You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?

    Jane Addams(1860-1935)

    Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addans helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community(社区)by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need . In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Rachel Carson(1907-1964)

    If it weren't for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world's lakes and oceans.

    Sandra Day O'Connor(1930-present)

    When Sandra Day O'Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona state senator(参议员) and ,in 1981, the first woman to join the U.S. Supreme Court. O'Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court.

    Rosa Parks(1913-2005)

    On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rasa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott. It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movement. "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in," said Parks.

    Heritage is our legacy (遗产) from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable (无可取代的) sources of life and inspiration. Places as unique and diverse as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Great Wall of China make up our world's heritage.

    The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This isembodiedin an international treaty called the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

    How does a place become a World Heritage Site? It takes a lot of people to decide.

    1)If a country wants one of its places to be on the World Heritage List, it has to ask UNESCO. The place must be important and special. UNESCO put the Great Wall on the list in 1987 because, it said, it was a great part of Chinese culture and beautifully made to go with the land. When a country asks, it must also make a plan for taking care of the place.

    2)The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO talks about different places and decides whether to put them on the list. The committee meets every June. Many experts help the committee to decide.

    3)After a new place goes on the list, UNESCO gives money to help keep it looking good. If a place is in serious danger, it may be put on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. UNESCO gives special care and help to those places.

    4)Countries have to give UNESCO regular reports about places on the list. If UNESCO thinks a country isn't taking good enough care of a place, the site will be taken off the list.

    Seventy-three-year-old Gary selected his food in Value Mart more carefully than NASA chose its candidates for the space shuttle. Skim milk was $2.99, on sale from $3.49; white bread, 89 cents with a discount; table salt, 99 cents, 20 cents off the regular price. Leaving the cashier (收银员), he estimated that he had saved 80 cents today. He was pleased that he had got good value for his money again.

    At the exit, the cold wind reminded him of his gloves. “Now where are they?” Not in the coat pockets. Not in the grocery bag either. The worried man made a thorough search of all his pockets, again including the grocery bag. Now he was sure they must have been dropped somewhere inside the store.

    Old Gary had bought the black gloves at a 25% discount ten years ago. His quick decision to buy the expensive gloves turned out to be a good one, which even promoted his social status on the bus, as poorer passengers stared at him enviously. Losing this favorite possession was almost like losing a child to him.

    Gary re-entered the store with long steps. He followed the same route he had walked before. There were all open passages and it did not take long to be convinced that the gloves were not in sight.

    "Society has changed, people have changed", he murmured to himself. "Years ago, if somebody picked up something lost, they would give it back. Not anymore!"

    On his way out, he went over to the cashier to ask if she had received any lost gloves. She asked him what color they were, and when he said "black", there came a disappointing answer. He took his time now, finally walking out of the store.

    Back home, Gary was at a loss. In deep winter, he could not do without a pair of gloves. He was very upset that people no longer returned things they found on the road.

    After a month, Gary decided to buy another leather pair. Before boarding the subway, he stepped into Value Mart again to see if by any chance his gloves had been returned to the lost and found office. "What color are they?" the woman in the office asked again. "Black," he gave the same answer. She looked into her drawer and drew out a pair of men's leather gloves. "Are they?"

    "Yes! Those are mine!" Gary exclaimed, his eyes glowing with joy.

    Opera is an art form that celebrates the human voice, No other art lorm creates excitement and moves the heart in the way that opera does, especially when performed by a great singer. Opera is an important part of the Western classical music tradition. It uses music, words, and actions to bring a dramatic story to life. Opera started in Italy at the end of the 16th century and later became popular throughout Europe. Over the years, it has responded to various musicals. In recent decades, much wider audiences have been introduced to opera through modern recording technology. Some singers have become celebrities thanks to performing on radio, on TV, and in the cinema.

    However, in recent years, opera has been facing serious challenges. One current challenge to opera is economics. The shortage of money raises the broader question of how much should be paid to support opera singers and other artists. Society seems to accept the large salaries paid to business managers and the multi-million-dollar contracts given to sports athletes. But what about opera singers? Somehow, people have the idea that artists can be creative only if they suffer in poverty, but this is unrealistic. If artists, including opera singers, lack the support they need, valuable talent is wasted.

