The Enigma（谜）of Beauty

    The search for beauty spans centuries and continents. Paintings of Egyptians dating back over 4,000 years show both men and women painting their nails and wearing makeup. In 18th-century France, wealthy noblemen wore large wigs (假发) of long, white hair to make themselves attractive. Today, people continue to devote a lot of time and money to their appearance.

    There is at least one good reason for the desire to be attractive: beauty is power. Studies suggest that good-looking people make more money, get called on more often in class, and are regarded as friendlier.

    But what exactly is beauty? It's difficult to describe it clearly, and yet we know it when we see it. And our awareness of it may start at a very early age. In one set of studies, six-month-old babies were shown a series of photographs. The faces on the pictures had been rated for attractiveness by a group of college students. In the studies, the babies spent more time looking at the attractive faces than the unattractive ones.

    The idea that even babies can judge appearance makes perfect sense to many researchers. In studies by psychologists, men consistently showed a preference for women with larger eyes, fuller lips, and a smaller nose and chin while women prefer men with large shoulders and a narrow waist. According to scientists, the mind unconsciously tells men and women that these traits——the full lips, clear skin, strong shoulders―equal health and genetic well-being.

    Not everyone thinks the same way, however. “Our hardwiredness can be changed by all sorts of expectations—mostly cultural,” says C. Loring Brace, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan. What is considered attractive in one culture might not be in another. Look at most Western fashion magazines: the women on the pages are thin. But is this “perfect” body type for women worldwide? Scientists' answer is no; what is considered beautiful is subjective and varies around the world. They found native peoples in southeast Peru preferred shapes regarded overweight in Western cultures.

    For better or worse, beauty plays a role in our lives. But it is extremely difficult to describe exactly what makes one person attractive to another. Although there do seem to be certain physical traits considered universally appealing, it is also true that beauty does not always keep to a single, uniform standard. Beauty really is, as the saying goes, in the eye of the beholder.

    Machu Picchu is an unusual site in Peru and one of the most mysterious wonders of the world. Built at almost 10,000 feet on the top of an Andean mountain, the Incas built hundreds of structures made of stone. A large number of Machu Picchu's surrounding structures date back to the early 13th century, but it was considered a chief sacred site far before then. The Inca people changed the large site into a very small but wonderful city, completely self-sufficient and hidden from below. Agricultural terraces (梯田) surrounded the entire city, fed by natural spring water, supporting the entire population.

Inca Trail

    The trail is one of the most famous in the world and regarded as one of the best. It covers only 26 miles, combining cloud forest, green mountain scenery, forest, and plenty of tunnels, paving stones, and ruins. The four-day hike begins slowly but quickly changes into a difficult journey suitable for those in excellent shape. The trail winds through the Andes, leading alongside and through ruins. Though independent hiking was once permitted, now it must be done with a guide.

Funerary Rock

    It is believed that the Funerary Rock at Machu Picchu was used as a place to prepare Inca nobles for preservation, or mummifying (做成木乃伊), a common habit among the tribe. Nobles would be laid out to be mummified by the hot sun and freezing cold nights after their organs were removed. The rock is also famous as a spot from which a view of the city is afforded.

Temple of the Sun

    Within the city's castle, deep within Machu Picchu, is the Temple of the Sun, accessed only by the Emperor and

    Inca priests. It means the Inca's advanced knowledge of religion, weather, and nature, showing the great extent

    Incas went to adapt to and learn about nature. Still unbroken, the temple was built to honor the god Inti, who is exactly the sun. The temple was effectively protected. It was also a very important scientific center, built in half-moon shape with openings facing north and east. The windows' shadows in the center of the temple helped see the start of winter solstice (至日), showing farming season.

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    A man had a dream in which he was told where he could find fantastic wealth in a remote place. When he awoke, he immediately set off to find it. After a long journey full of danger and hardship, he arrived at the place in his dream. A local man who had heard about the dreamer's purpose laughed loud and long, saying that he had dreamed three times about a house where great treasure was buried under a fountain. It made the dreamer realize that the place the local was describing was his very own yard. He returned home and found the treasure.

    Like the man in this tale, the Chinese movie industry has been on a long journey to find its place in the world. In 1994, “The Fugitive” became the first major Hollywood film to be shown in the country in decades. Audiences were attracted by the movie's fast pace and sound effects, and it proved to be a great success. Since then, the Chinese film industry has balanced a complex (复杂的) relationship with Hollywood.

