The winner of the Art Fund Museum of the Year will be announced on 5 July.Art Fund director Stephen Deuchar said,"All the finalists have had a remarkable year,reaching—in a range of ways—new heights in their efforts to serve and inspire their visitors."The￡100,000 award is being competed for by the following museums:

 The Lapworth Museum of Geology

    This museum,operated by the University of Birmingham,re-opened last June after a￡2.7m redevelopment that was designed to restore it to its 1920s grandeur（宏伟）and create three new galleries.

    It holds 250,000 specimens,ranging from dinosaur skeletons to volcanic rocks.
The National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art

    Officially opened by the Queen in November,this complex is home to the National Horseracing Museum,the Fred Packard Museum and Galleries of British Sporting Art,and a yard for the Retraining of Race horses charity.

    It is also home to two of the Queen's former race horses and a virtual Clare Balding.

 Sir John Soane's Museum

    Housed in the former home of 19th Century architect Sir John Soane,this gallery and museum has completed a￡7m restoration intended to open up "lost" areas and return it to how it looked when he died and left it to the nation in 1837.

    That includes creating 33 percent more space and putting 10 percent more objects on display.

Tate Modern

    Eighteen years after it opened on London's South Bank,Tate Modern had a record 5.8 million visitors in 2017. That was partly down to the opening of a 10-storey extension,the Switch House,and exhibitions of photographs owned by Sir Elton John and art work by Georgia O'Keeffe.

    Being seen in a fancy sports car or enjoying a beach holiday in a five-star hotel were once signs of having “made it”.

    But a new study suggested that having people think of you as constantly busy and overworked is now a far better way to show social status.

    According to Harvard University in the US, people are increasingly leaning toward the phenomenon of “humblebragging (谦虚自夸)”. This is when people make a seemingly modest statement that actually draws attention to something they want to brag (吹嘘) about.

    Phrases such as “I have no life” and “I desperately need a holiday” are now used to imply social standing, while ordering food and shopping online is the perfect way to prove to neighbors that you are simply too busy and important to go to the supermarket.

    “Movies, magazines, and popular TV shows often highlight (强调) the abundance (富足) of money and leisure time among the wealthy,” said Neeru Paharia, an assistant professor at Harvard University.

    “In recent years, featuring wealthy people relaxing by the pool or on a yacht (游艇), playing tennis or skiing and hunting are being replaced with advertisements featuring busy individuals who work long hours and have very limited leisure time,” he said. “Displaying (how busy you are at work) and a lack of leisure time operates as a visible signal of status in the eyes of others.”

    The researchers pointed out that the Wall Street Journal's 2016 advert campaign featured celebrities (名人) complaining about their busy lives, with the slogan (标语). “People who don't have time, make time to read the Wall Street Journal.”

    The report, which was published in the Journal of Consumer Research, also found that brands that marketed themselves as timesaving were becoming increasingly high-status, because of the people who used them.

    According to the authors, this trend of humblebragging is due to people's shit of focus-they now value “the preciousness und scarcity (稀缺) of individuals" more than “the preciousness and scarcity of goods”.

    “Busy individuals possess desirable characteristics, leading them to be viewed as scarce and in demand,” the authors concluded.

    Most people agree that eating healthy food is important. But sometimes making good food choices can be difficult. Now, there are apps that can help people learn about the food they eat to improve their health and their dining out experience.

    Happy Cow app

    Vegetarians do not eat animal meat. Vegans do not eat any animal products. The HappyCow app is made for both groups. Users can search for vegetarian-vegan restaurants and stores around the world.

    Open Table app

    Open Table app helps people choose restaurants when they want to go out to eat. It is a free service that shows users restaurant available based on where and when they want to dine. It gives users points when they make reservations(保留，预定), which can add up to discounts on restaurant visits.

    Local Eats app

    Restaurant chains, like McDonalds, can be found almost anywhere a person might travel. But sometimes travelers want to eat like locals. The Local Eats app is designed for that. It can help you find local restaurants in major cities in the US and in other countries. It costs about a dollar.

Where Chefs Eat app

    "Where Chefs Eat" is a 975-page book. Most people would not want to carry that around. But there is a much lighter app version of the same name for just $15. Six hundred chefs provide information on 3,000 restaurants around the world on the Where Chefs Eat app.

    Are you interested in hi-tech products? Here are some that you might find at the market pretty soon.

