Benjamin West, the father of American painting, showed his talent for art when he was only six years of age. But he did not know about brushes before a visitor told him he needed one. In those days , a brush was made from camel's hair. There were no camels nearby. Benjamin decided that cat hair would work instead. He cut some fur from the family cat to make a brush.

    The brush did not last long. Soon Benjamin needed more fur. Before long, the cat began to look ragged （蓬乱）. His father said that the cat must be sick. Benjamin was forced to admit what he had been doing.

    The cat's lot was about to improve.  That year, one of Benjamin's cousins, Mr.Pennington, came to visit. He was impressed with Benjamin's drawings. When he went home, he sent Benjamin a box of paint and some brushes. He also sent six engravings （版画）by an artist. These were the first pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had ever seen. In 1747，when Benjamin was nine years old，Mr.Pennington retured for another visit .He was amazed at what Benjamin had done with his gift.He asked  Benjamin's parents if he might take the boy to Philadelphia for a visit.

In the city, Mr.Pennington gave Benjamin materials for creating oil paintings.The boy began a landscape (风景) painting.Wiliams ,a well-known painter,came to see him work . Wiliams was impressed with Benjamin and gave him two classic books on painting to take home .The books were long and dull. Benjamin could read only a little,having been a poor student.But he later said,”Those two books were my companions by day,and under my pillow at night.”While it is likely that he understood very little of the books,they were his introduction to classical paintings.The nine-year-old boy decided then that he would be an artist.

    Papa, as a son of a dirt-poor farmer, left school early and went to work in a factory, for education was for the rich then. So, the world became his school. With great interest, he read everything he could lay his hands on, listened to the town elders and learned about the world beyond his tiny hometown.“There's so much to learn,” he'd say. “Though we're born stupid, only the stupid remain that way.” He was determined that none of his children would be denied (拒绝) an education.

    Thus, Papa insisted that we learn at least one new thing each day. Though, as children, we thought this was crazy, it would never have occurred to us to deny Papa a request. And dinner time seemed perfect for sharing what we had learned. We would talk about the news of the day; no matter how insignificant, it was never taken lightly. Papa would listen carefully and was ready with some comment, always to the point.

    Then came the moment—the time to share the day's new learning. Papa, at the head of the table, would push back his chair and pour a glass of red wine, ready to listen.

     “Felice,” he'd say, “tell me what you learned today.”

     “I learned that the population of Nepal is ....”

    Silence.

    Papa was thinking about what was said, as if the salvation of the world would depend upon it. “The population of Nepal. Hmm. Well….” he'd say. “Get the map; let's see where Nepal is.” And the whole family went on a search for Nepal.

    This same experience was repeated until each family member had a turn. Dinner ended only after we had a clear understanding of at least half a dozen such facts.

    As children, we thought very little about these educational wonders. Our family, however, was growing together, sharing experiences and participating in one another's education. And by looking at us, listening to us, respecting our input, affirming our value, giving us a sense of dignity, Papa was unquestionably our most influential teacher.

    Later during my training as a future teacher, I studied with some of the most famous educators. They were imparting what Papa had known all along—the value of continual learning. His technique has served me well all my life. Not a single day has been wasted, though I can never tell when knowing the population of Nepal might prove useful.

    The US will have a new president this fall. Voters will decide between the Democratic candidate (候选人), Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump of the Republicans.

    But the voting is not a must for each person in the US. So quite a lot of people choose not to vote, especially the young generation. According to Fox News, one-in-five young voters between the ages of 18 and 35 said clearly that they wouldn't vote for either of the two candidates. Just 12 percent of voters aged 35-54, and only nine percent of voters aged 55 and older said the same thing.

    This is not only because young people don't like Clinton or Trump, according to the Fortune magazine. The truth is that they are traditionally less likely to vote than their parents.

    “Young people are not at an age in their life when they think politics or government has anything to do with them,” said Rodd Freitag, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, US. “But for the older age groups, they have a home, they pay taxes (税), they care about schools and the community.”

    Many believe that the civic (公民的) education of an American youth is another reason why they don't vote.

    Students usually just do community services like cleaning the neighborhoods. This means they haven't learned how to link real life problems to politics through voting, according to Christopher Beem, a politics professor at the Pennsylvania State University.

    He said the country needs to help young people learn how to take part in politics and get them to see that they can make a difference.

