Welcome to Orlando! It has a host of attractions and activities. Ready to join the party and plan a visit to O-Town? Just print out our must-see list.

    Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure

    The addition of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is on the list of must-visits for theme park lovers. Each of the park's “islands”—Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park, Marvel Super Hero Island, Seuss Landing and The Lost Continent—is unique!(407-363-8000)

    Gatorland

    It bills itself as “Orlando's best half-day attraction”, for in a city people are limited by their time and money. Catch Gatorland's animals and handler shows in the afternoon. There's a nighttime run as well. Other fun add-ons include the Gator Night Shine. Gatorland is known as a theme park bargain.(407-855-5496)

    Aquatica

    As one of the city's most unique water parks, Aquatica is a wonderful world of water rides and white sand beaches. And if you enjoy a side of fear with your water-park fun, be sure to check out Ihu's Breakaway Falls. This towering slide is not for the weak heart. The less adventurous will still find plenty of fun playing from one big wave pool to another or flowing down the lazy river through a world of unusual fish. You can also watch dolphins underwater. (407-351-3600)

    Warbird Adventures

    Warbird Adventures offers you the opportunity to fly like a hero in World War II in the North American Aviation T-6 Texan(also known as the Harvard). Flights last from 15 minutes to an hour. A visit to the nearby Kissimmee Air Museum is a wonderful way to round out the experience. (407-870-7366)

    A new study of 8,000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily, it is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love(早恋)may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression. The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all.

    The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “loss of self”. According to the study，even though boys would say “lose themselves in a romantic relationship”, this “loss of self” is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won't tell that to their parents.

    Dr Marianm Kaufman，an expert on young people problems, says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression. She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up, it is important for young people to build b friendships and a b sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends, attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.

    Parents should watch for signs of depression—eating or mood changes—and if they see signs from their daughters or sons, they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age. Love will always make us feel young, but only maturity(成熟)gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.

    Winter sports tend to be more dangerous than summer sports — they take place mostly outside at the mercy of ice or snow, involving (牵涉) metal edges, extreme speeds and crashes. Skeleton (俯视冰梭), however, stands apart as one of the most difficult and least accessible of all the winter sports. Adam Edelman, Israel's first Olympic skeleton athlete, would like to change that.

    Edelman was the 10th athlete named to the 2018 Israeli Olympic Team. Qualifying for the Olympics in any sport is impressive. But it's more impressive if you qualify for the Olympics after only four years in the sport — and without a coach.

    Edelman was first introduced to skeleton watching the game on television in late 2013. Sports have always been a part of his life. He grew up playing football and was a goalkeeper on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology football team. Ready for a new challenge, he set his sights on the Olympics.

Without a coach, Edelman learned to drive by watching endless hours of YouTube videos and taking more runs than anybody else on the track. “When everybody else would take three runs per day, I would take six to eight.” he recalled.

    Succeeding in skeleton takes a large amount of athletic ability and technical skill, but there's one more element (因素) required, one that can't be taught. “These tracks but built in the middle of nowhere, and it's gray and cold. You haven't seen your family in seven months and you really just want to give up. To continue, it takes tenacity.” Edelman said.

    Edelman is already looking beyond Pyeongchang. The 2022 Olympics could be in his future, but whether he continues to compete or not, he promises to stay in Israeli sports as long as possible-as instructor or as a coach.

    The boy sat on his chair, with his hand above the keyboard. He thought about what to write.

    He recalled that the competition deadline was merely a week away. But he still had not even started on his piece. He looked at the brochure again." WRITING COMPETITION!" the title read. His mom had encouraged him to enter the writing competition, and now he was taking it on as his personal task for the holidays.

    As the boy reflected on his previous writing efforts, he realized how hopeless his task of winning was. Every story he ever wrote was based on other stories. He had little imagination, and unfortunately, imagination was the key to writing.

    Suddenly, he had a brainwave. This time, he came up with an original and imaginative story.

    The words shot towards him like a storm of leaves. Words were coming easily, flowing through him, faster than he could type. He typed faster than he ever had before. He continued to type, amazed at how easy writing this story was. The boy could not stop writing. He looked at the word count and saw the number" 248" staring right back at him. He was not even halfway yet.

    Then he heard the call of his mother saying time for bed. He continued writing the piece, ignoring her. He had to make up for the time he had lost thinking about a topic to write.

    Finally, he finished. The word count now read"498".

    "Perfect," he thought," just under the word limit." He knew this was the story that would win.

    He went onto Google and searched for the competition. He found the page but there was no "Enter" button.

    The Renaissance marks a period of human awakening. In this article we are going to explore the inventions during this period which have helped change the life and progress of mankind.

    Clock

    The first mechanical clock was invented in the early 1300's. Galileo, an Italian scientist, discovered the pendulum (钟摆) around 1602. The pendulum greatly improved the movement of the hands of a clock. The average error with the pendulum varied only by seconds each day. Before this the error was from 10 to 15 minutes a day.

    Eyeglasses

    In the late thirteenth century, paintings first appeared with people wearing or holding eyeglasses. From these paintings, we know that eyeglasses were invented in Italy. Around 1300 the Venetian Glassmaker's Guild made it illegal for cheap glasses to be made. By 1352, eyeglasses were only worn by well-educated rich men. In 1456, the invention of the printing press allowed books to become widespread. Once people owned books, reading glasses began to be seen in the hands of common people. In 1623, the Spanish invented the first graded eyeglasses.

    Flush toilet (抽水马桶)

    Sir John Harrington, godson to Queen Elizabeth, made the first flush toilet for himself and his godmother in 1596. He was teased by his friends and never made another one.

    In 1775, Alexander Cummings reinvented the flush toilet more commonly called the water closet. Two years later in 1777, Samuel Prosser applied for and received a patent for it.

    Wallpaper

    In 1496, the first paper factory came into operation in England. English artists soon make wallpaper for decoration. For the next 200 years England was a large producer of wallpaper for Europe. Before wallpaper was invented, only wealthy people could afford to decorate the walls of their houses.

    Chrysanthemums (菊花) are to the fall what tulips are to the spring.

    In ancient China chrysanthemums (or 'mums' for short) were first planted thousands of years ago. People chose the chrysanthemum as their Flower for October a symbol of the rest and ease that followed the season's final harvest. Then they symbolized a scholar in retirement (隐居) and were one of the four noble(高贵的) plants along with bamboo, the plum flower(梅) and orchid(兰).

    The Japanese hold the chrysanthemum as a symbol of the sun. They consider the orderly unfolding of its petals(花瓣) to be a symbol of perfection. They also think that a single chrysanthemum petal placed in the bottom of a wine glass encourages a long and healthy life. The Japanese even have a National Chrysanthemum Day on September 9 known as the Festival of Happiness.

    In the United States during colonial times its popularity grew such that mums now reign as "Queen of the Fall Flowers." Mums remain the most widely grown pot plant in the country and the largest commercially produced flowers. Chrysanthemums generally represent cheerfulness and rest. So they are welcomed throughout the British Isles and North America for any occasion such as football games and parties.

    In other countries such as Italy Belgium and Austria however their association with the dead makes chrysanthemums acceptable only for funerals and graves.