    Not only the shortage of money, but also the way money is managed in the opera world has led to hardships, Principal singers are generally paid performance fees once they complete a show. They typically receive nothing during the many weeks of rehearsal(排练)before a show starts.

    Another problem faced by opera is how to meet the demands of audiences who are influenced by popular entertainment. Pop singers are often judged as much on the basis of how they look as how they sound. These demands may be unrealistic and possibly harmful. Opera singers simply cannot make a sound big enough to fill a large theater or concert hall without a microphone if their body weight is too low. Emphasizing physical appearance over singing ability may cause audiences to miss out on the human voice at its best.

    There are no easy solutions to opera's problems and there are many different opinions about the value of opera. However, every year many young people register for music courses with hopes and dreams of developing their talent in this special art form. The fact that opera has survived many obstacles and continues to attract the rising generation shows that it remains a respectable art form full of value.

    You might have heard a lot about ancient towns and ancient cities in China. Here, we list several of the most beautiful ancient villages in China.

    Baoshan Stone City, Yunnan Province

    Baoshan Stone City was built on a huge mushroom-shaped rock, and only has about one hundred houses. The houses are laid out in an orderly way, built on the rock, and linked by stone steps. The Naxi people there still lead an original life and grow crops in terraces (梯田); you can experience the colorful culture of the Naxi ethnic (民族的) group there.

    Tuvas Village in Kanas, Xinjiang

    Kanas Tuvas Village is near the mysterious Lake Kanas. The small village is located in a valley, and only has about 80 houses. These Swiss-style wooden houses are all surrounded by wooden fences. Tuvas is an ancient minority group. They traditionally lived as hunter-gathers. You can visit a local family, go herding (放牧) with the locals and experience the peaceful ancient village life.

    Jiaju Tibetan Village, Danba, Sichuan Province

    Jiaju Tibetan Village is known as the “Tibetan fairyland”. It stands on a mountain slope, and consists of about 140 houses. These unique houses are all built with crown-shaped roofs, red caves, and white walls, which make the houses look like little castles among the forest.

    Xijiang Miao Village, Guizhou Province

    If you're interested in the Miao Minority, Xijiang Miao Village can be a great destionation for deepening your understanding of Miao history and culture. It's the largest Miao village in China, and now has 1,432 households with a population of over 5,000, of which 99.5% are Miao ethnic group. It's also famous for the houses built on poles of different heights.

In March, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ended a decade-long citywide ban on cellphone in public schools and left them to make up their own rules because he argued that by denying access for some students, the city was exacerbating(使加重) the achievement gap in students' performance.

Two researchers from the London School of Economics, Richard Murphy and Louis Philippe Beland argued that this might have the opposite effect because students are not generally using their phones to assist in their classroom work during school. "Schools could significantly reduce the education achievement gap by prohibiting cellphones use in schools, and so by allowing phones in schools, New York may unintentionally increase the inequalities of outcomes," they told CNN.

However, some educators have come to embrace the technology in their students' pockets. Teacher Ken Halla has been teaching world history and Advanced Placement for 22 years but his students' cellphone ownership forced him to adapt to his classroom dynamics where he no longer is the single authority lecturing, according to the National Education Association(NEA). He now roams(漫步) the classroom and encourages students to use their cellphones to help them complete their assignments, this way they are less likely to let their devices distract themselves.

"It's harder to do negative behavior when the phones are out and the teacher is walking around." Mr Halla told the NEA. "I've always been that type of person who likes to adapt and change as time goes on. Otherwise, I wouldn't still be teaching many years down the road."

We all experience "oh crap" moments. Running into the person you canceled a date with — while you're on another date. Realizing you hit "reply all"on an e-mail that you'd do anything to have back. Whatever the situation, the first thing you probably do is freak out. Everybody does.

While many of us think that we're cool in a crisis, science tells us that we seldom are. At the moment we need to be keenly aware of our surroundings, our attention can tunnel in on the scariest thing in the scene, leaving us unaware of the other sights, sounds, and even smells around us. Armed robbers go unidentified because witnesses remember little more than the guns. Our ability to remember the things we do notice also becomes compromised; we can be told something, and two seconds later we'll forget. And we jump to conclusions. When we're freaked out, we're anything but at our best.

These normal human reactions can be reversed. Once you calm down, you'll face the most routinely ignored challenge of any crisis situation — identifying what the crisis is really about. We tend to misdiagnose problems because we don't practice for them. Do the thinking ahead of time so you can just find the solution when it's showtime. This is why flight attendants suggest you find the closest exit before you depart — so you don't have to go exit shopping after the plane has caught fire or is sinking into a river.

Performing in a crisis is becoming more important for all of us, for two reasons. Back in the good old days, the reliability of most anything we used or did was far less than it is today. Now think about what happens to our preparedness as the possibility of something bad happening shrinks. Unless we practice what hardly ever happens, our ability to respond when it does happen tends to slip away. Reliability can kill you. Also, the systems we use today are more complex. There are seldom moving parts in plain view that allow us to see when things are about to go wrong. When complex systems lack transparency (透明度,显而易见), serious situations can "come out of nowhere." We should all learn to breathe, recognize the situation, and carry out the plan that we were smart enough to prepare well in advance.

Cassie Warren and Jesse Jones will always have a great story to tell their kids about the kindness of strangers and how one stranger in particular made their wedding planning much sweeter.

A few weeks ago, as Warren was addressing wedding invitations for her upcoming wedding, she mistakenly used an old address for her aunt and uncle in nearby Eugene, Oregon. But when a stranger received the misaddressed mail, she didn't just throw it in the garbage like many people would have done. Instead, she returned the invitation, along with a sweet note and $20 as a wedding present.

The sender also wrote "Live long and prosper" on the corner of the card—words from "Star Trek", probably because the young couple's wedding invitation shows Jesse holding a light knife from "Star Wars" and Cassie holding a wand (魔杖) in a nod to the "Harry Potter" books.

The generous stranger also included $20, probably as a little gift for the wedding. The young couple put the money to good use by going out to dinner with a friend who wouldn't be able to attend the wedding.

Warren said that she was at first confused by the returned wedding invitation. "But after I saw the note, I was just surprised and blessed that she/he would do that for a stranger," Warren said. "Jesse was confused at first, too—he wondered why someone had sent us money, then I read the message to him, and he was shocked and grateful."

Warren and Jones still don't know the name of the kind stranger, but Warren sent a thank­you note to the same address to let the sender know how much her/his generosity was appreciated. The young couple plan to marry in June and thanks to the kindness of a stranger, their marriage is already off to a sweet start.

2021 Spring Break Activities

From science and nature to art and baking, there are many activities to occupy children in the upcoming weeks in spring.

FREE SPRING BREAK ACTIVITY

615-416-2001

Ages 3-17. Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 222 Fifth Ave. S, Nashville. March 6-April 5, daily 9 am-5 pm. Free for children in Davidson and other places. But adult admission is $25. 95. children can pick up some souvenirs while exploring the museum's exhibits and new artifacts.

SPRING BREAK HOUSE CAMP

615-556-7370

Ages 5-17. Harris Riding Academy, 6331W. Franklin Road, Murfreesboro. Monday through Friday 9am-3pm. Admission: $50 single half day, $80 single full day, $250 half-day week, $375 full-day week. Meet the herd of horses and ride, study different topics about horses, make horse crafts, participate in feeding horses and so on.

KIDS BAKING CAMP

615-956-6077

Ages 6-15. The Curious Kitchen, 1602 Northfirld Blvd, Murfreeboro. Today through Friday 10am-1pm. Admission: $250. Learn to develop knife skills and read recipes, and more while making goodies like pies, cookies, cupcakes, chocolate cakes, candies and more.

ASC MAKER CAMP

615-862-5160

Ages 12-18. Adventure Science center, 800 Fort Negley Blvd, Nashville. 9am-3pm. $550 non-members. In the "Innovation and Imagine" maker-space, participants will explore the "innovation, imagination and manufacture" process by designing and making a suit of cardboard armor(盔甲) to create a fictional world. The camp runs this Monday through Friday.

