Antarctica, with its seemingly endless icy beauty, is one place where one look is worth a thousand words. My own dream to see it came true last January when I joined the sixth exploration crew(考查队) of the China National Marine Bureau. We spent 10 days connecting flights to reach our goal, but finally arrived at the Great Wall Station on Antarctica on the eve of Chinese New Year.

    There are only two seasons in Antarctica: winter and summer. You get polar nights in winter and polar days in summer. Day is longer than night in summer, and the temperature often reaches below zero. Luckily, there are no snowstorms in summer, which makes it the best season to travel. What I imagined before starting for Antarctica was a world of ice, storms, endless cold and loneliness. When I stopped on Antarctica for the first time, however, I saw rich, energetic and beautiful scenery that was beyond anything I had imagined.

    We only spent 11 days at the South Pole, but every minute was spent taking pictures and losing our heart to the wonderland. Beauty enveloped us as we watched the world around us. The mountains, oceans, ice, snow, sky, earth and people all seemed to have their own stories.

    Rocks from Antarctica are considered valuable. Unfortunately, I didn't bring one back. However, my heavy bags full of films are certainly worth that. It is in these pictures that the true Antarctica comes alive.

    All over the world people enjoy sports, Sports help to keep people healthy and happy, and to live longer.

    Many people like to watch others play games. They buy tickets or turn on their TVs to watch the games. Often they get very excited when "their" player or team wins.

    Some sports are so interesting that people everywhere go in for(参加) them. Football, for example, has spread(展开)around the world. Swimming is popular in all countries near the sea or in those with many rivers. What fun it is to jump into a pool or lake, whether in China, Egypt or Italy! And think of people in cold countries. Think how many love to skate or ski (滑雪) in Japan, Norway or Canada.

    Some sports or games go back thousands of years, like running or jumping. Chinese wushu, for example, has a very long history. But basketball and volleyball are rather new. Neither one is a hundred years old yet. People are inventing new sports or games all the time. Water-skiing is one of the newest in the family of sports.

    People from different countries may not be able to understand each other, but after a game together they often become good friends. Sports help to train(培养,训练) a person's character(性格,品格). One learns to fight hard but fight fair, to win without pride and to lose with grace(胜不骄，败不馁).

    Most of us feel very tired after working for eight hours a day, five days a week. When we get home, we watch at least one film because it's well-deserved and the only time we get to "relax" before going to sleep. Wake up and repeat. No wonder you feel tired. So how do you get out of this vicious circle? How do you restart your life?

    ⒈YOUR MINDSET

    "Oh man, another one of these self-improvement things. I hope I can do it, but I've tried these things before, and I just never stick to it."

    This was something I used to say to myself every time I try to start something new for myself. There's a fear-driven side of your brain which tells you, "You can't do this."

    What can you do? Well, the tip here is to talk to yourself like you're talking to a friend, or a coworker. So the next time you try something new, be kind to yourself like you would be kind to others. You are your own worst critic. But you can also be your firm defender.

    ⒉YOUR DIET

    If you are looking at what you eat for the reason to feel energized, then the general rules are:

    1) Eat when you're hungry. Don't eat when you're not.

    2) Be mindful when you eat. Chew at least 20 times. Let yourself taste and digest your food.

    3) Don't do three things at once when you're eating. Your body wasn't made for that.

    4) Preferably, eat "real" food. Eat what your great-grandmother would recognize as food.

    Don't let your days pass by in a boring way. Start by re-examining these key habits in your life to build a body that can start doing things you want.

    ⒊YOUR SLEEP

    Without enough sleep, we're basically going through the day drunk. This means tiredness, difficulty to respond quickly and smartly to anything that comes up. The sleeping hours needed for an average adult ranges from 7 to 9 hours.

When Jeff Sparkman draws his cartoon superheroes with coloured pencils, he often has to ask other people to tell him what colour his masked men turned out to be because he's colour blind. Now, a new smart phone application (app) can help him figure out what colours he's using and how the picture looks to most everyone else.

