Long Beach, a 28-mile area of beach, lies in southwestern Washington, and is generally called Long Beach Peninsula. Communities there take you back to old days of a simple life. Here, visitors can relax and enjoy the good of a total rest.

    Bird watching

    There are different kinds of birds on Long Beach. It's best if you watch them from a distance and don't try to frighten them. The Southwest Loop Route Map can be got through the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Office by calling 1-800-451-2542.

    Horses

    A popular activity on Long Beach is horseback riding. Two businesses in the city of Long Beach offer guided horseback tours along the beach: Black Country Wilderness Outfitters and Skipper's Equestrian Center. You may also bring your own horse. Among the adventures offered with horses is a wagon（四轮马车）ride along the beach, a carriage ride through Seaview or Long Beach, a back country pack trip, or a sunset ride by horseback on the beach.

    Camping

    RV（活动房屋式旅游车）and tent camping aren't allowed on the beach. Camp fires are allowed within 100 feet off the beach, but must be away from the dry grass.

    Swimming and other activities

    Swimming is allowed, but you must be careful. The waters are very cold and dangerous. Surfing（冲浪）is advised only for experienced surfers. Beach driving is allowed at certain areas on the beach. The speed limit is 25 mph. Building sand castles, digging sand to find something, riding bicycles and flying kites are also popular activities in the area.

    Enjoy your trip to Long Beach, Washington!

    A billionaire has recently made one of the biggest charitable（慈善的）donations to a university in China's history. Chen Tianqiao donated $115 million to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to help advanced brain research. The donation will be spent deepening the understanding of how the brain works. Chen has been interested in brain research, believing it can shape the industries such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality. However, this huge donation has caused heated discussions among Chinese scholars and internet users alike.

    Many criticized him for choosing to give money to a foreign university rather than home institutes for brain research, which are developing fast and are on track to catch up with the US in just a few years. Rao Yi, a biologist at Peking University, even said the donation was a typical mistake.

    Others, however, support his choice. They believe Caltech is a more reasonable choice compared with Chinese research institutions. Caltech has a long history and has taken a leading position in biology, and therefore it produces more efficient results. In addition, the results of the research benefit not only the American people, but also the rest of the world.

    A similar controversial case started two years ago when Pan Shiyi, chairman of SOHO China, donated $15 million to Harvard University to help disadvantaged Chinese students.

    Many believe that China is still behind in the management and use of donated money, and that as a result, Chinese charity donators are looking abroad. In comparison, Western countries like the US, which have a long history of donating money, have well-developed systems that use money efficiently. They can also provide full access for donors who want to track the use of the money. To get more donations, Chinese universities should be braver and more honest. They need self-reflection, rather than envy.

    Italian Joseph Caspar Mezzofanti was said to have spoken more than 38 languages fluently at the time of his death in 1849, a skill that would have been useful in today's globalized economy. Unfortunately, when it comes to the high school Spanish lesson in the decades, most people nowadays have remembered that there is nothing more complex than "Donde esta la biblioteca". So we set out to uncover what's involved in learning a foreign language and which methods work best.

    Some advertisements say that some language learners believe they're just a 15-minute audio tape away from becoming UN interpreters. But experts say these get-fluent-fast programs are a complete sham." Actually, there is hardly a shortcut that can do that," says Dekeyser, a professor of second language acquisition at the University of Maryland." The only way to learn a language is to make quite a bit of effort on a daily basis."

    Many experts agree that the ideal learning method for language learners really depends on the individual." Find the method that works for you and stick with it," says Simcott, a polyglot who has professionally worked in over 14 languages at once for the British Foreign Service." If audio works for you, do audio. If you like taking classes, do classes. But remember to keep practicing every day."

    However, not all people are created equal. Some may have talent for language learning, but it doesn't mean they can passively await fluency. "Practice is an effective learning method," says Davidson." The more time that you spend during the day speaking your second language, the better at it you're going to be."

    Learning from multiple people is also a good way, especially when you are attempting to cultivate a native accent. "When you are exposed to a lot of people, you get a much better sense of what the sound of a word is supposed to be," says Davidson. "You avoid exposing yourself to what could be features in one individual's speech patterns."