    Although there has been a sharp slowdown in China's box-office numbers—movie-ticket revenue rose just 3.7 percent in 2017 after growing by an average of 35 percent per year from 2011 to 2016~the country still has a huge movie market, with theaters continuing to expand into more rural areas and audiences proving that they have a strong desire for Hollywood action films. So much so that recently, Hollywood has even started to make movies with China in mind, casting Chinese movie stars with great box-office power and changing the plots of films to win over Chinese moviegoers.

    Many in China's film industry, from young scriptwriters (编剧) to senior critics, know Hollywood's dramatic structure all too well and support its styles. And many American offerings introduced in the Chinese market, regardless of quality, continue to do well among Chinese audiences, especially with young people, whose tastes and viewing habits have been shaped by Hollywood movies and TV shows. Like audiences in other developing countries, those in China tend to have a worldview filtered (过滤) by and focused on the United States, even though the United States doesn't mean the whole world and Hollywood isn't the world's only movie industry.

    Like an ocean that refuses no rivers, China's movie industry will continue to influence and allow itself to be influenced by its international counterparts (对应的人或物). China needs the United States, and the United States needs China. But at the moment, a large difference exists in that very few Chinese movies are able to enter the American market and attract a significant audience. Chinese audiences provide Hollywood with huge profits, but what does China's film industry gain in return?

    Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an ID number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says "The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both."

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossers to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

    BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back the "real" and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

    As anyone who freelances(做自由职业) knows, there are lots of advantages of working at home alone. But there are drawbacks too, like the potential loneliness. No wonder co-working spaces are becoming so popular: they permit self-employed individuals to feel like they are part of all office environment, while making them get some work done too. But renting a co-working space does cost money.

    Now a Swedish project is aiming to change that by turning people's under-used homes into temporary co-working spaces, available to freelancers for free. Hoffice was started by freelancers Christofer Gradin Franzen and Johline Zandra about a year ago in Stockholm when they invited a few people into their home office to work together. It was a great success, and the project has since spread to a number of cities in Europe, North and South America, Australia, India and Japan. Anyone can sign up and offer their home space as a free co-working space, or go to find a Hoffice near them.

    On a Hoffice day, everyone arrives and starts work at a certain hour. After 45 minutes, everyone gets up to take a break, stretch, do qigong or yoga for 10 to 15 minutes. Afterwards, people can gather around again, and restate their intentions and goals for the rest of the workday, as a way to motivate each other. Meals can be eaten together at a certain hour, potluck-style(家常饭) or by bringing your own lunch.

    This process creates an encouraging and supportive work environment. As some freelancers describe,“By working at Hoffice, we give ourselves and each other the gift to spend our days in a social working environment, where we are extremely productive without ignoring our other human needs. We also make sure to give us and each other what we need to feel calm, happy, inspired and creative during the working day.”

    So Hoffice is not just about sharing space; it's also about a free exchange of ideas. And perhaps the best thing is that Hoffices are free to use.

    Who decided that blue jeans and T-shirts are "cool" for kids to wear today? Who designs the clothes you see for sale in stores? All of these questions concern the world of fashion.

    Fashion refers to the styles of dress that are currently popular. Fashion goes beyond just clothes, though. It's important for some people to wear only the latest fashions and styles. For others, though, keeping up with trends isn't that important. The one thing that stays the same with fashion is this: it always changes!

    In the 1960s and 1970s, hippies made bell-bottomed blue jeans popular. In the 1980s, Michael Jackson made parachute pants (降落伞裤) all the fashion. Now try to find these items in today's clothing stores!

Why do fashions change? The answer is probably as simple as the fact that people change. Over time, the new replaces the old. People are influenced greatly by popular culture, including athletes, musicians, movie stars, as well as popular films, television shows, books and music. We are also influenced by the fashion industry's advertising.

    The stars of popular culture are always searching for a new angle to maintain (保持) their popularity. Often these new angles come in the form of new clothing or hairstyles. When people see these new styles, they often want to imitate their favorite stars. To do so, they seek out the latest fashions to make themselves look like the people they want to imitate. In this way, fashions evolve and change over time.

    For years, clothes have been used to separate people into groups. Even today, brand-name clothing that is more expensive than other types of clothing can be used by some people to distinguish themselves from others.

    Unfortunately, this can often have the effect of distancing certain groups from others. Don't forget that it's always OK to develop your own sense of style that is unique and separate from what the fashion world determines! Stay true to yourself and let your personality — not your clothes — speak for who you are!