The English language has many ways to talk about something that is funny. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It is a basic human need. Physical humour, especially, can cross limits like nationality and language and bring people together from all different walks of life.

    Humour comes in many forms. The most obvious and traditional way we use humour is in jokes. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} This is when a person changes a word or uses it in a different context(上下文) for comic effect.

    Another way people can use humour is through telling a funny story. Perhaps something bad happened to the person but they can laugh about it now. People also invent funny stories in order to make people laugh. The advantage of this is that the characters aren't real. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

    Physical comedy usually divides opinions. For some, seeing someone fall down, whether it is planned or not, is one of the funniest things they can see. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Some types of humour can also be harmful if someone is not in the mood for being made fun of！People's senses of humour vary across the world, so what may be funny in your country might be incredibly harmful in another!

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} The British, for instance, are famous for their humour in English. However, people learning a foreign language face much difficulty when it comes to being funny in a second language.

A. Humour is just one of the ways.

B. Everyone needs to laugh once in a while.

C. Other forms of humour are word play and puns(双关语).

D. Therefore, you don't have to feel bad for laughing at them!

E. People of all ages and cultures have a strong sense of humour.

F. Most people know how to use some form of humour in their native languages.

G.For others, finding physical humour and non-serious accidents funny seems cruel.

    Samuel Osmond is a 19­year­old boy student from Cornwall, England. He never studied the piano. However, he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them. He learns a piece of music by listening to it in parts. Then he thinks about the notes in his head. Two years ago, he played his first piece Moonlight Sonata (奏鸣曲) by Beethoven. He surprised everyone around him.

    Amazed that he remembered this long and difficult piece of music and played it perfectly, his teachers say Samuel is unbelievable. They say his ability is very rare, but Samuel doesn't even realize that what he can do is special. Samuel wanted to become a lawyer as it was the wish of his parents, but music teachers told him he should study music instead. Now, he studied law and music.

    Samuel can't understand why everyone is so surprised. "I grew up with music. My mother played the piano and my father played the guitar. About two years ago, I suddenly decided to start playing the piano, without being able to read music and without having any lessons. It comes easily to me—I hear the notes and can bear them in mind—each and every note." says Samuel.

    Recently, Samuel performed a piece during a special event at his college. The piece had more than a thousand notes. The audience was impressed by his amazing performance. He is now learning a piece that is so difficult that many professional pianists can't play it. Samuel says confidently, "It's all about super memory—I guess I have that gift."

    However, Samuel's ability to remember things doesn't stop with music. His family says that even when he was a young boy, Samuel heard someone read a story, and then he could retell the story word for word.

    Samuel is still only a teenager. He doesn't know what he wants to do in the future. For now, he is just happy to play beautiful music and continue his studies.

    Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists in this century. He was born in 1942. He's world well-known on space and time. Stephen was searching some very big questions, such as "How did the universe begin? How will it end?"

    Stephen was a student at Oxford University. He studied math and science. Then, at the age of twenty, he became sick. He was so young, but the doctors said to his family, "He has only two more years to live." As a matter of fact, the doctors were wrong – he didn't die. He can't walk but he uses a wheelchair. He can't feed himself and get in or out of bed himself. But he refused to give in to the condition. He talks with the help of a computer. After Oxford, Stephen went to Cambridge University. Three years later, in 1965, he became a doctor of philosophy(哲学).

    Because of his serious health problems, it was difficult for him to draw or to write. So he started to think in pictures. With this new way of thinking, he became one of the most famous scientists in the world. In 1981, he met the Pope(教皇) in Rome. They talked about his ideas. Then in 1988, he wrote his first important book, A Brief History of Time. It sold more than 5.5 million copies in 33 different languages. He was once invited to China, he impressed us with his self-confidence, humorous and witty(风趣的) conversation.(谈话)

    A science teacher from rural Kenya who gives away most of his salary to help poorer students has been awarded the world's best teacher and $ 1 million, beating 10,000 nominations from 179 countries. Peter Tabichi, 36, a maths and physics teacher at Keriko secondary school in Pwani Village, has won the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2019.

