The Enigma（谜）of Beauty

    The search for beauty spans centuries and continents. Paintings of Egyptians dating back over 4,000 years show both men and women painting their nails and wearing makeup. In 18th-century France, wealthy noblemen wore large wigs (假发) of long, white hair to make themselves attractive. Today, people continue to devote a lot of time and money to their appearance.

    There is at least one good reason for the desire to be attractive: beauty is power. Studies suggest that good-looking people make more money, get called on more often in class, and are regarded as friendlier.

    But what exactly is beauty? It's difficult to describe it clearly, and yet we know it when we see it. And our awareness of it may start at a very early age. In one set of studies, six-month-old babies were shown a series of photographs. The faces on the pictures had been rated for attractiveness by a group of college students. In the studies, the babies spent more time looking at the attractive faces than the unattractive ones.

    The idea that even babies can judge appearance makes perfect sense to many researchers. In studies by psychologists, men consistently showed a preference for women with larger eyes, fuller lips, and a smaller nose and chin while women prefer men with large shoulders and a narrow waist. According to scientists, the mind unconsciously tells men and women that these traits——the full lips, clear skin, strong shoulders―equal health and genetic well-being.

    Not everyone thinks the same way, however. “Our hardwiredness can be changed by all sorts of expectations—mostly cultural,” says C. Loring Brace, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan. What is considered attractive in one culture might not be in another. Look at most Western fashion magazines: the women on the pages are thin. But is this “perfect” body type for women worldwide? Scientists' answer is no; what is considered beautiful is subjective and varies around the world. They found native peoples in southeast Peru preferred shapes regarded overweight in Western cultures.

    For better or worse, beauty plays a role in our lives. But it is extremely difficult to describe exactly what makes one person attractive to another. Although there do seem to be certain physical traits considered universally appealing, it is also true that beauty does not always keep to a single, uniform standard. Beauty really is, as the saying goes, in the eye of the beholder.

                                                                                       Official Historical Tour of Harvard

    Student-Led Public Walking Tour

    Please note: Due to ongoing construction, our tour schedule will be limited. Please check our updated tour times on the calendar. In the event of bad weather, please check the calendar or call regarding a scheduled tour time.

    The tour is student-led and includes an outdoor walk(please dress appropriately)through Harvard Yard, providing a history of the university, general information, and a unique view on the students' individual experience. The tour is around one hour long, and completely free of charge. There is no pre—registration for general visitors, and we begin registration for each tour one hour before departure time. Currently we are only able to accommodate groups of up-to 14 people on our free, public tour. If you have a group of 15 or more, reservations are required (please see below).

    Group Tours and Reservations

    Reservations are required for tours of 15 or more people, with an absolute maximum of 125 people. We request 2 weeks' notice to schedule a tour. Please note that we cannot accommodate groups that arrive without a reservation.

    A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Harvard Yard

    If you are interested in touring the campus on your own,you may want a self-guided walking tour. These tour pamphlets(册),offered in nine different languages, can be purchased from our office for a minimal charge.

    You may also download audio files of historical information on each of the buildings in Harvard Yard. These files, together including an Audio Tour, can also be obtained here with a simple click.

    When Peng Liyuan stepped off the plane in Moscow, the whole world wanted to know who dressed the elegant first lady. The reporter released the secret—Ma Ke.

    Peng Liyuan has been wearing Ma Ke's designs for more than a decade, a fact that was only highlighted recently when she was on her first state visit, accompanying her husband President Xi Jinping. The elegant and attractive Peng, formerly a popular singer, has been compared with the US' first lady Michelle Obama and France's Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, since stepping off the airplane in Moscow on March 22. Suddenly, everyone was curious to know more about the first lady's wardrobe.

    Even so, Ma prefers a low-key approach. "If you eat a tasty egg why would you want to see the hen?" she says of all the media attention.

    Ma's relationship with Peng began 10 years ago after a concert in Guangzhou when a reporter told Peng she knew the designer behind the label Exception de Mixmind. Peng asked for an introduction because she was a fan of Ma's designs and had been wearing them for years.

    The two naturally became friends. Ma says: "The painting reflects the painter, and clothes reflect both the designer and the wearer. Someone desires fame and wealth, or love and sympathy; what you have in your heart is reflected in the design. Those who don't share my philosophy won't buy my clothes. Peng is a caring person, devoted to charity and environmental protection, which is exactly what I'm doing now."

    However, regardless of the brand, Peng's support of Chinese labels has surprised millions of Chinese who favor foreign fashion brands.

    "Instead she presented a vision of Chinese fashion, desiring to bring Chinese designers to the world stage," says a western designer.

