If you ever visit an English village, make sure to look out for morris dancing. Undoubtedly one of the strangest traditions of English culture, morris dancing is a form of folk dancing that dates back to the 15th century. If you ever get the opportunely, you really have to see it.

    Men and women wearing old-fashioned, shabby clothing dance in the streets of towns and villages across the country during the holiday periods. Women wear long, frilly(有褶皱边的) skirts and men wear short trousers with bells attached to them. They dance to traditional folk music which is often played on traditional musical instruments.

    Some groups carry heavy black sticks which they beat against each other while they dance. Other groups wave handkerchiefs in the air while they perform. The dances are usually performed near a pub so that when it's over, the dancers and audience can sing some traditional folk songs over a pint of beer. The celebrations will often continue long into the night, by which point most people are too drunk to think about performing again.

    Morris dancing is a great English tradition but it's facing a big crisis. As the years go by, fewer and fewer young people are joining morris dancing groups. The dancers are getting older and older and eventually, if nothing is done to change this trends, the tradition will die out within the next few decades.

    If you've ever had the fortune to see morris dancing, you may understand why teenagers aren't rushing to sign up. Putting it to the point, it's not exactly the coolest thing for an 18-year-old to be doing. Why dress up in bells and funny costumes when you could be going clubbing? Or playing sport? Or doing anything else?

    However, it would be a great shame to lose such a fun and lively part of England's history and culture. It's important to look after some traditions and customs especially when it's something as harmless and happy as morris dancing. So here's a toast to the next generation of would-be morris dancers! Let's hope they don't leave it too late.

    The National Air and Space Museum in Washington，DC has thousands of objects on display，including the 1903 Wright Flyer，Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St．Louis，the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia，and a lunar rock you can touch．In addition to our exhibition galleries，you may want to visit the Albert Einstein Planetarium，Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater，and the Public Observatory on the east end．There are many things to do at the Museum in DC．We offer daily tours and educational activities for both children and adults．We also have scheduled lectures and events throughout the year．

Hours & Admission：Open every day except December 25．Admission is free．

    Regular hours：10：00 am to 5：30 pm

    Extended Hours：10：00 am to 7：30 pm

    December 26-30，2016

    March 30-April 20，2017

    Fridays and Saturdays，April 24-May 16，2017

    May 17-September 7，2017

    VISITING TIPS：

    Limit the Number of Bags：All visitors are screened through metal detectors upon entry．The fewer items you bring inside the Museum，the faster your entry．Before you visit，please review the list of prohibited items，which include pocket knives and tripods（三脚架）．Visitors carrying prohibited items will not be allowed inside the museum，so please leave them at home or in your car．

    No food and Drink：Only bottled water is permitted in the Museum．You may only consume food and other drinks in the Food Court，not in the Museum．Groups who bring food are encouraged to picnic on the National Mall．

Please Take Photos：You are welcome to take photos for personal use．However，tripods and monopods（单脚架） are not permitted without approval．

    First Aid：The Museum has a First Aid office and a nurse on duty．Please contact the nearest security officer or the Welcome Center for assistance．

    Visit the Welcome Center：At our Welcome Center in the South Lobby，staff and volunteers can answer any questions you have during your visit．

    Phone：202-633-2214

    E-mail：NASM-VisitorServices@si．edu

    Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had "seven fathers ", because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she hid herself into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.

    In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because he thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the University's Writers' Workshop, however, she felt lonely—a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her "creative voice".

    "It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn't think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalanced in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That's when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn't write about."

    Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street , when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children's book, and a shortstory collection.

    Hiking England

    DAY 1: ST. BEES TO ENNERDALE BRIDGE

    Our journey sets out early this morning with a Coast to Coast tradition approaching the Irish Sea. Then set off along the rocks of St. Bees Head. Turning inland, we'll pause for a typical pub lunch on our way to Ennerdale Bridge, located at the foot of the Lake District mountains. (15 miles hiking, 8 hours)

    Accommodations: Ennerdale Country House Hotel

    DAY2: ENNERDALE BRIDGE TO HONISTER

    Today we'll walk into impressive Lake District National Park, where glass-like lakes reflect mountains that rise from their shores. Our pleasant walk covers the southern edge of Ennerdale Water, the park's most western lake. After lunch near the Black Sail Hut, climb a 2,000 foot mountain and take in the beautiful views of lakes and pastures (牧场). We finish in Borrowdale, a short transfer (转乘) from our hotel. (13 miles hiking, 9 hours)

    Accommodations: Inn on the Lake

    DAY 3: GRASMERE TO GLENRIDDLNG

    Take a short drive to Grasmere, where the great poet William Wordsworth wrote some of his most well-known works. Visit the poet's home, and walk through the village where he found inspiration. Then climb over Grisedale Hause enjoying views of Helvellyn, England's third-highest mountaintop. Hike down the valley toward Lake Ullswater and spend the night in Glenridding. (9 miles hiking, 5 hours)

