The National Gallery

Description:

    The National Gallery is the British national art museum built on the north side of European art ranging from 13th-century religious paintings to more modern ones by Renoir and Van Gogh. The older collections of the gallery are reached through the main entrance while the more modern works in the East Wing are most easily reached from Trafalgar Square by a ground floor entrance.

Layout:

    The modern Sainsbury Wing on the western side of the building houses 13th-to15th-century paintings, and artists include Duccio, Uccello, VanEyck, Lippi, Mantegna, Botticelli and Memling.

    The main West Wing houses 16th-century paintings, and artists include Leonardo da Vinci, Cranach, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bruegel, Bronzino, Titan and Veronest.

    The North Wing houses 17th-century paintings, and artists include Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Claude and Vermeer.

    The East Wing houses 18th-to early 20th-century paintings, and artists include Canaletto, Goya, Turner, Constable, Renoir and Van Gogh.

Opening Hours:

    The Gallery is open every day from 10am to 6pm（Fridays 10am to 9pm）and is free, but charges apply to some special exhibitions.

Getting There:

    Nearest underground stations: Charing Cross（2-minute walk）. Leicester Square（3-minute walk）,Embankment（7-minute walk）,and Piccadilly Circus（8-minute walk）.

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    Children as young as ten are becoming dependent on social media for their sense of self-worth, a major study warned.

    It found many youngsters(少年）now measure their status by how much public approval they get online, often through "like". Some change their behavior in real life to improve their image on the web.

    The report into youngsters aged from 8 to 12 was carried out by Children's Commissioner (专员）Anne Longfield. She said social media firms were exposing children to major emotional risks, with some youngsters starting secondary school ill-equipped to cope with the tremendous pressure they faced online.

    Some social apps were popular among the children even though they supposedly require users to be at least 13.The youngsters admitted planning trips around potential photo-opportunities and then messaging friends—and friends of friends — to demand "likes" for their online posts.

    The report found that youngsters felt their friendships could be at risk if they did not respond to social media posts quickly, and around the clock.

    Children aged 8 to 10 were "starting to feel happy" when others liked their posts. However, those in the 10 to 12 age group were "concerned with how many people like their posts", suggesting a "need" for social recognition that gets stronger the older they become.

    Miss Longfield warned that a generation of children risked growing up "worried about their appearance and image as a result of the unrealistic lifestyles they follow on platforms, and increasingly anxious about switching off due to the constant demands of social media.

    She said: "Children are using social media with family and friends and to play games when they are in primary school. But what starts as fun usage of apps turns into tremendous pressure in real social media interaction at secondary school."

    As their world expanded, she said, children compared themselves to others online in a way that was "hugely damaging in terms of their self-identity, in terms of their confidence, but also in terms of their ability to develop themselves".

    Miss Longfield added: "Then there is this push to connect—if you go offline, will you miss something, will you miss out, will you show that you don't care about those people you are following, all of those come together in a huge way at once."

    "For children it is very, very difficult to cope with emotionally." The Children's Commissioner for England's study—life in Likes—found that children as young as 8 were using social media platforms largely for play.

    However, the research—involving eight groups of 32 children aged 8 to 12—suggested that as they headed toward their teens, they became increasingly anxious online.

    By the time they started secondary school—at age 11—children were already far more aware of their image online and felt under huge pressure to ensure their posts were popular, the report found.

    However, they still did not know how to cope with mean-spirited jokes, or the sense of incompetence they might feel if they compared themselves to celebrities(名人）or more brilliant friends online. The report said they also faced pressure to respond to messages at all hours of the day—especially at secondary school when more youngsters have mobile phones.

    The Children's Commissioner said schools and parents must now do more to prepare children for the emotional minefield(雷区）they faced online. And she said social media companies must also "take more responsibility". They should either monitor their websites better so that children do not sign up too early, or they should adjust their websites to the needs of younger users.

    Javed Khan, of children's charity Bamardo's, said: "It's vital that new compulsory age-appropriate relationship and sex education lessons in England should help equip children to deal with the growing demands of social media.

    "It's also hugely important for parents to know which apps their children are using."

    As a result of pollution, Lake Erie, on the borders of the USA and Canada, is now without any living things.

    Pollution in water is not simply a matter of “poisons” killing large numbers of fish overnight, Very often the effects of pollution are not noticed for many months or years because the first organisms（生物体）to be affected are either plants or plankton. But these organisms are the food of fish and birds and other creatures. When this food disappears, the fish and birds die too. In this way a whole food chain can be wiped out, and it's not until dead fish and water birds are seen at the river's edge or on the seashore that people realize what is happening.

