Because plants cannot move or talk, most people believe that they have no feelings and that they cannot receive signals from outside. However, this may not be completely true.

    People who studied plants have found out that plants carry a small electrical charge (电荷). It is possible to measure this charge with a small piece of equipment called “galvanometer”. The galvanometer is placed on a leaf of the plant, and it records any changes in the electrical field of the leaf. Humans have a similar field which can change when we are shocked or frightened.

    A man called Backster used a galvanometer for his studies of plants and was very surprised at his results. He found that if he had two or more plants in a room and he began to destroy one of them —perhaps by pulling off its leaves or by pulling it out of its pot—then the galvanometer on the leaves of the other plants showed a change in the electrical field. It seemed as if the plants were signaling a feeling of shock. This happened not only when Backster started to destroy plants, but also when he destroyed other living thing such as insects (昆虫).

    Backster said that the plants also knew if someone had destroyed a living thing some distance away, because they signalled when a man who had just cut down a tree entered the room.

    Another scientist, named Sauvin, achieved similar results to Backster's. He kept galvanometers fixed on his plants all the time and checked regularly to see what the plants were doing. If he was out of the office, he telephoned to find out about the signals the plants were sending. In this way, he found that the plants were sending out signals at the exact times when he felt strong pleasure or pain. In fact, Sauvin could cause a change in the electrical field of his plants over a distance of a few miles simply by thinking about them.

    In Chinese customs, red is the main color for weddings. It is used in different ways as it signifies love, joy and happiness. The bride's wedding gown（女礼服）is often red, the wedding invitations, gift boxes and envelopes are red and the bride and the groom's homes are decorated in red on the wedding day.

    Before the wedding, the married couples from the groom's family visit the bride's place with gifts in red baskets and boxes. One of those baskets has milk honey. Three days before the wedding, the women from the bride's family bring return-gifts to the groom's family.

    On the wedding day, the groom arrives at the bride's place on his way to the chapel（佛堂）. The groom has to give gifts in cash wrapped in red paper to the bride's friends for letting her go. The bride and the groom then leave for the chapel together.

    The wedding ceremony is attended only by the couple's immediate relatives. Just after the wedding ceremony, the bride serves tea to her parents in-laws as a tradition. The couples will then go to get wedding pictures. Then a reception（宴会）will follow.

    In the reception, a welcome speech is followed by a cake cutting ceremony. A Chinese wedding cake has many layers（层）, and each one represents a step to success for the newly married couples. So couples cut the cake from the bottom.

    Travour.com describes and provides information on the wedding traditions of the Chinese and around the world. Below are some wedding traditions performed in Italy.

    Have you ever heard someone say "You totally look like you're a Jessica" or something similar? People seem to think that they know what kind of person a "Jessica" or a "Michael" looks like. Why is this?

    According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, humans tend to associate people's names with their appearances, and can even guess someone's name based on how they look.

    Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, collected thousands of photos of people's faces. They labeled (贴标签于) each photo with four names. Then, they asked volunteers to guess which of the four names was correct.

    The volunteers were able to guess the right name 38% of the time. It seems that certain characteristics of faces give them clues about someone's name, Reader's Digest reported.

    However, this only worked when the volunteers looked at names from their own culture. In addition, the volunteers were not as good at guessing the real names of people who used nicknames(昵称)more often than their real names. This may show that a person's appearance is affected by their name only if they use it often.

    "This kind of face-name matching happens because of a process of self-fulfilling prophecy (预言), as we become what other people expect us to become," Ruth Mayo from tile university told science news website EurekAlert.

    Earlier studies have shown that gender (性别) and race stereotypes (刻板印象) can affect a person's appearance. The researchers believe there are also similar stereotypes about names. For example, people tend to think that men named Bob should have rounder faces because the word itself looks round. People may think that women named Rose are beautiful. They expect them to be "delicate" and "female", just like the flower they are named for.

    The United States will introduce a new and comprehensive(综合的) exam for students who seek to study in American and other English-speaking countries, Xinhua News Agency reported from New York.

    The exam, which stands for a great change from the current English level test, was disclosed by Theresa Chang Wei Jen, associate director of the International Service of the US College Board, America's leading educational organization.

    The Advanced Placement International English Language (APIEL) will be offered for the first time throughout the world on May 10, 2002, said Jen.

    However, the APIEL is a strange title to most Chinese students, and it is unlikely to soon gain the similarity of other already existing exams, such as the TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language), the GRE(Graduate Record Examination), or the IELTS(International English Language Testing System).

    "I have never heard of such a test and I would prefer the IELTS if I need another exam," said Xu Jingyan, a graduating student from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, who wants to study in England and has already taken the TOEFL.

    Most of Xu's classmates have never heard of the APIEL. "The APIEL is designed for international students who wish to get university studies in English-speaking countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia." said Jen.

    The APIEL has been adopted, said Jen, because the TOEFL can no longer accurately reflect the abilities of students of using the English language comprehensively in an academic environment. Xinhua reported that a fairly large number of foreign students who earned high scores in TOEFL exam turned out to be very ordinary educational performers after admission.

    Compared with the TOEFL, the APIEL measures a student's ability to read, write, speak and understand English through testing his or her skills in listening comprehension, speaking with accuracy(精确) and resourcefulness, and writing with clarity(清晰) and fluency, Jen said.

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    A hospital has been forced to ban Pokemon Go players from the site after a monster hub(妖怪枢纽站) was found in the A&E department. Royal Stoke University Hospital discovered that its casualty unit(急诊室) is on the same spot as a Pokemon Go 'gym' ­­ where players can train their newly caught Nintendo creatures.

    The University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust agreed last week that patients can play Pokemon Go on wards because walking around is healthy. But the Trust has been forced to post a warning on its website about public access to A&E. It said if Pokemon Go becomes a major annoyance it would ask Nintendo­­ which decides on the locations of the virtual gyms according to GPS­­to have it removed from the premises(道馆).

    Kevin Parker, associate chief nurse, said, "Members of the public who do not need to be at Royal Stoke should not attempt to enter A&E or any other part of the hospital building to play the game. The A&E department is incredibly busy this summer. We want the public to understand that anybody who visits the hospital solely to play the game will provide an unwanted distraction to the important work of the hospital. I'm also aware of various reports in the media of unsafe areas that the game has been played in."

    "Royal Stoke University Hospital is a safe area where gamers can enjoy Pokemon Go." Michelle Harris, the Trust's manager, said the game could still be played by those already in hospital. "We recognize that the Pokemon Go game encourages walking and exercise, which is something that the Trust is equally keen to promote," she said.

    There are a number of "walking routes" established throughout the Trust that can be used to combine walking and playing the game. "Walking just 30 minutes, five times a week, can help reduce the risk of preventable illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease."

    There have been several warnings about the game since its UK release. Last week a group of teenagers in Wiltshire were left stranded almost 100ft underground after they got carried away searching for Pokemon Go characters. The four boys, aged 16 and 17, ended up getting lost and had to wait to get a phone signal before they could call for help. Eventually, they contacted Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue team, who took them to safety. Damien Bence, of the fire and rescue team, said: "Pokemon Go is obviously leading people into dangerous situations."