Dear Guests

    WELCOME TO PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL APARTMENTS--SYDNEY

    Now we are updating (更新) our information folders in the rooms in order to help you during your stay. Please notice the following:

    Phone number:

    Reception(接待处): Dial 7

     Housekeeping: Dial 4

    Apartment-to-Apartment: dial the apartment number ( except 1st floor apartments: dial the apartment number followed by the ＃key)

    Outside line: dial 0, wait for dial tone, and then the number required.

Please keep your key with you at all times. The main doors to the apartments are locked from about 10:30 pm ~ 07:00 am, and you will need to swipe (刷卡) your key to gain access (通道) to the apartment.

    If in the event of the fire alarm(警报) sounding please stay calm. If evacuation ( 疏散 ) is necessary, please go to the fire exits. DO NOT USE LIFTS. Remember to take your valuables and key with you. When you go down, please gather at the Wishing Tree and the Corner of Sussex and Hay Street and either the Fire Brigade. A staff（职员）member or Hotel security（安全）will issue necessary instructions. For future details on this, please dial 7.

    Please see reception for any advice on tours and Sydney's attention, and please dial 7 if you want any further information.

    We hope your stay with us is an enjoyable one.

    Kind regards,

Paul Williams

Guest Services Manager

    Mom and Dad are two of the most important people in your life.You probably see at least one of them every day. If your dad worships（崇拜）the Pittsburgh Stealers,you're likely to grow up being a big fan of that football team.And if your mom loves to read,you just might grow up carrying a book wherever you go,just like she does.

    Here are four ways you can stay.close:and build a strong relationship with your parents.

    ⑴Spent time together.How much time do you spend just enjoying each other's company?

    Instead of playing a computer game or watching TV,maybe you can ask your mom and dad to play with you.Go outside together,try a board game,or read a book out.

    ⑵Share your feelings and ask for help.Your mom or dad might not know that you're having a problem.Tell a parent if you're sad or struggling with something.

    ⑶Show your care. Some families are always kissing, hugging, and saying "I love you". It's important to show that you care for each other. In addition to kisses and hugs, kids and parents show their love by respecting each other, being caring, polite, and thoughtful.

    ⑷Whatever you do, do your best! You, don't have to be perfect, but when you do your best, you make your parents proud. It makes them happy to see how you're turning into such a great kid. Why? Because it lets them know they're doing a good job.

    As soon as the Thanksgiving holiday is over, Santa Clauses start appearing everywhere. It takes more than red clothing and a white beard to be a professional Santa In fact many successful Santas attend special classes.

    The CW Howard Santa School, one of the oldest Santa Claus school in the world, is in Midland, Michigan. It celebrated its 80th anniversary last year. Over 250 Santas gathered at the school to prepare for their seasonal work. Charlie Howard was the Santa Claus in the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade for 17 years. He started the school in 1937.

    “At that time, there was a great need for good Santas. Santas didn't portray the character that we want. Santa Claus stands for all good things hut some of the gentlemen's images (形象) weren't up to the expectation,” said Charlie.

    The three-day Santa workshop teaches people “Santa sign language”, facts about deer and clothing and make-up style. The future Santas also become familiar with the newest wish list toys, gain (获得) interview experience for radio and television and even get advice on how to do their business taxes.

    It's said that about 15,000 students have graduated from the Santa school. They come from all over North America, Europe，Africa and Australia to study. Last year the school welcomed Santas from all 50 states as well as many other countries.

    The Santas never claim (声称) to be the one and only “real” Santa. Instead, they describe themselves as “the spirit of Christmas”. At the school's opening-night activity, they tell visiting children they are the “cousins of Santa”.

    Robert Davis says they also never promise children anything. Instead, they say they will try their best.

    After all, as Charlie Howard liked to say, “He is wrong who thinks Santa enters through the chimney (烟囱). Santa enters through the heart.''

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    The American Craftsman style is a type of design. It was popular from 1900 to the 1930s. It changed the style of building in the United States.

    The craftsman style originally began in Europe. The British Arts and Crafts style arose in the 1860s. The unique designs of this movement tried to offer dignity to the common person. Handmade items were preferred because they were thought better than items that were mass-produced. But this British style was still Victorian. It still only served the wealthiest clients.

    In 1897 a group of Boston architects brought these handcrafted styles to American. They planned a show of craft objects, which turned out to be a huge success. Here they realized the potential and established the Society of Arts and Crafts on June 28, 1897. Its slogan was "to develop and encourage higher standards in the handicrafts."

    The American style began as the Victorian Era was ending. It emphasized handmade work. Originality and simplicity were highly valued. Local materials and the quality of the handicraft were very important, these traits were meant to dignify the modest homes of the middle class.

    These simple designs used glass and wood that were produced locally. They were also very elegant. The metalwork was a reaction to Victorian Opulence. The increase of mass-produced housing items was rejected. The American Craftsman used clean lines. It also relied on sturdy structure. Natural materials were always used in these houses if possible.

    This style introduced many changes to the average American home. New designs were made for families without servants. This was a trait of the new middle class. The kitchen went from being a hidden room to a prominent one. Another development was the breakfast nook. This new area provided the family with a place to gather at any time of day.

    Also, inspirational to the Craftsman style were the Shaker and Mission designs. The American Craftsman style led to the Art Deco Movement of the 1930s.

    Curiosity is what drives us to keep learning, keep trying, keep pushing forward. But how does one generate (产生) curiosity, in oneself or others? George Loewenstein, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, offered an answer in the classic1994 paper, "The Psychology of Curiosity."

    Curiosity arises, Loewenstein wrote, "when attention becomes focused on a gap in one's knowledge. Such information gaps produce the feeling of deprivation (匮乏) labeled curiosity. The curious individual is motivated to obtain the missing information to reduce the feeling of deprivation." Loewenstein's theory helps explain why curiosity is such a force: it's not only a mental state but also an emotion, a powerful feeling that drives us forward.

    Scientist Daniel Willingham notes that teachers are often "so eager to get to the answer that we do not devote enough time to developing the question." Yet it's the question that stimulates (刺激) curiosity; being told an answer stops curiosity before it can even get going.

    In his 1994 paper, George Loewenstein noted that curiosity requires some basic knowledge. We're not curious about something we know absolutely nothing about. But as soon as we know even a little bit, our curiosity is aroused and we want to learn more. In fact, research shows that curiosity increases with knowledge: the more we know, the more we want to know. To get this process started, Loewenstein suggests, take steps with some interesting but incomplete information.

    Language teachers have long used communication in exercises that open an information gap and then require learners to communicate with each other in order to fill it. For example, one student might be given a series of pictures for the beginning of the story, while the student's partner is given a series of pictures showing how that same story ends. Only by speaking with each other (in the foreign language they are learning, of course) can the students fill in each others' information gaps.