A
The Lake District Attractions Guide
Dalemain Mansion 大厦 & Historic 有历史意义的 Gardens
History, Culture & Landscape (景观). Discover and enjoy 4 centuries of history, 5 acres of celebrated 著名的 and award-winning gardens with parkland walk. Owned by the Hasell family since 1679, home to the International Marmalade Festival. Gifts and antiques, plant sales, museums & Mediaeval 中世纪的 Hall Tearoom.
Open: 29 Mar - 29 Oct, Sun to Thurs.
Tearoom, Gardens & Gift Shop: 10.30 - 17.00 (16.00 in Oct).
House: 11.15 - 16.00 (15.00 in Oct).
Town: Pooley Bridge & Penrith
Abbot Hall Art Gallery & Museum
Those viewing the quality of Abbot Hall's temporary exhibitions may be forgiven for （sb/sth may/could be forgiven for doing sth ...是情有可原的） thinking they are in a city gallery. The impressive permanent collection includes Turners and Romneys and the temporary暂时的 exhibition programme has Canaletto and the artists from St Ives.
Open: Mon to Sat and Summer Sundays. 10.30 - 17.00 Summer. 10.30 - 16.00 Winter.
Town: Kendal
Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery
Discover, explore and enjoy award-winning Tullie House, where historic collections, contemporary art现代艺术, and family fun are brought together in one impressive museum and art gallery. There are four fantastic galleries to visit from fine art 美术 to interactive fun, so there's something for everyone!
Open: High Season 1 Apr - 31 Oct: Mon to Sat 10.00 - 17.00, Sun 11.00 - 17.00.
Low Season 1 Nov - 31 Mar: Mon to Sat 10.00 - 16.30, Sun 12.00 - 16.30.
Town: Carlisle
Dove Cottage & The Wordsworth Museum
Discover William Wordsworth's inspirational 鼓舞人心的 home. Take a tour of his Lakeland cottage 小屋, walk through 步行穿过 his hillside garden and explore the riches 资源 of the collection in the Museum. Visit the shop and relax in the café. Exhibitions, events, and family activities throughout the year.
Open: Daily, 09.30 - 17.30 (last admission 17.00)
Town: Grasmere
B
Some parents will buy any high-tech高科技的 toy if they think it will help their child, but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills（help sb with sth; help sb do sth）.
Psychologist 心理学家 Susan Levine, an expert on mathematics development in young children at the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial 空间的 skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant 重要的 predictor of cognition (认知) after controlling for differences in parents' income, education, and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.
The researchers analyzed video recordings of 53 child-parent pairs during everyday activities at home and found children who play with puzzles between 26 and 46 months of age have better spatial skills when assessed at 54 months of age.
"The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate (旋转) and translate shapes," Levine said in a statement.
The parents were asked to interact with（interact with sb 与某人互动） their children as they normally would, and about half of the children in the study played with puzzles at one time 一度，曾经. Higher-income parents tended to have children play with puzzles more frequently, and both boys and girls who played with puzzles had better spatial skills. However, boys tended to（tend to do sth 倾向于做某事） play with more complex puzzles than girls, and the parents of boys provided more spatial language and were more active during puzzle 拼图 play than the parents of girls.
The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.
C
When you were trying to figure out 思考，想出 what to buy for the environmentalist 环境学家 on your holiday list, fur probably didn't cross your mind（cross sb's mind 念头闪现，想起）. But some ecologists 生态学家 and fashion (时装) enthusiasts 爱好者 are trying to bring back the market for fur made from nutria (海狸鼠). （be made of = be made from 由...制成）
Unusual fashion shows 时装秀 in New Orleans and Brooklyn have showcased 展示 nutria fur made into clothes in different styles." It sounds crazy to talk about guilt-free 毫无罪恶感的，不需要心存愧疚的 fur — unless you understand that the nutria are destroying vast 大量的，广阔的 wetlands every year, says Cree McCree, project director of Righteous Fur.
Scientists in Louisiana were so concerned that（so+ adj. that +句子. 如此...以至于...） they decided to pay hunters $5 a tail. Some of the fur ends up 最后处于；以...告终 in the fashion shows like the one in Brooklyn last month.
Nutria were brought there from Argentina by fur farmers and let go into the wild 进入野外. "The ecosystem down there can't handle this non-native 非本国的 species (物种). It's destroying the environment. It's them or us," says Michael Massimi, an expert in this field.
The fur trade kept nutria in check（keep/hold sth in check 控制，抑制） for decades, but when the market for nutria collapsed 崩塌 in the late 1980s, the cat-sized 猫大小的 animals multiplied（multiply v. 成倍的增长；繁殖） like crazy.
Biologist Edmond Mouton runs（run v. 经营，管理，运作） the nutria control program for Louisiana. He says it's not easy to convince people that nutria fur is green, but he has no doubt about it. Hunters bring in more than 300,000 nutria tails a year, so part of Mouton's job these days is trying to promote推销，推广 fur.
Then there's Righteous 正当的 Fur and its unusual fashions. Model Paige Morgan says, "To give people a guilt-free option that they can wear without someone throwing paint on（） them — I think that's going to be a massive thing, at least 至少 here in New York." Designer Jennifer Anderson admits it took her a while 一段时间 to come around to（come around/round to sth 常指在别人意见的影响下 想通某事） the opinion that（引导同位语从句） using nutria fur for her creations is morally acceptable 道德上可以接受的. She's trying to come up with（come up with sth 想出，提出） a label to attach to（attach to sb/sth 与...有关联） nutria fashions to show it is eco-friendly 环保的，不损坏环境的.
D
I have a special place in my heart for libraries. I have for as long as I can remember. I was always an enthusiastic reader, sometimes reading up to 高达 three books a day as a child. Stories were like air to me and while other kids played ball or went to parties, I lived out adventures through the books I checked out（check sth out 登记借书） from the library.
My first job was working at the Ukiah Library when I was 16 years old. It was a dream job and I did everything from shelving（shelve v. 把...放在架子上） books to reading to （ 朗读 read sth out/aloud to sb） the children for storytime.
As I grew older and became a mother, the library took on a new place and an added meaning in my life. I had several children and books were our main source (来源) of entertainment 娱乐的主要来源. It was a big deal 大事 for us to load up（采购。load up on sth 大量购买某物） and go to the local library, where （定语从句引导词，修饰 local library） my kids could pick out books to read or books they wanted me to read to them. （it is a big deal for sb to do sth 对某人来说，做某事是件大事，重要的事）
I always read, using different voices, as though（as if/though 似乎，好像） I were acting out（act sth out = act out sth 把...表演出来） the stories with my voice and they loved it! It was a special time to bond with（bond with sb 团结，建立关系） my children and it filled them with the wonderment of books. （fill 使...充满 sth/sb with sth； be filled with= be full of 充满...）
Now, I see （see/hear sb doing sth 看见/听见某人正在做某事） my children taking their children to the library and I love that the excitement of going to the library lives on from generation to generation.
As a novelist, I've found a new relationship with libraries. I encourage（encourage sb to do sth 鼓励某人做某事） readers to go to their local library when they can't afford（afford to do sth 承担得起做某事的费用或代价） to purchase a book. I see libraries as a safe haven (避风港) for readers and writers, a bridge that helps put together a reader with a book. Libraries, in their own way用他们自己的方式, help fight book piracy (盗版行为) and I think all writers should support libraries in a significant 有意义的 way when they can. Encourage readers to use the library. Share library announcements 通告，声明 on your social media. Frequent（frequent v. 常去，常到某处） them and talk about them when you can.
