The extraordinary Eastgate Building in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city, is said to be the only one in the world to use the same cooling and heating principles as the termite mound (白蚁堆).

    Architect Mick Pearce used precisely the same strategy when designing the Eastgate Building, which has no air conditioning and almost no heating. The building is the country's largest commercial and shopping complex but uses less than 10% of the energy of a conventional building of its size. The Eastgate's owners saved 3.5 million on a 36 million building because air conditioning didn't have to be equipped.

    The complex is actually two buildings linked by bridges across a shady, glassroofed atrium (天井) open to the air. Fans suck fresh air in from the atrium, blow it upstairs through hollow spaces under the floors and from there into each office through vents (通风口). As it rises and warms, it is drawn out via ceiling vents and finally exists through fortyeight brick chimneys.

    During summer's cool nights, big fans blow air through the building seven times an hour to cool the empty floors. By day, smaller fans blow two changes of air an hour through the building to circulate the air which has been in contact with the cool floors. For winter days, there are small heaters in the vents.

This is all possible only because Harare is 1,600 feet above sea level, and has cloudless skies, little dampness and rapid temperature swings-days as warm as 31 ℃ commonly drop to 14℃ at night. “You couldn't do this in New York, with its fantastically hot summers and fantastically cold winters,” Pearce said.

The engineering firm of Ove Arup & Partners monitors daily temperatures. It is found that the temperature of the building has generally stayed between 23 ℃ and 25 ℃, with the exception of the annual hot period just before the summer rains in October and three days in November, when a doorkeeper accidentally switched off the fans at night. And the air is far fresher than in airconditioned buildings, where up to 30% of the air is recycled.

    People these days always complain how they suffer stress from their daily life. With drugs widely available in the market today, it is still advisable that we consume the best kind of medicine for our body, that is natural drugs.

    One of the natural resources for a relaxation drug is the Valerian Root Extract. Scientifically known as Valeriana Officinalis, this plant is a flowering type with heads of pink and white flowers mostly blooming in the summer months. Native in Europe and in small parts of Asia, the plant became popular worldwide because of its sweet scent and unique health benefits.

    Past research suggests that the valerian root has healing characteristics that focus on the neurotransmitter of the brain, which makes the brain cells function well. Other researches about this herb suggest that it can keep a person free of anxiety. Although there are various types of valerian root products in the market today, modern medical studies have concluded that further research has to be taken into consideration before acknowledging the so-called benefits of Valerian Root Extracts.

    One sample of the so-called benefits is the treatment for anxiety disorder called “social anxiety disorder” or SAD. The benefit has insufficient evidence to support its claim as an alternative relief for anxiety. However, many patients said that they felt improvements on their nervous conditions, stress and overall mental ability.

    Valerian Root Extract can be acquired as a tea, tablet, or liquid extract. It is recommended that you consult your physician about this herbal plant if it can really benefit your health.

    Minutes after the last movie ended yesterday at the Plaza Theater, employees were busy sweeping up popcorns and gathering coke cups. It was a scene that had been repeated many times in the theater's 75-year history. This time, however, the cleanup was a little different. As one group of workers carried out the rubbish, another group began removing seats and other theater equipment in preparation for the building's end.

    The film classic The Last Picture Show was the last movie shown in the old theater. Though the movie is 30 years old, most of the 250 seats were filled with teary-eyed audience wanting to say good-bye to the old building. Theater owner Ed Bradford said he chose the movie because it seemed proper. The movie is set in a small town where the only movie theater is preparing to close down.

    Bradford said that large modem theaters in the city made it impossible for the Plaza to compete. He added that the theater's location (位置) was also a reason. “This used to be the center of town,” he said. “Now the area is mostly office buildings and warehouses.”

    Last week some city officials suggested the city might be interested in turning the old theater into a museum and public meeting place. However, these plans were given up because of financial problems. Bradford sold the building and land to a local development firm, which plans to build a shopping complex on the land where the theater is located.

    The theater audience said good-bye as Bradford locked the doors for the last time. After 75 years the Plaza Theater has shown its last movie. The theater will be missed.

    It was December 25, 1914, only 5 months into World War I. German, British, and French soldiers, already sick and tired of the senseless killing, disobeyed their superiors and started socializing with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Western Front.

