Before the law sits a gatekeeper. Tothis gatekeeper comes a man from the country who asks to gain entry into thelaw. But the gatekeeper says that he cannot grant him entry at the moment. Theman thinks about it and then asks if he will be allowed to come in sometimelater on. "It is possible," says the gatekeeper, "but notnow." The gate to the law stands open, as always, and the gatekeeper walksto the side, so the man bends over in order to see through the gate into theinside. When the gatekeeper notices that, he laughs and says: "If it tempts you so much, try going insidein spite of my prohibition. But take note. I am powerful. And I am only themost lowly gatekeeper. But from room to room stand gatekeepers, each morepowerful than the other. I cannot endure even one  glimpse of the third."

The man from the country has notexpected such difficulties: the law should always be accessible for everyone,he thinks, but as he now looks more closely at the gatekeeper in his fur coat,at his large pointed nose and his long, thin, black Tartar's beard, he decidesthat it would be better to wait until he gets permission to go inside. Thegatekeeper gives him a stool and allows him to sit down at the side in front ofthe gate. There he sits for days and years. He makes many attempts to be letin, and he wears the gatekeeper out with his requests. The gatekeeper ofteninterrogates him briefly, questioning him about his homeland and many otherthings, but they are indifferent questions, the kind great men put, and at theend he always tells him once more that he cannot let him inside yet. The man,who has equipped himself with many things for his journey, spends everything,no matter how valuable, to win over the gatekeeper. The latter takes it allbut, as he does so, says, "I am taking this only so that you do not thinkyou have failed to do anything." ②

During the many years the man observesthe gatekeeper almost continuously. He forgets the other gatekeepers, and thisfirst one seems to him the only barrier for entry into the law. He curses theunlucky circumstance, in the first years thoughtlessly and out loud; later, ashe grows old, he only mumbles to himself. He becomes childish and, since in thelong years studying the gatekeeper he has also come to know the fléas ( PZ) inhis fur collar, he even asks the fleas to help him persuade the gatekeeper.Finally his eyesight grows weak, and he does not know whether things are reallydarker around him or whether his eyes are merely deceiving him. But herecognizes now in the darkness a ray of light which breaks out of the gatewayto the law. Now he no longer has much time to live.

Before his death he gathers in his headall his experiences of the entire time up into one question which he has notyet put to the gatekeeper. He waves to him, since he can no longer lift up hisstiffening body. The gatekeeper has to bend way down to him, for the greatdifference has changed things considerably to the disadvantage of the man. ③ "You are insatiable (不知足的)."^t"Everyone strives after the law," says the man, "so how isit that in these many years no one except me has requested entry?" Thegatekeeper sees that the man is already dying and, in order to reach hisdiminishing sense of hearing, he shouts at him, "Here no one else can gainentry, since this entrance was assigned only to you. I'm going now to close it."④

    People around the world are superstitious about numbers; even those ancient Greeks believed that all numbers and their multiples had some mystical significance.

    Those numbers between 1 and 13 were in particular to have a powerful influence over the affairs of men.

    For example, it is commonly said that luck, good or bad, comes in threes; if an accident happens, two more of the same kind may be expected soon afterwards. The arrival of a letter will be followed by two others within a certain period.

    Another belief involving the number three has it that it is unlucky to light three cigarettes from the one match. If this happens, the bad luck that goes with the deed falls upon the person whose cigarette was the last to be lit. The ill-men linked to the lighting of three things from one match or candle goes back to at least the 17th century and probably earlier. It was believed that three candles alight at the same time would be sure to bring bad luck; one, two, or four, were permissible, but never just three.

    Seven was another significant number, usually regarded as a bringer of good luck. The ancient astrologers believed that the universe was governed by seven planets; students of Shakespeare will recall that the life of man was divided into seven ages. Seven horseshoes nailed to a house will protect it from all evil.

    Nine is usually thought of as a lucky number because it is the product of three times three. It was much used by the Anglo Saxons in their charms for healing.

    Another belief was that great changes occurred every 7th and 9th of a man's life. Consequently, the age of 63 (the product of nine and seven) was thought to be a very perilous time for him. If he survived his 63rd year he might hope to live to a ripe old age.

    Thirteen, as we well know, is regarded with great awe and fear. The common belief is that this derives from the fact that there were 13 people at Christ's Last Supper. This being the eve of his betrayal, it is not difficult to understand the significance given to the number by the early Christians.

    In more modern times 13 is an especially unlucky number of a dinner party, for example. Hotels will avoid numbering a floor the 13th; the progression is from 12 to 14, and no room is given the number 13. Many home owners will use 12 1/2 instead of 13 as their house number.

    Yet oddly enough, to be born on the 13th of the month is not regarded with any fear at all, which just shows how irrational we are in our superstitious beliefs.

    Samuel Osmond is a 19-year-old law student from Cornwall, England. He never studied the piano. However, he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them. He learns a piece of music by listening to it in parts. Then he thinks about the notes(音符) in his head. Two years ago, he played his first piece Moonlight Sonata（奏鸣曲）by Beethoven. He surprised everyone around him.