The DanKam app, available for iPhone and Android for $2.99, is an application that turns the vague (模糊的) colours that one percent of the population with colour-blindness see into the "true" colours as everyone else sees them. In America, an estimated 32 million colour-blind Americans—95% are males—can soon have their life improved.

"DanKam takes the stream of data coming in through the phone's camera and changes the colours slightly so they fall within the range that people who are colour-blind see," developed Dan Kaminsky told CNET. He came up with the idea after watching the 2009 film Star Trek with a colour-blind friend.

It was then that he got to know more about colourblindness like its varying types and degrees. A vast majority, for instance, have trouble seeing red or green due to a genetic defect (遗传缺陷), Blue-yellow colourblindness, however, is rarer and develops later in life because of aging, illness or head injuries, etc. He started experimenting with one of the most common representations of points in the RGB colour model. What the DanKam app attempts to do is clean up the colour space of the image or video signal so that colours can be visible to those suffering from viewing problems. "You can adjust the app to fit your needs. There is a range and not everyone who is colour-blind sees things the same," Says Kaminsky.

Sparkman, a copy editor at CNET, tried out the app and was pleased with the result: "It would be useful for dressing for a job interview," he said. But using it for his art is "the most practical application". It worked well on LED and other lights on electronic gadgets (器械), which means Sparkman can now identify the power light on his computer display green.

Why do you like the music you do? You would think that it is because of the music itself. But that's only half the story. Surprisingly, the other half of the story doesn't have much to do with music at all. By analyzing the public personalities (个性) of famous musicians, and the personality traits of their fans, a group of researchers found that people prefer the music of artists whose public personalities are similar to their own. 

In three separate studies of more than 80,000 people, the researchers looked at several factors: personality ratings of 50 of the most famous musicians, listener reactions to music, and the lyrics in the artists' music. The musicians studied were different, ranging from Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Whitney Houston, The Rolling Stones to Beyonce, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, and Ozzy Osbourne. 

The results from the three studies show that the fit in personality between the listener and the musician predicts musical preferences. It's important to note that the public personalities of the musicians were measured, not their real personalities. The findings show how music gives fans a sense of pride and belonging to a social world. Even more, the results shed light on the evolutionary (进化的) origins of music, which say that music evolved as a way to communicate groups' characteristics which helped groups decide whether or not to work with each other. All of those make the findings a major advance in this area of research.

The findings are showing us how music can be a common denominator to bring people together. They can also pave the way for a new approach for record companies to attract audiences. Besides, the findings can be applied to situations involving mental health. For example, in times of stress and uncertainty, listeners can seek music of artists with similar personalities to themselves and feel understood and a sense of connection.

China's tea culture is an ancient and profound（意义深远的）cultural heritage that has been passed down and developed for thousands of years. It weaves an complicated and fascinating pattern within Chinese society.

Tea growing in China is an art form in itself. The tea- growing areas, with their special climates and lands, produce teas of exceptional quality. From the misty mountain s of Fujian to the green landscapes of Yunnan, different areas offer a rich variety of tea types.

The process of making tea is careful and detailed. It involves exact measurements of water temperature, the right amount of tea leaves, and a certain steeping time to get the fullest flavor and smell. This care for details shows the Chinese people's search for excellence in all parts of life.

Tea is not merely a beverage; it is a thing that helps social relations. It brings people together, whether in family get- togethers, friendly meetings, or business talks. The act of sharing a cup of tea is a sign of kindness and connection. And the many tea- houses all over the country offer places for people to relax, talk, and enjoy the peace that tea gives. Moreover, tea ceremonies are an important part of Chinese culture. These ceremonies are complex and formal, showing the grace and elegance of Chinese traditions. They involve exact movements and a deep respect for the tea and the process.

In addition to its social and cultural importance, tea in China is also known for its possible health benefits. It is thought to have anti- oxidant（抗氧化的）features and is linked to various good effects on physical health.

As China keeps moving forward and modernizing, its tea culture is still strongly fixed, a proof of its historical and cultural importance. It keeps attracting both the Chinese people and those from around the world, inviting them to explore and enjoy the beauty and depth of this great cultural phenomenon.