The Great War Exhibition

When: Sun 10 Jan, 9:00 am- 6:00 pm

Mon 11 Jan, 9:00 am- 6:00 pm

Where: Dominion Museum Building, 15 Buckle Street, Wellington

Restrictions: All Ages

Ticket Information: Admission Free

The journey is rich in personal stories which tell of the great experience of the battlefields and the hardships at home during war-time New Zealand. The visitors will experience the desperate horrors and the victories of the human spirit that were part of the Great War.

Kaipara Coast Plants & Sculpture Gardens

When: Sun 10 Jan, 9:00 am- 5:00 pm

Mon 11 Jan, 9:00 am- 5:00 pm

Where: 1481 Kaipara Coast Highway (SH16), Auckland

Restrictions: All Ages

Ticket Information:

● Adults: $10.00

● Children 5-13 (under 5, free):$ 5.00

● Groups 10: $ 8.00

● Over 60 & Students (with ID): $ 9.00

Come and enjoy a relaxing art and garden experience. Sculptures are for sale and the display changes completely ever 12 months with the new exhibition opening in December each year to give you a fresh experience each time you come.

Dream Works Animation

When: Sun 10 Jan, 10:00 am- 6:00 pm

Mon 11 Jan, 10:00 am- 6:00 pm

Where: Te Papa, 55 Cable St, Wellington

Restrictions: All Ages

Ticket Information:

● Adults: $ 15.00

● Children & Students 3-15 (with Student ID): $ 6.00

● Children under 3: $0.00

The exhibition features over 400 items, including rare concept drawing, models, interviews, and original artworks. Adults and kids can get creative with real animation tools, and soar above the clouds in the Dragon Flight experience from How to Train Your Dragon.

Balls, Bullets and Boots

When: Sun 10 Jan, 9:00 am- 4:30 pm

Mon 11Jan, 9:00 am- 4:30 pm

Where: National Army Museum, 1 Hassett Dr, SH1, Waiouru

Restrictions: All Ages

Ticket Information: Door Sales Only

The exhibition explores the impact the cruel reality of war had on colonial sportsmen and their loved ones as they were transplanted from the rugby fields of home to fight.

    The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It lifts the curtain of spring. After that everything turns green and full of energy and people clearly see that the daytime is becoming longer and the weather is becoming warmer.

    ⒈Flying a kite.

    Spring is the best season for kite-flying. As a traditional folk activity, it has a history of more than 2, 000 years.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} It also has the effect of promoting blood circulation and speeding up metabolism(新陈代谢).

    ⒉Wearing fabric swallows.

    Wearing fabric swallows is a custom in some regions in Shaanxi. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The custom originated during the Tang Dynasty (618—907). The swallow is a harbinger(预兆) of spring and a symbol of prosperity and happiness.

    ⒊Making a Spring Ox.

    Skilled artists build the frame of an ox out of bamboo strips and the legs with wood. Then they paste(粘贴) some paper and paint onto it.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It is said that if more red and yellow paper is used, then there will be a good harvest that year.

    ⒋{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    People in China began holding a special ceremony on the first day of the Start of Spring about 3, 000 years ago. They made sacrifices to Gou Mang, the God of Spring, who is in charge of agriculture. By the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911), welcoming spring had become an important folk activity.

A. Welcoming spring.

B. The image of an ox is complete.

C. At that time, there were eight solar terms.

D. The Start of Spring is the first solar term of the year.

E. Flying a kite can help build one's health and prevent diseases.

F. It is said that the egg can be set upright on the first day of the Start of Spring.

G. People like to wear a swallow made of colorful silk on their chests on Start of Spring.

    When we are little, we know nothing about the rights and responsibilities of adulthood. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Thus, if we like a certain toy or if we want to eat a certain type of chocolate, we think that our parents will have to buy that for us.  We don't care that they possibly have not enough money for that. If they don't carry out our wish, we'll begin to cry. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Whenever we begin to cry, we'll get what we want.

    Still, little by little, we realize that our parents can't offer us all that we want for certain reasons. We then also understand that parents have their rights. They have the right to scold us when we do something wrong or when they find out that we have lied to them. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They choose our clothes, the food we eat, the school we will study at, the hours when we should go out to play and the time we have to return home.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They are the ones to blame later if we don't receive proper education. That's why when we beat a classmate at the kindergarten, parents are the ones to apologize for our deeds in front of the teacher and the classmate's parents. And when we get ill, they are responsible for not taking good care of us and for dressing us inadequately.

