In the United States and Canada, there are over 6,000 museums, almost twice as many as there were 25 years ago. However, they have changed a lot. They are no longer places where one "should" go— they are places to enjoy.
At a science museum in Canada, you can feel your hair stand on end as harmless electricity(无害的电流) passes through your body. At the Children's Museum in New York, you can play an African drum. There are no "Do Not Touch" signs in some other museums in the USA.
More and more museum directors (馆长) have realized that people learn best when they can become part of what they are seeing. In many science museums, the visitors are encouraged to touch, listen, and experiment(实验) so as to find scientific rules for themselves.
The old museums have been changing and the government is encouraging the building of new, modern museums. One cause of all these changes is the growing number of young people in the population. They see things in a new and different way. They want art that they can take part in. The same is true of science and history.
Shetland Islands, also called Zetland or Shetland, lie 130 miles (about 209 km) north of the Scottish mainland. Before my trip to Shetland, the only thing I knew about the place was that it is the birthplace of Fair Isle knitting(费尔岛编织). But now I find it is not simply the knitting and it is well worth a visit.
There are about 100 islands in Shetland, but only 15 are inhabited(可居住的). To get to mainland Shetland, one can take an overnight ferry(轮渡) or a small plane. I took the ferry, a memorable and exciting experience on the heaving sea. I'm not sure whether I want to experience it again but I will remember it forever.
The wind is a large part of the islands. As winter comes near, anything that might be blown away won't be put outside. Our guide told us the lighthouse keeper would tie (系) his car to the rock to make sure it won't be blown away when he was living at the lighthouse on the northwest of the main island. At certain times the wind blows more strongly, but it is constant (不断的) no matter what time it is. Besides, in winter, there's less than 6 hours of daylight, and in summer, less than 6 hours of darkness.
The people of Shetland could not be much friendlier. At Virdafjell where my friends and I stayed, the owner Dorothy Stove prepared a big breakfast for 10 hungry men — bread, eggs, yogurt, fruit, salad and so on every morning.
My friends and I look forward to our next trip to Shetland, a place that keeps us away from noisy cities.
A. weather B. travel C. people D. food
Welcome to the National Museum of Mathematics (Momath ). It is New York City. It is America's first math museum. It's also a fun place for (child) and their parents.
When you open the door, you will open new world of numbers, shapes and colors, and you will find math (interest). "We want to give people fun ways (learn) math," Momath's founder (创始人) Glen Whitney said. "Here you can try riding a tricycle (三轮车) square wheels. You can hop (跳跃) from one point to another and join lines to get pictures."
The museum is at No.11 East 26th Street in Manhattan and is open from 10:00a. m. to 5:00 p. m., 7 days a week, 364 days a year. It is (close) on Thanksgiving Day. Momath closes early on the (one) Wednesday of every month at 2:30 p. m. The ticket prices are $15 per adult $ 9 per child, student, or the old people.
Momath also has a traveling museum — Math Midway. It (run) around the country to schools and community (社区) centers. So you can still enjoy the fun of math even if you live far from New York City.
Maybe you have already been to different museums. Maybe you have 1 yourself at an amusement park many times. But have you 2 visited a stone painting studio(工作室)?
48-year-old 3 Lu Ting runs such a studio in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. After walking into the yard at her studio, you'll be 4 to find lots of stones on the ground. Lu has been showing her deep love of her hometown (故乡) by creating colorful 5 on stones.
Lu Ting was born and 6 near the Yellow River, our Mother River. She has liked walking along the river and enjoyed 7 beauty since she was a kid. "I feel connected(连接) with the river, and I love my hometown 8 ," Lu said.
Lu Ting majored in(主修) woodblock painting when she 9 at the Inner Mongolia Normal University. "10 my time at university, a teacher named Mr. Yan often took groups of students to learn the carvings(雕刻) on the rocks. We would collect beautiful river 11 on our way back and draw on them. I guess since then I have become 12 studying stones and dreamed of painting on them."
However, Lu's dream didn't come true 13 she created her first series of stone paintings The Story of Fuhe in 2016. The 14 tells the story of a mother and her children. It's about 15 they keep each other company(陪伴).
"These stones are part of our Mother River. I love them as deeply as our Mother River," she added.