When it was announced that Patrick Modiano had won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Oct.9, the Swedish Academy had not yet managed to reach the writer himself to tell him the news. as the Telegraph put it, “It was a curious case of missing personhood in an author whose career had been spent in searching others, within the confines (界限) of a single city.”

    Though the 69-year-old French author has had a successful writing career, only six of his books have been translated into English. One reason for this might be that “Modiano's storylines are as slim as the books themselves”, said the BBC.

    While most of Modiano's works don't run for hundreds of pages, they explore serious subjects. The author's signature themes are Germany's occupation during World War II and the evolution of Paris over the past century.

    Modiano's life has been greatly affected by Nazi Germany's occupation during the war, and his family's connections to it. According to New York-based newspaper Forward, his father survived the war dishonorably. When Paris's Jews were rounded up for deportation(驱逐)to concentration camps, the businessman did not join them but spent the time making money from deals with Nazis on the black market.

    “The novelist has a duty to record the traces of the people who were made to disappear,” French writer Clemence Boulouque, also an expert in Jewish Studies, told The New York magazine.

    In his more than three dozen novels, Modiano has returned again and to the same themes: Jewishness, the Nazi occupation, and loss of identity.

    Paris is another recurring(重复的)theme in Modiano's works .Most of his novels are set in the city , from the rich parts of downtown Paris to more remote suburbs where the characters try to live anonymous protect lives.

    Anne Ghisoli, the director of  Librairie Gallimard, a bookstore in Paris, concluded, “Modiano is a master of writing on memory and occupation, which haunt(萦绕)and inform his works. He is a chronicler(年代记录者)of  Paris ,its streets, and its present.”

How to Cure a Stomach Ache

    When your stomach is upset, it is difficult to concentrate or even get through your day. If you wish to cure a stomach ache and keep it from coming back, follow these steps.

    1）{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Don't start treating until you know the source of your pain. Your stomach is a big area so start by pinpointing your pain. Is there tightness in your lower abdomen or intestines? Or is there a burning high in your stomach?

    2）Stay hydrated. You need to drink water every day, no matter what. Dehydration can cause your stomach ache, tightness in your intestines and constipation. Drinking proper water each day helps your body function properly.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    3）Eat some crackers. Often pain in your stomach is caused by hunger or something disagreeable you have eaten. Fill the hunger with a few crackers to take the edge off. The crackers will also provide something to mix with any bacteria or other disagreeable items you may have consumed.

    4）Relax. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Stand up to stretch, and take a walk to relax. This will also help loosen any tension your stomach is holding due to the ache you feel.

    5）Maintain a regular high-fiber diet. When your stomach aches often you need to take a look at your diet. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}If your digestive system is not working with a steady flow you will back up and feel the pain. Consuming high fiber foods will help you regulate your digestive system.

    6）Wait it out. Sometimes whatever is ailing you just needs to work its way out of your system. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    University Room Regulations

    Approved and Prohibited Items

    The following items are approved for use in residential (住宿的) rooms: electric blankets, hair dryers, personal computers, radios, televisions and DVD players. Items that are not allowed in student rooms include: candles, ceiling fans, fireworks, waterbeds, sun lamps and wireless routers. Please note that any prohibited items will be taken away by the Office of Residence Life.

    Access to Residential Rooms

    Students are provided with a combination (组合密码) for their room door locks upon check-in. Do not share your room door lock combination with anyone. The Office of Residence Life may change the door lock combination at any time at the expense of the resident if it is found that the student has shared the combination with others. The fee is $25 to change a room combination.

    Cooking Policy

    Students living in buildings that have kitchens are only permitted to cook in the kitchen. Students must clean up after cooking. This is not the responsibility of housekeeping staff. Kitchens that are not kept clean may be closed for use. With the exception of using a small microwave oven (微波炉) to heat food, students are not permitted to cook in their rooms.

    Pet Policy

    No pets except fish are permitted in student rooms. Students who are found with pets, whether visiting or owned by the student, are subject to an initial fine of $100 and a continuing fine of $50 a day per pet. Students receive written notice when the fine goes into effect. If, one week from the date of written notice, the pet is not removed, the student is referred to the Student Court.

    Quiet Hours

    Residential buildings must maintain an atmosphere that supports the academic mission of the University. Minimum quiet hours in all campus residences are 11:00 pm to 8:00 am Sunday through Thursday. Quiet hours on Friday and Saturday nights are 1:00 am to 8:00 am. Students who violate quiet hours are subject to a fine of $25.

