The 87^th Academy Award nominations（提名）were announced on Jan 15,and The Grand Budapest Hotel stood out as a favorite with nine nominations, including Best Picture. Check out some other Best Picture nominees to see if you missed any of last year's top Hollywood films.

The Imitation Game

    This historical thriller is about British computer scientist, Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), the father of artificial intelligence. At the start of World War Ⅱ, Turing was asked to join a select team of mathematical geniuses to decode（解码）the system the Nazis used to send military messages. Besides the actual breaking of the code, Cumberbatch's portrayal（扮演）of Turing's personality, a mixture of decency（正派）and shyness, is also a highlight of the movie.

Birdman

    This dark comedy film is about how Riggan Thomson, a faded star once famous for his superhero roles, struggles to regain fame. American actor Michael Keaton, 63, who has a similar experience to Thomson's, plays the leading role.

Selma

    A stellar cast(主要演员) including talk show queen Oprah Winfrey may be one reason to see Selma. But that the film focuses on Martin Luther King Jr.'s struggle for civil rights also makes it worth viewing. Based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, the film is a chronicle(编年史) of King's(David Oyelowo) campaign for political rights for African-American people.

The Theory of Everything

    We know English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking for his significant scientific discoveries, especially his black hole theories. This biographical film reveals the scientist's (played by Eddie Redmayne) secret romantic relationship with Jane Hawking (Felicity Jones), whom he meets and falls in love with at Cambridge and who later becomes his first wife.

Boyhood

    American Director Richard Linklater did an experiment in this film, using the same cast for l2 years to record a boy's growth. In two and a half hours, we see Mason, a Texas boy from a divorced family, grow from 6-year-old boy to a freshman in college.

    Welcome to our third newsletter of the year!

    Our major activity for March is our Walk for the Woods fundraising event on Saturday, 17^th March, starting any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. We will be walking the distance between Warley Woods and Tipperary. It is indeed a long way—80 miles. The more people that you can get to sponsor you, the more money we can raise to help look after our beautiful woodland. More information is available on our website.

    The Sunday volunteers planted two beeches and an oak last week. This was thanks to the money from the Big Tree Plant and to Lisa and Gordon Whitaker, whose friends gave money for the big trees instead of for their wedding presents. Thanks to everyone who took part.

    There were 15 volunteers at the Oral History Training Day which was led very ably by Julia Letts. The group will be meeting again and will start to interview the local people who have offered to tell their stories. We are happy to hear from others who would like to be interviewed about their memories of the Woods for the project. If you or anyone you know is interested, please call Viv Cole at the office. This project is financed by Heritage Lottery Fund.

    There was a huge response to the Forest Schools activities held at half term. These will be held again during the Easter holidays on the following dates: 4^th April from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for over 8s. On 12^th April from 10 a. m. to 12 noon, there will be a Teddy Bears' Picnic for the under 8s. All these must be booked in advance.

    Finally, don't forget the Easter Egg Roll on Bank Holiday, 9^th April, starting at 11 a.m. Bring your own hard-boiled and decorated egg to roll down the hill in the woods. The first past the finishing line will win a large chocolate egg! This year, due to popular demand, there will also be an Adults' Easter Egg Roll following the children's competition.

    We look forward to seeing you all soon, at one of our many events!

    One of the greatest contributions to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every  English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations (引文) showing how it was used.

    This was a huge task, so Murray had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American surgeon who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire,” 50 miles from Oxford.

    Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next 17 years, he became one of the staff's most valued contributors.

    But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always decline to visit Oxford. So in 1897, Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked  in a book-lined cell at the Broadmoor Asylum (精神病院) for the Criminally Insane.

    Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.

    In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.

    Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volumes defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.

    The Poetry Foundation, recently named American poet Jack Prelutsky as the nation's first children's poet laureate (桂冠诗人). The group created the award as a way to increase children's love of poetry.

