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People often recommend planting trees to make cities greener, cleaner and healthier. But during heat waves, city trees can actually increase air pollution. Indeed, a new study has found, up to 60 percent of the smoggy ozone in a city's air on hot days may trace to chemicals emitted by trees. Galina Churkina, who works at Humboldt University of Berlin, and her team have confirmed it.

The findings might seem the opposite of what you would expect, notes Robert Young, an expert in city planting at the University of Texas at Austin. Indeed, he says, "Everything has multiple effects." The new findings do not mean cities should discourage tree planting. Instead, cities may need stricter controls on other sources of pollution, such as tailpipeemissions from cars and trucks.

City trees soak up carbon dioxide, and at the same time they release oxygen into the air. But oxygen is far from the only gas that trees and certain other green plants release into the air. One of these chemicals is a hydrocarbon known as isoprene(异戊二烯). It can react with combustion(燃烧)pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides(氮氧化物)emitted by cars and trucks in cities. The result is the formation of ozone, a component of smog, which can irritate the lungs and cause airway diseases.

Churkina says her team is not surprised to see the seemingly contrary relationship between plants and pollution. She adds that its importance is quite amazing. "The results," Churkina says, "suggest that city tree planting programs should not ignore the role this greenery may play in aggravating summer air pollution." "Adding more trees will improve quality of life only if those cities also undertake plans to sharply cut vehicle pollution in summer and to increase their reliance on clean energy sources for electric power," she says.

Every November, as Thanksgiving Day approaches, one memory comes to my mind. At my big Turkish family's get-togethers, baklava(果仁蜜饼)is the norm at the dessert table. There's rolled baklava, nut-filled baklava and chocolate-dipped baklava.

One year, though, back when I was in high school, my cousin Johnny decided to change things up a bit. He showed up at my parents' house for Thanksgiving with two items that had never been served before—apple pie and a can of cream.

Those two items caused one of the biggest arguments. I distinctly remember my mom and aunts whispering in the kitchen.

"Apple pie?"one of my aunts said."What to do with this?"

I can still recall my mom's puzzled expression at it all. If there's one thing in this world my mom distrusts, it's fruit-filled desserts, a no-no in our cuisine culture."Why would you bake fruits into a dessert when you can eat them fresh?"she often says.

The cream only made things worse. My mom didn't want to hurt Johnny's feelings. In a true act of love, she put the pie out on the dining room table, accompanied by the cream. It went mostly untouched.

Nowadays, things are different. We actually have pie at Thanksgiving—my mom regularly makes pie (the fear of fruit-filled sweets continues, but desserts topped with fruits or nuts have been given the okay). We still laugh about the drama caused by Johnny's apple pie. I'll never forget it. It wasn't just about the pie for me. Growing up, I sometimes felt like an outsider because of my culture. That Thanksgiving, though, was one of the first times I realized that my family's oddness was actually a good thing. It's what made us.

What about you? Which Thanksgiving sticks out as your most memorable one?

Wintery world

Family activity/December 10, 2023

Free

Explore the winter in this exciting event, full of art, crafts and exploration. Experience an exciting journey, wandering through cold, beautiful landscapes, before returning to the warmth of light and color. We'll look at scenes of winter from across the world in our collection, with the opportunity to create a wintery masterpiece to take home and display.
 

Out-of-hours tour: life and death in ancient Egypt

December 11, 2023-December 19, 2023

£ 33, £ 30(Members), £16.50(Ages 5-15), free for under 5 and disabled visitors' assistant

Discover how people lived and died in ancient Egypt, and explore their hopes and aspirations for the afterlife. From painted coffins, statues and models of daily life, to spectacular wall paintings, investigate what tombs and burial goods tell us about the lives of ancient Egyptian people. 
 

The World of Stonehenge

February 17, 2024-July 17, 2024

Tickets will go on sale in early December

Stonehenge is perhaps the world's most awe-inspiring ancient stone circle, and its image is famous around the globe. This major exhibition is the first of its kind in the U.K. It will bring the story of Stonehenge into sharper focus, showing that rather than a shadowy age of mystery, Britain and Ireland of four millennia ago were places of big ideas, commerce and travel.
 

Around the world in a 70-minute tour

December 10, 2023-December 19, 2023

Adults and children aged 12+, £ 14

Explore some of the most famous objects on display at the Museum on this guided highlight tour. Follow our knowledgeable tour guide on a journey of discovery around the galleries. See the complex detail of the characterful Lewis Chessmen, marvel at the ancient texts on the world-famous Rosetta Stone and get closer to many more highlights from the collection.

注意：1. 词数80左右；2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

The government has awarded $5 million to three different local nonprofit organizations. The money will (distribute) over a four-year period and is aimed at helping approximately 1,000 homeless people in the county of Arvada. 

One agency,  (base) in Woodbridge, is expected  (receive) $1. 5 million. The agency director says that they will focus their resources on  (educate) the homeless. " We will probably build another school-home with this money," he said. " A school-home is exactly  it sounds like. It is a school and a home. We have already built four school-homes throughout the county. We get the homeless off the street,  we educate them so they don't have to return to the street. We teach them how to be gardeners, painters, carpenters, bricklayers, electricians, and air-conditioning repairmen. " 

" You wouldn't believe  success that we have had. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, our office air-conditioning went out. My secretary called a repairman. To our surprise, the repairman  (be) one of our first homeless students. He now owns his own air-conditioning business, plus two houses, two cars and a boat! He has a dozen employees. He's doing better than I am. He fixed our air-conditioning  free. I think I might sign up for the air-conditioning class  (I). " 

Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village lay near some wetlands which became his second 1 . He learned the value and beauty of 2  there from a very young age. 

