You may know the Eiffel Tower as one of the most famous man-made monuments in the world, and you'd be absolutely right! Read on to learn about the history of the great Eiffel Tower.

    Travelers from around the world flock(蜂拥)to Paris, France, to visit the Eiffel Tower, making it the most visited paid monument in the entire world! In fact, in 2010, the Eiffel Tower welcomed its 250 millionth visitor!

The history of the Eiffel Tower

    The Eiffel Tower was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the famous monument. Construction began in January of 1887 and was completed in only two years. Their plan was to finish the tower in time to be the entrance arch for the World's Fair in 1889. This fair celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the French Revolution, which took place from 1789 to 1799.

The height competition

    Located on the Champs de Mars, the tower is the tallest structure in Paris. It was the tallest man-made structure in the world for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in New York surpassed(超过) it. Then the spire(塔尖) on the top of the tower was added, raising its height to 17 feet taller than the Chrysler Building. It is now 1,063 feet tall! There are two replicas(复制品) of the Eiffel Tower in the world: a half scale model at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas and a full-sized monument of a similar (but not exact) design in Tokyo, Japan.

Three shades of wonder

    Some pictures make the Eiffel Tower look like a dark iron color. But it is, in fact, bronze. Not only that, but the tower is actually painted three different shades to make it appear even taller: darkest on the bottom and lightest on the top.

    David Beckham was born in 1975 in London, at a place called Leytonstone. When he was a young boy, his greatest passion was in football. He played it whenever he had the chance. Sometimes he would go and watch a game with his friends. When David Beckham was 12 years old, he won the Bobby Charlton Soccer Skills award. This was an important step forward for this young boy, and it led him to go for a visit to a football training camp in Spain. As a boy he played for schools of Essex and also for his county team.

    In 1991, he became a trainee with Manchester United. This meant that he could practice football as much as he wanted to and play for the highly successful Manchester United Youth Cup team and Under-21 team. In April, 1995 he played his first football league game against Leeds Untied. During 1995 and 1996, David became a regular member of the team and Manchester United won in both football seasons, with David scoring many goals.

    His goals made him a household name. In the first game of the 1996-1997 season, he scored a surprising goal from beyond the halfway line; seeing the goalkeeper a little way out of his goal, Beckham became famous overnight. He continued to score astonishing goals, especially from free-kicks. The speed of one of his shots was timed at 157 kph. He also had the ability to make the ball go from left to right, or right to left, whenever he chose. Goalkeepers were never sure where the ball was going, and it regularly ended up in the goal.

    Around three forty-five on a rainy Saturday morning, I was woken up by the sound of my pager(呼机) beeping. As a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician, I can never count on a full night of sleep. I pulled myself out of bed and went toward the desk to grab my radio. Our crew was being sent to a nearby home where a man was in cardiac arrest (心脏骤停). We found the man lying on the kitchen floor with his wife beside him. We rushed the patient to the hospital, but despite our efforts, we were unable to save his life.

    In my line of life, I rarely get any recognition from the patients we treat, or from their loved ones. But that night, a man's wife approached us, and through her tears, whispered, “Thank you.” Then she hugged each of us. She knew we answered her late-night call for help, even though the ending was not positive.

    There is something deeply rewarding about helping people in these circumstances. Sometimes, I'm able to make their worst day a bit better: like seeing the tears of an injured child turn into a smile when I gave him an interesting toy; or watching a terrified mother's screams turn into tears of joy when she realized her baby was going to be fine.

    Experiences like these allow me to see the impact my work has on others. At the same time, I also know the effect it has had on my own life. As a teenager, I felt awkward when my dad hugged me and said, “ I love you, my dear son.” I was equally uncomfortable and responded, “I love you.” But then I imagined him lying on the kitchen floor that rainy night and realized that my opportunity to say those three words could—at any moment—be taken away forever. Now, I extremely treasure the moment when my father says those three words to me. I've learned to appreciate every relationship I have, to tell people I care about them, and to never take anything in life for granted.

    I've never been the kind of person to say, “it's the thought that counts” when it comes to gifts. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my kids gave me a present that blew me away.

