My parents were in a huge argument, and I was really upset about it. I didn't know who I should talk with about how I was feeling. So I asked Mom to allow me to stay the night at my best friend's house. Though I knew I wouldn't tell her about my parents' situation, I was looking forward to getting out of the house. I was in the middle of packing up my things when suddenly the power went out in the neighborhood. Mom came to tell me that I should stay with my grandpa until the power came back on.

    I was really disappointed because I felt that we did not have much to talk about. But I knew he would be frightened alone in the dark. I went to his room and told him that I'd stay with him until the power was restored. He was quite happy and said, “Great opportunity.”

    “What is it?” I asked.

    “To talk, you and I” he said. “To hold a private little meeting about what we're going to do with your mom and dad, and what we're going to do with ourselves now that we're in the situation we are in.”

    “But we can't do anything about it. Grandpa,” I said, surprised that here was someone with whom I could share my feelings and someone who was in the same “boat” as I was.

    And that's how the most unbelievable friendship between my grandfather and me started. Sitting in the dark, we talked about our feelings and fears of life — from how fast things change to how they sometimes don't change fast enough. That night, because the power went out, I found a new friend, with whom I could safely talk about all my fears and pains, whatever they may be. Suddenly, the lights all came back on. “Well,” he said, “I guess that means you'll want to go now. I really like our talk. I hope the power will go out every few nights!”

    Seventy years ago, a group of well-known people from the art world headed by an Austrian conductor decided to hold an international festival of music, dance and theater in Edinburgh. The idea was to reunite Europe after the Second World War.

    It quickly attracted famous names such as Alec Guinness, Richard Burton, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Marlene Dietrich as well as the big symphony orchestras (交响乐团). It became a fixed event every August and now attracts 400,000 people yearly.

    At the same time, the “Fringe” appeared as a challenge to the official festival. Eight theater groups turned up uninvited in 1947, in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform, and they did so in a public house disused for years.

    Soon, groups of students firstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theater by little-known writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh.

    Today the “Fringe”, once less recognized, has far outgrown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theater, music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts. And yet as early as 1959, with only 19 theater groups performing, some said it was getting too big.

    A paid administrator was first employed only in 1971, and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself. In 2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries. More than 1.25 million tickets were sold.

    New research, attempting to throw light upon how male and female brains differ, has found that timing is everything. American Vanderbilt University researchers Stephen Camarata and Richard Woodcock discovered that females have a significant advantage over males in timed tests and tasks. The study involved more than 8,000 males and females ranging in age from 2 to 90 from across the US.

    “We found hardly any differences in overall intelligence. But we discovered that females performed better than men in time limited situations,” Camarata said, “It is very important for teachers to understand this difference in males and females when it comes to assigning work and tests.”

    Many males can do a better job without strict time limits, added Camarata.

    “Consider that many classroom activities, including testing, are directly or indirectly related to processing speed,” the researchers wrote in their report. “The higher performance in females may contribute to a classroom culture that favors females, not because of teacher bias(偏见)but because of inherent(与生俱来的)differences in gender processing speeds.”

    The researchers found that males scored lower than females in all age groups in tests measuring processing speed. However, the study also found that males consistently outperformed females in some language abilities, such as identifying objects and knowing antonyms(反义词)and synonyms(同义词). The research contradicts the popular belief that girls develop all communication skills earlier than boys.

    The researchers found no significant overall intelligence differences between males and females in any age groups.

    “We believe there are fundamental differences in how male and female brains end up getting organized,” Camarata said, “Our next studies will give us some insight into where these processing differences are occurring.”

    Crystal Cruises（乘船浏览）-Luxury Every Day

    What do you plan to do this winter vacation? Do you want to travel over the sea, experience the ocean wave and enjoy the wonderful sea views? If that's what you want, come and sail on a Crystal Cruise ship. We have three ships: The Crystal Queen, The Crystal Princess, The Crystal Palace.

Come and sail in luxury（奢侈）on cruises around the Caribbean Sea for 7 or 14 days.

    Our seven-day cruise costs $2,000 and our two-week cruise is $3,500.

A typical one week cruise:

    Day One—set off from Miami

    Day Two—free day in Nassau, in The Bahamas

    Day Three—near Haiti

    Day Four—visit Puerto Rico and Antigua

    Day Five—free day in Barbados

    Day Six—free day in Port of Spain, Trinidad

    Day Seven—travel to Caracas, Venezuela

    Day Eight—fly home.

    All food and drink is included in the price of your cruise (except for wines). Our cruise ships all have a cinema, a five-star restaurant, a theatre, a library and a gym. However, you have to pay extra money to enjoy the films and plays.

    If you prefer to go on a cruise in another part of the world, we also organize cruises in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean.

    Our ships carry over 2,000 passengers and we have nearly 600 crew members in all.

    So come on board today for the holiday of a lifetime!

Call immediately: 020-4455832

    I'm sure you will enjoy your luxury cruise ship journey very much!

                                       Cell phones：Is there a cancer link?

    Could your cell phone give you cancer? Whether it could or not, some people are worrying about the possibility that phones, power lines and Wi-Fi could be responsible for a range of illnesses, from rashes to brain tumors.

    Some say there is evidence to support the growing anxieties. David Carpenter, a professor of environmental health sciences at the university at Albany, in New York, thinks there's a greater than 95 percent chance that power lines can cause childhood leukemia (白血病). Also there's a greater than 90 percent chance that cell phones can cause brain tumors. “It's apparent now that there's a real risk, ”said Carpenter.

    But others believe these concerns are not justified. Dr Martha Linet, head of radiation epidemiology (流行病学) at the US National Cancer Institute, has looked at the same research as Carpenter but has reached a different conclusion. “I don't support warning labels for cell phones, ”said Linet. “We don't have the evidence that there's much danger.”

    Studies so far suggest a weak connection between EMFs (电磁场) and illness—so weak that it might not exist at all. A multinational investigation of cell phones and brain cancer, in 13 countries outside the US, has been underway for several years. It's funded in part by the European Union, in part by a cell phone industry group. The final report should come out later this year, but data so far don't suggest a strong link between cell phone use and cancer risk.

    The Top 4 Restaurants of 2018

    No. 4

    Kuya Ja's Lechon Belly (4 stars): 5268-H Nicholson Lane, Rockville, Md. 240-669-4383. kuyajas. com.

    Open: Breakfast, lunch and dinner Wednesday through Monday; breakfast and lunch Tuesdays.

    Prices: Sandwiches, bowls and combination meals, $ 6.99-$ 12.59.

    Sound check: 74 decibels（分贝）/ Must speak with raised voice.

    No. 3

    Little Havana（41/2 stars): 3704 14th St. NW. 202-758-2127. littlehavanadc.com.

    Open: Dinner daily.

    Prices: Sandwiches and mains $ 9-$ 25.

    Sound check: 70 decibels / Conversation is easy.

    No. 2

    Three Blacksmiths (41/2 stars): 20 Main St., Sperryville, Va. 540-987-5105. Three black smiths.com.

    Open: Dinner Thursday—Saturday.

    Prices: Small plates $ 5 - $ 20, large plates and family-style plates $ 24 - $ 94.

    Sound check: 81 decibels / Extremely loud.

    No. 1

    Momofuku（5 stars): 1090 I St. NW. 202-602-1832. ccdc.momofuku.com.

    Open: Lunch Monday through Friday, dinner daily, breakfast Saturday and Sunday.

    Prices: Small plates $ 5 - $15.

    Sound check: 75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice.