My transportation was unexpectedly smooth and I arrived at the meeting half an hour earlier. I kept my eyes on the restaurant door. Several customers entered, but not my friend. At 6:00 pm, she sent me a text message:“Urgent work to finish. Will be 20 minutes late.”

I had left my book in the office, so I spent the time thinking of my experiences of being late in China. On my first visit in 1985, punctuality was deeply rooted in the Chinese hearts. There were no traffic jams then.

    As a teacher in Canada, I always insisted on punctuality. I would open the classroom door to a late student for the first time and the second, but not the third. During the six years I worked for CCTV, I had a Chinese friend whom I often saw at lunch time, or after work. We used to meet at the subway station nearby. He was always late by 10-20 minutes. To myquestion, “You were busy?” he would surprisingly answer, “ No.” Once I asked him to check the clock in his office, he smiled.

    In March 2015, I got permanent residence (居住权) in China.The ceremony was scheduled for 9:00 am at the Public Security Bureau on the Second Ring Road. I told my driver I had to get there by 8: 40 am. “No problem,”he replied. But he thought he had time to drop someone off at the airport before picking me up. I desperately waited for him. Then, to rub salt into my wound, he had to stop at the exit of a gas station. Finally, I entered the room at 9:07 am ── the last guest to arrive!

    Family Fun in Canadian Museum of Nature

    Bring the whole family to rediscover our fully reformed museum and new galleries.

    What to See and Do

    Check out What's On for all the events, educational activities and HD movies happening during your visit. On the first floor, you can see birds, dive down into the depths at the helm(舵柄)of a submersible(潜水器)or explore a cave. Don't miss our 3D gallery play areas on the third floor when visiting with kids. By visiting here, your children will learn more about nature. Check out Our Exhibitions which presents our special exhibitions.

    Hours, Admission, Services and More

    Everything you need to plan your visit:

    Opening Hours

    Summer Hours (June1—September 4):

    9am-6pm(Saturday—Wednesday)

    9am-8pm(Thursday and Friday)

    Regular Hours: 9am-5pm(except Monday and Thursday)

    Admission

    Adult: $14

    Senior(65+):$12

    Student (13+):$12

    Child(3-12):$10

    Tiny Tot(0-2):Free

    Parking

    Paid parking is available on the Canadian Museum of Nature grounds.

    Rates

    $3 per half hour

    At most $14 per day(until 4:30 am)

    Evening flat rate(统一价格):

    $5(4:30pm-4:30 am)

    Charges accumulate(evening and next day)of vehicles that are parked overnight.

    Shopping

    Be sure to stop at our Nature Boutique on the second floor for a vast selection of games, books and nature-related souvenirs.

    Explore Nature

    The Canadian Museum of Nature provides a lot of information, images and videos on our websites. The museum participates in several social networks. Follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

    How many times have you come back and felt terribly tired, feeling like your head is going to explode? Sounds familiar, right? Well, there are several ways to reduce the frequency of headaches, and those are: eating balanced diet through the day, making sure your body is well hydrated (保持身体水分);getting some exercise to remove the negative energy, like helping yourself with a short massage (按摩)on your head. However, preparing an easy recipe will instantly put a smile on your face after your workday.

    You will need these simple ingredients (配料)to prepare the magical drink which will stop your headache: Lemon juice; 2 teaspoons of salt (preferably high quality salt); 1 cup of water.

    Directions:

    Squeeze 2 lemons. Pour the lemon juice into a cup and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix the two ingredients. Add a cup of water to the content. Drink the mixture quickly.

    How will this drink work and what are the benefits of its ingredients?

    Salt: Here is what salt does for your body: regulates your blood sugar, balances the sugar levels; benefits nerve cells for communication and information processing; obtains acidity from your body's cells, especially brain cells; works as a strong anti-stress element for the body; adds energy in your body's cells.

    Lemon Juice: This excellent juice, full of vitamin C and anti-poisons, will release all poisonous substances from your body and give you a sense of lightness. Here's how the lemon will help you ease your headache and maintain well-being to your whole body: balances the pH levels in your body; protects your immune system; nourishes your brain and nerve cells; reduces inflammation (炎症)in your whole body (the headache is a type of inflammation, so the lemon juice fights against it).

    Water：

    Water is important for hydrating your whole body, including your head. Many of your daily headaches may be caused by dehydration (脱水), so keep in mind that you should drink plenty of water throughout the day.

    David Rees runs a truly distinctive business. He charges customers $15 to shar pen their pencils to perfections, using a variety of tools.

    I know what you're thinking — is this a joke? The 39-year-old gets asked that question a lot. To clarify everything, he even created a special section on his website telling everyone he's actually providing a real service.

    You can supply your own pencil or you can have Rees sharpen one of his own favorite 2B pencils. After that, he mails it to you in a display tube with the shavings in a separate bag, and an authentic certificate which just happens to mention the pencil is so sharp as to be a dangerous object.

    To achieve the desired result, the master sharpener uses all kinds of tools, including general sandpapers, pocket knives and even a special $450 sharpening machine. "It depends on what the customer wants to use his/her pencil for," he says. "That determines the most appropriate pencil-sharpening technique.

    Some customers buy pencils as inspirational symbols while others buy them because of their special memories of classic 2B pencils.

    $15 to have a pencil sharpened is a bit expensive though, right? You're not the only one who feels that way, and David's unique business has really angered lots of people, who talk of inequality in America, saying it is so insane for the wealthy to pay $15 to sharpen a pencil. But others will say, "This is just our urge to put an end to the welfare state because new ideas arise along with the business."

    David admits his trade is sort of unusual. But there are those who actually value his service, as proven by the over 500 orders he has gotten.

Video calls are a common occurrence, but have you imagined being able to touch the person on the other end of the line? Scientists are making this a reality.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia, have invented a soft skin stretch device (SSD), a haptic device that can recreate the sense of touch. Haptic technology can mimic the experience of touch by stimulating localized areas of the skin in ways that are similar to what is felt in the real world, through force, vibration or motion.

Vibration is the most common haptic technology today and has been built into many electronic devices, such as one attached to the back of a trackpad in laptops. However, haptic feedback with vibration becomes less sensitive when used continuously. The existing technology also has great difficulty recreating the sense of touch with objects in virtual environments or located remotely.

The new technology overcomes issues with existing haptic devices. The research team introduced a novel method to recreate the sense of touch through soft, artificial "muscles".

It works like this: imagine you call a friend in Australia. You wear a haptic glove with the SSDs and your friend also wears a glove with 3D force sensors. If your friend picks up an object, it will physically press against your friend's fingers. And the glove with 3D force sensors will measure these interactions. The force signals can be sent to your glove so your device will generate the same 3D forces, making you experience the same sense of touch as your friend.

The haptic devices could be used in various fields, allowing users to feel objects inside a virtual world or at a distance. This could be especially beneficial during such times like the COVID-19 pandemic when people rely on video calls to stay connected with loved ones. Or it could be used in medical practices. Doctors can feel a patient's organ tissues without touching them.

The college entrance examination is just around the corner. Homework and tests will keep many of you up late at night, and you may plan to make up for your lost sleep during the weekends. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} is it useful? A study published in the journal Current Biology completely has changed {#blank#}2{#/blank#} people used to think. It shows that the habit of sleeping in on weekends doesn't fix the damage done by a lack of sleep during the week. Even {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (bad), it may damage your health.