    Where do the substances which pollute the water come from? There are two main sources of sewage（污水）and industrial waste . As more detergent（洗涤剂）is used in the home, so more of it is finally put into our rivers, lakes and seas . Detergents harm water birds, dissolving the natural substances which keep their feathers water - proof. Sewage itself, if not properly treated, makes the water dirty and prevents all forms of life in rivers and the sea from receiving the oxygen they need. Industrial waste is even more harmful as there are many highly poisonous things in it, such as copper and lead（铅）.

    So, if we want to stop this pollution, the answer is simple: sewage and industrial waste must be made clear before flowing into the water. It may already be too late to save some rivers and lakes, but others can still be saved if the correct action is taken at once.

    The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read beneath the branches of an old willow tree, with good reason to frown, for the world was dragging me down. At this time, a boy approached me. He stood right before me, and said with great excitement, "Look what I found!"

    In his hand was a flower, and what a pitiful sight, with its petals (花瓣) all worn. Wanting him to take his flower and go off to play, I managed a smile and then turned to the other side.

    But instead of leaving, he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his nose and declared, "It really smells pretty and it's beautiful, too. That's why I picked it. Here it's for you."

    The flower before me was dying or dead. But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I reached for the flower, and replied, "Just what I need."

    But instead of placing the flower in my hand, he held it in mid-air. It was then that I noticed that the boy was blind.

    I heard my voice quiver (轻微颤抖), and at the same time my tears shone like the sun. As I thanked him for picking the very best one, he smiled and said, "You're welcome." And then he ran off to play, unaware of the impact he'd had on me.

    I sat there and wondered how he managed to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree. Perhaps from his heart, he'd been blessed with true sight.

    Through the eyes of the blind boy, I could see the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. And for all of those times I had been blind. From now on, I promised to see beauty and appreciate every second. Then I held the flower up to my nose and breathed its fragrance and smiled as that young boy.

    Ms. O'grady, the head of Britains Trades Union Congress, issued a challenge on September 10th. "We can win a four-day working week, "she told members. The demand is far from new. Shorter working weeks have been tried in New Zealand and Sweden, wherein happier, healthier and more motivated employees. Those who work shorter weeks are also reported to be more productive. Should weekends, therefore, be lengthened?

    France's experience suggests workers may not leap at the chance of working for fewer hours. The government reduced the full-time workers week to 35 hours in 2000. Last year the French worked 38.9 hours a week on average, seeming happy to labor above the required level and pocket the extra pay or holiday allowance.

    And businesses may not seize the opportunity either. Working less may be linked to higher productivity (on a per-hour basis), but overall output could still fall because of the smaller number of hours worked. That will not get governments or employers excited.

    Advocates of a four-day week could claim that improving people's quality of life is more important than boosting the economy. In an essay published during The Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes wrote of an "age of leisure and abundance" in which technological advances would allow people to work 15-hour week.

    Unfortunately for any readers working hard on a Friday afternoon, Keynes jumped at his conclusion too soon. Even Ms. O'grady, now demanding a longer weekend, is pessimistic in her timescale. A four-day week is apparently achievable “in this century”.

    Organic(有机的)farming is a type of agriculture that benefits from the recycling and use of natural products. Use of dried plants not only saves money，but also ensures the growth of crops. The technique is characterized by the use of green manure(肥料), biological pest control methods and special farming techniques to keep soil productive. Limiting the use of man－made chemicals or completely doing away with them reduces the risk of diseases. Today，organic farming is a major and preferred industry around the world. Organically grown food products have a huge market，with farmlands covering about 10% of the total world－farmland cover. The hard work of Sir Albert Howard, the Father of Organic Farming, has paid off.

    Advantages of Organic Farming:

    ⑴The economics of organic farming are characterized by increasing profits through reduced water use and reduced soil erosion(侵蚀).

    ⑵Organic farming produces the same crops as those produced through traditional farming methods，but uses half the energy，and holds 40% more top soil

    ⑶Farming the organic way enables farmers to get rid of weeds without the use of any chemicals.

    ⑷The use of green pesticides(杀虫剂) is environmentally friendly and does no harm to human's health.

    Disadvantages of Organic Farming：

    ⑴Organic methods of farming produce less，compared to traditional farming techniques.

    ⑵Organic agriculture does little to fight global climate change. Though organic farming practices are recognized as giving out less CO₂ ， but not to a significant degree.

    However，though there are some disadvantages of organic farming，farms where organic methods for cropping have been used have more advantages than traditional farms. Organic agriculture is surely better in the long term.