experts said the Asian Tiger Mosquitoes are particularly hard to kill using traditional population control methods, such as pesticides (杀虫剂) and removing stagnant (不流动的) water where the insects lay their eggs.

    Mosquitoes create grave threats to human health beyond just bites. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the insects as "one of the deadliest animals in the world," due to their ability to rapidly spread deadly diseases such as dengue fever and malaria. There is currently no effective vaccine or treatment for most mosquito-spread diseases, leaving controlling the insects' populations one of the most effective control methods, according to the International Journal of Science. “A new tool like what's being described in this paper is very much needed” said Stephen Dobson, a professor of medical insectology at University of Kentucky.