    CX-1

    Tired of dragging your bag through busy airports? Then you might want to consider CX-1. The smart suitcase uses facial recognizing software to follow its owner as he / she is checking in or heading to the gate. Though CX-1 can only move at a speed of up to seven miles per hour, a tiny tool enables owners to keep track of the suitcase's location. It is expected to be sold on the market by late 2018.

    Aibo

    Sony's latest version of the Aibo robotic dog is aslmost as fun as the real thing—but much less work. The pet dog can recognize its owner, obey several commands, and even recall the behavior that pleases its master the most. Aibo can also learn new tricks, take photographs, and over time, develop its own unique personality.

    Forpheus

    Forpheus, an "athletic" robot developed by Japanese technology company Omron. It teaches users how to play ping-pong. The 10-feet-tall machine uses a camera and artificial intelligence to track the ball's speed and can predict the ball's direction correctly. The smart Forpheus can also quickly test its player's abilities and adjust the playing level, making the game fun.

    Black Box VR

    Though many people determine to go to the gym once a week, few reach their goal. Black Box VR wants to change that by turning hard exercise into fun video games. Using it, gym users will find themselves fighting enemies, including big creatures—all while getting exercise.

Incredible experiences in Bucharest

    Admire one of the world's largest buildings

    The world's biggest parliamentary building, Palace of Parliament, happens to be in Bucharest. Hour-long guided tours manage to take in just a fraction of the building's three-million-plus square feet (there are more than a thousand rooms) and focus on the tons of marble, hardwood, and gold used in the building's construction in the 1980s, a time when Romania was trying to feed its own people. Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, both played a direct role in the construction. It was originally intended to house the presidential offices and the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party but was never finished.

    See remains of old “Paris”

    “Paris of the East” was Bucharest's nickname in the decades before World War II. Decades of communist misrule and a tragic earthquake in 1977 brought much of the old city down but there are places here and there where that former elegance can still be glimpsed. The Cismigiu Gardens in the center of the city is a pearl of park built around a romantic lake and featuring old-growth trees and gracious, wrought-iron signposts and benches.

    Learn about Romania's roots

    Walking though Bucharest's busy streets, it's easy to forget that outside the capital and a U large cities, Romania is a largely agricultural country, with a long and rich peasant tradition. The amazing Museum of the Romanian Peasant shows off the elaborate woodworking, pottery-making, egg-painting, and weaving skills of the peasantry in a way that's both educational and amusing. Small tongue-in-cheek signs at the entrance to each room poke fun at modern life, bring a chuckle, and draw you in. Downstairs there's a side exhibition on the Communists' efforts to nationalize the peasantry in the 1970s and 1980s.

    Appreciate 21st-century art

    Romania has exploded onto the contemporary art scene in recent years. The excitement was generated initially by a group of young painters and visual artists from the northern city of Cluj-Napoca, but at least some of the action has shifted to the capital as new galleries and design centers open up. It's hard to pinpoint precisely what constitutes Romanian contemporary art, though critics point to shared elements of wit and dark humor, a somber mood, and bits of surrealism in defining a common style.

    Most airlines go all out to ensure their passengers have the best possible flight experience. Now, Europe's low-budget airline, easyJet, wants to extend the positive experience beyond the plane ride with “Sneakairs” —smart shoes that allow visitors to explore new cities and towns without ever looking at a map.

    To transform Sneakairs from an ordinary shoe to a tour guide，all the wearer has to do is enter his or her desired destination into the easyJet smartphone app. A built-in GPS will determine the wearer's starting location while the Google Maps navigation (导航)tool will help chart the best route. Whenever a change of direction is necessary, the app will communicate with the appropriate shoe via the Bluetooth and cause it to vibrate(振动). For example, if the wearer needs to turn right, he/she will feel the sensation in the right shoe. Should the user miss the turn, the smart shoes will both vibrate at the same time, reminding him/her to change course.

    Visitors that wander off the suggested path or decide to take a break for a cup of coffee or a meal have nothing to worry about. The smart app will automatically determine the new location and chart out a new route. Once the desired destination is reached, Sneakairs will vibrate three times to inform the user of the arrival and then go back to being ordinary shoes—until their navigation services are needed again!

    Sneakairs is certainly not the first navigation shoe in the market. However, easyJet is the first airline to offer them to passengers just as they are about to land in an unknown city. However, before Sneakairs can go mainstream, the easyJet team still needs to make some adjustments. Among the challenges that need to be addressed is the smart shoe's three-hour battery life, which is hardly enough for a tourist to catch all the delights a new city or town has to offer!