China has more than 30 intangible cultural heritage recognized by the UNESCO, including paper-cutting, the Dragon Boat Festival, Peking Opera, acupuncture(针灸)and so on. The organization adopted a decision that China's “The Twenty-Four Solar Terms” (二十四节气)should be put on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016 in Ethiopia.

    The Twenty-Four Solar Terms, knowledge of time and practices in agriculture, starts from the Beginning of Spring and ends with the Greater Cold, moving in cycles. It developed through the observation of the sun's annual movement in China. In ancient time, the method of tugui, earth sundial(日暑), was used to measure the shadow of the sun for determining the solar terms.

    The Twenty-Four Solar Terms came into being and developed in close relationship with Chinese agricultural production. At the initial stage of agricultural development, people began to explore the seasonal rules in the agricultural production to meet the needs in seeding, harvesting and other activities. Gradually, they formed the concept of “seed in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn and store in winter”. During the spring and autumn periods, the agricultural production was highly influenced by the seasonal changes, thus forming the concept of Solar Terms.

    As a traditional Chinese knowledge system of time with a history of thousands of years, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms clearly expresses the concepts of respect for nature, and harmony between man and nature. Created by Chinese ancestors, it have functioned as a complete set of weather calendar(日历)to guide the agricultural production in China. It has also been introduced into North Korea, Japan and other neighboring countries and still used in Japan. The Chinese heritage has provably influenced the people's way of thinking and behaving and will continue to be an important carrier of Chinese cultural identity.

    Will it matter if you don't take your breakfast? Recently a test was given in the United States. Those tested included people of different ages, from 12 to 83. During the experiment, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Special tests were set up to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten a certain kind of breakfast. The results show that if a person eats a proper breakfast, he or she will work with better effect than if he or she has no breakfast. This fact appears to be especially true if a person works with his brains. If a student eats fruit, eggs, bread and milk before going to school, he will learn more quickly and listen with more attention to class.

    Opposite to what many people believe, if you don't eat breakfast, you will not lose weight. This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch, and end up gaining weight instead of losing. You will probably lose more weight if you reduce your other meals.

    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.

    Many youths want to learn how to drive cars. This year one sixth of undergraduates in Beijing have registered at driving school. The students, mostly from majors such as business management or imitational trade, will finish their driving courses within 20 days or so.

    Training costs have dropped to 4, 500 yuan for students, according to the Haidian Driving School in Beijing. The price is not really low, but students will accept it, seeing it as an investment (投资) in their future. Familiarity with the operation of computers and fluent English are the basic skills graduating students need to find a job. But a driver s permit has become another factor (因素).

    "In the job market, owning a driver's permit sometimes strengthens a graduating student's competitiveness for a good position," says Li Hua, an undergraduate at the China University of Political Science and law.

    Cars will become a necessary part of many people's lives in the coming years, and it is difficult to get a permit out of campus because of the pressures on working people's time. "Having a full-time job after graduation offers limited time to learn to drive. We senior students have plenty of spare time, plenty of oppurtunity to learn," says another undergraduate at the university.

    Wu Dong, an official at the driving school, said undergraduates were very able and serious, and could grasp in an hour what ordinary people took four hours to learn. In this driving school, middle-aged people, young women and college students are the main customers.

    From March 1, 2018, to get a driver's permit, a beginner is now required to have at least 86 hours' practice before the final road test.

    To develop one's taste in English, the most effective way is to read English books extensively. Yet one may be at a loss to choose the appropriate books, especially as a beginner. As a native Spanish, I would like to share some of my experience.

    My first English novel was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, recommended by many English teachers and professors as an ideal book for English learners. But my experience was somewhat disastrous. I had great difficulty in understanding the novel, let alone enjoying it. It's not the vocabulary that troubled me, but rather the way Austen constructs sentences, and her way of thinking, which seemed too remote to me at that time. My fading enthusiasm was much recovered after reading Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms. No long and complicated sentences. And I particularly liked his brief and straightforward (简洁的) style. So my first suggestion is, as a beginner, you'd better choose contemporary novels instead of classical ones.

    However, if you restrict yourself to novels you will miss a lot of treasures. English essays can at once inform you, entertain you, and improve your taste in English. The best example is Bertrand Russell's work. Its language is plain, yet you cannot help feeling the elegance and the peculiar sense of humor. His simple language enables his philosophy within the reach of ordinary people. Here comes my second suggestion—essays are indispensable.

    Never follow others' recommendations and opinions blindly, however famous or influential (有很大影响的) the person might be. We should be open to various ideas, but always think and determine for ourselves. As a saying goes, one man's meat is another man's poison. With that in mind, we are bound to find out our favorite writers through reading and develop our fine taste in English.

Our Museums, Galleries, and Zoo

19 world-class museums, galleries, and a zoo

The Smithsonian offers eleven museums and galleries on the National Mall and six other museums and the National Zoo in the greater National Capital Area. In New York City, we invite you to tour two museums in historic settings.

Not near a Smithsonian museum? Look for exhibitions and museums in your community. Here we have listed some places to visit:

Tips & Guidelines:

    Stop at any Smithsonian museum information desk where friendly and knowledgeable staff and volunteers can assist you in planning your visit.

    Service animals are welcome at the museums and the National Zoo. Pets are not permitted.

    Lunches should be properly closed or stored in lockers during your visit.