When you buy fresh-cut flowers, do you think about where they came from？You might think they were grown somewhere nearby. The reality, though, is that the cut flower trade is increasingly International. Today, thanks to airplanes and high-tech cooling systems, even the most delicate flower be exported and sold thousands of kilometers away from where it was grown.

The Netherlands handles about 60 percent of the world's cut flowers. And its auction houses (拍卖行) are very large—Aalsmeer, near Amsterdam, is auction house in the sense that Tokyo is a city, or Everest a mountain. About 120 soccer fields would fill its main building. Nineteen million flowers are sold here on an average day.

The Netherlands is also a world leader in developing new flower varieties. Dutch companies and the government invest a great amount of money in flower research. Their scientists look for ways to lengthen a flower's vase life, to strengthen flowers to prevent them from being damaged while traveling, and also to strengthen the natural fragrance of the flowers.

There are also many other places with a better climate for growing flowers, and the climate of Ecuador is almost perfect. With predictable rainy periods and 12 hours of sunlight each day, Ecuador's roses are famous for their large heads and long, straight stems (茎). Every year, Ecuador sells about 500 million flowers to the U.S. alone. The industry has brought employment opportunities and a stronger economy to the country. "My family has TV now. There are radios." says Yolanda Quishpe, 20, who picked roses for four years.

To others, the increasingly international nature of the flower trade is very bad news. In recent years local growers in the U.S. faced huge competition from international flower companies, and many lost their businesses. Lina Hale, an independent rose grower said her father had predicted the situation in the 1980s. "I see a train coming down the track," he warned her, "and it's coming straight towards us."

Are you familiar with the greeting, "Can I add you on WeChat?" It seems like every time we meet new friends or colleagues nowadays, the first thing that springs to mind is adding each other on the app. Nevertheless, more than 80 percent of WeChat users report feeling stressed or anxious when they receive a large number of messages, according to a study done recently by the app's developer Tencent (腾讯). In other words, WeChat can overwhelm (使应接不暇) us, while also breaking down the boundaries between our work and private lives.

Just think how easy it is now for bosses to hand out assignments during the holiday, so long as they have your WeChat contact. When you're at the cinema enjoying a romantic movie or having a barbecue in the backyard, you can never cut yourself off from the outside world unless you switch off your phone. Not to post something in WeChat Moments before replying to your boss first!

Apart from interrupting your leisure time, WeChat can also reduce your productivity at work. For many office workers, logging in to WeChat on their computers at the start of the day has become routine. But what if browsing the Moments distracts us from doing the work? The app steals our time without us even noticing it, making us have the false belief that we are busy all the time.

And as if that weren't bad enough, there're the "one-off" friends who take up space on our WeChat friend list. A handy way to check how many one-off friends you have is to take a look at your chat history with them. Sometimes, you only sent the initial friend requests so you could invite them to a WeChat group or inform them of something for your boss. Yet still, as your friend count (好友数量) ever goes up, it can make you feel the need to post selfies (自拍) and share details of your life in your Moments, just so you can stay up to date.

With WeChat, all our spare time is swallowed up by the constant torrent of messages and our attention keeps getting diverted by Moments and pop-up ads. So it's time that we should do something to nip this problem in the bud.

From the top of Mount Qomolangma to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, plastic continues to pollute the environment, and it creates a significant threat to all life forms on Earth. Despite knowing the effects of plastic pollution, we have not been able to ban the use of plastic products. Now, thanks to the invention of a 17-year-old girl, Arora, we finally have a better choice. This plastic-like material is made from prawn (大虾) shells, and it breaks down 1.5 million times faster than most of the commercial plastic products we use today.

The Australian teen first became aware of the impact of plastic waste on the environment when shopping with her mother. She wondered why her mother had to pay for the plastic bags. When asked, the cashier informed her how plastic hurts the planet and that the additional charge was there to encourage people not to use it. This inspired Arora to create a kind of plastic that would break down faster than the conventional one.

But the journey of inventing "eco-friendly plastic" was not easy. She experimented with a number of organic materials such as cornflour and banana peels, both of which had to be ruled out because of their solubility (溶解性). One night, while having dinner, she noticed that the shells of prawns look plasticky. She immediately went to the lab to research. Later, she would describe that dinner as her "Eureka" moment.

