As a boy, Charles Robert Darwin(达尔文) collected anything that caught his interest: insects, coins and interesting stones. He was not very clever, but Darwin was good at doing the things that interested him.

    His father was a doctor, so Darwin was sent to Edinburgh to study medicine, and was planned to follow a medical career. But Charles found the lectures boring. Then his father sent him to Cambridge University to study to be a priest. While at Cambridge, Darwin's interest in zoology and geography grew. Later he got a letter from Robert FitzRoy who was planning to make a voyage around the world on a ship, the Beagle. He wanted a naturalist to join the ship, and Darwin was recommended(推荐). That voyage was the start of Darwin's great life.

    As the Beagle sailed around the world, Darwin began to wonder how life had developed on earth. He began to observe everything. After he was home, he set to work, getting his collection in order. His first great work The Zoology of the Beagle was well received, but he was slow to make public his ideas on the origin of life.

    Later Darwin and Wallace, another naturalist who had the same opinions as Darwin, produced a paper together. Darwin's great book “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”(《物种起源》) appeared. It attracted a storm. People thought that Darwin was saying they were descended from monkeys. What a shameful idea! Although most scientists agreed that Darwin was right, the Church was still so strong that Darwin never received any honors for his work.

    Afterwards, he published another great work, The Descent of Man. His health grew worse, but he still worked. “When I have to give up observation, I shall die,” he said. He was still working on 17, April, 1882. He was dead two days later.

Top attractions

    Amsterdam is most famous for its artistic heritage. This tradition is proudly on display in the Rijksmuseum (translates as State Museum). Once you've taken in all that has to offer, artists, history fans, and families shouldn't pass up the chance to visit the Van Gogh Museum-containing around 700 paintings and drawings by Vincent and his contemporaries, including Gauguin, Monet, and Toulouse-Lautrec.

    Amsterdam is also home to the Anne Frank Museum, where Anne hid with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. On a lighter note, taking a canal cruise through its extensive waterways is a rewarding way to see the Dutch capital.

    Art lovers get their kicks at:

     The Van Gogh Museum Rijksmuseum Museum het Rembrandthuis

    Food and drink

    Cheese lovers love Amsterdam. You can find an excuse to eat cheese at any time of the day here. Gouda is Holland's favorite, developing a more intense flavor the longer it's aged. Find a selection at the markets, try a cheeseboard at dinner time, or just order cubes with mustard for dipping to accompany a drink.

    When you're hungry for non-cheese food groups, you'll find Michelin-starred restaurants, vegetarian, and organic restaurants that accompany an array of global cuisine. For old-fashioned and modern Dutch food, try these Amsterdam restaurants: Moeders, Haesje Claes, Loetje, Greetje, and De Silveren Spiegel.

    Don't leave without tasting:

     Patat (hot chips with toppings) Stroopwafel (waffle cookie) Chocomel (chocolate milk)

    Amsterdam Fast Facts

    Approximate flight times:

     NYC/Newark 7 hours, 20 minutes Philadelphia 8 hours Boston 7 hours

     Miami 9 hours, 45 minutes Los Angeles 10 hours, 15 minutes

    Entry requirements: Passport must be valid for at least 3 months beyond your planned departure from the Schengen area and have 2 blank pages for entry stamp.

    TEENSGIVING is an exciting yearly event where hundreds of New York City teens gather together annually for a remarkable day of community service. This year, TEENSGIVING in SPRING 2016 participants will once again better New York City and influence thousands of lives!

    When is TEENSGIVING in SPRING 2016?

    Sunday, April 20, 2016

    Where is TEENSGIVING?

    All over New York City. Everyone will meet at the 92nd Street Y ( 92nd and Lexington ) at 9:00 AM for the event kick-off. Then, all TEENSGIVING volunteers will go across the city to work with our partnering agencies where they will make a HUGE difference and have fun!

Who participates in TEENSGIVING?

    Hundreds of teenagers from around the city. Teens come from the 92nd Street Y, various city schools, youth groups, and organizations in the area. In addition, many adult volunteers ( aged 21 and older) will donate their time to TEENSGIVING in SPRING 2016.

    What projects do participants do at the agencies?

    Sample projects include painting park benches, planting gardens, visiting and playing with poor and disabled children, assisting at animal shelters, working at soup kitchens, delivering meals and celebrating with families at homeless shelters.

