The Catskill Mountains are a year-round playground for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers. You will find a number of relaxing inns ready to meet your needs.

Caleb Street's Inn

    Located in the historic village of Catskill at the base of the mountains, Caleb Street's Inn was built in 1785. It provides a view of the garden and Catskill Creek or guests can step outside for a walk along the Hudson River. A full breakfast is served every morning. Each of the four Pet-friendly rooms offers a private bath and a view of the river and neighboring buildings. Hiking trails(小路), golf courses and historic sites are only a short drive away.

Winter Clove Inn

    Nature lovers can enjoy a pleasant location in the Northern Catskill Wilderness Preserve at Winter Clove Inn. With wood floors, each room has a private bath and air conditioning(空调). With active days of tennis, hiking or cross- country skiing ahead, guests don't have to go far for a breakfast, lunch or dinner beside the fireplace at inn's restaurant.

Windham House

    A former pub built in 1805, Christman's Windham House is the oldest inn continually operating in the Catskills. The 300 acres of grounds in the town of Windham include a tennis court, golf course, heated pool and a restaurant. Guests can relax on private balconies (阳台) overlooking a golf course and take their meals at Christman's Windham House Restaurant. The inn is less than 2 miles from the hiking trails of Windham Mountain.

Washington Irving In

    If you're looking for a mountain inn with a Victorian feel, Washington Irving Inn has much to offer. Furnished with antiques, each of the 15 rooms has a private bath. Free breakfast is served. Hikers are a short walk from Kaaterskill Falls and Hunter Mountain trails.

    The team I work in just has 2 new interns（实习生）, and I happen to be their supervisor.

    After today's lunch break, I saw that one of them was reading things on her smart-phone, maybe on some social network, I guessed. I went to her and said “There's another document here needing translation. Do you have time to finish it for me?”

    That document was not in her assigned workload. But I thought I could let her challenge herself a little bit with it, seeing that she seemed to have time.

    “Yes, I do have time.” She said, “But I'm just an intern.”

    I didn't quite know what to say back then. After a while I mumbled（咕哝） “Right. Yes.” And I turned around and left.

    I recalled the time when I was an intern for the first time. I, too, managed to finish my workload so fast, just like her. So I asked my supervisor “Is there anything else that I can help?” And she happened to have a plan to make. But she didn't have time. So she let me do the research and make a draft for her.

    I was not very familiar with the job but still tried to carry it out based on my understanding and make it as professional as possible. And my supervisor was really satisfied with the draft. Later, she told me “You saved me a lot of time. I didn't need to create it from scratch.” And she told me in details how I should have done the plan differently. I learned a lot about the operation in the process. After that, she had come to trust me completely. I got my current job all because of her recommendation.

    Yes, I was just an intern with a low salary. But I bought a better future with my extra labor.

    There's a kind of poverty called shortsightedness.

    As our closest neighbor in space, the moon has been the subject of popular myths, songs and poems since ancient times. And it has no less fascinated scientists. But even after centuries of research many questions remain to be answered about Earth's only satellite. Perhaps the Chang'e-4 lunar probe will be able to reveal more of its secrets.

    On Dec 8, the probe lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province. It is the first probe to the far side of moon.

    The Earth's gravity slows the moon's rotation, matching it to the speed of its orbit. Thus, the far side of the moon is always dark and has never been seen. It's this sense of the unknown that makes the far side of the moon such an interesting place for scientific and space exploration.

Long exposed to solar winds, the far side may have the special soil and minerals in its upper mantle(地幔).For this reason, Chang'e-4 will study the effect of solar winds on the lunar surface and any minerals found beneath the spacecraft.

    Chang'e-4 is also carrying flower seeds and potato and silkworm eggs to see whether life is possible on the moon. If it is, then the moon will become a more likely destination for space travel in the future. However, due to communication problems, exploration of the dark side will not be easy.

    As the far side is blocked off from us, radio noise coming off Earth is also blocked. This is why China launched the relay satellite Queqiao in May—so that communication between Earth and the probe could go ahead. Power supply will also be a challenge to the mission.

    Chang'e-4 gets energy from the sun through its solar panels. However, a lunar day has the length of 28 Earth days. This means that the probe will need to orbit the moon for over 20 days to be in a position to be able to land in moon daylight and so use its solar panels.

    According to Xinhua, if everything goes well, the satellite will land on the far side on Jan 2.

    The New York Times described the journey as “groundbreaking”, and wrote that it will “give clues to the history and development of the moon”.