She extracted the material called "chitin" from the shells and then mixed it with an insoluble protein called "fibroin", which is found in silk cocoons. Using the combination of these two organic materials, Arora created a plastic-like material that breaks down completely within just 33 days. Moreover, this plastic releases nitrogen when breaking down, which is why it can be used as plant fertilizer.

Arora's invention has caused a stir, and she has won a number of awards. As an inspiring young woman, Arora wants to make a difference in the world, and she wants to encourage other young people to follow their passion and make a positive difference however they can.

In the age of online shopping and e-readers, devoted staff and customers keep the doors of Auntie's Bookstore open for 40 years. "When you're in Portland, you go to Powell's Books. When you're in Seattle, you go to Elliott Bay. When you're in Spokane, you go to Auntie's," said John Waite, the owner of the bookstore. "I can't imagine Spokane without Auntie's," he said. "A lot of people can't imagine Spokane without Auntie's, either," Waite said.

Turning visitors into regular customers is important to the store's success. Auntie's markets itself as a destination. A half-dozen book clubs meet there. Most weeks, the store hosts two to four author readings or literary events. "We want people to come down, hang out and experience the feel of having a book in their hands," Waite said.

Eager readers not only want to read books, but want to discuss them, said Kerry Halls, the store manager. Auntie's offers them that chance, she said.

"You can't go to Amazon and talk to someone about your favorite novel, or discuss what you think of the latest Stephen King's book compared with Pet Sematary," she said.

To compete with the convenience of shopping online, Auntie's tries to predict what books will become a trend. They store these books in advance. But Waite doesn't sugarcoat the realities of selling books in the era of Amazon and other online retailers(零售店). "Even the big guys can't make it," he said, noting physical retailers are striving nationally. As the United States' oldest national bookstore chain, Barnes&Noble has to constantly reorganize to stop the declining sales.

At Auntie's, regular customers are very important to its survival and development. Sales of children's and young adults' books are increasing in recent years. Waite said. "For a long time, older customers have kept bookstores alive," he said. "Now, it's starting to attract younger people." Another reason of Auntie's longevity (长寿) is Northwest culture, which Waite said encourages new ways of thinking and the diversity of ideas. "I think it's a great book town," Waite said. "People are enthusiastic about reading."

An American cancer survivor has become the first person to swim across the English Channel four times on end.

Sarah Thomas, a 37-year-old woman, completed the great achievement on Tuesday after over 54 hours of swimming. Her record-breaking achievement comes just a year after she completed treatment for breast cancer.

In a video on Facebook, a small group of people could be seen cheering on the swimmer from Colorado as she made her final arrival to beach at Dover. Supporters congratulated Ms. Thomas on her non-stop swim, handing her chocolate and other gifts. In the video, Ms. Thomas admitted to feeling “a little sick" but said she had been encouraged to keep going by her husband and her team.

Before the start of her challenge, Ms. Thomas wrote that she was “fearful" and admitted she was “going to need some luck".

In a Facebook post made on Saturday, she dedicated the swim “to all the survivors out there", adding: “This is for those of us who have wondered hopelessly about what comes next, and have overcome the pain bravely. "

After her swim, Ms. Thomas said, “I'm really tired and I'm losing my voice from all the salt water. " Asked what the worst part of her challenge was, she said, “Probably dealing with the salt water over two days, it really hurts your throat, your mouth and your tongue. " She praised her support team for helping her stay strong, adding that she was very prepared for the weather, currents and cold water. “I feel just mostly stunned right now. I just can't believe that we did it. "

Like other pandemics and emerging disease outbreaks, COVID-19 is creating immense psychosocial disturbances. The disease involves an unfamiliar threat that is difficult to detect and challenging to distinguish from more benign illnesses. Dynamic pandemic conditions will draw out the anxiety. Things will get worse before they get better. A vaccine absent, non-pharmaceutical (非药物的) interventions are the only way to prevent infections, and they dramatically upset everyday bodily habits, social interactions and economic exchanges.