    Amazed that he remembered this long and difficult piece of music and played it perfectly, his teachers say Samuel is unbelievable. They say his ability is very rare, but Samuel doesn't even realize that what he can do is special. Samuel wanted to become a lawyer as it was the wish of his parents, but music teachers told him he should study music instead. Now, he studies law and music.

Samuel can't understand why everyone is so surprised. "I grew up with music. My mother played the piano and my father played the guitar. About two years ago, I suddenly decided to start playing the piano, without being able to read music and without having any lessons. It comes easily to me —I hear the notes and can bear them in mind—each and every note," says Samuel.

Recently, Samuel performed a piece during a special event at his college. The piece had more than a thousand notes. The audience was impressed by his amazing performance. He is now learning a piece that is so difficult that many professional(专业的) pianists can't play it. Samuel says confidently, "It's all about super memory—I guess I have that gift."

    However, Samuel's ability to remember things doesn't stop with music. His family says that even when he was a young boy, Samuel heard someone read a story, and then he could retell the story word for word.

    Samuel is still only a teenager. He doesn't know what he wants to do in the future. For now, he is just happy to play beautiful music and continue his studies.

    Foxes and farmers have never got on well. These small dog-like animals have long been accused (控告)of killing farm animals. They are officially considered as harmful and farmers try to keep their numbers down by shooting or poisoning them.

    Farmers can do call on the services of their local hunt to control the fox population. Hunting consists of hunting a fox across the countryside, with a group of specially trained dogs, followed by men and women riding horses. When the dogs eventually catch the fox, they kill it or a hunter shoots it.

    People who take part in hunting think of it as a sport; they wear a special uniform of red coats and white trousers, and follow strict codes of behavior. But owning a horse and hunting regularly is expensive, so most hunters are wealthy.

    It is estimated (估计) that up to 100,000 people watch or take part in fox hunting . But over the last couple of decades the number of people opposed to fox hunting, because they think it is cruel, has risen sharply. Noisy confrontations between hunters and saboteurs have become so common that they are almost as much a part of hunting as the hunting of foxes itself. But this year supporters of fox hunting face a much bigger threat to their sport. A Labour Party Member of the Parliament, Mike Foster, is trying to get Parliament to approve a new law which will make the hunting of wild animals with dogs illegal. If the law is passed, wild animals like foxes will be protected under the ban in Britain.

    It was only after her death from Bright's disease on May 15, 1886 that Emily Dickinson enjoyed recognition for her poetic accomplishment. A limited volume of her works appeared in1890, but it was Thomas H. Johnson's release of her complete body of poetry that made her works receive real acclaim. He published 1,775 of her poems in 1955 in a volume entitled The Poems of Emily Dickinson.

    Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, MA in 1830. The Dickinson family was well known in the community for their contribution to politics and education. Dickinson lived most of her life with her grandfather who was famous for having founded the Amherst Academy in1814 and later Amherst College in 1821.

    Emily Dickinson led a reclusive life, but her childhood was a happy one. She had the privilege of being educated at some of the most outstanding women schools in her time and devoted herself to reading all kinds of books.

    It was during her college years that Emily started writing. Some of her poems were published with the help of her female friends. However, the first serious attempt at having her poems published failed for her being rejected by The Atlantic magazine. This led the selfconscious poetess to believe that the public would never care for her works, and thus she never attempted to have any of her works published again. After the Civil War, Dickinson withdrew from society and had little contact outside of Amherst.

    Dickinson was very concerned with the subject of nature. Her writings are complex, and for many years scholars have searched for romantic inspiration, but have not yet understood her works. What is clear, however, is that her works can't just simply describe something in terms of a narrative style.

    Without doubt, Dickinson's works have greatly influenced and continue to influence modern poetry. In her time, her writing style was unique given that it included the use of dashes and capitalized nouns. None of her works rhymed, and she used unusual comparisons when referring to events and situations. This unconventional method of writing has made her one of the most innovative poets of the 19th century.

    With the Chinese language growing in popularity, the UK government plans to invest (投资)10 million pounds to help more kids learn Mandarin(普通话).Do you think it is necessary for the UK pupils to learn Mandarin? Some people share their opinions online.

    Tsd(UK):The learning of any language can be valuable and rewarding, but it is not suitable for everyone. Chinese is a difficult language to learn and the UK has a poor reputation for teaching foreign languages. Why should they learn Chinese when most people in the world speak English?

    Mark(US):I studied French for 2 years in high school and German for 4 years in college. I studied Mandarin informally for about 4 months before moving to China. Now I speak Mandarin every day as my wife doesn't speak English. But it is far from being fluent, learning additional languages is a great thing, which offers a different perspective on the world around us. Nowadays, it's almost necessary to be able to speak more than just your native tongue.

George(UK):No, unless they're taught from a very early stage of childhood. Mandarin is so difficult. If China really is going to dominate the world, it'll have to do so by speaking the world's dominant language—English.

    Sam(UK):I don't think Chinese will become as widely spoken throughout the world as English. It is too difficult to learn as a second language. To learn Chinese you completely have to devote yourself to learning how to write and read it. If you have to learn it besides other subjects you can't be good at it. But Chinese will become more popular, and that is a good thing.