    Tabichi gives away 80% of his income to help the poorest students at the poorly-equipped and overcrowded school who could not otherwise afford uniforms and books. More than 90% of his students are from poor families and almost a third are orphans or have only one parent. Drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, leaving off their studies, young marriages and suicide are common. Students have to walk 7 km along roads that can become impassable in the rainy season to reach the school and the area can be affected by drought and starvation.

    Despite only having one computer, a poor Internet connection and a student-teacher ratio of 58:1, Tabichi started a "talent nurturing club" and expanded the school's science club, helping students design research projects of such quality that many now qualify for national competitions.

    His students have taken part in international science competitions and won an award from the Royal Society of Chemistry after using local plant life to generate electricity. Tabichi and four colleagues also give struggling students one-to-one tuition in maths and science, visiting students' homes and meeting their families to identify the challenges they face.

    Accepting the prize, Tabichi said Africa's young people would no longer be held back by low expectations." Africa will produce scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs whose names will be one day famous in every corner of the world." he said.

    In our annual Readers' Choice Awards survey, we asked our readers to rate their favorite cities in the world for arts and culture. These cities are centers of music and dance, museums, and theaters. Here are four of them where you can find inspiration in the arts, starting with the top spot.

    Rome, Italy

    At its peak, the Roman Empire extended over nearly two million square miles of land across Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa. Today, that history is on display everywhere. The city's main attractions are famous not because of tourist advertisements, but because they are really so impressive. No wonder it's known as the Eternal City: You could spend forever here and find new artistic and cultural treasures every day.

    Paris, France

    Hemingway famously called Paris "a moveable feast", but wherever you go while in the city, there is always something to see, hear, taste or feel. With some 150 museums, Paris doubles as an art history class, offering the very best of the discipline across centuries and styles.

    London, United Kingdom

    London is inspiration and setting for the rise of Shakespeare, Dickens, Orwell and Eliot and the breeding ground for all those iconic (标志性的) bands: The Kinks, The Clash and The Stones. London is also Banksy's favorite canvas, home to more than 1,000 galleries, and the kind of place where you can spend a whole day in a single museum and still be ready for more when it opens the next morning.

    Vienna, Austria

    As we all know, Western music would be unrecognizable without Austria's capital, which nurtured many famous musicians. It's also the site of the Vienna Secession, a revolutionary art movement founded in 1897 by Gustav Klimt. Visitors today can see the fruits of all that creativity in the city's 100 – odd museums.

I arrived in this beautiful Spanish island at the start of September, full of enthusiasm and eager to start work as an English teacher. I sorted all the necessary paperwork out and moved into a flat of my own within the first couple of days. Great! Or so I thought. At 4 am and at several intervals after that, I was rudely awoken by the cock that lives opposite me. Fantastic! I now have five extra alarms every morning.

In the following weeks, I also started to notice a trend. Things in my flat started to break at the rate of one object per day, like the hot water, bowls, cups, shower, doors or glass shelves. Yes, I was clumsy but things just fell apart. If it wasn't broken, it would either be dirty or missing. Using my washing basket for the first time was pretty disgusting. When I took out my clothes, they were swiftly followed by a hundred or so insects that were living in the bottom.

As for the general lack of equipment in the house, there was no oven, tin opener, sharp knives or potato peeler. It turned out making a burger wasn't the best idea. I had a small microwave and a grill. I thought the general understanding was never to put metal in a microwave but I went with it. Smoke soon started to appear. I was not quite sure if it was the burger or the grill but as soon as I opened the door, the electricity cut out. I spent the following 10 minutes in a dark, smoky room hunting for the power switch using the light from my mobile phone, which broke the week after and left me without a connection to the outer world.

Luckily, I'm now borrowing a phone and my luck has returned. No more things have broken (probably because there is nothing left to break). I've also realized that even if a flat looks pretty, it doesn't mean its contents work. I am also learning how to adapt to life with limited, broken utensils.