A Dutch artist and designer has come up with a device which he hopes will get rid of pollutants from Beijing's smog skies, creating clean air for the city's mask-wearing people.

    An electromagnetic field（电磁场） will pullparticles（微粒） in the smog to the ground where they can be easily cleaned.

“It's like when you have a balloon which has static（静电） and your hair goes toward it. Same with the smog,” says artist Daan Roosegaarde.

    His studio has reached an agreement with the Beijing government to test the technology in one of tile capital's parks.

    With its skies regularly covered by dirty gray smog, Beijing this week announced a series of emergency measures to handle the problem.

    Roosegaarde says an indoor model device has already proven it works and is confident that the results — with the help of a team of scientistsand engineers — can be replicated outside.

  “Beijing is quite a good place because the smog in Beijing is quite low. It lies in a valley so there's not so much wind. It's a good environment to explore this kind of thing.”

  “We'll be able to purify the air and the challenge is to get the top of the smog so you can see the sun again.”

    Roosegaarde acknowledges that projects like this are a way of drawing attention to the problem, rather than a practical solution to Beijing's awful air pollution.

  “This is not the real answer for smog. The real answer has to do with clean cars, different industry and different lifestyles.”

    However, he hopes the project will make a “fundamental statement” by allowing the city's people to realize the difference between breathing clean and smog-filled air.

    I recently posted a picture on Facebook from the movie Mad Max, a film where two groups race through the desert in steam punk vehicles, and wrote, “Actual picture of my way to work today.” It was meant to be a joke because of the sandstorms in Beijing, but one of my friends from back home thought it was real.

    I couldn't imagine how they could think that is actually what China is like. China has so many more conveniences and advantages than the West, and many of my friends agree. “I don't know how I will be able to deal when I go back home,” said a friend who is about to end her gap year in Beijing. “I've become so spoiled in China.

    China seems to be leading the way in innovation and convenience for daily life. Back home I could never shop, pull out my phone and scan a QR code to pay.

    There have been rumors of starting bike sharing in my hometown for years with little success while bike sharing suddenly appeared in Beijing overnight. I just step outside and scan a code, and I am on my way.

    Going out to eat with a group of friends back home was troublesome for both the group and the servers. Splitting checks and swiping (刷) 10 different cards or making change for each person in the group can be a pain. But with China's WeChat, you can quickly send your friends your part of the bill.

The list goes on...

    When I first arrived in Beijing, I was dead set on leaving in a month. That month has come and gone. Now, when someone asks me when I'm coming back, I think to myself, “Who knows?”

    While my friends think I'm riding through the desert on a motorbike, I am actually taking a “Didi” for what is the equivalent of $5 in the US.

    With all the conveniences and technology here, I may never want too go back.

    Last year, I lived in Chile for half a year. I lived with a Chilean family and had the responsibilities of any Chilean teenager. I had good days and bad days I didn't understand.

    Chuquicamata, my host community, is a mining camp. When I arrived there, I was scared. It was so different from what I was used to. There were lots of dogs on the streets, and there was no downtown, few smoothly paved streets, and little to do for entertainment. Rain was not seen very often, earthquakes and windstorms were frequent.

    I had studied Spanish for two and a half years and was always one of the best students in my class. But in my first week in Chile I was only able to communicate and needed one person to whom I could explain my shock. I couldn't speak the thoughts in my head and there were so many.

    Most exchange students experience this like me. Culture shock presents itself in everything from increased aggression towards the people to lack of appetite (食欲). I was required to overcome all difficulties.

    As time passed, everything changed. I began to forget the words in English and to dream in Spanish and love Chilean food. I got used to not depending on expensive things for fun. Fun in Chuquicamata was being with people. And I took math, physics, chemistry, biology, Spanish, art, and philosophy.

    But the sacrifices were nothing compared to the gain. I learned how to accept and to succeed in another culture. I now have a deeper understanding of both myself and others.

    The flowers are blooming and the birds are singing as Melinda sits in the rose garden of the nursing home. She is recalling old times as she waits for her family's arrival. The nursing home has been Melinda's new settlement ever since Thomas passed away a week ago. Thomas had fought a long and hard battle against lung cancer for three years. Unfortunately, he has broken the promise that he and Melinda had made: to be with each other for every birthday. Melinda knew this was unrealistic (不现实的) but agreed to the promise for Thomas's sake.

    "Thomas, you are completely a dreamer." Melinda shouted to Thomas as he dragged on about living on an island with his beautiful wife. That's what she loved about him most—he had a vivid imagination. They got married at age eighteen and began having children right away. Mary came within the year, followed by Thomas Benjamin II, Lilly-Ann, and Joseph “Little Joey” George. The family lived an exultant life filled with laughter and love.

    "Mom!" Lilly shouted, but it really sounded like a howl. Melinda had lost herself in thinking about the life she had shared with her late husband. Lilly pushed her down the long dark halls of the nursing home until they arrived at the recreational room.

When the doors opened, Melinda put her hand over her mouth and was completely speechless. The room was crowded with the people nearest and dearest to her and the warmth and love was felt instantly. The night went on; stories and cocktails were shared and everything was perfect.

    However, when Melinda caught a moment to herself she looked around at her family. With a smile on her face, she raised her Manhattan and called out for a toast. “This one is for you, Thomas, though you are not here.”

On the day the tornado hit, there was no indication severe weather was on its way—the sky was blue and the sun had been out. The first alert my husband, Jimmy, 67, and I, 65, got came around 9 p. m. , from some scrolling text on the TV Jimmy was watching. He ran upstairs to find me in our third-floor bedroom, and we changed the channel from the presidential primary debate I had been watching to our local Pensacola, Florida, station.

No sooner had we found coverage of the tornado than it was on top of us. It was the loudest thing I have ever heard. The bones of the house shook, and the power went out. Pink insulation flew into the room from a trapdoor to the attic, and the wind began to roar through the house.

I didn't know how or if we would make it down the steps. It felt as if there were no floor underneath me as the wind lifted me off my feet. I gripped the banister (栏杆) and tried to move forward, but this intense pressure held me in place.

By the time I reached the closet, the tornado had been over us for about a minute. Jimmy pushed me down to the closet floor, but he couldn't get inside himself because of the wind. I gripped Jimmy's arm. My knees and scalp were full of glass, but in that moment, I felt no pain.

All of a sudden, Jimmy lifted off his feet like people in tornadoes do in the movies. I thought he was gone. And then everything stopped. He landed on his feet. In those first quiet moments, I couldn't believe it was over. Jimmy said he'd go outside to check. "No," I said. "Don't leave me. "

Our neighbor says the storm lasted four minutes. In that time, four of the twelve town houses in our unit were completely destroyed. Of the houses left standing, ours suffered the most damage. Amazingly, none of us were severely injured.