    There are a number of special days of the year that are celebrated in different countries. The origins of most of the days are unknown. They were certainly not created by individual people. Other days, however, especially those celebrated in western countries often owe their origins to a particular person. One of the most popular of these, even though it is fairly recent, is Mother's Day. Mothers have always been highly regarded in all cultures. The ancient Romans had a festival known as Hilaria, during which children took presents to the temple of the “Mother of the Gods”. The Christian Church adopted this idea and called it Mothering Sunday. However, over the years this custom was gradually forgotten, and almost disappeared by the end of the 19th century.

    Born in 1864 in Virginia, US, Anna Jarvis was a school teacher and believed children should show gratitude(感激) to their mothers for all their love and care. Encouraged by a friend, she wrote to thousands of important people—politicians, churchmen, doctors, city officials and asked them to support her idea：a special day of the year for thanking mothers.

    In 1910 the Governor of Western Virginia introduced Mother's Day in the state. The date chosen was May 10 — the second Sunday in May, which is still observed in America today. This date was chosen because May 10 was the date on which in 1908 Anna Jarvis's mother died. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made May 10 the official date for Mother's Day throughout the United States.

    Soon there was a Mother's Day International Association and the custom began to be adopted in many countries of the world.

    Anna Jarvis, a sad and disillusioned (幻想破灭的) woman died in 1948.The custom she had worked so hard to establish and which had become almost universal had lost its original purpose. It had been taken over by business. As with Christmas, the giving of presents and the sending of cards had become a multi­million dollar industry.

    One of the most firmly established idea of manliness(男子汉) is that a real man doesn't cry. Although he might cry a bit at a funeral, he is expected to quickly regain control. Crying openly is for girls. One study found that women cry significantly more than men do—five times as often, on average, and almost twice as long per period.

    Historically, however, men usually cried, and no one saw it as shameful. For example, in the Middle Ages, knights(骑士) cried only because they missed their girlfriends. In The Knight of the Cart, no less a hero than Lancelot cries at a brief separation from Guinevere. There's no mention of the men in these stories trying to hold back or hide their tears. They cry in a crowded hall with their heads held high. Nor do other people make fun of this public crying; it's universally regarded as an expression of feeling to show love.

    So where did all the male tears go? The most obvious possibility is that this is the result of changes as we moved from an agricultural(农业的) society to one that was urban(城市的)and industrial(工业的). In the Middle Ages, most people spent their lives among those they had known since birth. If men cried, they did so with people who would sympathize(同情). But from the 18^th to 20^th centuries, the population became increasingly urbanize, and people were living in the midst of thousands of strangers. Furthermore, changes in the economy required men to work together in factories and offices where expressions of feelings and even personal conversations were discouraged as time wasting.

    Yet human beings weren't designed to hide their feelings, and there's reason to believe that restraining tears can be harmful to your well-being. Research from the 1980s has suggested a relationship between stress-related illnesses and not enough crying. Crying is also, somewhat related with happiness and wealth. Countries where people cry the most tend to be richer and more confident.

    As a young boy, I knew what people said was not always what they meant or were feeling. And I knew it was possible to get others to do what I wanted if I read their real feelings and responded(回应) suitably to their needs. At the age of eleven, I sold sponge rubber(泡沫橡胶) door-to-door after school and quickly worked out how to tell if someone was likely to buy from me. When I knocked on a door, if someone told me to go away but their hands were open and they showed their palms (the inside surfaces of their hands), I knew it was safe to continue with my presentation(展示) because they weren't angry or threatening although they may have a dismissive(不屑 ) attitude. If someone told me to go away in a soft voice but used a pointed finger or closed hand, I knew it was time to leave.

    As a teenager, I became a pots and pans(炊具)salesperson, and my ability to read people earned me enough money to buy my first house. Selling gave me the chance to meet people and study them close and to know whether they would buy or not, simply by watching their body language.

    I joined the life insurance business at the age of twenty. And I went on to break several sales records for my company, becoming the youngest person to sell over a million dollars' worth of business in my first year. This achievement allowed me to become a member of the well-known Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT, which recognizes the world's top achievers in life insurance). I was lucky that the skills I'd learned as a boy in watching body language while selling pots and pans could be used in this new area, and were directly related to the success I could have in any business closely connected with people.