How did the ancient Chinese keep food warm in winter?

    Facilities like electric rice cookers, microwaves, and electric kettles, make it easy for people to keep food warm and enjoy a comfortable winter. So how did Chinese people in ancient times keep food warm in winter without these? In fact, ancient Chinese people used their own methods of heat preservation as early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

● “Wen Ding”, ancient rice cooker

    One of the major functions of an electric rice cooker is to keep food warm. The “Wen Ding”, an ancient cooking container, served the same purpose, but instead of using electric energy, the ancient cooking container, served the same purpose, but instead of using electric energy, the ancient cooking container preserved heart by burning fuels like charcoal.

    The “Wen Ding” unearthed in Nanjing in 1989 is thought to be the oldest of its kind discovered in China, dating back to the Stone Age, The craftsmanship of making the “Wen Ding” was developed in the Bronze Age. The bronze Ding from Shang and Zhou dynasties took on different shapes and structures.

● “Ran LU”, ancient small hot pot

    The “Ran LU” is a small size cooking vessel(器皿) made of bronze, which can be divided into three parts. A charcoal stove forms the main structure, with a bottom tray to hold charcoal ashes, and a movable cup at the top. Some experts have concluded that the vessel's structure suggests it may have been used as a small hot pot and that these vessels became popular in the Warring States Period(475—221 BC)

●Bronze You, ancient kettle

    The Bronze You was one of the most common wine containers during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The Bronze You can also be used to warm wine. For example, the Bronze You with beast mask design, unearthed in Jiangxi province, has an opening where charcoals could be placed. Just as people today can't do without an electric kettle, the Bronze You allowed people to enjoy a hot drink.

●Bronze Yan, ancient steamer

    Although the “Wen Ding” was effective at keeping food warm, the ancient Chinese people later found that its burning produced pollution. As a result, the Bronze Yan was made with a two-tier structure and used to steam rice and other grains. After the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-AD 220), further improvements to the Bronze Yan led to the modern-day steamer.

New York City Tour Guide

CENTRAL PARK PHOTO TOUR $79

With Sam L.

    Come to shoot in the Central Park of New York that will allow you to take home digital postcards.This tour is a great introduction to Central Park and combines views of the bridges,lakes and skyline.

    At each stop of the photo tour,I will provide you with explanations around photography（摄影）,camera settings, etc.You will be able to put these tips to good use immediately.

NEW YORK RUNMNG TOUR $50

With Sebastien B.

    Love running?Love New York?Do you want to see the sites of the city?Contact me and we'll take a special tour. All you'll need to do is to put on your sports shoes and we'll be off.I'll show you my favorite running spots along the Hudson River or north of Central Park and away from all the tourists.

    If you're thinking of training for something,I'll give you the explanations and tips to make the best of your time training!

GREENWICH VILLAGE FOOD TOUR $75

With Manhattan W.

    Discover unbelievable places to eat.This is the real Greenwich Village gastronomic（美食的）experience.Along the way,find out how the village has kept its unique character throughout the years,from the Dutch and English controlled periods to today.

Tour runs every day from 12:30 PM-2:30 PM.

NEW YORK BY NIGHT PHOTO TOUR $115

With Sam L.

    We have already prepared NYC for the most unique points for you.During the  hour walking tour,we share these special comers of NYC.

    The night tour teaches night photography techniques while discovering the "darker" side of the city that never sleeps: the UN headquarters,42nd street,Grand Central Terminal,the Chrysler Building,Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall.

    Everyone can benefit a lot from reading books. The following is about the various benefits of reading books.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Whenever you read something, you learn information that you otherwise wouldn't have known. It can be a fact about history or a theory you didn't know existed. If you want to learn new words, reading books is a great way to enlarge your vocabulary.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Similar to solving puzzles, reading books allows your mind to practice its processing skills. Going without books for too long will turn your mind into a whirl(混乱).

    One of the primary benefits of reading books is its ability to develop your critical thinking skills.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Wherever you are faced with a similar problem in real life, your mind is able to put its mystery-solving skills to a test.

    One of the real benefits of reading books is that the information in it can be accessed over and over again. For example, reading a cookbook allows you the luxury of reviewing the procedures whenever you need to.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Don't even think about writing the information down because you may lose the paper you wrote down on sooner or later.

    These are just some of the wonderful benefits of reading books.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}If you can't even go outside, you can download free e-books on line and read them on your computer. That way, you can set how advantageous reading can be for yourself.

A. Reading books keeps your mind active

B. You can improve your memory by reading

C. Reading books provides you with new knowledge

D. Following a recipe from a cooking show will be difficult

E. Reading mystery novels, for example, sharpens your mind

F. Reading keeps your mind in good condition

G. Why don't you drop by the bookstore or library and pick a book up

    Life often requires people to join in unpleasant situations. Rather often, these unpleasant situations do not happen on their own, but happen because of other people's actions and words. Fortunately, there are useful ways to deal with conflicts(冲突).

