A Guide to the Library's Facilities(设备)

To use or reserve the facilities of the library, follow the procedures given at the circulation desk.

    Group Study Rooms (2F)

Students and teaching staff can use these rooms for group study. Students are advised to use unlocked rooms (3 rooms for 2 people, 2 rooms for 4 people) available for free. When you use locked rooms (2 rooms for 4 people, 1 room for 10 people), you need to go through reservation procedures at the circulation desk. These rooms are available for group discussion.

    Individual Reading Rooms (1-3F)

    There are 4 single rooms available for use by teaching staff and visiting scholars. Each room is equipped with a computer together 1 printer and 6 scanners. Reservation of these rooms is available for a period up to seven days on end.

    Meeting Rooms and Seminar Rooms (1-3F)

    Only teaching staff and graduate students can apply to use these rooms and reserve them one day in advance. The total number of seats is 40. They are available for workshops and small seminars.

    Computer Rooms (4F)

    These rooms are available for classes or seminars and so on. The total number of seats is 88. Only teaching staff can apply to use the computer rooms and reserve them one day in advance.

    To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human.

    Common sense is not all that common.

    Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?

    These three popular misquotes (戏谑的引语) are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature. To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don't want to accept the responsibility for having made a mistake. They naturally look for someone else who could be responsible for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do. The original quote about human nature went like this: “To err is human, to forgive, divine (神圣的).” This saying mirrors an ideal: people should be forgiving of others' mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite —— find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a mark of great maturity.

    Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine. Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company, “the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”

    And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it's okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary (直接推论) to that: if a good excuse is “good” even if it isn't honest, then where is the place of the truth?

    Oxford English Dictionary editors recently said that "run" has become the word with the most meanings in English, with more than 645 different usage cases for the verb form alone. This entry(条目), took one professional dictionary writer nine months of research to complete. How could three little letters be responsible   for so many meanings?

    Think about it: When you run a fever, for example, those three letters have a different meaning than when you run a bath to treat it, or when your bathwater runs over and makes your bath runner wet, forcing you to run out to the store and buy a new one. There, you run up a bill of $85 because besides a small carpet and some cold medicine, you also need some thread to fix the run in your stockings and some tissue for your runny nose and a carton of milk because you've run through your supply at home, and all this makes fear run through your soul because your value club membership runs out at the end of the month and you've already run over your budget on last week's grocery run when you ran over a nail and now your car won't even run properly. God—you'd do things differently if you ran the world.

    When the OED's first edition came out in 1928, the longest entry belonged to another three letter word: "set". Today, it has some 200 meanings.

    Why is "run" suddenly the Swiss Army Knife of verbs? According to British author Simon Winchester, "run" has earned some major lift during the Industrial Revolution (工业革命), when new inventions chose it as their verb of choice. "Machines run, clocks run, computers run there are all of those that began in the middle of the 19th century," Winchester says.

    So, ready to run through the whole list of definitions(定义)? You'll have to wait for the next edition of the OED, expected in 2037.

    After the examination, the doctor told my parents my sight would get worse and that I would lose my sight finally. On the way home from hospital, no one said a word. One day, would I only imagine the scenery beyond the glass rather than see it?

    That September, I entered middle school. Most nights I had homework that included an armful of books to read. To keep up with other children, I took great trouble to finish the task. With my nose a couple of inches from the page, I was tired easily. What's worse, after I had read several pages on my own, the words slipped off the page into inky pools.

    However, then I did not have audio books and electric devices like kids do now. Instead, Mum volunteered to read out loud. Mum worked part-time, cleaned the house, cooked and spent time with Grandma. In spite of being so busy, she showed up in my room like clockwork. She put on her reading glasses. Mum always thought those glasses made her look old. To me, she looked like a teacher.

    In my room, Mum's voice raced with the ticking of the clock. Being forced to focus on listening, I found a way to keep my marks up and compete with the other kids. When the teacher asked a question, I raised my hand with confidence. Teachers praised me for having a good memory. Reading removed my fear for my failing sight, reading also made me curious about other people's challenges and how they managed. Though I could not use my eyes to fix on each passage, my mind lit up with every new book.

    True to what the doctor said, the worst came, but thanks to Mum, my sense of hearing now allows me to “see”. This was the most precious gift from a mother to her child.

    The Pew report—which was based on surveys carried out in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Poland and the Czech Republic—concluded that the European Union was “ the new sick man of Europe”.

    The percentage of Europeans with a favorable view of the EU has plunged from 60 percent last year to 45 percent now.

    The UK may be considered the most Eurosceptic（欧洲怀疑论者）country, but its support for the union has barely changed in the past 12 months, slipping only two points to 43 percent.

    By contrast, France's backing for the EU has slipped sharply, from 60 percent last year to 41 percent today.

    On the question of whether to remain in the EU, 46 percent of the British want to leave the union and surprisingly, the same percentage want to stay.

    The Pew report's authors said, “The long-drawn economic crisis has created bad forces that are pulling European public opinion apart, separating the French from the Germans and Germans from everyone else.”

    They added, “The effort over the past half century to create a more united Europe is now the main disaster of the euro crisis. The European project now stands in a bad reputation across much of Europe.”

    The only European leader rated highly by their own voters was the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with 74 percent voters in favor of her.

    Prime Minister David Cameron was the next highest with a positive score of 37 percent among the British public, although he can take some comfort from the fact that 58 percent of Poles（波兰人）and half of all French people think he is doing a good job.

    In spite of the dark economic future and growing doubt of the EU, there were strong majorities of more than 60 percent in favor of keeping the euro in the five countries surveyed that use the single currency.

    Amsterdam is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, famous for its beautiful canals, top art museum and cycling culture. It is the capital and most populous (人口稠密) city in the Netherlands and often referred to as the "Venice of the North" due to its convenient system of bridges and canals. Here are some of the key points to remember as you plan your trip to Amsterdam.

    Must-See Attractions

    Most visitors begin their Amsterdam adventure in the Old Centre, which is full of traditional architecture, shopping centers and coffee shops. Don't miss the Dam Square and the areas around Spui and Nieuwmarkt. You'll also want to check out Amsterdam's Museum Quarter in the South District, which is great for shopping at the Albert Cuyp Market and having a picnic in the Vondelpark.

    Transportation

    Travelers should be aware that Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the busiest airports in the world. You can catch a train from Schiphol to Amsterdam Central Station, which has many connecting routes. Cycling is very popular here, and it's easy to find cheap bike rentals around town.

    Recommended Restaurants

    Amsterdam is a top destination for foodies (美食家), so it is difficult to narrow down your dining choices. Here are a couple of our favorites.

Money Saving Tips

    • Unless you really want to see the tulips (郁金香) blooming, avoid booking between mid-March and mid-May. This is when hotel and flight prices rise sharply.

    • Look for accommodations in Amsterdam's South District, where rates are generally cheaper than in the city center.

    • Buy train tickets at the machine instead of the counter to save a bit of money.

    • Check out our homepage to view price comparisons for flights, hotels, and rental cars before you book.