When he was 16, Molai began to notice something 3  happening around his home. A flood had hit the area earlier that year and the 4  it caused had driven away a number of birds. 5 , the number of snakes had declined as well. He 6  that it was because there weren't enough trees to protect them from the 7 . The solution, of course, was to plant trees so the animals could seek 8  during the daytime. He turned to the 9  department for help but was told that nothing would grow there. However, Molai went looking on his own and 10  a nearby island where he began to plant trees. 

11  young plants in the dry season was 12  for a lone boy. Molai built at the 13  of each sapling (幼树) a bamboo platform, where he placed earthen pots with small holes to 14  rainwater. The water would then drip (滴落) on the plants below. 

Molai 15  to plant trees for the next 37 years. His efforts have resulted in 1,360 acres of naturally-grown land that has become home to many plants and animals. 

A Few Tips for Self-Acceptance

We all want it to accept and love ourselves. But at times it seems too difficult and too far out of reach.  Here's a handful of ways that will set you in the right direction. 

●  Do not follow the people who make you feel not-good-enough. Why do you follow them? Are you hoping that eventually you will feel empowered because your life is better than theirs? Know that your life is your own; you are the only you in this world. 

● Forgive yourself for mistakes that you have made. We are often ashamed of our shortcomings, our mistakes and our failures.  You will make mistakes, time and time again. Rather than getting caught up in how you could have done better, why not offer yourself a compassionate (有同情心) response? " That didn't go as planned. But, I tried my best. " 

● Recognize all of your strengths. Write them down in a journal. Begin to train your brain to look at strength before weakness. List all of your accomplishments and achievements. You have a job, earned your degree, and you got out of bed today. 

● Now that you've listed your strengths, list your imperfections. Turn the page in your journal. Put into words why you feel unworthy, why you don't feel good enough. Now, read these words back to yourself.  Turn to a page in your journal to your list of strengths and achievements. See how awesome you are?

A. Stop comparing yourself with others. 

B. Nothing is too small to celebrate. 

C. Feeling upset again?

D. Remember, you are only human. 

E. Set an intention for self-acceptance. 

F. Where do you start?

G. When does the comparison game start?

We've all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence. 

What's the problem? It's possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It's more likely that none of us start a conversation because it's awkward and challenging, or we think it's annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it's an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits. 

Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can't forget that deep relationships wouldn't even exist if it weren't for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease (润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. " Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk," he explains. " The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them. " 

In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction (互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. " It's not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband," says Dunn. " But interactions with peripheral (边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also. " 

Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. " Small talk is the basis of good manners," he says. 

What comes into your mind when you think of British food? Probably fish and chips or a Sunday dinner of meat and two vegetables. But is British food really so uninteresting? Even though Britain has a reputation for less-than-impressive cuisine, it is producing more top class chefs who appear frequently on our television screens and whose recipe books frequently top the best seller lists. 

It's thanks to these TV chefs rather than any advertising campaign that Britons are turning away from meat-and-two-veg and ready-made meals and becoming more adventurous in their cooking habits. It is recently reported that the number of those sticking to a traditional diet is slowly declining and around half of Britain's consumers would like to change or improve their cooking in some way. There has been a rise in the number of students applying for food courses at UK universities and colleges. It seems that TV programmes have helped change what people think about cooking. 

According to a new study from market analysts, I in 5 Britons say that watching cookery programmes on TV has encouraged them to try different food. Almost one third say they now use a wider variety of ingredients (配料) than they used to, and just under 1 in 4 say they now buy better quality ingredients than before. One in four adults say that TV chefs have made them much more confident about expanding their cookery knowledge and skills, and young people are also getting more interested in cooking. The UK's obsession (痴迷) with food is reflected through television scheduling. Cookery shows and documentaries about food are broadcast more often than before. With an increasing number of male chefs on TV, it's no longer " uncool" for boys to like cooking. 

By day, Robert Titterton is a lawyer. In his spare on stage beside pianist Maria Raspopova-not as a musician but as her page turner. " I'm not a trained musician, but I've learnt to read music so I can help Maria in her performance. " 

Mr Titterton is chairman of the Omega Ensemble but has been the group's official page turner for the past four years. His job is to sit beside the pianist and turn the pages of the score so the musician doesn't have to break the flow of sound by doing it themselves. He said he became just as nervous as those playing instruments on stage. 

" A lot of skills are needed for the job. You have to make sure you don't turn two pages at once and make sure you find the repeats in the music when you have to go back to the right spot. " Mr Titterton explained. 

Being a page turner requires plenty of practice. Some pieces of music can go for 40 minutes and require up to 50 page turns, including back turns for repeat passages. Silent onstage communication is key, and each pianist has their own style of " nodding" to indicate a page turn which they need to practise with their page turner. 

But like all performances, there are moments when things go wrong. " I was turning the page to get ready for the next page, but the draft wind from the turn caused the spare pages to fall off the stand," Mr Titterton said, " Luckily I was able to catch them and put them back. " 

Most page turners are piano students or up-and-coming concert pianists, although Ms Raspopova has once asked her husband to help her out on stage. 

" My husband is the worst page turner," she laughed. " He's interested in the music, feeling every note, and I have to say: 'Turn, turn!' Robert is the best page turner I've had in my entire life. "