    German troops held up Christmas trees with signs, "Merry Christmas". Thousands of troops ran across the battlefields covered with dead bodies. They sang Christmas songs, exchanged photographs of loved ones back home, shared food and even played football. Soldiers hugged men they had been trying to kill a few short hours before. They agreed to warn each other if their officers forced them to fire their weapons, and to aim high.

    Fear ran through the military leaders on both sides. They felt that their power was being challenged: soldiers declaring their brotherhood with each other and refusing to fight. Generals declared this unexpected peacemaking illegal and said that participating soldiers would face a military court. Those found guilty would be imprisoned or even shot. By March 1915 the socializing movement had been destroyed and the killing machine was back in full operation. Over the next three years more than fifteen million people died in the war.

    Not many people have heard the story of the Christmas Truce (休战). On Christmas Day, 1988, a local radio host in Boston played "Christmas in the Trenches", a song about the Christmas Truce several times and was stunned by his listeners' response. Thousands of people called in, praising the song, with many moved to tears by the amazing events it described.

    You can probably guess why the callers were in tears. The Christmas Truce story goes against most of what we have been taught about people. It lets us see the world as it can be and says, "This really happened once." It shows us the potential we have as humans contradicts all of those TV and newspaper stories that tell us how mean and heartless people are. It is like hearing that our deepest wishes really are true: the world really can be different.

    I drove a taxi for extra money east of Toronto thirty years ago. Each time a taxi drove up to the front of the Greenwood Racetrack, a group of local kids would run along the sidewalk angling for position by the passenger door. One lucky kid, or rather, the most aggressive one, would open the passenger door and say "Good luck, Mister!" The man getting out of the cab would vaguely say thanks and throw the kid a quarter. It was a routine everybody knew.

    Throughout the summer, one kid caught my eye. He was bigger than most of all the other kids but pushed away by even the smallest. He never made it but never gave up. One day, his chance arrived. As I was pulling up to the sidewalk, all the kids were pushing for a cab just ahead of mine. The boy saw me and walked toward my taxi. As I positioned the passenger door right beside him, he never paused and opened the passenger door, warmly saying, "Good luck, Mister!"

    But the man neither said thanks nor flipped him a quarter. He pushed him aside so hard that the boy fell on the sidewalk. I knew it hurt him badly. I got out in less than 10 seconds, but the man was gone in the crowd. So I looked for the kid. I decided to give him $20 for the effort. By the time I spotted him he was far up ahead, walking away in the opposite direction through the crowd and his head hanging down. When I got the cab turned around I lost sight of him. I never saw him again. I'd like to find him one day and tell him that if only he had stuck around a little longer I would have given him a whole $20.

    I learned from this kid that when things seem so hopeless that you are ready to give up, it's the time when things are most likely to turn around for you.

Go Sledding （滑雪橇） around Baltimore

From steep slopes（陡坡） to gentle hills, there's no shortage of local sledding rides in the Baltimore area. Here are a few of the favorites.

Leakin Park

1901 EAGLE DRIVE

There's a sweet slide behind the Crimean Mansion off Eagle Drive—also known today as Friends of Orianda House—which is accessible and also one of the best-kept sledding secrets inside city lines. The Winans Meadow area is super scenic year-round, but especially so when it snows.

Baltimore Country Club

4712 CLUB ROAD

The golf course is a legendary sledding destination, but make sure to be aware that the steep slope here is nicknamed "Adventure Hill" for a reason. No small number of green hands have rolled down here. As one Reddit commenter said, "It left me hurt many a time as a kid"—words no doubt that frighten some but also attract more than a few.

Herring Run Park

3800 BELAIR ROAD

The 375-acre northeast area may be the top spot in the city for the variety of hills to choose from. Created by the Olmstead Brothers more than a century ago, the stream valley park is also home to fox and deer, which you might just spot wandering about in their winter coats. Visitors can enjoy the benefit of sufficient parking for private vehicles.

Federal Hill

300 WARREN AVE.

It's an obvious destination, given its picturesque view overlooking the Inner Harbor, for sledding and building snowmen and snowwomen. The hills here are very steep, however. Just be careful not to rush out onto Key Highway or into the back of the American Visionary Art Museum.