                                                                                         The University of Sheffield

    Back to its origin

    The University of Sheffield is a research university in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original “red brick” universities, which are a group of top and famous old universities. The University of Sheffield was originally formed by the combination of three colleges. The Sheffield School of Medicine was founded in 1828, followed in 1879 by the opening of Firth College by Mark Firth, a steel manufacturer (制造商), to teach arts and science subjects. Firth College then helped to provide money for the opening of the Sheffield Technical School in 1884 to teach applied science. In 1897 the three institutions were joined together to form the University College of Sheffield, which in turn became the University of Sheffield by Royal Charter (特许) in 1905. This university is famous for its good education and boasts a number of Nobel Prize winners among its former students.

    More information

    System: The University has five departments: Arts and Humanities; Engineering; Pure Science; Social Sciences; Medicine, Dentistry and Health. Sheffield also has many research programs in fields including aerospace, environmental science, psychology, and biology.

    City show: Sheffield is a lively city in the north of England. Sheffield is known as the greenest city in Europe because of its 2 million trees. As a result, there are many parks and woods throughout the city and beyond. Sheffield is the greenest city in England with 150 woodlands and 50 public parks within the city. Once, in Sheffield, the folk hero—Robin Hood lived in Sherwood Forest with 150 of his loyal friends. And Charlotte Bronte, the English writer noted for her novel Jane Eyre was born in Sheffield.

Top Music Festivals

    Festival season is just kicking off, and there is a lot to look forward to in the upcoming months.

    Pitchfork Music Festival

    Anyone who likes indie (独立的) music and up-and-coming artists will have an amazing time at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago's Union Park. This is an indie rock heaven that explores more underground and lesser known bands than the other big Chicago summer festival, Lollapalooza.

    Date: July 14-16

    Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Music Type: Indie rock

    Price: $126- $2,700

    Essence Music Festival

    No matter what time of the year it is, New Orleans is an amazing place if you love live music. The Essence Music Festival is a celebration of well-known artists like Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, and Mary J.Blige.

    Date: June 29-July 2

    Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

    Music Type: R& B, soul, rock

    Price: $75-$365

    Sziget Festival

    Budapest knows how to hold a party, and Sziget is one of the biggest celebrations of music and culture in all of Europe. You can expect to find favorite artists like Bad Religion and Mac DeMarco playing here during this three day festival.

Date: August 9-11

    Location: Budapest, Hungary

    Music Type: Eclectic, Indie rock

    Price: $70-$296

    Flow Festival

    The Flow Festival is a great excuse to explore the city of Helsinki. Artists including Lana Del Rey and The XX will be playing, among many others. Come to this festival to enjoy yourselves with an earth-friendly belief.

    Date: August 11-13, 2018

    Location Helsinki, Finland

    Music Type: Rock, soul, jazz

    Price: $106-$199

    Do you ever pull your phone out of your pocket, thinking it is vibrating(振动), only to find that it isn't? This phenomenon, which scientists call "phantom(幻觉的)phone vibration", is very common. Around 80% of people surveyed say they have imagined their phones vibrating when they were actually still.

    So, what leads to this universal behavior? According to the BBC, the explanation lies in your brainˈs ability to discover signals from the outside world. When your phone is in your pocket, there are two possible states: it is either vibrating or not. Meanwhile, you also have two possible states of mind: the judgment that the phone is vibrating, or that it isn't. Ideally, you match the four states correctly.

However, sometimes your brain decides that the results of missing a call are more serious than a "false alarm". Therefore, you become more sensitive(敏感的) to vibrations so that you don't miss anything. This is just like the fire alarm in your home—it can be annoying when it goes off in response to just a tiny bit of smoke. But that's a small price to pay compared to a fire really breaking out because the alarm fails to alert you. Now, you might still ask: why can't our brains just make every judgment correctly without being too sensitive to false signals? The answer is that your brain bears a heavy burden every day. "You get a large amount of sensory(感觉的) information that's coming from your eyes, ears and skin, and you can't deal with all that information all the time, "Michael Rothberg, a researcher at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, US, told Live Science.

    For example, the rustling(沙沙声)of clothing or the growling(咕咕声)of your stomach may both lead your brain to believe that they come from the vibration of your phone-it is like trying to hear your name being called in a noisy room.

    So, perhaps you should just check your phone whenever you think it's vibrating. It's not too much trouble to do that, is it?