    Parents who help their children with homework may actually be bringing down their school grades. Other forms of parental involvement, including volunteering at school and observing a child's class, also fail to help, according to the most recent study on the topic.

    The findings challenge a key principle of modern parenting(养育子女) where schools expect them to act as partners in their children's education. Previous generations concentrated on getting children to school on time, fed, dressed and ready to learn.

    Keith Robinson, the author of the study, said, "I really don't know if the public is ready for this but there are some ways parents can be involved in their kids' education that leads to declines in their academic performance. One of the things that were consistently negative was parents' help with homework." Robinson suggested that may be because parents themselves struggle to understand the tasks. "They may either not remember the material their kids are studying now, or in some cases never learn it themselves, but they're still offering advice."

    Robinson assessed parental involvement performance and found one of the most damaging things a parent could do was to punish their children for poor marks. In general, about 20% of parental involvement was positive, about 45% negative and the rest statistically insignificant.

    Common sense suggests it was a good thing for parents to get involved because "children with good academic success do have involved parents", admitted Robinson. But he argued that this did not prove parental involvement was the root cause of that success. "A big surprise was that Asian American parents whose kids are doing so well in school hardly involved. They took a more reasonable approach, conveying to their children how success at school could improve their lives."

    "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is one of the most common sayings in the English languages. This is because apples were one of the first foods that medical professionals recognized as healthy­their benefits became obvious when  quite simply, doctors found that people who ate apples were sick less often than those who did not. Today we have a more specific understanding of why apples are so beneficial to overall health.

    Apples can help keep your levels of bad cholesterol (胆固醇) down. The pectin (果胶) in apples helps you to maintain cardiovascular health and reduce LDL cholesterol(which is the "bad" kind). Apples themselves do not add cholesterol to your diet and are full of water and fiber to help prevent the cholesterol in other foods you might digest. According to Health Diaries, people who eat two apples per day may lower their cholesterol by as much as 16 percent.

    Apples are naturally low in calories and high in water content. Eating an apple can satisfy your hunger and keep you from reaching for high-sugar, high-calories snacks. By eating apples, you will be more able to maintain a healthy weight because they fill you up, potentially stopping you from eating food that encourages a waistline increase.

    Apples contain respectable levels of boron (硼) which helps build healthy bones, and can also prevent diseases like arthritis. Apples are rich in vitamin C, which is known to help build immunity.

    Studies have shown that apples can decrease the risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, and liver cancer. One theory is that the apple skins are responsible for this, so be sure not to peel your apple before you eat them, as you could remove some of the health benefits.

Let's Go Fly a Kite...

—at Piedmont Middle School's celebration of kites!

    Come and learn how to build all sorts of kites, from the simplest diamond-shaped kites to the most complex(复杂的) box kites. Stay as long as you like and build as many kites as you want. Once you have finished a kite, get advice on flying techniques from kite expert Lorena Hallsberg. The celebration will be at Piedmont Middle School, 151 Piedmont School Drive.

    The Piedmont Middle School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) has organized a refreshment(茶点) tent. All profits(收益) will benefit future PTO activities. Take a break from kite flying and drink some lemonade! While you are doing so, why not join the PTO? Membership is free; you just donate(捐赠) your time. Show your support for Piedmont Middle School by joining the PTO this Saturday!

    When: Saturday, April 11, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

    Where: Piedmont Middle School

    Why: For fun!

    Cost: Free, thanks to a generous gift from Bizarco Kite Company!

    Schedule

    9:00 am: Kite-building booths open. All materials are supplied for kites.

    10:00 am: Kite-building shows by Lorena Hallsberg in the courtyard. Come by and learn how to build box kites and kites that look and fly like butterflies.

    11:00 am: Kite-flying shows on the school track. Learn all the most important skills.

    12:00 pm: Kite-flying competitions on the school track.

    1:00 pm: Presentation by Dr. Brian Lehrman in the show tent: "The History of Kites".

    2:00 pm: Best Kite competitions and judging in the show tent. Come see the most artistic kites and the most interesting theme kites.

    3:00 pm: Presentation by Dr. Lehrman in the show tent: "Kites and Science".

    3:30 pm: Awards(颁奖) ceremony conducted(主持) by Headmaster Seward on the football field. The results of the day's judging will be announced, with awards such as Best of Show, Most Artistic, Highest Flyer, and others. Winners will receive gifts from the Bizarco Kite Company!

    4:00-5:00 pm: Let's all go fly a kite! Everyone flies kites at the same time, creating a wonderful sight for all to enjoy.

    Come to the kite celebration, enjoy yourself and learn more.