Children's Activities (6—13 years) — Summer 2017

    There is no chance of children getting bored in the holidays with these action-packed weeks of fun and games. Days begin with team building activities to help“break the ice” and get the children in the mood. The wonderfully safe and secure environment of Port Regis enables the children to explore the woods and enjoy their own creative play.

    WEEK 1: Festival of Sport (Monday 12nd July to Friday 26th July)

    The summer activities kick-off with a wonderful week of sporting fun including cricket, athletics other great team games. Swims in the pool and games in the gym.

    WEEK 1: Let's Go Wild (Monday 29th July to Friday 2nd August)

    A Whole week in the great outdoors with treasure hunts, camp bed and cave building along with amazing team games in woods. This week guarantees to be like no other. Navigate yourself through the huge spiders' web and guide balls through the huge ball maze… this is a great week for making new friends.

WEEK 3: Sporting Madness (Monday 5th August to Friday 9th August)

    A wild and strange week of tournaments and twin (both traiditional and a few of the homemade variety) games, but be warned, you might get wet! Arts and crafts, fun in the gym and swims in the pool make this a hard week. Besides exhaustion you'd better learn to get used to challenges and accept any result. Activities will be dependent on the weather.

    WEEK 3: Make a Racquet(球拍)（Monday 12th August to Friday 16^th August）

    What a racquet this week brings with all the bat, racquet and club sport you could wish for…crazy golf, tennis, hadmintion, cricket and table tennis to name but a foe for the children to enjoy.

    WEEK 5: Having a Bull (Monday 19th August to Friday 23rd August)

    Quizzjes, arts and crafts, fun in the gym and swims in the pool are not to be witnin this week of Fun.

    WEEK 6: Mgdal Medley (混战）(Tuesday 27th August to Fridy 30th August)

This week re-runs the best bits of the last five weeks with great team games and tournaments, action-packed ball sports, floaty fun in the pool and adventures in the woods.

    Children will need to bring:

    Swimming kit, plenty to drink and break snacks. Dependant on the weather, children will need either sunscreen and sun hats or wet weather gear.

    No one enjoys hearing the sound of someone else chewing their food. Most of the time, though, it's not that big a deal but a minor annoyance.

    But for a small group of people with misophonia (恐音症), the sound can be painful, causing extreme anger and deep discomfort. The most ordinary sounds of chewing and breathing can drive them crazy. Past attempts to explain the causes of misophonia have suggested everything from compulsive disorder to an easily-annoyed personality—but according to a study published yesterday in the journal CurrentBiology, the true criminal is the structure of the brain.

    For the study, a team of researchers led by Newcastle University neuroscientist Sukhbinder Kumar recruited (招募) 42 volunteers, of whom around half had extreme misophonia and the other half served as the control group, and played them several different noises: some ordinary; some harsh, like the sound of a person screaming; and some that were ordinary for the control group but known to be annoying for misophonics, people with misophonia, like the sound of breathing. As the participants listened, the researchers monitored them for signs of anxiety, both physical symptoms and behavioral expressions, and observed their brain activity using FMRI scans.

    The only significant difference in reaction between the two groups happened, during the misophonia-specific sounds, when those with the condition showed physical changes that suggested they were entering fight-or-flight mode.

    Misophonics had increased activity in the AIC, an area known to play a central role in the system that determines which things we should pay attention to. When the trigger sounds were played, there was not only more activity in this region but also abnormally high levels of connection to other regions.

    Misophonia, in other words, may be a result of misplaced attention the brain of a misophonic focuses on things that other people normally tune out (不予理会). On a related note, on behalf of misophonics and manners-minded moms everywhere: Please, chew with your mouth closed.

    Dubai(迪拜)is one of the economically richest places in the world. With its numerous malls, hotels, and beautiful beaches, Dubai has always been a popular holiday destination. This city was visited by around 5 million tourists each year. The government wanted to increase this number to 15 million. However, Dubai has only 45 miles of coastline, which is nowhere enough for so many people. To solve this problem, an island that looked like a palm tree was built in 2006, and named the Palm Jumeirah.

    The plan for the island was extraordinary. It was to host several hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, and homes. Although the initial plan was to build the island from concrete(水泥), a decision was taken to create it from sand and gravel(砾石), so as to give it a natural look.

    To make sure that this project was a success, the best engineers from across the world were employed. Engineers from Holland formed the majority in this group. To begin with, the engineers calculated the strength of storms at sea, and also the expected amount of rise in water levels due to global warming. And then they found that, the proposed location for the island was neither very wide nor deep.