Recent grocery store runs are a sign of concern in the community. Personal actions to avoid infection such as stocking hand sanitizer also present a sense of control over an uncertain danger. Improvements to current risk communication can alleviate (减轻) widespread distress. Top elected officials and health authorities should empathize with people's fear, normalize stress reactions, provide clear guidance on recommended health behaviours, and instruct in concrete protections including those for mental health.

However, more interventions are essential because specific groups are at a higher risk of both acute and lingering emotional distress. Health care workers on the epidemic front lines face compounding stressors: the prospect of more and longer shifts, finite supplies of personal protective equipment, fear of bringing infection home, witnessing co-workers becoming ill, and making tough allocation decisions about scarce, lifesaving resources like mechanical ventilators (通风设备).

Exposed individuals confront a potential fall of challenging circumstances. To protect others, they may enter a state of self-quarantine. During the incubation period (潜伏期), they must live with uncertainty and limit physical contact with others while trying to maintain social connectedness. Less income-generating activities and unmet obligations to others can increase the stress. Infected individuals may become sick, experience a lengthy convalescence (康复期), feel survivor's guilt, and be avoided despite a complete recovery.

For people with pre-existing mental health conditions, a pandemic can further heighten their anxious thoughts and compulsive behaviours. Previously managed symptoms can flare up, requiring additional care beyond what was sufficient before the crisis.

The boy sat on his chair, with his hands above the keyboard. He thought about what to write.

He recalled that the competition deadline was merely a week away. But he still had not even started on his piece. He looked at the brochure again. "WRITING COMPETITION!" the title read. His mum had encouraged him to enter the writing competition, and now he was taking it on as his personal task for the holidays.

As the boy reflected on his previous writing efforts, he realised how hopeless his task of winning was. Every story he ever wrote was based on other stories. He had little imagination, and unfortunately, imagination was the key to writing.

Suddenly, he had a brainwave. This time, he came up with an original and imaginative story.

The words shot towards him like a storm of leaves. Words were coming easily, flowing through him, faster than he could type. He typed faster than he ever had before. He continued to type, amazed how easy writing this story was. The boy could not stop writing. He looked at the word count and saw the number "248" starting right back at him. He was not even halfway yet.

Then he heard his mother's call of saying time for bed. He continued writing the piece, ignoring her. He had to make up for the time he had lost in thinking about a topic to write.

Finally, he finished. The word count now read "498".

"Perfect," he thought, "just under the word limit." He knew this was the story that would win.

He went to the website and searched for the competition. He found the page but there was no "Enter" button.

Confused, he then re-read the page again. It read COMPETITION CLOSED.

Research has shown that some species of monkeys, birds and domesticated animals can even distinguish among different faces by looking at photographs alone. Scientists have also wondered whether domesticated animals that have coexisted with people for thousands of years can recognize different human faces.

Léa Lansade of the French National Research Institute did an experiment to find out how well horses can recognize individual people in photographs. She and her team first taught the horse show to "choose" between two side-by-side images by touching their noses to a computer screen. The horses were then shown photos of their current keeper alongside faces of unfamiliar humans. They had never seen photos of any of the people before. The horses correctly identified their current keeper and ignored the strangers face about 75 percent of the time, significantly better than chance. What's more, the horses also preferentially picked photos of their previous keeper—a person they hadn't seen in six months. In fact, even though the horses didn't get it right every single time, they were at least as accurate in picking out their previous keeper as they were at identifying their current one.

The results suggest that not only can horses tell the differences between familiar and unfamiliar human faces, they can also understand that photographs are representations of real life. In addition, horses seem to have a long-term memory for human faces.

In future experiments, the researchers would like to test whether looking at photos of people that they have had bad experiences within the past might cause horses to act anxious or even avoidant. So maybe think twice before doing anything that might give a horse a long face.

Sometime in 1885 or 1886,Arthur Conan Doyle was doodling(信手乱涂)on a sheet of paper. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's Auguste Dupin, he had the idea for a "consulting detective", who would also use "the Rules of Evidence" to catch his man. But what would he be called? "Ormond Sacker"? "Sherrinford Holmes"?

