It was a quiet village in which there was a military camp(军营). It was far from the towns and cities and there were some high mountains around. Of course it was a good place for training the new soldiers. But it was difficult for the young men to go outside. Mr. White, an officer of forty, was strict with them and he hardly let them leave the camp.

    Once Mr. White was ill in bed. He couldn't work and a young officer, Mr. Hunt, began to train the new soldiers instead of him. He knew the young men well and let nine soldiers go to the nearest town to have a holiday. But night fell and none came back to the camp. He was worried about it and stood at the gate. It was five to twelve when Mr. Hunt decided to go to the town and see what was happening with the young men. He started the car quickly and set off. At that moment the nine soldiers came back. It seemed they were all drunk. Of course they found the officer was angry.

    "I'm sorry, sir," said the first soldier. "I left the town on time. But something was wrong with my bus on my way here. I had to buy a horse and made it run fast. Bad luck! It died and I had to run back."

    And the other seven soldiers said they were late for the same reasons. It was the last soldier's turn. He said, "I'm sorry, sir. I got on a bus on time, but…"

    Having heard this, the officer became even angrier and stopped him at once. He called out, "If you say something was wrong with your bus, I'll punish you at once!"

    "No, no, sir," said the young man. "My bus was all right, but the dead horse were in its way!"

    Shakespeare's Birthplace and Exhibition of Shakespeare's World

    Welcome to the world--famous house where William Shakespeare was born in1564 and where he grew up. The property remained in the ownership of Shakespeare's family until 1806. The House has welcomed visitors traveling from all over the world for over 250 years.

    Enter through the Visitors' Centre and see the highly-praised exhibition Shakespeare's World, a lively and full introduction to the life and work of Shakespeare.

    Stand in the rooms where Shakespeare grew up.

    Discover examples of furniture and needlework from Shakespeare's period.

    Enjoy the traditional English garden, planted with trees and flowers mentioned in the poet's works.

    The Birthplace is within easy walking distance of all the car parks shown on the map, nearest is Windsor Street(3 minutes' Walk)

    The House may present difficulties but the Visitors' Centre, its exhibition and the garden are accessible to wheelchair users.

    The Shakespeare Coffee House (opposite the Birthplace).

    Eight Days Best of China Tour

    This tour covers two ancient capital cities of China — Beijing & Xi'an, as well as the most developed city — Shanghai. It's not overstated to call it the most classic China tour, for China's past, present and future are epitomized（成为…的缩影）in the golden triangle cities for your exploration.

    Highlights of this tour:

    Be thrilled by the grand of Great Wall, as well as the delicacy and majesty of Forbidden City and Summer Palace in Beijing.

    Experience the World Heritage Site of Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, the ancient capital city of China.

    Feel the charm and vitality of Shanghai, the most prosperous and modernized city in China.

    Our tour — at a glance

    Day 1-4 Arrival & Beijing Tour

Two full days and a half day sightseeing covering the grand Tiananmen Square, historical Forbidden City, spectacular Temple of Heaven, manmade wonder Great Wall of China, royal park Summer Palace and traditional Hutong.

    Day 5-6 Xi'an Tour & Flight to Shanghai

    One full day to visit the incredible Terracotta Warriors, leisurely walk on the Ancient City Wall and Muslim Quarter. Before leaving for Shanghai, explore the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Shan'xi History Museum.

    Day 7-8 Shanghai Tour & Departure

    Experience the great contrast of Shanghai by visiting the traditional Yu Garden and Jade Buddha Temple, modern and prosperous Shanghai World Financial Center, Nanjing Road and the Bund, etc.

    Start planning your tailor-made holiday by contacting one of our specialists. Once enquired, you'll get a response within 0.5-23.5 hours.

    What do you think of your Chinese? If you think your Chinese is good enough, you can take part in the competition named Chinese Characters Dictation Competition(中国汉字听写大会).

    Today teenagers are using more and more smart phones. They spend too much time in shopping, chatting, playing games and so on. Many of them cannot using smart phones to help with their study. Overuse of smart phones will make students too lazy to think and write. Some of them even forget how to write Chinese characters by hand. Teachers and parents are very worried about it.

    In order to draw people's attention to the problems above, in 2013 CCTV held the first Chinese Characters Dictation Competition. About 200 students from 32 teams took part in it. They stood on the stage to write down Chinese characters by dictation. Lu Jialei, a 14-year-old girl from Zhejiang, got first place.

    Since then, the competition has been popular among teenagers. Many people are interested in this kind of competition, too. They like to write down the characters while the competitors(参赛者)are writing them.

    Can you be the next winner?

    Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website Book Crossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

    Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. Book Crossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public lace hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

    Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, "The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both."

    Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

    People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

    BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the "real" and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.

    A new officer with the Huntington Park Police patrols (巡逻) local parks 24 hours a day seven days a week. He doesn't need rest, coffee breaks, a salary or medical insurance, and that is because it is a Robocop.

    The main function of the Robocop is to scan and film the surroundings. Besides cameras with night vision that report 360 degrees, it also has a distress button which is located here, so if somebody is to need assistance or they want to contact the communication center, they can do it by way of that distress button. There are people that are monitoring on the other end.

    This newest police employee is self-charging. It's easy to program it and make changes to the software if necessary. Its maintenance (维护) costs are roughly 75 thousand dollars a year. It travels the entire park. It is a programmed path, but the police are able to change the path and adapt it.

    The Robocop can record the license plates (车牌) of passing cars and check them against an online database of stolen cars. It can also help locate a lost iPhone because it is able to determine a smartphone's MAC address. The police can see from the robot if something wrong happens and then come and figure it out.

    The Robocop can't replace its human handlers. The whole goal is to give police more time to do things machines can't do. The police have been having some concerns about safety of the parks and want an extra set of eyes that will help patrol a 24/7.Robocop's creators believe this model known as K5 is best used for providing security at public places like hospitals, parking lots, parks and airports. So far, it seems to be working out just fine.