    The first lady's double-breasted coat and her black leather handbag aren't available at any of Exception's shops, though Exception's physical stores do have seen a rising number of visitors.

    We all know that water is tasteless. But it happens from time to time: you pick up the bottle of water you didn't finish yesterday, and it tastes strange. Most often, you tend to drop the bottle in the trash bin, believing that the water has gone bad. But is it true?

    According to Time, of course not, taste has little to do with quality of water.

    According to Time, when water is exposed to the air for 12 hours, carbon dioxide interacts with the H2O in the water, and the pH value lowers slightly. As a result, the water has a different taste.

    "But it's most likely safe to drink," Norwegian expert Truls Krogh told Science Nordic. "If the water is covered and of good quality to start with, in principle it can last a thousand years. That's because when water is fresh, it contains little organic matter. As long as water is held in clean glasses or bottles, no pollutants will enter it to harm our health."

    People in countries like the US, the UK and Australia usually drink tap water. According to Time, if tap water is drunk within six months, the chlorine (氯气) in the water will be enough to kill any bacteria and keep it safe to drink.

    However, there are also some exceptions. If you accidentally put your fingers into water or store water in unclean containers day after day, microorganism (微生物) will enter the water.

    With the help of surrounding temperature, and sunlight streaming through windows, these microorganisms multiply quickly. Sooner or later, the water will be in the charge of the unfriendly bacteria. And if you drink the water too often, then you're more likely to be ill.

    And what about water in plastic bottles? Heat and plastic are a bad combination, US researcher Kellogg Schwab stresses. When plastic bottles are used at high temperatures, they produce a chemical called BPA. BPA is something that affects hormones (荷尔蒙) and research has tentatively linked it to "several health damage, including heart disease and cancer", Time reported.

    Schwab suggests replacing disposable (一次性的) plastic bottles with the refillable containers made of metal or glass to deal with BPA.

    Just ask any new parent: Adding a baby to a household can also add stress to a career. Now, a new study backs that up with some astonishing numbers: After science, technology, engineering, and mathematics(STEM)professionals become parents, 43%of women and 23% of men switch fields, transition(转变)to part-time work, or leave the workforce entirely.

    Many researchers and parents already knew that STEM can be unwelcoming to parents, particularly mothers. But" the considerable departure was astonishing, "says Erin Cech, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and lead author of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. For both genders, "the proportions were higher than we expected."

    The surprisingly high reduction rate for men also highlights that" parenthood in STEM is not just a mothers' issue; it's a worker issue, "Cech says. She hopes that the findings" might motivate changes, "such as more paid parental leave from both government and employers and policies that better support flexible work time without a tight routine. "We are not suggesting that people who want families should avoid STEM; that's not the solution," she emphasizes.

    By 2018, 78% of new fathers were still working in STEM, the vast majority full time. For new mothers, 68% were still in STEM, but only 57% worked full time. For professionals without children, on the other hand, 84% of men and 76% of women were predicted to still be working in STEM full time in 2018. For the new parents across all fields, 16% of women were working part-time and 15% had left the workforce, as compared with just 2% and 3%, respectively, for men. These sharp differences make clear that, even though the reduction rate for fathers is higher than expected, mothers still face particular career challenges.

Rosie, a first-year university student in Beijing, entered a classroom for her oral English exam and slid her topic across the table to Joe, a foreign teacher. My Story, it read. "In middle school, my classmates laughed at me for having deaf-mute parents," she began softly. "From that moment on, I decided not to tell anybody. But today…"

It's widely considered taboo(忌讳) in Chinese to discuss the details of an unhappy family life with anyone other than very close friends. However, as Joe has noticed, many Chinese students appear surprisingly comfortable discussing emotional moments from their lives when they speak with foreign teachers in a language different from their own.

"Speaking English," one of his Chinese students told him, "I feel like another person." When speaking Chinese, he is kind of reserved; in English class, he is more open. English, to the Chinese speaker, may be like a mask, creating a buffer(缓冲物)between speaking the truth and the listener's reaction. Students focus on how to speak rather than what is being said. If there's a misunderstanding, English can take the blame.

Another reason why Chinese students are more comfortable sharing their secrets during English class may be the distinct approach to teaching used by their foreign teachers. "I always try to come to each student, make eye contact, have a 20-second conversation and see how they are doing," Joe said. Classes taught by Chinese teachers, in contrast, are more formal. Many students said they had never been asked their opinion in class.

Rosie's English vocabulary is now extensive, but she still can't find the words to describe her feelings towards the English language. "English makes me feel I am different," she said. "English is beautiful."