The Renaissance，considered by modern scholars to have been the time between 1,300 and 1,600，was a period of European history when many new inventions and beliefs came into being.

    The Renaissance is traced back to rich Italian cities such as Florence，Milan，and Venice.In these cities businessmen started to spend their extra money on things like painting and education，and to consider new techniques of banking and systems of government.A new type of scholar，the humanist(人文主义者)arose.Humanism was concerned with humankind and culture.Latin and Greek，literature and philosophy，music and mathematics were among the subjects humanists studied.

    The Renaissance gave rise to new forms of painting and  sculpture.During  the  Renaissance，artists were no longer regarded as mere artisans(工匠)．Many artists drew on mathematics in order to become more accurate in their measurements(度量)and to make sure an object was presented in realistic proportions.They also studied the way light hits objects and the ways our eyes perceive it.A new kind of paint，called oil paint，was invented.

    The Renaissance affected all of the society.Many people became interested in politics，and the world outside their towns.They became explorers，businessmen，etc.The effect on religion was especially strong.In the Middle Ages people were primarily concerned with serving the church and getting to heaven.But the increase in arts  and education gave  people things to look forward to in life，and made them lose interest in the church.

    The  Renaissance  produced  many  great minds.Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest，although he was not regarded that way at the time.Among his many works of art were Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.He is also regarded as a great inventor，and is credited for coming up with the idea of the helicopter.

    Music for Humans and Humpback Whales (座头鲸)

    As researchers conclude in Science, the love of music is not only a universal feature of the human species but is also deeply fixed in complex structures of the human brain and is far more ancient than previously suspected.

    In the articles, researchers present various evidence to show that music-making is at once an original human “business”, and an art form with skillful performers throughout the animal kingdom.

    The new reports stress that humans hold no copyright on sound wisdom, and that a number of nonhuman animals produce what can rightly be called music, rather than random sound. Recent in-depth analyses of the songs sung by humpback whales show that, even when their organ would allow them to do otherwise, the animals converge on the same choices related to sounds and beauty, and accept the same laws of song composition as those preferred by human musicians, and human ears, everywhere.

    For example, male humpback whales, who spend six months of each year doing little else but singing, use rhythms (节奏) similar to those found in human music and musical phrases of similar length—a few seconds. Whales are able to make sounds over a range of at least seven octaves (八度音阶), yet they tend to move on through a song in beautiful musical intervals (间隔), rather than moving forwards madly. They mix the sounds like drums and pure tones in a ratio (比例) which agrees with that heard in much western music. They also use a favorite technique of human singers, the so-called A-B-A form, in which a theme is stated, then developed, and then returned to in slightly revised form.

Perhaps most impressive, humpback songs contain tunes that rhyme. “This suggests that whales use rhyme, the same way we do: as a technique in poem to help them remember complex materials,” the researchers write.

    The town of Green Bank, West Virginia, is the site of the largest radio telescope in the world, so Internet connections and anything else that can create electromagnetic(电磁的) waves, such as smart phones and microwave ovens, are banned.

    Green Bank is frozen in time, somewhere in the 1950s, because there's a 33,000-square-kilometer zone of silence due to the telescope. Cell phone towers are forbidden.

    The closer you get to the telescope, the greater the restrictions. There's a 16-kilometer radius(半径) around the observatory where radio-controlled items, even toys, cannot be used.

    Telescope employees even work in a special room that blocks electromagnetic waves from leaving it. “Here imagine a submarine(潜艇), water cannot get inside, and so this room is an electric submarine. No electromagnetic waves can get into this room, just as you can't go beyond it,” Michael Holstein, an observatory officer, said.

    The size of a football field, the telescope is so sensitive that it could pick up signals sent from an alien world. And scientists can't wait for that to happen.

    “All the signals that we now receive with the help of telescopes are signals that come from cosmic objects — stars, galaxies. We have not yet received anything from intelligent civilizations,” scientist Richard Lynch said.

    Local people respect the work of the scientists. “Yes, we are different. Many would say that we live the old-fashioned way, in the past. But for us, it's just the way of life that we have always lived,” Sherry said.

    “When we want to meet friends, we just call each other on a wire phone. And instead of sitting in front of your screen, we talk, we go fishing, to the mountains,” resident Sherry said.

    For the latest news, residents read the weekly local newspaper. When she's looking for a phone number, Sherry reaches for the phone book.

    And instead of Facebook, Sherry enjoys daily conversations with her customers. In this town, everyone knows each other and communication is face to face.

    A serious problem for today's society is who should be responsible for our elderly and how to improve their lives. It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society. I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem.

    First, employers should take the responsibility for their retired employees. To make this possible, a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose. But when a company must take life-long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs.

    Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual. This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement. This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years. This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor.

    In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly. This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions. Furthermore, some institutions should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them. Unfortunately, as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable answer. The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young.

    One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some working places especially for the elderly where they are independent.

    To sum up, all these options have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations.

    This is a true story that happened in Japan. In order to repair the house, a Japanese tore open the walls. Japanese houses normally have an empty space between the wooden walls. When pulling down the walls, he found that there was a lizard（蜥蜴）staying there because a nail（钉子）from outside was hammered into one of its feet. He saw this, feeling pity and curious. When he checked the nail, he found it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built.

    What happened? The lizard had survived in such a position for 10 years! It has been in a dark wall partition（夹层）for 10 years without moving! Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years without moving a single step—since its foot was nailed! So he stopped his work and observed the lizard: What has it been doing? What and how has it been eating? Later, he didn't know from where another lizard appeared, with food in its mouth. Ah! He was astonished and touched deeply. The free lizard had been feeding it for the past 10 years.

    Such love, a beautiful love! Such love happened with this tiny creature… What can love do? It can do wonders! Just think about it: one lizard had been feeding the other for 10 long years, without giving up hope on its partner. If a small creature like a lizard can love like this, just imagine how we can love if we try.

    Ahead of the summer travel season, airlines in the United States usually compete to sell tickets and fill seats. But the airlines that operate the grounded Boeing 737 Max planes have a new problem: there are not enough seats to meet the demand.

    The revenue(收益)is right in front of them. They can see it, but they can't meet it, said Mike Trevino. He is an airline industry expert for Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, The grounding of Boeing's 737 Max came after two deadly crashes in five months. Southwest Airlines is the world's largest 737 Max operator. The company has 34 of the planes.

    American Airlines operates the second-most, with 24. These planes have been removed from use until at least August, The grounding of the planes has led Southwest to cancel 160 of its 4,200 daily flights between June 8 and August 5.

    American Airlines will cancel 115 daily flights, or 1.5 percent of its total summer flights .Southwest only flies Boeing 737s. It had estimated $ 150 million in lost revenue between February and March 31--mostly because of MAX cancellations.

    The 737Max was grounded worldwide in March following a deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash. It came five months after a Lion Air crash in Indonesia. All on board both planes died.

    Boeing is under pressure to provide additional software. Experts are examining the original software as a possible reason for the crashes.

    Boeing must prove to worldwide regulators that the plane is safe to fly. That process may take more than 90 days. Planes in the United States are usually mostly full during the months of June, July and August.