A 525-year-old copy of a letter by Christopher Columbus, stolen from the Vatican, was returned this week. An investigation by the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Vatican located the letter.

    “We are returning it to its rightful owner, “said U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Callista Gingrich, at a ceremony in the Vatican Library. Columbus wrote the letter to the king and queen of Spain after discovering “The New World.” He described what he had found and requested money for another trip. His original letter was written in Spanish. But several copies of a Latin translation were made to spread news of his discovery to the royal courts of Europe and the Pope.

    One of the Latin letters, copied by Stephan Plannack in 1493, was put in the Vatican Library. Known as the Columbus Letter, it has eight pages, each about 18.5 cm by 12 cm. In 2011, an American expert in rare manuscripts received a similar looking letter. After reviewing it, he decided that it was real. The year before, the same expert had studied a Columbus Letter in the Vatican Library and suspected that it was a fake. One reason was that the stitching (针脚) marks on the letter were not the same as those on the cover. The letter in the United States, however, had the exact same stitching marks as the leather cover of the fake letter he had studied in the Vatican.

    The expert, who was not identified, contacted Homeland Security art investigators, who began working with Vatican inspectors and rare book experts. They believed that someone took the real letter out of its cover at the Vatican Library and replaced it with an artificial one. Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues is the Vatican's chief librarian. He said, “We do not know exactly when the substitution took place. We will probably never know who the forger (伪造者) was.”

    Their investigations found that Marino Massimo De Caro, a well-known Italian book thief, had sold the real letter to a New York book dealer. De Caro is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Italy for stealing about 4,000 ancient books and manuscripts from Italian libraries and private collections. The late collector David Parsons bought the letter for $875,000 in 2004. After the investigations, his widow agreed to return the letter to the Vatican Library. Officials said the letter is now worth about $1.2 million.

    Throughout the year, a number of Youth Exchanges activities are held by an organization— The International Voluntary Service. These activities give small groups of 45 young people the opportunity to take part in volunteering trips abroad for an average of two weeks. These young people are joined by 45 young people from 34 other nationalities and will be a wonderful intercultural experience in a safe environment.

    Example Youth Exchanges：

    Youth Exchange 1

    Location：Ireland

    Other nationalities: Spain, Italy, Hungary

Theme: Focuses on the topic of community reconstruction and community activities—exploring how local issues facing our communities are connected to global issues. The group will also learn about the ecovillage as an example of a community and take part in teambuilding activities.

    Youth Exchange 2

    Location：France

    Other nationalities: Bulgaria, Italy

    Theme： Organic gardening & continual living. This project will take place in a natural park, where the group will take part in gardening activities and games about continuous development.

    Youth Exchange 3

    Location：Macedonia

    Other nationalities: Serbia, Turkey, Ireland

    Theme：Foster(培养) social inclusion（融入）and motivate personal development of young people through sports and outdoor activities. Promote outdoor activities as a tool to help inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities.

    Youth Exchange 4

    Location：Italy

    Other nationalities： Bulgaria, Greece

    Theme：A social-environmental project that intends to promote social inclusion and continuous development, regarded as a process of civil rights and active citizenship. Over 10 days, the group will take part in activities to raise awareness(意识) about the effect of our behavior on the environment.

    Regulating a complex new technology is hard, particularly if it is evolving rapidly. With autonomous vehicles(AVs) just around the corner, what can policymakers do to ensure that they arrive safely and smoothly and deliver on their promise?

    The immediate goal is to make sure that AVs are safe without preventing innovation. In America, experimental AVs are allowed on the road in many states as long as the companies operating them accept responsibility. Chris Urmson of Aurora says American regulators have got things right, working closely with AV firms and issuing guidelines rather than strict rules that might prevent the progress of the industry. “It's important that we don't jump to regulation before we actually have something to regulate.” he says.

    On the other hand, Singapore's government has taken the most hands-on approach to preparing for AVs, says Karl Iagnemma of Nutonomy, an AV startup that has tested vehicles in the city-state. For example, it has introduced a “driving test” that AVs must pass before they can go on the road. This does not guarantee safety but sets a minimum standard.

