Gadgets that make study fun

    Now in a world piled high with smart phones, tablets and e-readers, technology has entered the classroom in ways unimaginable. Taking classes can be fun too. All you have to do is swipe your fingers on your phone screen and download some apps, which can make your study more fun and efficient. Balancing study and play in a college setting has never been easy-and with the following few apps, it'll be tough to tell the two apart.

    Evernote

    Use: note-taking

    Can be used on: Phone/iPad/iPod touch, Android, BlackBerry, Palm OS and     Windows, Phone 7

    Price: free

It's hard to imagine that with all the magical gadgets, the eager, studious types would still take out a notepad, a pencil, and a highlighter—and take notes in class. While it's not an actual planner or a calendar App, if you take notes to stay organized, then Evernote is for you．The main thing about Evernote is that all of your notes are automatically sent into the cloud—and then you can access them from any web-connected computer via the Evernote app or a web browser. Evernote also supports audio and photo notes-rather handy if you want to record your lecture or take photos of any projected notes. But, of course, ask for permission first.

    Wikipanion

    Use: research database

    Can be used on: iPhone/iPad/iPod touch

Price :free ( Wikipanion Plus for $4.99,or 31.87 yuan )

    Now, you don't necessarily have to go to a library or anywhere with computer services to do research work for your paper anymore. You can get access to the research databases just on your smart phone or tablet. Wikipanion gives you a simplified version of Wikipedia without leaving out any of the site's extra features. The normal links that you'd see to each section of an article are no longer on the main screen. Instead, there's small icon located at the bottom of the App, which can be used to access all the sections of an article. You can also open the links in Safari(苹果浏览器). According to the developers' site, loading Wikipedia pages with Wikipanion is a lot faster than accessing the Wikipedia site from the iPhone's browsers. To be honest, we agree.

    Conquering Bilingual News Listening in 7 Days

    Use: English learning application

    Can be used on: iPhone/iPad/iPod touch

    Price: For a limited time you can get the App for only $0.99—half price.

    Still learning English with a workbook? If so, you are behind the times. Get 21st Century Newspaper's new iPhone App, “Conquering Bilingual News Listening in 7 Days”. When you download the App on your iPhone, you can listen to the hottest bilingual news selected from the newspaper's official website (w. w. w. i2lst. cn) and read by native speakers. User can enjoy the audio bilingual news with synchronized subtitles and fantastic pictures while immersed in an authentic language environment. With a simple tap, the sentence you choose will be repeated. “Conquering Bilingual News Listening in 7 Days” has ranked No 1 on the Chinese education App list.

    My dad loved pennies, especially those with the elegant stalk of wheat curving around each side of the ONE CENT on the back. Those were the pennies he grew up with during the Depression (大萧条).

    As a kid, I would go for walks with Dad, spying coins along the way—a penny here, a dime (一角硬币) there. Whenever I picked up a penny, he'd ask, "Is it a wheat?" It always thrilled him when we found one of those special coins produced between 1909 and 1958, the year of my birth.

    One gray Sunday morning in winter, not long after my father's death in 2002, I was walking down Fifth Avenue, feeling bereft. I found myself in front of the church where Dad once worked. I was warmly shown in and led to a seat. Hearing Dad's favorite "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God", I burst into tears. We'd sung that at his funeral. After the service, I shook the pastor's hand and stepped onto the sidewalk—and there was a penny. I bent to pick it up, turned it over, and sure enough, it was a wheat. A 1944, a year my father was serving on a ship in the South Pacific.

    That started it. Suddenly wheat pennies began turning up on the sidewalks of New York everywhere. I got most of the important years: his birth year, my mom's birth year, the year he graduated from college, the year he met my mom, the year they got married, the year my sister was born. But alas, no 1958 wheat penny—my year, the last year they were made.

    The next Sunday, after the service, I was walking up Fifth Avenue and spotted a penny in the middle of a crossing. Oh, no, it was a busy street; cabs were speeding by—should I risk it? I just had to get it.

    A wheat! But the penny was worn, and I couldn't read the date. On arriving home, I took out my glasses and took it to the light. There was my birthday!

    I found 21 wheat pennies on the streets of Manhattan in the year after my father died, and I don't think that's a coincidence.

    Can you imagine walking into a gym and seeing dogs lifting weights or cats jogging? We're being a bit silly thinking of dogs and cats going to the gym, but we do have a reason. Just like human beings, pets that don't get enough exercise can become overweight.   
   Overweight pets can develop serious health problems just like we can. So, if you have a pet, part of being a good owner is making sure that your pet gets the right amount and kind of exercise.

    Before you start your pet on an exercise program, be sure to schedule a check-up for your pet and ask your veterinarian how much and what type of exercise your pet needs.

    Just like humans, pets need to be started out slowly. Over time, they will get fit and be able to exercise for longer periods of time. If you exercise alongside your pet, you'll benefit, too!

    Starting out, you might want to play with your pet for 15－20 minutes at a time. Gradually, you can turn those plays into several 30－minute walks or jogs each week. If your pet is especially active, you can extend them to an hour or longer.

    Of course, some pets, such as cats, may not be easy to take for a walk or a run. These pets still need exercise, though. Don't underestimate the value of energetic indoor play, such as games of chase, for these types of pets.

    As you start exercising with your pet, here are some things to keep in mind:

    Make sure your pet has plenty of water before, during, and after exercising.

    If you have older pets, don't push them as hard.

    Watch the heat! If you are outside, exercising with your pet will be best early in the morning or later in the day.

    In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five days off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I'd hitch a ride.

    I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn't give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches. After lunch, he helped me find a lift home.

    Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the kindness I'd been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.

    After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, "You haven't changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same." I couldn't remember where I'd met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.

    After four silent years, the 27-year-old British singer Adele Adkins has finally introduced herself to the world again with Hello, the opening song from her third album (专辑) 25, which will come out on Nov. 20.

    Although Adele is a very successful singer now, music wasn't always what she saw herself doing. At age 10, when she saw her grandmother's pain over the death of Adele's grandfather, she pictured herself as a heart surgeon.

    "I want to fix people's hearts," she told the UK music website i-D, remembering the childhood interest she'd had in biology classes until she found out that her real talent was for singing.

    Adele didn't go to medical school, but many would agree that she still has healing (治愈) powers. "Her songs find the kind of memory every listener holds somewhere in their hearts. This kind of feeling is what people have always liked in Adele," said The Telegraph. "She writes a pop diary, sharing the simple secrets of her heart."

    Most successful pop stars make albums at a fast pace, but not Adele. After her second album 21 won the 2012 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, she made it clear with her label that she would spend "four or five years" making her next album. She told Vogue magazine, "I won't come out with new music until it's better than 21."

    Instead of seeking fame, Adele remained silent and moved to the countryside. In her free time, she loved to watch TV series Teen Mom, American Horror Story, and The Waling Dead.

    Living life as normally as possible is important to the singer's art. "Nobody wants to listen to a record from someone who's not living in the real world," Adele told i-D, "So I live a low-key life for my fans."

    One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. It has been said that the hall itself is an instrument. It takes the music and makes it larger than life.

    Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. Construction on Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5, 1891.

    The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E. Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.

    Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world. Over 12,000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall's concert history.

    Carnegie Hall is actually made up of several different halls, but the Main Hall, now called the Isaac Stern Hall, is the most famous. The hall itself can hold an audience of 2,804 in five levels of seating.

    Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall's history. Question: "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" Answer: "Practise, practise, practise."