Canadian short story writer Alice Munro wonthe Nobel Prize for Literature. Eighty-two-year-old Munro is only the 13thwoman to win the 112-year-old prize．

Munro didn't publish her first collectionof short stories until she was 37 years old, but her stories have always beenwell-received. Lots of her stories share similar themes and characters, buteach story has its own twists and turns.

Even though she's won Canada's most famousliterary award, the Giller Prize, twice, winning the Nobel Prize for Literatureis the cherry on top of Munro's career. “It brings this incredible recognition，both of her and her career，and of the dedication to the short story,”said one person.

Along with the well-respected title comes1.3 million dollars. Munro said everything was “so surprising and wonderful”and that she was “dazed by all the attention and affection that has been comingmy way.”

Munro knew she was in the running—she wasnamed the second-most likely person to win this year's prize, after HarukiMurakami（村上春树）of Japan—but she never thought that she would win.

Munro's win also represents the long wayCanadian writers have come. “When I began writing there was a very smallcommunity of Canadian writers and little attention was paid by the world. NowCanadian writers are read, admired and respected around the globe,” Munro saidon Thursday.

She is technically not the first Canadianto win the Nobel Prize for Literature, but many like to think that she is．In 1976 Saul Bellow, who was born in Quebecbut moved to Chicago when he was still a child, won the prize. Even though hewas born in Canada, he is mostly considered to be an American writer.

“This is a win for us all. Canadians, byour very nature，are not very nationalistic,” said Geoffrey Taylor. “But things like thissuddenly make you want to find a flag．”

She wasn't sure whether she would keepwriting if she won the prize，saying that it would be “nice to go out with a bang. But this may change mymind.”

    Many facts suggest that children are overweight (超重的) and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. I feel there are a number of reasons for this.

    Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice cream, at low prices. This has turned out a whole generation of grown-ups who seldom cook a meal for themselves. If there were fewer of these restaurants, then probably children would buy less take-away food.

    There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight. I agree with this, because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If children are given fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food, or are always allowed to choose what they eat, they will go for sweet and salty foods every time, and this will carry on throughout their lives.

    There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. Not only is this an unhealthy pastime (消遣), it also gives them time to eat more unhealthy food. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.

    The above are the main reasons for this problem, and therefore we have to encourage young people to be more active, as well as steering them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.

    Recently I had a conversation in Beijing with an adult Chinese friend who was complaining how difficult it was to study English. No surprises there. It is a difficult language to master, just like Chinese. I made a few suggestions based on my experience. One involved a very valuable fact which I learned from my high school Latin and Greek teacher, Dr. Smith．He is a gifted linguist （语言学家），and has an amazing ability to remember things, like poetry, essays, speeches, etc．His advice to us students is that for memorization purposes, there is forty minutes each day in which our memory is more acceptable than it is during the other 23 hours and 20 minutes.

    This 40-minute "super memory" period is divided into two parts: the 20 minutes before we sleep, and the 20 minutes after we first awake. The theory supporting this is pretty simple. First, the last information we input into our brain before bed has a better chance of taking root than information gained during the noisy daytime; and second, our mind is free of disturbance(干扰) when we first awake in the morning一so more receptive to inputs, like a blank slate（石板）．

    I took the advice to heart and it served me well in my school years. In my university days, our Chinese teacher would assign us 200 new vocabulary words each day, on which we would be quizzed（测试）the following day. Without the "magic" 40-minute technique, there's no way I would have passed those daily quizzes.

    As far as language study goes, it's not only useful for memorizing vocabulary. It's also a very useful window of time to listen to the language we're studying even with background noise, and even if it's at a level we find difficult to understand. It might be audio（声音的）language study, aids, or just radio, TV or whatever.

    Beyond our years of formal(正式的) education, memory skills are hugely important in any career. How many times have we heard a speaker read their speech from a prepared text, or read the word-by-word content of a PowerPoint presentation as they present each slide（投影片）? These are annoying, boring, and less effective ways of communicating. They are almost guaranteed(保证) to lose the audience's close attention and interest, let alone persuade or inspire anyone to do anything. And yet lots of people still make this mistake.

    If we use the 40-minute technique, we may not succeed in memorizing our presentation content on a 100% word-by-word basis, but we'll be familiar enough so that we can spend much more time making eye contact with our audience. We will get them in the process, while looking at our text instead of staring at it. This will also free up our hands and arms to convey some extra messages through gesture．

    As you see, the technique really works, but like many things, it takes practice to perfect it. Therefore, we'd better find ways to use the language outside of the classroom, as regularly and frequently as possible. One basic rule of language learning is, "Use it, or lose it·”

Seize the forty-minute learning window and we'll bring in a rich harvest of language learning.

    As my fortieth birthday approaches, inevitable as a new hair-do, I realize how many women friends I've had over the years: Most have come and gone with the changes of life, just like the latest shoe fashions waltz in and out of my closet.