    Do I get anything for participating in TEENSGIV1NG?

    Yes! Everybody benefits! Teen volunteers will receive “6 hours” of community service credit, good towards honor society, high school graduation and college application requirements. Adult volunteers will be thanked with a light breakfast, a gift certificate for their troubles, and the satisfaction of helping our city's youth contribute to their community. In addition, all teen and adult volunteers will receive a cool TEENSGIVING in SPRING 2016 T- shirt.

    This sounds awesome! How do I register for TEENSGIVING in SPRING 2016? Interested teens and/or adults should e-mail the TEENSGIVING Coordinator Josh Hyman at jhyman@92Y.org < mailto: jhyman@92Y.org > (subject: TEENSGIVING) to receive more information and to register for this fantastic event!

    Teens can also contact their school's Community Service Advisor.

    TEENSGIVING is sponsored by the 92nd Street Y.

    There is a common belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever considered spelling unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, quite different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority(优先) it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is, how to encourage a child to express himself freely in writing without holding him back with spelling.

    If spelling becomes the only point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play safe". He will write only words within his spelling range(范围). That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.

    I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling mistakes." It may have been a sharp criticism(批评) of the pupils technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad thing for the teacher who had omitted to read the composition, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the mistakes, but if his priority had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more hope to seek improvement.

    One recent night, while I was leafing through its pages of an old journal, my eyes met a quote by the British writer Graham Greene that I had marked. “A prejudice had something in common with an ideal.” In other words, ideals general descriptions of people's expectations of themselves and others can often lead us to unreasonable ideas. It got me thinking about how we often allow ourselves to generalize about groups of people. We like to stereotype people by the color of their skin, the year of their birth or any other related factors.

    I grew up in a multi-racial corner of America. The different groups were often subject to narrow stereotypes: Jewish people were “greedy,” Mexicans were “poorly educated,” and Asians were “good at math.” These labels were taught to us from a young age. They wormed their way into our belief systems, harming how we came to see others. It made me sad growing up to see people repeat these stereotypes as if they were true. The rush-to-judgment of people breeds a culture of discrimination (歧视).

    You can also see these over-generalized description being made against today's Chinese people. Whether it be a lack of interest or worry among millennials (千禧一代) being described as “monkish,” or “dad-fashion (复古作风)” which has given the “greasy middle-aged men” tag, stereotypes always seem to gain a foothold in the consciousness of our society. But these generalizations do real harm as these myths may become part of the wider population.

    It's about time that we, as a society, walked away from generalizations and stereotypes. I leave you with the words of Martin Luther King Jr. from his famous “I Have a Dream” speech: “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” By reserving judgment and really getting to know the individual, you might just find your irrational ideas have no foundation.

    "What kind of rubbish are you?" This question might normally cause anger, but in Shanghai it has brought about complaints over the past week. On July 1st, the city introduced strict trash-sorting regulations that are expected to be used as a model for our country. Residents must divide their waste into four separate kinds and put it into specific public bins. They must do so at scheduled times, when monitors are present to ensure compliance（服从）and to inquire into the nature of one's rubbish.

    Violators face the possibility of fines and worse. They could be hit with fines of up to 200 yuan ($29). For repeat violators, the city can add black marks to their credit records, making it harder for them to obtain bank loans or even buy train tickets.

    Shanghai authorities are responding to an obvious environmental problem. It generates 9 million tonnes of garbage a year, more than London's annual output and rising quickly. But like other cities in China, it lacks a recycling system. Instead, it has relied on trash pickers to sort out the waste, picking out whatever can be reused. This has limits. As people get wealthier, fewer of them want to do such dirty work. The waste, meanwhile, just keeps piling up. China produces 80 billion pairs of disposable(一次性的)chopsticks a year.

    Many residents appear to support the idea of recycling in general but are frustrated by the details. Rubbish must be divided according to whether it is food, recyclable, dry or hazardous(有害的), the differences among which can be confusing, though there are apps to help work it out. Some have complained about the rules surrounding food waste. They must put it straight in the required public bin, forcing them to tear open plastic bags and toss it by hand. Most upset are the short windows for throwing trash, typically a couple of hours, morning and evening. Along with the monitors at the bins, this means that people go at around the same time and can keep an eye on what is being thrown out; no one wants to look bad.