Had he settled on either of these alternatives, the modern-day fan clubs would be able to look closely through their magnifying glasses(放大镜) at that historic piece of paper at an exhibition opening at the Museum of London on Friday.

Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die is the first major show for the great detective since a Holmes display graced the Festival of Britain in 195. It's a winningly silly title: there are an unlimited number of men who never lived and will never die, and a very large number of fictional creations of whom the same could also be said. But you can see what they are getting at.

It is likely that the show should take place at the Museum of London. Holmes occupied perhaps London's most famous imaginary address—221B Baker Street—and Dr. Watson wrote that his "knowledge of the byways of London was extraordinary". In the form of his "Baker Street Irregulars", he even employed a street-level spy-network o the homeless. London is often described as another character in the stories.

But, as historian David Cannadine points out in a fine, questioning essay in a new book accompanying the exhibition, Holmes's London is actually only sketchily imagined in the stories. Conan Doyle grew up in Edinburgh, was educated in Lancashire and Austria, and lived in central London for less than a year before moving first to South Norwood, then in short order to Hindhead in Surrey and later to Sussex. To move Holmes around the capital, Conan Doyle used contemporary books of street maps and the London Post Office Directory. And he made all sorts of mistakes.

Also, before fan-fiction as we think of it now got under way, the Holmes stories led to a strange academic version of fan-fiction: Holmesians, taking a scholarly interest in the texts almost on the assumption that Holmes and Watson were real historical characters.

It should be noted that Conan Doyle himself didn't sweat the details. Everything from the location of Watson's old war wound to his marital situation and the address of his consulting room was distinctly patchy(东拼西凑的).

Holmes is, or might as well be, a magician. In this respect, the modern BBC TV adaptations—whose leaps of tricks I've seen complained about -- are in keeping with Conan Doyle's originals.

He's not the product, not any more, of a single author. And he's never going to be on the reader's level—nor that of his friend Dr. Watson. Conan Doyle's consulting detective is, made by the imaginations of others, a sort of god. And like all the best gods, he is— as the new exhibition's title indicates—both imaginary and everlasting.

For Canaan Elementary's second grade in Patchogue, N.Y., today is speech day, and right now it's Chris Palaez's turn. The 8-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.

But he's nervous. "I'm here to tell you today why you should … should…" Chris trips on the "-ld", a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas Whaley, is next to him, whispering support. "… Vote for … me …" Except for some stumbles, Chris is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Whaley invites the rest of the class to praise him.

A son of immigrants, Chris started learning English a little over three years ago. Whaley recalls (回想起) how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Chris would excuse himself to go to the bathroom.

Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great teacher who lets you make mistakes. "It takes a lot for any student," Whaley explains, "especially for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, ‘I don't know, but I want to know.'"

Whaley got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer broke his heart. Whaley says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in public. He wants these kids to learn to boast (夸耀) about themselves.

"Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities," Whaley says, "is very difficult for a child who came into the classroom not feeling confident."

With oil prices rising sharply this year, it seems remarkable to argue that water might one day be more expensive than oil. Jean-Louis Chaussade, the chief executive of the French utility company Suez, argues that water scarcity(不足）is now one of the most pressing challenges facing many industries. He told the Financial Times last year that he foresaw one day water would be more precious than oil.

It isn't only a growing world population that places demands on water - industries such as energy and agriculture are also consuming more and more. The 2030 Water Resources Group, believes that by 2030 global demand will be 40 percent higher than it is today.

The threat is now so acute that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the US warned that disputes over water may lead to armed conflicts, particularly in areas such as Africa and the Middle Fast. A three-year drought in South Africa caused a water crisis earlier this year, with officials warning they may have to shut off most of Cape Town's taps.

The most valuable water in the world is what we actually consume. With petrol at roughly £1.29 a liter in the UK today, a bottle of water from some of big-name branded companies can already be about three times more. And it is not going to get any cheaper. The days of relying on water flowing through our taps are coming to an end. Around the world. 2.1 billion people do not have immediate access to clean drinking water. And this isn't only a developing-world problem. In almost every country people have water stress.

Over the next ten years, if we do not come together to find answers to our water shortage. We will face major supply-related issues around the globe, not just with drinking water - our industries will be affected as well.