As a young girl growing up in the 1930s, I always wanted to fly a plane, but back then it was almost unheard of for a woman to do that. I got a taste of that dream in 2001, when my husband arranged for me to ride in a hot air balloon for my birthday. But the experience turned out to be very dull. Around that time, I told my husband that I wanted to skydive. So when our retirement community announced that they were having an essay competition and the topic was an experience of a lifetime that you wanted to have, I decided to write about my dream.

    In the essay, I wrote about my desire to skydive, stating George Brush Sr. did it at age 80. Why not me? I was just 84 and in pretty good health. A year went by and I heard nothing. But then at a community party in late April 2009, they announced that I was one of the winners. I just couldn't believe it. Inspired by this, I decided to realize my dream, even though some of my family members and my doctor were against it.

    On June 11, 2009, nearly 40 of my family and friends gathered in the area close to where I would land while I headed up in the airplane. My instructor, Jay, guided me through the experience. The plane was the noisiest one I had ever been in, but I wasn't frightened—I was really just looking forward to the experience. When we reached 13,000 feet, Jay instructed me to throw myself out of the plane. When we first hit the air, the wind was so strong that I could hardly breathe. For a second I thought, “What have I gotten myself into?” But then everything got calmer. We were in a free fall for about a minute before Jay opened the parachute（降落伞）, then we just floated downward for about five minutes. Being up in the clouds and looking at the view below was unlike anything I have ever felt—much better than the hot air balloon. I was just enjoying it.

    Skydiving was really one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope other people will look at me and realize that you don't stop living just because you are 84 years old. If there's something you want to experience, look into it. If it's something that is possible, make it happen.

    All the foodies(美食家) in Shanghai know where to explore next. The world famous food guide, the Michelin Guide, updated its Shanghai edition(版本) on Sept 20.

    The Michelin Guide rates(评价) restaurants with one to three stars. The French tire(轮胎) company Michelin first made the guide more than a century ago. But why does a tire company make food guides?

    Back in 1900, there were not many cars in France. So the company made free motorist guidebooks, with a list of hotels and restaurants to visit. They encouraged people to drive more and to buy more tires. It turned out that the guidebooks were popular. Later, it became restaurant guidebooks we know today.

    The restaurant reviews are written by a group of mysterious people--the Michelin inspectors(巡视员). The company hires(雇佣) inspectors, who are all cuisine(烹饪) experts, to visit restaurants just like common customers. Neither the restaurants nor the public know who they are and how many of them there are in the world.

    The guides have come to 28 countries and areas. It arrived in Shanghai, its first stop in the Chinese mainland, in September 2016. Many people doubted whether a food guide from Westerners could understand the Chinese cuisine. The company argued that most of the Shanghai guide's inspectors are Chinese and from different parts of the country.

    This year, four new restaurants have been added into the second edition. They are of different styles, including a Ningbo cuisine restaurant and a vegetarian(素食的) restaurant. According to the Michelin, more Chinese cities will have their own Michelin guides in the future.

    Next month, I'm traveling to a remote area of Central Africa and my aim is to know enough Lingala — one of the local languages — to have a conversation. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage this — until I discovered a way to learn all the vocabulary I'm going to need. Thanks to Memrise, the app I'm using. It feels just like a game.

    "People often stop learning things because they feel they're not making progress or because it all feels like too much hard work," says Ed Cooke, one of the people who created Memrise. "We're trying to create a form of learning experience that is fun and is something you'd want to do instead of watching TV."

    Memrise gives you a few new words to learn and these are "seeds" which you plant in your "greenhouse". When you practice the words, you "water your plants". When the app believes that you have really remembered a word, it moves the word to your "garden". And if you forget to log on (登录)，the app sends you emails that remind you to "water your plants".

    The app uses two principles about learning. The first is that people remember things better when they link them to a picture in their mind. Memrise translates words into your own language, but it also encourages you to use "mems". For example, I memorized motele, the Lingala word for "engine", using a mem I created — I imagined an old engine in a motel (汽车旅馆) room.

    The second principle is that we need to stop after studying words and then repeat them again later, leaving time between study sessions. Memrise helps you with this, because it's the kind of app you only use for five or ten minutes a day.

    I've learnt hundreds of Lingala words with Memrise. I know this won't make me a fluent speaker, but I hope I'll be able to do more than just smile when I meet people in Congo. Now, I need to go and water my Vocabulary!

