Top attractions

    Amsterdam is most famous for its artistic heritage. This tradition is proudly on display in the Rijksmuseum (translates as State Museum). Once you've taken in all that has to offer, artists, history fans, and families shouldn't pass up the chance to visit the Van Gogh Museum-containing around 700 paintings and drawings by Vincent and his contemporaries, including Gauguin, Monet, and Toulouse-Lautrec.

    Amsterdam is also home to the Anne Frank Museum, where Anne hid with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. On a lighter note, taking a canal cruise through its extensive waterways is a rewarding way to see the Dutch capital.

    Art lovers get their kicks at:

     The Van Gogh Museum Rijksmuseum Museum het Rembrandthuis

    Food and drink

    Cheese lovers love Amsterdam. You can find an excuse to eat cheese at any time of the day here. Gouda is Holland's favorite, developing a more intense flavor the longer it's aged. Find a selection at the markets, try a cheeseboard at dinner time, or just order cubes with mustard for dipping to accompany a drink.

    When you're hungry for non-cheese food groups, you'll find Michelin-starred restaurants, vegetarian, and organic restaurants that accompany an array of global cuisine. For old-fashioned and modern Dutch food, try these Amsterdam restaurants: Moeders, Haesje Claes, Loetje, Greetje, and De Silveren Spiegel.

    Don't leave without tasting:

     Patat (hot chips with toppings) Stroopwafel (waffle cookie) Chocomel (chocolate milk)

    Amsterdam Fast Facts

    Approximate flight times:

     NYC/Newark 7 hours, 20 minutes Philadelphia 8 hours Boston 7 hours

     Miami 9 hours, 45 minutes Los Angeles 10 hours, 15 minutes

    Entry requirements: Passport must be valid for at least 3 months beyond your planned departure from the Schengen area and have 2 blank pages for entry stamp.

    The Queen has had to say goodbye to one of her longtime companions, her beloved pet corgi Holly, who has sadly passed away aged 13. The corgi will probably be familiar to royal fans who would recognize her from the 2012 London Olympics opening video.

    The dog was suffering from old age and was put down at Balmoral after suffering from an illness, leaving Her Majesty three surviving pet dogs, Willow and two corgi-dachshund crosses, Vulcan and Candy.

    According to a spokesperson for Buckingham palace, the Queen was deeply upset by Holly's passing and she doesn't like seeing her dogs suffer. Holly had attained a very good age. She gets more unsettled if they suffer and she knows that putting a dog down is often the kindest solution. She was devoted to Holly and wherever the Queen was, the dog was never far behind.

    Holly was included in one of the portraits for the Queen's 90th birthday, along with her other three pet dogs. Although the Queen usually has several pet corgis, it was recently revealed that she is keen not to breed（繁殖）any more of the dogs. Monty Roberts, a horse trainer who has previously given advice to Queen, told the Daily Mail, “She wouldn't leave any young dogs behind if she died. She wanted to put an end to it. Her Majesty had previously named one of her dogs after her friend, but the dog died in 2012. Dogs love for less time than human beings and we know we're going to lose them—but they are part of the Queen's family. She'll be quite upset.”

    In life, we will succeed and fail often for reasons that are entirely out of our control. For instance, we can be incredibly nice and love someone deeply, and they may not love us back. We can work harder than anyone else in the office and still not be promoted to management. We can eat healthy food, exercise and stay away from alcohol and cigarettes, and still get sick.

    The bottom line is that life is not fair.

    That is a tough pill to swallow for many of us. As a result, some people shut down after being hit by even one unfair blow from life. They can't handle the fact that our efforts don't always get the results that we expect. But if we let life's unfairness defeat us, we will never receive the beautiful blessings (幸事) that life has in store for us.

    For example, my first marriage ended in divorce. To me, it felt very unfair. I had worked hard to be a good wife and mother. However, no matter what I did, I could not make the relationship work.

    I could have been shut down by that experience. I could have decided that if one person didn't appreciate me as a wife, then no one would. I could have given up. But I knew that I wanted to be married. I knew that I wanted to experience traditional family life. So I didn't let one seemingly unfair experience stop me from believing that I could one day be happily married. And then one day, I met this kind, thoughtful, generous man with whom I now have a wonderful friendship and marriage. But that wouldn't have happened if I had decided to give up after one failed marriage.

    What I've learned over the years is that we can do all the things that deserve a good outcome, but get bad things in return instead.

