Regarded as one of the English language's most gifted poets, John Keats wrote poetry that concentrated on imagery, human nature, and philosophy. Although Keats didn't receive much formal literary education, his own studies and passion brought him much success. Additionally, his own life situation influenced his poetry greatly.

    Growing up as a young boy in London in a lower middle-class family, the young John didn't attend a private school, but went to a public one. His teachers and his family's friends regarded him as an optimistic boy who favored playing and fighting much more than minding his studies. After his father's death in the early 1800s, followed by his mother's passing due to tuberculosis (肺结核), he began viewing life differently. He wanted to escape the world and did so by reading anything he could get his hands on.

    At around the age of 16, the teenage John Keats began studying under a surgeon so that he too might become a doctor. However, his literary appetite had taken too much of his fancy, especially with his addiction to the poetry of Ehmund Spenser. He was able to have his first full poem published in the Examiner in 1816, entitledO Solitude!If I Must With Thee Dwell. Within two months in 1817, Keats had written an entire volume of poetry, but was sharply criticized by a magazine. However, the negative response didn't stop his pursuit of rhythm.

    John Keats' next work was Endymion, which was published in May 1818. The story involves a shepherd who falls in love with the moon goddess and leads him on an adventure of one boy's hope to overcome the limitations of being human. Following Engymion, however, he tried something more narrative-based and wrote Isabella. During this time, John Keats began seeing his limitations in poetry due to his own limit in life experiences. He would have to have the “knowledge” associated with his poems. His next work wasHyperionthat would attempt to combine all that he learned. However, a bout (发作) with tuberculosis while visiting Italy would keep him from his work and eventually take his life in 1821.

    WHAT can help you make a fortune in the future? Graduating from a top university might not be enough. A new study from the University of Essex in Britain has shown that the more friends you have in school, the more money you'll earn later.

    The idea that popularity could have a serious influence on one's earning potential shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. The researchers noted that if you want to get ahead in life, social skills and networking are easily as powerful as talent and hard work.

    “If a person has lots of friends, it means that he or she has the ability to get along with others in all kinds of different situations,” said Xu Yanchun, 17, from Nantou High School in Shenzhen, who totally agreed with the recent finding. “Also, friends always help each other. They not only create wider social circles for you but lift your mood when you are occasionally in low spirits,” said Xu. She believed that all this helps you “earn a higher salary.”

    Maybe that's why some people think the younger generations are in the age of Friendalholism (交友狂症). A woman even complained that the networking website Facebook's 5,000-friend limit was too low for her large reserve of social contacts.

    But what does a friend mean? Should friends be regarded as a form of currency?

    “Call me uncool, but I think of a friend as an actual person with whom I have an actual history and whom I enjoy actually seeing. It seems, however, that this is no longer the definition of friend”, said Meghan Daum, who works with The Los Angeles Times in the US.

    Daum dislikes the idea that quantity trumps quality in the age of Friendaholism. She thought the idea of friendship, at least among the growing population of Internet social networkers, was to get as many of not-really-friends as possible. For example, a friend might be someone you might know personally but who could just as easily be the friend of a friend of some other Facebook friend you don't actually know. Although she agreed that social ties grease (润滑) the wheels of life, she also warned. “Too bad one thing money can't buy is a real friend.”

    Top 4 Amusement Parks in the World

    It's summertime! That means parents have extra time to spend with their children, and what better way to engage in classic fun with family and friends than to visit an amusement park? Take a look at these fun choices — perfect summer trip ideas to fit every budget(预算).

    Cedar Point

    Tickets: $280 for adults, $120 for children

    Praising itself as the roller coaster capital of the world, Cedar Point's 18 coasters will ensure you're riding all day. Reader Alicia Goettemoeller describes the park as a “paradise for excited thrillers” while reader Nick Schuyler says it is “built for grown-up kids.”

    Knoebels

    Tickets: $120 for adults, $10 for children

    This old-fashioned amusement park is a must for your old memory games as well as money saving - admittance and parking are free of charge. Reader Tracy Ginsburg Maier says “a family of 4 can enjoy special offer to eat, swim and ride all day for $100” at Knoebels.

    Kings Island

    Tickets: $340 for adults, $160 for children

    Kings Island is one of the most visited theme parks in the US, with more than 3 million visitors per year. The park is especially known for its family-friendly attractions, such as Snoopy Island. Tickets to the main park also include admission to the nearby water park, Boomerang Bay.