    For years now, I've been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I raised our kids. But to me, this house is much more than just a building. In the front room, there's a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines, marking the progress of my children's growth. Every growth stage is marked in grey, with each child's name and the date they were measured. Most people I know have been featured on a wall like this, or at least had a wall like it in their home.

    Of all the objects and all the memories, it's this one thing in a home that's the hardest to leave behind. Friends I know have returned home after work only to discover their wall of heights has been freshly painted over. A new paint job wouldn't normally be greeted by tears, but erasing that evidence of motherhood hurts more than it should. Our kids grow in so many ways, but the wall is physical evidence of their progress, right there for everyone to see.

    Over the years, I've talked about how much I would hate leaving that wall behind when I moved, even though the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped growing. So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do something about it.

    They hired Jacquie Manning, a professional photographer whose work is about capturing (捕捉) the beautiful things in life, from clear lakes and skies to diamonds and ballgowns. She came to our house while I was at work, and over several hours, took photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints (手印), and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph all those years of memories perfectly. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image, transforming them into a beautiful history of my family.

    Three weeks later, my children's wonderful gift made its way to me – a life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that represents entire lifetimes of love and growth.

    The Frick Collection (5th Avenue and E. 70th Street)

    Many art lovers would rather visit this small art gallery than any other in New York. Henry Clay Frick, a rich New Yorker, died in 1919, leaving his house, furniture and art collections to American people. Frick had a preference for pre­twentieth century Western paintings, and these are well­represented in this excellent collection. You can also explore Frick's beautiful house and garden which are well worth a visit

    Guggenheim Museum (5th Avenue and 88th Street)

    This museum owns 5,000 excellent modern paintings, sculptures and drawings. These art works are not all displayed at the same time. The exhibition is always changing. It will appeal to those who love Impressionist and Post­Impressionist paintings. The Guggenheim Museum building is also world­famous. The best way to see the paintings is to start from the top floor and walk down to the bottom. There are no stairs, just a circular(环形的) path.

    Metropolitan Museum of Art (5th Avenue and 82nd Street)

    The reputation of this museum lies in the variety of its art collection. This covers more than 5,000 years of civilization from many parts of the world. The museum displays more than just the visual delights of art. It introduces you in ancient ways of living. You can visit an Egyptian temple, a fragrant Ming garden, a typical room in an 18th century French house and many other special exhibitions.

    Whitney Museum of American Art (945 Madsion Avenue, near 75th Street)

    The Whitney holds an excellent collection or contemporary American paintings and sculptures. There are no permanent displays in this museum and exhibitions change all the time. Every two years, the Whitney holds a special exhibition of new art by living artists. The museum also shows videos and films by contemporary video artists.

Keeping secrets is a burden

    "Don't tell anyone". We hear these words when someone tells a secret to us. But it can be hard to keep a secret. We're often tempted to "spill the beans(说漏嘴)",even if we regret it later.

    According to Asim Shah, professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, US, keeping a secret may well "become a burden". This is because people often have an "obsessive and anxious urge to share it with someone".

    An earlier study, led by Anita E. Kelly, a scientist at the University of Notre Dame, US, suggested that keeping a secret could cause stress. People entrusted(受委托 ) with secrets can suffer from depression, anxiety, and body aches, reported the Daily Mail.

    But with secrets so often getting out, why do people share them at all? Shah explained that people often feel that it will help them keep a person as a friend. Another reason people share secrets is guilt over keeping it from someone close to them. A sense of distrust can develop when people who are close do not share it with each other. "Keeping or sharing secrets often puts people in a position of either gaining or losing the trust of someone," according to Shah.

    He added that talkative people could let secrets slip out (泄露).But this doesn't mean that it is a good idea only to share secrets with quiet people. A quiet person may be someone who keeps everything inside. To tell such a person a secret may cause them stress, and make them talk about the secret. Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret.

    Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret, you'd better put yourself in their position. Think about how you would feel to be told that you mustn't give the information away. Shah also recommended that if you accidentally give up someone's secret you should come clean about it. Let the person know that their secret isn't so secret anymore.