    The best way to solve a conflict is not to let it happen. Nothing useful comes out of a conflict. It is a total waste of time and energy for both sides and thus everyone should try his best to prevent conflict. To do this, you will need to learn the points of view your potential opponents (对手) share and the benefits of understanding people around you.

    If the conflict has already arisen, one of the best methods to settle disagreements is to treat the situation with humor. It does not mean, however, that you must ignore（忽视） your opponent's arguments and make jokes about them; it means that you should be in a friendly atmosphere, saying difficult-to-express things with a bit of humor. Humor will help you reduce anger and re-think problems to make them look easier to settle, and set your opponent's mind to working on a problem with you, not against you. This way, a conflict can become an opportunity for building a greater connection between you and your opponent.

    If the situation turns verbally abusive (恶语中伤), put a stop to it. Firmly but calmly state: "You're very angry right now and you're saying things you don't mean. I'm going to excuse myself. We can talk again after you calm down." Then leave the room or ask them to leave.

    A team of researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that too many kids are eating too much pizza and too many calories are doing harm to children's health.

    "There are a lot of takeaways from the study. But the biggest thing is that parents are serving their kids too much pizza," said Dr. William Dietz, one of the study's authors and the director of the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness at the Milken Institute of Public Health at the George Washington University.

    The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which tracked the diets of more than 11,000 children and teenagers. Researchers figured how many children eat pizza in the United States, how often they eat it, and how much they eat when they do.

    Pizza, pretty alarmingly, is the second leading source of calories in the diets of America's children, next only to grain desserts, such as cookies and other sweets. On any given day, roughly 20 percent of all children aged 2 to 11 and adolescents aged 12 to 19 eat pizza. And when they do, they eat a lot of it. When children eat pizza, they eat roughly 400 calories, according to the study. For teenagers, it's upwards of 600 calories.

    All that is pretty problematic, according to Dietz largely because kids don't tend to balance the pizza slices with salads, vegetables and other more nutritional(有营养的) foodstuffs. Days on which children and teenagers eat pizza are not only associated with considerably higher intakes of fat, but also, quite simply, with more food: on average, children consume 84 extra calories on the days they eat pizza, while adolescents consume an extra 230 calories.

    "When you eat extra calories and don't compensate(抵偿) for them at another point of the day or week, it can lead to weight gain and even obesity." Dietz said.

    There is a Silver lining. Pizza consumption is still too high by nutrition standards, but it's lower than it used to be. Consumption(消费) fell by roughly 25 percent between 2007 and 2016, according to the study. Much of that has come at dinner where it's fallen by 40 percent for children and about 33 percent for teenagers. It's unclear whether the decline has been in connection with a growing concern over obesity, especially among the country's youth.

    But the drop in pizza consumption, while significant hasn't been big enough "It's a positive trend," Dietz said. "But we're not quite them yet."

    It's easy to see the appeal of pizza. It's cheap. Parents can buy a lot of pizza for not a lot of money. Besides, they can buy pizza from a chain shop, a mom-and-pop store or a grocery freezer. And it's universally loved. The estimated 3 billion pizza eaten each year in the United States is a proof of the food's unmatched popularity. Given how much the country loves pizza, what's to be done? Dietz suggests pizza with smaller serving sizes and healthier toppings(配料). "We're not suggesting that kids avoid pizza altogether." said Dietz. "But when parents serve it, it's important that they understand it's extremely caloric. They should serve smaller pizza, or at least smaller slices."

    Do you know the proverb "no pains, no gains"? It gives the impression that we ought to be suffering while we study. It seems that the only way to know if we're putting in enough work is how much hardship we bear. We are totally taken up with study, shutting ourselves away for a big exam. Is that necessarily true?

    When we haven't taken the time to come up with another idea, we just shut ourselves in a room with a book. It's no surprise that we find revision boring and difficult. Just as children learn from playing, we can learn from doing, or at least from study techniques that interest us, rather than make us switch off. Shutting ourselves away can make us learn to hate studying, leading to a situation where, instead of being able to concentrate on our work, we are troubled by how unfair it is that we must study. This can be part of a vicious(恶性的)cycle that traps us into ineffective revision, or poor progress fueling further annoyance.

    Thankfully, working in the company of other people really helps fight against that. We just need to learn how to deal with distractions(分心). It's not necessary to avoid all company, just lazy company. They constantly try to keep others in conversation. While studying in the same room with someone who is ironing or working out is perfectly possible. Of course, it's also a good idea to avoid the company of people involved in activities where you would rather be playing than studying. Working while sitting next to someone playing video games is most likely to end with a new high score games rather than productive revision.

    If being around others means working in a noisy environment, a pair of headphones and some background music can block out noises. They also act as a psychological barrier, so that people think twice before interrupting you. Besides, we should know friends and family can lessen feelings of isolation. And connecting with other people makes us happy, so it's important not to give that up and to make sure that we take the time to socialize.