    Accommodations: Glenridding Lake Hotel

    DAY 4: LAKE ULLSWATER TO SHAP

    The day begins with a scenic journey on Lake Ullswater to Howtown. From here, we cross a historic Roman road on our way to Bampton. Hike to the 12th-century Shap Abbey. A short transfer takes us to our hotel in the typical English village of Ravenstonedale. (12 miles hiking, 7 hours)

    Accommodations: The Black Swan

    When I heard the piano, I walked to Mrs. Windsor's house and waited outside as I always did. That meant she was working with another student, and I was not supposed to bother them by ringing the bell. I stood against the wall and daydreamed what I'd rather be doing. "Almost anything", I sighed dejectedly. I had been tutored enough to read, understand, and even write some musical compositions, but I just didn't have a gift for it. It didn't come to me naturally. I thought back to happier times when I was writing stories and acting them out with my friends, cutting up old clothes to make dresses that performers wear in plays, and building scenery out of old things we found. But Mrs. Windsor had offered to give me the lessons for free, so I felt my duty to try.

    The door opened and Wendy Barton came out. I walked in, sat down on the piano bench and began to sort through my sheet music.

    "Hello," I heard a voice behind me say softly. I turned around to see a little girl standing behind me, eating an apple. But before I could make any response, Mrs. Windsor walked into the room in her usual urgent manner and announced, "Jennifer, this is my niece, Pasha. Pasha, this is Jennifer. Pasha will be giving you your lesson today. I'm up to my ears in something else!" she then exited to the kitchen.

Pasha set her apple down on the side table and slid beside me on the piano bench.

    "What piece do you like best?" she asked.

    "What do you mean?" I asked. "They're all the same to me. I don't know.

    "You mean you don't have a favorite?"

    "No, not really."

    Pasha looked at me, rather puzzled, then opened my sheet music to the beginning page and asked me to play. I arranged my fingers on the keys and studied the notes on the page for a moment. Then I frowned and concentrated to make the notes on the page match the finger movements. I have to admit I was a rather mechanical pianist.

    After about a page or two, Pasha gently put her hand on top of mine as if to calm my fingers. There was a long pause. "What are you hearing in the music?" I looked at her rather strangely and admitted I didn't know what she meant.

    "Like a story. What story is being playing out within the music?"

    "I guess I've never thought about it before. I don't know."

    "Here, let me try and you listen," Pasha advised.

    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her fingers dance lightly over the keys. Then, she began to play. "See, it begins here beside some kind of river. Hear the water flowing beside you?"

    Her fingers rose and fell gently on the keys. "Now the princess appears and she's picking flowers from the water's edge." A carefree, happy piece of music filled the air in time to Pasha's dancing fingers. "Oh, but she slips!" The music changed. "And our princess is being carried off by the fast-flowing stream. Quickly, the princess's horse sees her plight (困境)," Pasha continued, "and races to the river's edge where he swims out to let her catch hold of him. They make it to the bank and she hugs her faithful horse and swears she will never again wear princess skirts that weigh her down." Pasha finished with a big smile and then looked at me.

"Aren't you the girl who tells the stories?" she asked.

    "I guess. I do tell a lot of stories."

    "Oh, yes! All the kids talk about them. I've heard about you. Well, all you have to do is learn to hear the stories in the music. That's all there is to it."

    "I've never thought it that way."

    "Let's try another one, shall we?" Pasha smiled and together we played that afternoon, finding the stories in the music and learning that sometimes it takes a friend to pull you out of the river onto dry land again.

    A Canadian woman who lost her diamond ring 13 years ago while cleaning her garden on the family farm is wearing it proudly again after her daughter-in-law pulled it from the ground or a carrot.

    Mary Grams, 84, said she can't believe the lucky carrot actually grew through and around the diamond ring she had long given up hope of finding. She said she never told her husband, Norman, that she lost the ring, but only told her son. Her husband died five years ago.

    "I feel glad and happy," Grams said this week. "I grew into the carrot. I feel it amazing".

    Her daughter-in-law, Calleen Daley, found the ring while getting carrots in for supper with her dog Billy at the farm near Armena, Alberta, where Grams used to live. The farm has been in the family for 105 years. Daley said while she was pulling the carrots and noticed one of them looked strange. She almost fed it to her dog but decided to keep it when she was washing; the carrots she noticed the ring and spoke to her husband, Grams' son, about what she had found.

    They quickly called Grams. "I told her we found her ring in the garden She couldn't believe it," Daley said. "It was so strange that the carrot grew perfectly through that ring."

    Grams said she wanted to try the ring on again after so many years. With her family looking on, she washed the ring with a little soap to get the dirt off. It moved on her finger as easily as I did when her husband gave it to her.

    "We were laughing," she said. "It fits. After so many years it still fits perfectly."