    When we are faced with life's seeming unfairness, our faith needs to jump in. When life doesn't go according to plan, we have to let go of the outcome that we are looking forward to and keep trying, working hard and doing the right thing. Please don't be discouraged. Accept that life is neither fair nor straightforward. And by knowing that if we remain confident, we can drive our unfair experiences away and use them for our benefit.

    George Bernard Shaw(1856,07-1950,11) was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist. During his career Shaw wrote more than sixty plays. He was uniquely honored by being awarded both a Nobel Prize(1925) for his contribution to literature and an Oscar(1938) for Pygmalion. Shaw was a free-thinker, defender of women's rights, and advocate of equality of income.

    George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, where he grew up in something close to genteel poverty. His father, George Carr Shaw, was in the wholesale grain trade. Lucinda Elisabeth Shaw, his mother, was the daughter of a landowner. She was 16 years younger than her husband. George Carr was a drunkard -his example made his son become a teetotaler(禁酒主义者). When he died in 1885, his children and wife did not attend his funeral. Young Shaw and his two sisters were brought up mostly by servants. Shaw's mother eventually left the family to teach music, singing in London. When she died in 1913, Shaw confessed to Mrs. Patrick Campbell: "I must write to you about it, because there is no one else who hates his mother."

    Boy and man, he was always bitterly opposed to schools and teachers, saying "Schools and schoolmasters, as we have them today, are not popular as places of education and teachers, but rather prisons and turnkeys in which and by whom children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning (陪伴) their parents."

    I stepped on the red carpet and smiled as the cameras rushed up to take pictures. I slowly walked into the large hall of my first Hollywood premiere(首映). I had designed the special effects for the hottest movie on the market. Later, a friend of mine came with a big smile on her face. “I'm sure you have never thought that you would be here,” she said excitedly. I calmly smiled back in return.

    Having never had great opportunities, I've worked long and hard to create a bright future. Though I grew up in a poor family, I never doubted that my future goals would be connected with computers. In middle school I became the producer of a daily news television show.

    My future goal became even more possible when a new high school in my area held a technology program created for students interested in technology related jobs. Through the program I was able to learn about computer design and gain experience through a part-time job with a local computer company. Whenever a new movie came out, I would find out the company which created the special effects for the movie. At the same time, I researched job positions on the Internet. The companies on the Internet suggested universities and degrees on their websites. I planned on studying Computer Science.

    Though I didn't give up my dreams, I continued to pay my attention to daily events. I took part in a large number of activities to broaden my view on life. I worked hard in school to develop my mind. I communicated with people who could give me advice about any problem I might meet along the way. And now, after years of preparation, my hard work is paying off. I know I have succeeded because I put my goals into action.

    PHILADELPHIA-The thumb of a Terracotta Warrior was stolen by a member of the public in Philadelphia, where the statue is on display. The cultural relics authority of Northwest China's Shaanxi province will send conservationists（保护工作者）to repair a Terracotta Warrior that had its thumb stolen by a member of the public while on display at a Philadelphia museum.

    US departments that are involved should guarantee the safety of the relics on display, and parties concerned will be held legally accountable, the provincial cultural heritage department said on Sunday.

The statue of a cavalryman（骑）, which dates back to at least 209 BC, is one of10

    Chinese Terracotta Warrior statues now on display at the Franklin Institute in Pennsylvania.

    Since 2009, Wang's team has restored more than 100 of the Terracotta Warriors. According to the Stolen（Lost）Cultural Relics Information Publishing Platform of China, which went online late last year, up to 60 percent of cases of theft have occurred in museums and historical relics institutions. However, most cases occurred in the 1980s and 1990s. As security technology developed in recent years, it has become more difficult to steal a cultural relic from a museum in China, according to the publishing platform.

    Chen Shiqu, deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Ministry of Public Security, said during a previous interview that the prices of cultural relics have risen in recent years, leading to more thefts by using upgraded technology.

    "Some criminals are equipped with high-tech tools that can make a tunnel very quickly to steal and transport the cultural relics," he said.  "China will continue to complete the mechanism for fighting against and preventing relies thefts. We will crack down on（打击）the whole market chain, including the trading of the relics and organized thefts. All involved offenders will face criminal liability."

    Meanwhile, US authorities said Michael Rohans, 24, from the US state of Delaware was arrested in connection with the theft and has been released on $15, C00 bail（保释金）, on the condition that he surrender his passport, consent to drug testing and refrain from leaving the country before trial. Museum staff members noticed the missing thumb on Jan 8, and a special agent from the FBI's Art Crime Team tracked down Rohana days later.