Everyone loves Adventureland! The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore(探索), enjoy, and admire their wonders. Every visit will be an unforgettable experience. You will go away enriched, longing to come back. What are you going to do this time?

The Travel Pavilion

    Explore places you have never been to before, and experience different ways of life.

    Visit the Amazon jungle(丛林) village, the Turkish market, the Tai floating market, the Berber mountain house and others. Talk to the people there who will tell you about their lives, and things they make. You can try making a carpet, making nets, fishing...

The Future Tower

    This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives. It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we'll be living then. Spend some time in our space station and climb into our simulator(模拟装置) for the Journey to Mars!

The Nature Park

    This is not really one park but several.

    In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals in one of our Range Cruisers: see lions, giraffes, elephants in the wild. Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales. And then there is still the Aviary to see...

The Pyramid

    This is the center of Adventureland. Run out of film, need some postcards and stamps? For all these things and many more, visit our underground shopping center. Come here for information and ideas too.

    There is a lake near a forest in Sweden. The water in lake is very clear and everything is quiet and still. On the far side of the water is some farmlands and further away, across the fields, is an old church built on a hill. It has just stopped raining. The brook flowing into the lake is full and there is still some half-melted snow from last winter on the ground.

    The reason the water is so clear and everything is so quiet and still, is that most of the plant and animal life in and around the lake is died. There are no birds because all the fish and insects, which the birds need for food, have disappeared. Many trees in the forest are losing their leaves and bark, and are sick and dying. Others were blown down by the high winds of last winter. A farmer is working in a field planting something, but unless he plants a stronger kind of seed this year, the crop will be between 25 to 40 percent lower than a few years ago. The stones of the old church tower are turning to power and unless the tower is repaired soon, it will fall down.

    The smoke coming out of factories and poisonous gases from cars and trucks causes all the death and destruction in this place. And yet this silent lake is hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest factory and highways.

    At the age of seven, while his friends were spending their allowances on candy and toys, Jose Adolfo Quisocola, from Peru, came up with the creative idea of an eco-bank, which allows kids of all ages to become economically independent and financially wise while also helping the environment.

    Established in 2012, The Bartselana Student Bank is the world's first cooperative bank for kids. Whoever wants to join has to bring in at least 5 kilograms(11 pounds)of solid waste(paper or plastic)and establish a savings goal. Once accepted, all bank "partners" are required to deposit at least one additional kilogram(2.2 pounds)of recyclables on a monthly basis and obey other requirements, such as attending financial education and environmental management workshops. The waste accumulated is sold to local recycling companies, who, thanks to some clever negotiation by Jose, pay a higher-than-market rate for everything brought in by Bartselana Student Bank members. The funds received are placed in the individual's account where they collect until his／her savings goal is reached. The account holder can then withdraw his／her money, or choose to leave it and continue to grow for a bigger target.

    "At the beginning, my teachers thought I was crazy or that a child could not undertake this type of project," Jose recalls." They did not understand that we are not the future of the country but its present. Luckily, I had the support of the school principal and an assistant in my classroom."

    The youngster's persistence paid off. Today, the eco-bank, which now has the support of several local institutions, has ten educational centers and begins accepting applications from kids all across Peru. On November 20, 2018, the young boy was awarded the famous Children's Climate Prize (CCP)."Jose's eco-bank is a brilliant way of linking economy and climate impact, both in thought and practice. The potential impact is amazing," a judge said.

    Hopefully, Jose's success will inspire more kids and adults to come up with new ideas that create value while helping the environment. As the boy says," Together we can change the world…we just need an opportune it."

    Nanjing and Hangzhou summer camps offered

    We are looking for hard-working and open-minded English teachers to join the Nanjing(Jiangsu Province) and Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province) summer camps!

    Both of the summer camps will run from the beginning of July to the end of August. You will be expected to teach spoken English to Chinese students of different ages. We encourage you to bring your own culture to the classes to make things more interesting.

    The information of the Nanjing camp:

    Working hours: 40 hours per week, 5 working days per week.

    Salary: about 7,000 RMB per month.

    Accommodation (食宿): free (single room).

    The information of the Hangzhou camp:

    Working hours: 5 hours per day (= 50 min. / class × 6 classes), one day rest per week.

    Salary: 20,160 RMB in total (420 RMB per day = 70 RMB / class × 6 classes).

    Accommodation: free (shared room).

    The requirements of the summer camps:

    Native English speakers (US, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand).

    A university degree.

    Teaching experience.

    Please send us your resume (简历), copies of certificates (证书) and passport if you are interested in the camps. E-mail: teacher1324@sina.com.cn

    For more information you can visit our website at http://www.Englishsummercamps.com.cn/

    Look forward to hearing from you soon!

5 books I loved in 2018

By Bill Gates

    A great read is the perfect gift and I think everyone could use a few more books in their lives. My book list covers various topics, including an autobiography on learning throughout a life, a deep search on autonomous weapons (武器), a thriller about the fall of a once­promising company and a guide about meditation (冥想)­there's something for everyone.

    The Head space Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness, by Andy Puddicombe. The book starts with Puddicombe's personal journey from a university student to a Buddhist monk and then becomes an entertaining explainer on how to meditate. If you're thinking about trying mindfulness, this is the perfect introduction.

    Army of None, by Paul Scharre. It's an extremely complicated topic, but Scharre offers clear explanations and presents both the advantages and disadvantages of machine­driven warfare. His fluency with the subject should come as no surprise: he's an ex­soldier who helped draw up the U.S. government's policy on autonomous weapons.

    Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou. Carreyrou gives you the definitive insider's look at the rise and fall of a company. I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the failure of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion.

    21 Lessons for the 21st Century, by Yuval Noah Harari. I'm a big fan of everything Harari has written, and his latest is no exception. If 2018 has left you stressed out by the state of the world, 21 Lessons offers a helpful framework for processing the news and thinking about the challenges we face.

    Educated, by Tara West over. Tara never went to school or visited a doctor until she left home at 17. I loved this life story of a young woman whose thirst for learning was so strong that she ended up getting a P.h.D. from Cambridge University.

A storm hit Houston, Texas, on Tuesday. It brought heavy rains and rising flood-waters. By Tuesday night, some parts of the city had received 10 inches of rain. Police and firefighters helped people move to safe places. They also saved people from cars and buses that were stuck on roads.

Certain areas around Houston were hit really hard. In just four hours, more than seven inches of rain fell in Sugar Land in the southwest of Houston. Cars could not pass through any of the areas main roadways. On Twitter, Sugar Land city officials asked people to get to high ground.

Tuesday's rain hit parts of Texas that Hurricane Harvey had already damaged almost two years ago. Hurricane Harvey in August, 2017 was the second most costly hurricane in US history. It caused $125 billion worth of damage in Texas. In the Houston area, 36 people died and about 150, 000 homes were flooded.

A spokesman for the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spoke with the Houston Chronicle. The spokesman said that this week's rain is "not in any way a Harvey-level event."

But the worst may not be over yet. People will have a break from the heavy rain on Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service, the Texas Gulf Coast will continue to experience heavy rain later in the week. "Today should be our quietest over the next few days for rainfall," said Don Oettinger, a National Weather Service meteorologist (气象学家).

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peia warned, "As there is too much water on the ground, these are perfect conditions for flash floods, so we hope people are careful of what they're doing and encourage them to stay home. There's no sense in putting yourself, firefighters or anybody in danger needlessly."