    Some of my friends, like some of my shoes, were silly mistakes. They never did fit properly, and they always felt slightly “off”, no matter how hard I tried to fit my feet into them. Others were my absolute favorite for a while, but they wore out or wore off. All style and no substance; the quality just wasn't there.

    Then there are my true friends—the ones who, like a pair of fine shoes, never go out of style or out of favor, whose appeal and value just increase with wear and time. These are friends who stay in touch and stand by me—as if they and I have never gone off to a new state, or a new job. Physical distance does not separate us; time does not change the fundamental fact of our friendship; the wear and tear of life does not stop us. The sole still support us; the colors and lines still please us; the uppers, still strong but gown son, gently bent around feet. Our connection is securely fastened, unaffected by the whirlwind of changes we've each been through, even when life carries us in different directions.

    If the comparison fits...

    Deborah is the evening shoe, elegant and lovely. She appreciates the finer things, choose only the best, and still looks polished long after the rest of us have drooped. She is a study in elegance and knows the difference between bone, and winter white. From this splendid treasure, I've come recognize my own appreciation for the finer things in life—and to the realization that I deserved them.

    Jane is pair essential, timeless pumps that I wear often and would be lost without. With this classic, my basic needs and comfort level are assured—leaving me time and energy for fun. I can move gracefully from day to night, from work to play, from jokes to discussion. My step is light; laughter comes easily and I am ready for adventure.

    Georgiana is my pair of standard white Keds—familiar, comfortable and good for all seasons. I've had them since long before. They are part of my childhood. They take me home, and I am a kid again diving into the ocean on a hot summer day. They have been up the hill and through the mud with me. They keep me moving forward, even when putting one foot in front of the other feels like the hardest thing I've ever done. I know I can slip them tomorrow and after. I am indebted to these lovely worn sneakers.

    In the shoe rack of life, these are the friends I cherish. They are the base upon which I stand. They accompany me on my chosen path, regardless of where it leads or how bumpy or how humpy or winding it gets.

    In the future we might live somewhere other than Earth, like Mars. Some people ask how this will be possible. Well, Mars is in fact a lot the same as the earth. The days are almost the same as those on the earth. However, the two planets vary in temperature.

    Since there is mostly carbon dioxide on Mars, it would be quite difficult for a human to just land on it. So, special types of homes and space suits have to be designed. The space suits should be almost like the ones astronauts use now, and except that they have to be warmer so that the astronauts can survive the cold temperatures. The space suits must also be able to withstand (承受) high pressure and potentially dangerous radiation that can kill.

    The houses should be similar to our homes today with a slight difference. All of the houses and other buildings should be built inside a large dome (圆顶状物) or bubble. The domes should be made out of glass, and would also be able to prevent radiation from affecting the people inside. The domes will be connected to a machine (like plants which turn carbon dioxide into oxygen).

    With Mars' population growing, how would the people on its surface get fresh food and water? Just like humans use domes, they can also use domes to grow plants. However, the domes where the plants are grown must be built to expand. Once we upgrade the domes to a larger size then we can grow more food by cultivating (种植) more plants. To get the food or come in connect with other domes, there will be long narrow tunnels like roads that connect to each dome separating them by several doors so that the pressure in each dome can remain the same.

    On Mars, so many other things are available to us. As humans, we can have access to rare and fairly expensive metals that aren't very easy to get hold of on Earth, and a colony on Mars enhances (提高) our chances of finding these metals. So when someone here on Earth says that going to Mars is impossible, please tell them that they'll never know it until they try and they may try very soon. After all it's our future. Why not make it on Mars?

    A primary school in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province has announced it no longer requires parents to sign their children's homework, which was aimed at getting parents to supervise(监督) their children after school. China Youth Daily comments: Putting an end to the requirement that parents sign off on the homework of their children eases the burden on many parents, as otherwise they would have to do primary school homework after a hard day's work. But there are worries that if parents stop having to sign off on their children's homework, the children will not get good grades.

    However, the most effective way for children to study is to develop their willingness to learn and do their own studies. When doing homework, students practice and hopefully apply what they have learned. It is true that teachers are supposed to check students' homework and identify their mistakes. But some parents correct their children's mistakes by themselves when signing off on it.

    It is the duty of students to do their homework, be responsible for their studies and correct their mistakes. Parents' supervising their homework, checking their answers and dealing with the harder problems will only make children less aware of their mistakes and encourage them to wait for their parents' help when they face any problems.

    Children have to manage their own learning and develop the ability to study by themselves, as competence will not be achieved if a student simply repeats strict tasks in which he is assisted in school by teachers and at home by parents.

    A delayed satisfaction experiment conducted by Walter Mischel in the 1960s proved that children with better self-discipline(自律) performed better in their studies and interpersonal relationships.

    There is little doubt that parents' supervision can make children's homework better. But it does not give children the chance to practice their ability to solve problems independently.