    Chinese cuisine is widely known and enjoyed all around the world. Who doesn't long for a favorite Chinese dish? But there is one interesting concept concerning Chinese food which is almost unheard of in the West, and which is becoming increasingly ignored by the youth of the East-- the ancient custom of "tonic food".

    Tonic food is food which is consumed to improve one's well-being or avoid sickness. For instance, it was once the custom for new mothers to eat a sesame oil (麻油) hot pot every day for the first month after giving birth. It was believed that this dish would benefit the muscles, reduce pain, improve circulation, stimulate sweating, and warm the body. Some foods, such as goat meat and spinach, are seen as "hot", while others, such as Chinese cabbage and radishes, are seen as "cold". One should be careful not to eat too much of either "hot" or "cold" food. However, how much "hot" or "cold" food one should eat depends on the time of the year, how the food is prepared and what it is prepared with, and the individual's health.

    The custom of employing tonic food for a healthier life also influences the catering industry. Chinese herbal medicines, such as wolfberry (枸杞), can be found on many a restaurant menu, either added to fruit tea or as a beneficial addition to a dish. These herbs attract customers, such as overworked office staff, in need of a modest pick-me-up.

    So, whether you need to boost your strength with a large helping of chicken soup, or increase your mental powers with a serving of fish soup, you may find that this ancient Chinese custom could be just the tonic you were looking for.

    "Don't tell anyone". We hear these words when someone tells a secret to us. But it can be hard to keep a secret. We often tend to "spill the beans", even if we regret it later.

    According to Asim Shah, professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, US, keeping a secret may well" become a burden". This is because people often have an "obsessive (强迫性的) and anxious urge to share it with someone".

    An earlier study, led by Anita E. Kelly, a scientist at the University of Notre Dame, US, suggested that keeping a secret could cause stress. People entrusted with secrets can suffer from depression, anxiety, and body aches, reported the Daily Mail.

    But with secrets so often getting out, why do people share them at all? Shah explained that people often feel that it will help them keep a person as a friend. Another reason people share secrets is guilt over keeping it from someone close to them. A sense of distrust can develop when people who are close do not share it with each other." Keeping or sharing secrets often puts people in a position of either gaining or losing the trust of someone." according to Shah.

    He added that talkative people could let secrets slip out. But this doesn't mean that it is a good idea only to share secrets with quiet people. A quiet person may be someone who keeps everything inside. To tell such a person a secret may cause them stress, and make them talk about the secret.

    Shah said that to judge whether to tell someone a secret, you'd better put yourself in their position. Think about how you would feel to be told that you mustn't give the information away. Shah also recommended that if you accidentally give up someone's secret you should come clean about it. Let the person know that their secret isn't so secret anymore.

Photo Research

"If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of better stuff." Photographer Jim Richardson shared it with others. He spends a great deal of time doing photo research, looking for great locations to shoot.

Seeing a wonderful place is bread-and-butter photography—it's just part of the job. Getting there is only half of any great photograph's story. The other half is how the photographer prepares to capture the subject once in front of it. It is believed that groundwork is part of photography, as essential as knowing exposure and lighting or recognizing the decisive moment to take the shot. Research sounds like a boring task for many photographers, while for others digging into a subject in advance is part of the pleasure.

Philosophically, photographers seem to divide along that line. On one side are those who desire only to be in the moment. On the other side are the planners. They would never dream of going out the door without a full list of how they're going to approach the shoot. Actually, there is a third group nowadays. They just take photos of the whole scene and do all the creative work in Photoshop after the event. Most photographers do both: research carefully to prepare their schedule and then act in the moment once on site.

Photographers should do a lot of research in order to get ready for a photographic trip. This includes creating a file for each location they are due to visit. They start a file for each place and begin to make a list of the pieces of information. Knowing what the place looks like in advance is invaluable, so it is good to hit several Internet photo sites. Besides clueing them into the photographic possibilities of the location, this can also show what angles have already become overused and which they should therefore avoid. But photographers will also find angles they didn't expect from locations they hadn't imagined. Armed with these they will be better prepared to push the boundaries of what they expect.

"Above all, I'll look for places and events that are seasonal and timeless. I open my mind to what might make a great subject for a picture," Jim said. "Most travelers tend to think only of places they're visiting, without looking deeper into culture, history or meaning. I try to get in time with the rhythm of the place and in tune with its melody. But most of all I just want to be ready. If I'm ready, I can just about count on being lucky."