    Elsewhere, regulators have permitted limited testing on public roads but want to see more evidence that the vehicles are safe before going further, says Takao Asami of the Renault issan-Mitsubishi alliance(联盟). “Simple accumulation of mileage(里程) will never prove that the vehicle is safe.” he says. Instead, regulators are talking to car makers and technology firms to develop new safety standards. Marten Levenstam, head of product strategy at Volvo, compares the process to that of developing a new drug. First, you show in the laboratory that it might work; then you run clinical trials in which you carefully test its safety and efficiency; and if they are successful, you ask for regulatory approval to make the drug generally available. Similarly, autonomous cars are currently at the clinical-trial stage, without final approval as yet. It is not possible to prove that a new drug is entirely safe, but the risk is worth taking because of the benefits the drug provides. It will be the same for AVs, he suggests. After all, nowadays human-driven vehicles are hardly risk-free.

    Good evening, everyone. As we celebrate International Dog Day, I want to focus on a specific type of dog that is perhaps the most misunderstood breed in the world—the pit bull. It makes me unhappy that public opinion about pit bulls is that they are extremely dangerous. If a pit bull is that meaning, that's only as a result of being taught to fight other dogs to the death in dogfights. The truth is that a pit bull is very faithful and loving.

    A pit bull is a cross between a terrier and a bulldog. That's why their coloring can be different from one dog to the next. Pit bulls all have short fur. They came over to the U.S. from Britain with their immigrant farming families. Pit bulls guarded the cows, sheep and family from thieves. They were beloved members of the family because they were so faithful and loving. They were also very strong, especially their jaws.

    Unfortunately, bad men turned a good thing into a bad thing. Since these dogs would do anything to please their masters, it was easy for these men to teach the dogs to be killers. Dogs fought other dogs in fenced "pits". Dog fighting became illegal in the U.S. in 1875, but it still goes on. Today, pit bulls continue to be farm dogs, but they are also trained as police dogs, search dogs and of course they make great pets!

    I have a pit bull myself. Piper is the friendliest dog you'll ever meet. He sleeps next to me at night. Even though he is an adult dog now, he still acts like a puppy sometimes. He would never bite me or anyone else! With proper and loving training, pit bulls are the best pets ever!

    UK education is all about giving you inspiration to develop your knowledge and skills, freedom to be creative, and support to help you achieve your best.

    On a UK course you will benefit from excellent teaching and facilities. In order to accept students, UK education centres must meet strict quality standards set by the UK government and education bodies.

    With such a good reputation for research and education, universities and colleges in the UK attract some of the world's leading academics and professionals. You will be encouraged to express your own ideas and think for yourself.

    The attention to quality is reflected in the UK's excellent results:

    Four of the top six universities in the world are in the UK.

    The UK is a world-leading research nation. 54% of the research conducted by UK universities and colleges is classed as either "world-leading" or "internationally excellent".

    At the most recent inspection, 97% of further education colleges were judged satisfactory or better, for their overall effectiveness.

    In the recent BIS Tracking International Graduate Outcomes survey, more than 88% of international higher education graduates said they were satisfied with their UK learning experience.

    Likewise, in the Higher Education Academy Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey of UK postgraduate students, 93% rated the quality of teaching positively.

    For English language students, you'll find the UK has long been at the forefront of language teaching, and pioneered many of the techniques now used around the world. The emphasis is on learning the language through fun and participation: Instead of just listening to your teacher, your classes will involve games, problem-solving and discussions. You might also listen to songs, watch television or read magazines to practise your comprehension skills.

    The UK's boarding schools also offer excellent teaching, facilities and support. At UK independent schools (most boarding schools are independent), a teacher has just 9.4 pupils on average, so teachers have more time to give you individual support. This is reflected in the results: 91% of students from UK independent schools go on to higher education.

People can't live well without music. It's quite necessary in people's life. Music has a magic energy to help people. It will bring people many surprises.

It can help you free from heart pain. When you feel sad, you can try listening to the music. It will calm you down. You enter the music world. You pay more attention to the music than your sadness.Then the"dark clouds"slowly clear up.

It is also a strong driving force. For example, when you win a match, you certainly have a great mood. At this time, exciting music will arouse(激起) your fighting. It will push you forward and you will continue to work harder.

Music include(囊括了) much knowledge, such as the language and the history. You can learn a lot from it. Different nations make their own special music. Different music expresses different ideas.You can explore different cultures behind the music. As a useful tool(工具), music teaches you to better understand foreign cultures and love them.