Our room was on the second floor but you could still hear the roar of the ocean and see the stars at night. I used to take long walks along the water. The food in town was wonderful and the people were very friendly. The area was very quiet and peaceful, and fairly deserted.

    The last evening of our vacation, however, we all heard strange footsteps following closely behind us as we were walking up to our room in the holiday centre. We turned around and noticed a fairly young man moving very rapidly across the beach and getting closer to us. He was tall and wore a baseball cap. We didn't have any cell phones on us. I never saw Dad as worried as he was then and knew that something was terribly wrong. The sense of fear started to overwhelm Mom and me. We had had such a good time in town. Now, the night was rapidly turning into a dangerous situation.

    We could hear the man's footsteps getting closer. Dad's face was almost pale. The so-called intruder (侵入者) had moved nearer and nearer when all of a sudden, the nearby vending (自动贩卖) machine started going crazy and spitting out cans of soda! The noise actually scared the intruder and he ran out of sight. My parents were shaking, but we all turned around to see who had put money into the vending machine downstairs, and actually saved us, but no one was around at all.Not a soul.

    It's one vacation I will never forget.

    Every person has their own way of saying things, their own special expressions. Many everyday American expression are based on colors.

    Red is a hot colour. Americans often use it to express heat. They may say they are red hot about something unfair. When they are red hot they are very angry about something. The small hot tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called red hots for their colour and their fiery taste. Fast loud music is popular with many people. They may say the music is popular with many people. They may say the music is red hot, especially the kind called Dixicland jazz.

    Pink is a lighter kind of red. People sometimes say they're in the pink when they're in good health. The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the 20th century. It probably came from many babies who were born with a nice pink colour showing good health.

Blue is a cool colour. The traditional blues music in t he United States is the opposite of red hot music. Blues is slow, sad and soulful. Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded a famous song—Mood Indigo—about the deep blue colour, indigo. In the words of the song: “You aren't blue till you've had that Mood Indigo.” Someone who is blue is very sad.

    The colour green is natural for trees and grass. But it is an unnatural colour for humans. A person who has a sick feeling in his stomach may say he feels a little green. A passenger on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green.

    Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as his friend's, like a fast new car. That person may say he is green with envy. Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars of greenbacks. Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the colour of the back side of the paper money.

    The colour black is often used in expressions. People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a black day. The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day. a blacklist is illegal now. But at one time, some businesses refused to employ people who were on a blacklist for belonging to unpopular organizations.

    Obama, Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs—what do they have in common? They are, of course, all Americans. And according to a survey by social networking site baidu.com, they all best illustrate the word “cool”.

    But just what does it mean to say someone is “cool”? Most would answer that it is something to do with being independent-minded and not following the crowd.

    Yale University art professor Robert Farris Thompson says that the term “cool” goes back to 15th century West African philosophy. “Cool” relates to ideas of grace under pressure.

    “In Africa,” he writes, “coolness is a positive quality which combines calmness, silence, and life.”

    The modern idea of “cool” developed largely in the US in the period after World War II. “Post-war 'cool' was in part an expression of war-weariness… it went against the strict social rules of the time,” write sociologists Dick Pountain and David Robins in Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude.

    But it was the American actor James Dean who became the symbol for “cool” in the hugely successful 1955 movie Rebel without a Cause. Dean plays a tough guy who disobeys his parents and the authorities. He always gets the girl, smokes cigarettes, wears a leather jacket and beats up bullies. In the movie, Dean showed what “cool” would mean to American young people for the next 60 years.

    Today the focus of “cool” has changed to athletics stars. Often in movies about schools, students gain popularity on the athletics field more than in the classroom. This can be seen quite clearly in movies like Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die.

But many teenagers also think being smart is cool. Chess and other thinking games have been becoming more popular in schools.

    “Call it the Harry Potterization of America—a time when being smart is the new cool,” writes journalist Joe Sunnen.

    Rachel Carson (1907-1964) is a writer, biologist, and environmentalist. As a trained scientist and a great writer, Rachel Carson did much to shape people's attitudes toward the natural world. Born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, she shared from childhood her mother's love of books and feeling for the beauty and mystery of nature. At Pennsylvania College for Women, she first majored in English, but later learned biology. The imagination of a creative writer with a scientific lobe for fact made her books successful. After graduating with honors, she won a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University, where she earned an A.M. in zoology.

    When her father died suddenly in 1935, she took a job as an aquatic(水生的) biologist. An article for the Atlantic Monthly led to her first book, Under the Sea Wind (1941). During World War II she wrote a series of booklets on wildlife refuges(收容所). Meanwhile she had been working on a book that would make her known throughout the world. Published in 1951, The Sea Around Us became an immediate best-seller, won many honors and literary awards, and was translated into thirty-two languages. After earning enough money, she could devote full time to writing. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea (1955), was also a success.

    Rachel Carson's last book, Silent Spring (1962), became one of the most famous books of the last half of the twentieth century. Ever since the end of World War II, when the insecticide (杀虫剂) DDT came on the market, she had been worried about the dangers in the uncontrolled use of the poisons: their effect on wildlife, on human life, and on the environment. She decided to speak out. The result was a book showing how modern society has been poisoning the earth on a worldwide scale. "A few thousand words from her," wrote a newspaper editor, "and the world took a new direction."

    The values of artistic works, according to cultural relativism (相对主义), are simply reflections of local and economic conditions. Such a view, however, fails to explain the ability of some works of art to excite the human mind across cultures and through centuries.

    History has witnessed the endless production of Shakespearean plays in every major language of the world. It is never rare to find that Mozart packs Japanese concert hall, as Japanese painter Hiroshige does Paris galleries. Unique works of this kind are different from today's popular art, even if they began as works of popular art. They have set themselves apart in their timeless appeal and will probably be enjoyed for centuries into the future.

    In a 1757 essay, the philosopher David Hume argued that because “the general principles of tastes are uniform (不变的) in human nature,” the value of some works of art might be essentially permanent. He observed that Homer was still admired after 2000 years. Works of this type, he believed, spoke to deep and unvarying features of human nature and could continue to exist over centuries.

    Now researchers are applying scientific methods to the study of the universality of art. For example, evolutionary psychology is being used by literary scholars to explain the long-lasting themes and plot devices in fiction. The structures of musical pieces are now open to experimental analysis as never before. Research findings seem to indicate that the creation by a great artist is as permanent an achievement as the discovery by a great scientist.

    Assistant Professor of Chemistry

    The University of Chicago: Physical Sciences Division: Department of Chemistry

    Location

    Chicago, Illinois

    Description

    The Department of Chemistry at The University of Chicago invites applications for the position of Assistant Professor of Chemistry in all areas of chemistry.

    Applicants must apply online at apply.interfolio.com/66199 and upload a cover letter, a curriculum vitae with a list of publications, a brief outline of research plans and a one－page teaching statement. In your cover letter, please specify(注明) one sub－discipline that best represents your research interests (inorganic, materials, organic, physical, theoretical or chemical biology). In addition, three reference letters are required.

    Qualifications

    At the time of hire the successful candidate must have completed all requirements for a PhD in Chemistry or a related field. Joint appointments with other departments are possible.

    Application Instructions

    Review of applications will begin on October 7, 2020 and will continue until all positions are filled.

    Apply to: apply.interfolio.com/66199

    Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

    The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

    Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 7737021032 or e-mail equalopportunity@uchicago.edu with their request.