    Dells Water Parks

    Tickets: $140 for adults, $80 for children

    Wisconsin Dells is a water park with dozens of indoor and outdoor water parks to spread around in. One of them, Noah's Ark, is the largest outdoor water park in the US. Many are open year-round and no charge for children under five.

    On average, Americans spend about 10 hours a day in front of a computer or other electronic devices and less than 30 minutes a day outdoors. That is a claim made by David Strayer, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah. In his 2017 TED Talk, Strayer explained that all this time spent with technology is making our brains tired.

    Using an electronic device to answer emails, listen to the news and look at Facebook puts a lot of pressure on the front of the brain, which, Strayer explains , is important for critical (有判断力的)thinking , problem-solving and decision-making.

So, it is important to give the brain a rest. And being in naure, Strayer claims, helps get a tired brain away from too much technology. More than 15,000 campers from around the world attended an international camping festival in September. That is when friends and family take time off and escape to nature for several days. They take walks, climb, explore, swim, sleep, eat and play. Camping may be just what a tired brain needs.

    Take Carl for example .He lives in West Virginia and enjoys camping. He says that staying outdoors makes him feel at ease. It also prepares him for the work he must do. Kate Somers is another example who also lives in West Virginia. She says she enjoys camping with her husband and two children. She calls it a “regenerative” experience.

    At the University of Utah, David Strayer has studied both short-term and long-term exposure to nature. He found that spending short amounts of time in nature without technology does calm the brain and helps it to remember better. However, he found, it is the long-term contact with nature that does the most good. He and his research team found that spending three days in nature without any technology is enough time for the brain to fully relax and reset itself.

    When my father married my mother in 1943, he gave my mother a 1937 crown coin and told her to keep it in the back of her purse and not to spend it. This would mean that she always felt that she was protected and would always have money if she really needed it.

    When I was married in 1970, my husband, who had heard this story, obtained a 1937 crown coin for me and I have always kept it in my wallet, and I have always had enough for my needs.

    A friend recently fell on hard times, partly through external (外部的) circumstances and partly through poor planning. Friends and I have loaned her money, paid her bills, given her food, and even tried to teach her budget techniques, but none of them has been a solution. She has just slipped deeper and deeper into financial trouble and depression.

    Last week she looked pale and unwell, very depressed and hopeless, very sad for a friend to see and I then thought about how the crown coin, a physical reminder of another's care and love had protected me, so I went to the bank for a $ 100 dollar-bill.

    I told my friend the story and asked her to keep the $ 100 in the back of her wallet. It turned out that she didn't have a wallet, so she put the money in a little pencil case where she kept her coins. She immediately felt better—"I feel rich, and thank you for being a good friend," she said, and we were both a bit teary.

    I went home and remembered a little wallet I had that I'd never used, and thought, "I'll give that to my friend." I opened it, and inside, found $ 100.

    Last week I did something that scared me. I stood in front of nearly 200 financial planners and I talked to them about why financial blogs are a good thing. I'm a confident writer. I've been doing this long enough that I know my strength and my limitations. I'm less confident as a speaker. I don't have time to pause to collect my thoughts. I'm not able to edit. I'm afraid of being trapped in a corner without being able to talk my way out. Basically, I'm scared to speak.

    It would be easy to simply refuse the chances that come my way. When somebody asks me to speak in front of a group, I could say "no". When radio and television stations call for an interview, I could say "no". But for the past two years, I've been following my own policy to say "yes" to new chances.

    To say "yes" is to live in fear. My goal is to continually improve myself to become better than I am today. One way to do that is to do the things that scare me, to take them on as challenges, and to learn from them—even if I fail.

    In mid-November, a local station asked me to appear on live television. "I realize it's short notice," the producer wrote, "but we'd love to have you on the show if you're available tonight." I was frightened. I thought about recent taped television interviews that I had hated. I was afraid of what might happen.

    But I also thought about the things that had gone right. I thought of how my speaking skills had improved over the past year. And then I thought of the book I was reading, a book that I had bought for $1.29 at the local store. The Magic of Thinking Big was a huge bestseller during the 1960s. Written by Dr. David Schwartz, a professor at Georgia State University, the book contains dozens of practical tips on how to take risks to achieve big goals. Schwartz argues that nobody will believe in you until you believe in yourself.

    So when the television producer asked if I wanted to appear on his show, I thought big. "Sure," I said. "I'll do it." I acted confidently, but on the inside I was frightened. What I needed was techniques to build up my confidence and to overcome my fear.