    The moment we become teenagers, we notice that we should be responsible for the society. Now we have the right to be independent. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} It is supposed that we are mature enough to solve our problems and to make people around trust us. For some of us, this is a difficult test to pass, but it is the best method to see if we are capable of taking our place in society.

A. We think our parents should offer us all we need.

B. We should believe we can do them by ourselves.

C. This is a child's important weapon to threaten his/her parents.

D. Moreover, they have the right to make choices for us when we are little.

E. As a matter of fact, parents have a lot of things to be concerned about.

F. But at the same time they are responsible for many things that happen to us.

G. However, it's also time for us to give explanations when we do something wrong.

    Daily to-do lists can help you get focused and organized. Follow these tips to create a good to-do list.

    Notice the order.

    It may help you to develop some sort of system for your to-do list. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. You can even use a number system and mark them from 1 to 5. Items that are marked 1 might be done later, while the 5s are tasks you should deal with first.

    Reduce the list.

    You need to complete tasks or part of tasks one step at a time. If you have 15minutes to spare, find something on the list that you can complete in that time period. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, but several 15 minutes add up to something huge.

    Add in something fun.

    Your to-do list is no doubt full of things you may not like. That's why adding in fun activities and tasks should also be important. A fun item doesn't feel like work. It may even feel like a break. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, you'll be more active to get them done.

    Don't list too much.

    It's important not to overwhelm(压垮) yourself. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. If there's too much on your plate or you have to work too fast, you can't possibly enjoy yourself and you'll only end up being frustrated and overwhelmed.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    Your list needs to be organized in a way that makes you feel comfortable. There are many choices nowadays. However, the old-fashioned pen and paper method may work best for you. You can also use the Internet or even your cellphone to keep your list organized.

A. Keep it organized

B. Avoid too much stress

C. Write it down the night before

D. Certainly every item on the list can't be equally important

E. You may think that 15 minutes is not enough to do something

F. When you return to the less interesting items

G. Everything that goes on your to-do list should be something important that you need to do

    In China, there are more and more people leaving the countryside to hunt for jobs in the cities, because the countryside is much poorer than the city, and often there isn't much work there. Services such as hospital and transport are usually much better in the city than in the countryside. They hope that their lives will improve when they move to the city.

    But in the big cities of Europe like London or Paris, people are moving out of the city. These rich families want to live a quieter life. They are tired of the noise and the dirt of the city, and they are tired of the crowded streets, crowded trains and buses. They don't want to live in the cities any more. They want a house with a garden in the countryside, and breathe the fresh air there. So they move out of the cities. Some don't go very far, just a little way out of the city, to the towns near the cities. Other people move to the real countryside with sheep, cows and green fields. There they start new lives and try to make new friends.

    Not all those who move from the city to the countryside are happy. After two or three years, many people who have done this feel that it is a big mistake. They don't make so much money and there isn't much work to do. People in the countryside are different and aren't always very friendly. As a result, quite a lot of people who have moved to the countryside move back to the city. “It's wonderful to see crowds in the streets and cinema lights.” they say.

    Can you trust your very first childhood memories? Maybe not, a new study suggests.

    Past researches show that people's earliest memories typically form around 3 to 3. 5 years of age. But in a recent survey of more than 6,600 people, British scientists have found that 39 percent of participants claimed to have memories from age 2 or younger. These first memories are likely false, the researchers said. This was particularly the case for middle -aged and older adults.

    For the study, researchers asked participants to describe their first memory and the age at which it occurred. Participants were told they had to be sure the memory was the one that had happened. For example, it shouldn't be based on a photograph, a family story or any source other than direct experiences. Then the researchers examined the content, language and descriptive details of these earliest memories and worked out the likely reasons why people would claim to have memories from an age when memories cannot form.

    As many of these memories dated before the age of 2, this suggests they were not based on actual facts, but facts or knowledge about their babyhood or childhood from photographs or family stories. Often these false memories are fired by a part of an early experience, such as family relationships or feeling sad, the researchers explained.

    "We suggest that what a rememberer has in mind when recalling fictional early memories is …a mental representation consisting of remembered pieces of early experiences and some facts or knowledge about their own babyhood or childhood," study author Shania Kantar said in a journal news release, "Additionally, further details may be unconsciously inferred or added. Such memory-like mental representations come over time, to be collectively experienced when they come to mind, so for the individual, they quite simply are memories, which particularly point to babyhood."

    "Importantly, the person remembering them doesn't know this is fictional," study co-author Martin Conway said "In fact, when people are told that their memories are false they often don't believe it."