    As children's poet laureate, Jack Prelutsky will give two public readings in the next two years. He will also advise the Poetry Foundation about children's literature and take part in projects concerning children and poetry.

    Jack Prelutsky has been writing poetry for children for over forty years. He has written more than thirty five books of poems. His first book was called A Gopher in the Garden. It was published in 1967. His latest is called Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems.

    Jack Prelutsky is well known for creating new words by combining two words to create a new kind of creature. For example, he combined "radish" with "shark" to get "radishark". "Lion" and "broccoli" became "broccolion". He also created "umbrellaphant"， a mixture of the words "umbrella" and "elephant".

    Jack Prelutsky says that children like his poems because he writes about things they care about. Poetry researchers say that Jack Prelutsky's poems recognize children's feelings. An example of this is the poem My Sister Is a Werewolf which is about how it feels to be different.

    Jack Prelutsky also writes poems about American holidays. His poem It's Halloween is a very famous one about the holiday celebrated at the end of October.

    I have learned something about myself since I moved from Long Island to Florida three years ago. Even though I own a home in Port St, Lucie just minutes from the ocean, an un-controllable urge wells up to return to Long Island even as others make their way south. I guess I am a snowbird stuck in reverse. Instead of enjoying Florida's mild winters, I willingly endure the severe weather on Long Island, the place I called home for 65 years.

    I'm like a migratory bird (候鸟) that has lost its sense of timing and direction, my wings flapping against season.

    So what makes me fly against the tide of snowbirds? The answer has a lot to do with my reluctance to give up the things that define who I am. Once I hear that the temperature on Long Island has dipped into the range of 40 to 50 degrees, I begin to long for the sight and crackling sound of a wood fire. I also long for the bright display of colors-first in the fall trees, and then in the lights around homes and at Rockefeller Center. Floridians decorate too, but can't create the special feel of a New England winter.

    I suppose the biggest reason why I return is to celebrate the holidays with people I haven't seen in months. What could be better than sitting with family and friends for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, or watching neighbors children excitedly open gifts on Christmas? Even the first snowfall seems special. I especially enjoy seeing a bright red bird settling on a snow-covered branch. (My wife and I spend winters at a retirement community in Ridge, and I'm grateful that I don't have to shovel.)

    While these simple pleasures are not unique to Long Island, they are some of the reasons why I come back. Who says you can't go home?

    A young woman sits alone in café sipping tea and reading a book. She pauses briefly to write in a nearby notepad before showing her words to a passing café waiter: "Where are the toilets please?" This is a familiar scene in Tokyo's so-called "silent cafes", where customers are not allowed to speak, and only communicate by writing in notepads.

    The concept rises by a desire to be alone among young Japanese, a situation brought by economic uncertainly, a shift in traditional family support structures and the growing social isolation. The phenomenon is not limited to coffee shops but covers everything from silent discos, where participants dance alone wearing wireless headphones connected to the DJ, to products such as small desk tents designed for conversation-free privacy in the office. One Kyoto company even offers single women the opportunity to have a "one woman wedding" – a full bridal affair, complete with white dress and ceremony, and the only thing missing is the groom. The trend has its own media expression – "botchi-zoku", referring to individuals who consciously choose to do things completely on their own.

    One recent weekday afternoon, Chihiro Higashikokubaru, a 23-year-old nurse, travelled 90 minutes from her home, to Tokyo on her day off in order to enjoy some solo time. Speaking quietly at the entrance of the café, Miss Higashikokubaru said: "I heard about this place via Twitter and I like the idea of coming here. I work as a nurse and it's always very busy. There are very few quiet places in Tokyo, and it's a big busy city. I just want to come and sit somewhere quietly on my own. I'm going to drink a cup of tea and maybe do some drawings. I like the idea of a quiet, calm atmosphere."

    The desire to be isolated is not a new concept in Japan, home to an estimated 3.6 million "hikikomori" – a more extreme example of social recluses（隐士）who withdraw completely from society.