    One of the difficulties the engineers came across was to put sand on the sea bed to create the breakwater(防浪堤).Finding the right sand for the project was also a daunting task, as the sand from Dubai's deserts was too fine. Instead, sand from the sea was used, as it was coarser(粗糙). Once the breakwater was built, construction of the island began.

    The Palm Island are really impressive in terms of engineering. However, these projects are so large that they may have changed the ecology of the region. Also, an immense amount of money and resources go into maintaining the islands, which is a major concern at the moment. Only time will tell if building the Palm Islands was actually a good decision.

    Pastime is a bi-monthly magazine for curious young minds. Many of the topics we write about won't be covered in the classroom. All the articles are written in a lively style, and each one is paired with drawings by some of the country's most talented artists.

    History focuses on archaeological (考古的) sites around the world where archaeologists work to unearth important finds.

    World includes stories about daily life, folk tales, and history and traditions of the people and places.

    Sport includes nutrition tips, information about up-and-coming young athletes, and sports events.

    Art stimulates a child's cultural life, from film to theatre through to writing and music.

    On top of all that, Pastime is packed with items to stimulate a youngster's imagination, including pages of puzzles and a step-by-step guide to creating their own impressive-looking drawings.

    In every issue, we review the latest books top authors write for youngsters. There are also short works of fiction written especially for Pastime by some of our best writers.

    We know that children at this age are dealing with many emotions and sometimes difficult feelings, so we have a personal advice page to reply to questions dealing with personal and moral problems.

    Unlike many of today's throwaway comics, Pastime is written and designed to be kept and treasured. We know children love going online — but we also know how much they enjoy holding a printed magazine in their hands, and the excitement they get when each new issue drops through the letterbox personally addressed to them.

    Subscription

    Pastime is published six times a year. An annual subscription costs just £20 and makes a great gift for any child aged eight to twelve.

    To order by phone: Dial 1-800-821-0156 and use Offer Code WEBSAVE86 for print-only subscriptions.

    You can cancel at any time for magazines that haven't shipped yet.

    The UNESCO has recognized the Chinese art of paper cutting on its Intangible Cultural Heritage List. But paper cutting is at the risk of disappearing.

    Voyo Woo, a Chinese immigrant, who loves paper cutting, worked hard to celebrate the ancient art form. With a keen interest in paper cutting, Ms Woo held a paper cutting exhibition at a shopping center near Washington. "I really love it. I get so much fun by doing it. So I'm just kind of hoping that more people will learn about this art which is about to disappear. I think it's time to take action. So I held it."

    Voyo Woo began to study paper cutting when she was a 14-year-old girl in southeastern China. Voyo Woo's teacher gave her extra training after class because Voyo Woo discovered a special love for it. Later, her beautiful paper cuttings won second prize in a national painting competition. "Paper is the easiest material that you can find. You can just turn it into beautiful art. I think it is like magic to me."

    Ms Woo came to the US after she finished college in 2008. She has been invited to show the art at a wide collection of events. She also has shown her skill and works at famous museums like the Smithsonian Institution's Freer and Sackler art galleries in Washington.

    "I saw so many people coming to me and asking me. They were amazed. I think it's important to introduce the art form to American people or anyone who is interested."

    Ms Woo placed examples of her art around her as she displayed paper cutting at the shopping center. Ann Russ, a shopper, was attracted by the nature of the work. She said it put her at ease. "I like to know about Chinese art, specifically because it's almost relaxing to put that much effort into it," Russ said.

    After I mastered my first concerto (协奏曲) at the age of 14, my parents decided to get me a nice violin. I tried out dozens of instruments before I found my match: a German violin. It was beautiful, but what I liked best about it was its voice. Confident and strong, it was everything I longed to be.

    I'm not sure how much that violin cost, but my parents made me promise never to let it out of my sight. They didn't understand that pulling a large violin case ran counter to my daily middle school task of not being noticed. I was a strange, absent-minded kid. When I spoke up in class, my comments brought confused silence from teachers and wild laughter from students. Like a deer in a wolf pack, I tried to be quiet and still.

    However, my new violin was almost shockingly loud. Together, we were much louder than the rest of my middle school orchestra—which was encouraged, since the other kids made sounds like cats' crying. For one wonderful hour every day, I was showered with attention. Everyone wanted to hear what I had to say.

    Between classes, I bent under the combined weight of my violin case and a backpack filled with books. My body suffered, but my confidence grew. With my violin by my side, I found my voice. More and more, I contributed to class discussions and even made a couple of friends.

    Today, I'm just an excellent violinist with a regular day job. As I sit in my community orchestra, sometimes I feel jealous (嫉妒的) of my fellow musicians' instruments with their elegant voices. I may not be the best violinist around, but at least I'm still the loudest.