Strathnaver Museum is situated on the north coast of Scotland .It is based in the former Parish Church of Columba in Bettyhill and opened as a museum in 1976 .Its main theme is the tragic story of the Highland Clearances .It has a room dedicated to the Clan Mackay and also tells the story of crofting life .

    Open April to October

    9am to 11 am

    2pm to 5pm

    Closed Sundays

    Adults ￡2.00

    Concessions  ￡1.50

    Students  ￡1.00

    Children  ￡0.50

    Clachan, Bettyhill ,Sutherland ,

    KW14 7SS

    Tel : 01641 521418

    E-mail : strsthnavermus @ukonline.co.uk

    www.strathnavermuseum. org.uk

C

    Once upon a time，there was a king who had gone to visit neighboring kingdoms．He was gifted a pair of baby parrots by the king of the last kingdom where he was visiting．They were the most beautiful birds that he had ever seen．so，after returning to his kingdom，he called for a bird trainer and asked him to train parrots．

    The king also set up a place in the palace garden for the parrots．He often looked at them from his palace window．As time passed，one day the trainer came to the palace and told the king that though one of the parrots was flying high in the sky，the other one was not moving from its branch since the day it had arrived．

    When hearing this,the king summoned the best trainer from all his land and the nearby kingdoms．They came quickly and tried their best, but none of them could make the parrot fly!He even asked his courtiers to try to find a good way to make the parrot fly but they all failed．The parrot was not moving from his branch at all．Finally，after trying everything，the king thought to himself："Perhaps I need someone who may be more familiar with natural habitat．"He asked his courtier to get a farmer from the countryside and take him to the parrot to see if he could understand the problem with the parrot．

    The next morning，the king was surprised to see the parrot flying high above the palace gardens．He asked his servant to call that farmer to meet him．The servant quickly went and found the farmer．The farmer came and stood before the king．The king asked him，"How did you make the parrot fly?" With his hands folded with respect，the farmer said to the king，"It was very easy．I just cut the branch where the bird was sitting．"

Teenage life—better now, or in the past?

    Does this situation sound familiar（熟悉）?

    You are complaining（抱怨）to your parents about something. Maybe your computer isn't powerful enough to play the latest games.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.Then you hear…

    “When I was your age, there weren't any computers or video games. And I didn't get a bike until I was sixteen. And it was second-hand.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}”

    So, is it really true that life is better for teenagers now? It is certainly true that many teenagers have got more things nowadays.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}So parents have got more money to spend on each child. And many things are cheaper than they were when our parents were children.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Forty years ago, no one could imagine a world with tiny computers and amazing smartphones. And now these things are necessary—we can't imagine living without them!

    However, technology often means we spend more time at home. And often it's just us, with our computer or television. Teenagers don't do enough exercise.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} And, although young people still get on well with their friends, some people think teenagers today don't have so many social activities as they did in the past.

    What do you think? How is teenage life better these days?

A. And it was too big for me.

B. A typical family is smaller now.

C. Or your friends' bikes are better than yours.

D. So they aren't as healthy as they were in the past.

E. Technology is probably the greatest change in our life.

    Oldest festivals!

    Festivals and celebrations of all kinds are held everywhere. The oldest festivals would celebrate the end of the cold weather, planting in spring and harvest (丰收)in autumn. Other celebrations were held when they had food. They thought these festivals would bring a year of plenty.

    Festivals of the dead

    Some festivals are held to honor or satisfy and please the dead. In Japan the festival is called Obon. They have lamps on and play music because they think this will help the dead back to Earth. In Mexcio they have the day of the dead in early November. On this important day, people might eat food in different shapes and offer food, flowers and gifts to the dead.

    Festivals can be held as an honour to famous people. One of these is the Dragon Boat Festival in China, which honours the famous poet, Qu Yuan. Another is Columbus Day in the USA, in memory of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America.

    Harvest festivals

    Harvest and Thanksgiving festivals can be very happy events. People are grateful because their food is gathered for the winter. In European countries people usually decorate churches and town halls with flowers and fruit, and get together to have meals. In China and Japan there are mid-autumn festivals, when people admire the moon and give gifts of mooncakes.

    Spring festivals

    The most energetic and important festivals are the ones that look forward to the end of winter and to the coming of spring. In some Western countries, Easter is an important festival in February which celebrates the return of Jesus and celebrates the coming of spring. In Japan, the Cherry Blossom Festi­val happens a little later. In China, families get together to eat, drink and have fun at the Spring Festi­val.

Information Card

    Don't be surprised if you see a car going down the road without a driver in Beijing these days. In March, 2018, Baidu was given a license to test its self-driving cars in Beijing, China Daily reported.

    Self-driving cars have been in development since 2010, when Google announced that it was making such cars. Since then, companies like Tesla, Uber and Baidu have been working to produce and test their own self-driving cars.

    Self-driving cars are expected to change the way we get around. They are safer and more environmentally friendly than regular cars. They can remove the stress(压力) of driving and allow disabled or blind people to get around more easily.

    But self-driving cars have their own disadvantages as well. In one test, researchers pointed a laser pointer (激光棒) at the car's sensors (感应器) while it was moving. The car mistakenly thought that the laser beam (波束) was in its way and slowed down or changed directions.

    The software (软件) that is used to direct the cars may not be safe enough. Reported Live science. Sometimes, without any reasons, it may break down when we use out computers or smart phones. If the software in a self-driving car happened to crash, the results could be deadly. Maybe improvements to the software could solve this problem.

Information Card