    The medical world is gradually realizing that the quality of the environment in hospitals may play an important role in helping patients to get better.

    As part of nationwide effort in Britain to bring art out of the museum and into public places, some of the country's best artists have been called in to change older hospitals and to soften the hard edges of modern buildings.

    Of the 2,500 national health service hospitals in Britain, almost 100 now have very valuable collections of present art in passages (走廊), waiting areas and treatment rooms.

    These recent movements first started by one artist, Peter Senior, who set up his studio at a Manchester hospital in northeastern England during the early 1970s. He felt the artist had lost his place in modern society, and that art should be enjoyed by a wider audience. A common hospital waiting room might have as many as 5,000 visitors each week. What a better place to hold regular exhibition of art! Senior held the first exhibition of his own paintings in the outpatients waiting area of the Manchester Royal Hospital in 1975. Believed to be Britain's first hospital artist, Senior was so much in demand that a team of six young art school graduates soon joined him.

    The effect is surprising. Now in the passages and waiting rooms, the visitor experiences a full view of fresh colors, playful images and restful courtyards.

    The quality of the environment may reduce the need for expensive drugs when a patient is recovering from illness. A study has shown that patients who had a view onto garden needed half the number of strong painkillers compared with patients who had no view at all or only a brick wall to look at.

    Shakespeare's Globe Exhibition & Tour is a unique international resource to explore Shakespeare's work. Open all year round, it gives you an opportunity to learn more about the most famous playwright, Shakespeare, and helps you seek to further the experience and international understanding of him.

Group Visits to the Exhibition & Tour

Opening Hours

    Theatre Tours:   Monday - Sunday          9:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

    Exhibition:      Monday - Sunday          9:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

    Groups of 15 people or more are required to pre-book their visit, and each group will have its own guide for free. To make a reservation, please fill in a Group Request Form and return it to us via email.

    Exhibition and Tour Prices

    Adult:                             $15.00

    Senior (60+):                    $13.50

    Student (with valid ID):        $11.50

    Child (5-15):                     $ 8.00

    Complimentary:                Every 16th person free

    Getting here

    Shakespeare's Globe 21 New Globe Walk, London SEl9DT, UK

    Visitors are advised to arrive by public transport or by taxi. There is a car park on Thames Exchange on the north side of Southwark Bridge (open 24 hours, seven days a week). Cabs may be found all year round on Southwark Bridge. It may also be possible to pick one up from outside the entrance hall on New Globe Walk.

Where to eat

    Swan at Shakespeare's Globe serves modern British seasonal food for dinner, afternoon tea or drinks in our beautiful bar and restaurant set over two floors, available for pre- and post-theatre dining.

    Swan Restaurant

    Monday- Friday:    12 noon - 2:30 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.- 10:30 p.m.

    Saturday:             12 noon- 3:30 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.

    Sunday:               12 noon- 9: 00 p.m.

    In most situations, light helps us see. But when it comes to looking at the night sky, light is actually a kind of pollution. It prevents our view of some of life's most striking sights: stars, planets, and even galaxies (银河系).

    "When I was a little boy, I loved the night sky. I remember looking up and the sky was filled with stars. I became an astronomer because I was amazed by their beauty," says Robert Gent, "Now in most big cities kids can't see the stars like I did."

    Normally, about 2，500 individual (单个的) stars are visible to the human eyes without using any special equipment. But because of light pollution, you actually see just 200 to 300 and fewer than a dozen from some cities. Only one in three Americans can see our own galaxy with the naked eyes. Those people live far away from the lights of big cities, office buildings, and shopping malls.

    Fortunately, there's an inexpensive and useful way. If we shine lights down at the ground instead of up into the sky, and use lower brightness levels, we can save big amounts of energy and keep the beauty of the night skies. Many cities and towns have passed laws limiting lights at night, making sure enough shine for safety without creating much light pollution.

    Light pollution affects more than our view of the heavens and can harm wildlife. Migrating birds (候鸟) sometimes fly over cities and become confused by the brightness, flying in circles until they drop from exhaustion. Sea turtles need dark beaches for nesting and won't approach bright lights. Too much light at night may even affect human health. For all these reasons, researchers are working on ways to use lights only when and where they are truly needed. Everyone deserves to look up at the sky.