Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel.And he surely deserves additional praise：the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism.

     I say clever because anti­slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War.H.B.Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is only the most famous example.These early stories dealt directly with slavery.With minor exceptions，Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely.He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.

     Again and again，in the postwar years，Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race.Consider the most controversial，at least today，of Twain's novels，Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn，Twain's most widely read tale.Once upon a time，people hated the book because it struck them as rude.Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel “trash and suitable only for the slums(贫民窟)．”More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim，the escaped slave，and many occurences of the word nigger.(The term Nigger Jim，for which the novel is often severely criticized，never appears in it.)

     But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point.The novel is strongly anti­slavery.Jim's search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic.As J．Chadwick has pointed out，the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities，“the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual：Jim，the father and the man.”

There is much more.Twain's mystery novel Pudd'nhead Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day.Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior(低等的)to whites，especially in intelligence，Twain's tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth.A slave gave birth to her master's baby and，for fear that the child should be sold South，switched him for the master's baby by his wife.The slave's lightskinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave­holding class.The master's wife's baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.

     The point was difficult to miss：nurture(养育)，not nature，was the key to social status.The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice—manner of speech，for example—were，to Twain，indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.

Twain's racial tone was not perfect.One is left uneasy，for example，by the lengthy passage in his autobiography(自传)about how much he loved what were called“nigger shows”in his youth—mostly with white men performing in black­face—and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them.Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality.His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.

     Was Twain a racist？Asking the question in the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln.If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the“wisdom”of the considered moral judgments of the present，we will find nothing but error.Lincoln，who believed the black man the inferior of the white，fought and won a war to free him.And Twain，raised in a slave state，briefly a soldier，and inventor of Jim，may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.

    I wasn't surprised when I read that actress Helen Hunt recently stated that she would never allow her young daughter to become a child star. Ms. Hunt is the daughter of a Hollywood technical director, and grew up in Hollywood. Now in her late 40s, she started acting and modeling when she was eight and has probably seen a lot over those years in show business.

    She has had a successful career. She earned four Golden Globes and four Emmys. She also attained the top honor of her profession when she won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role in the 1992 movie, As Good As It Gets. Given those accolades, Ms. Hunt is successful. There is no doubt that her early experiences as a child star prepared her for what has been an outstanding adult career. Given those achievements, why would this star declare she'll never allow her daughter, now at the age of six, to follow in her footsteps?

    Everyone familiar with the entertainment scene is aware of the reasons for her attitude. Recent tabloid (小报) news headlines featuring the troubles of former child stars, among them Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and the late Gary Coleman, may answer the question. Although Ms. Hunt managed to become a successful grown-up star, she apparently believes she's an exception.

    What Ms. Hunt may be suggesting is that many very young stars go through unnatural childhoods on movie and TV sets. While they're earning big incomes, they're so pampered (纵容) by directors and praised by fans; they may get false impressions that their lives will always be that way. Then, within a few years, when faced with reality, they're hurt and confused. After all the overwhelming affection, they find they can't deal with the problems. That's often when drugs and alcohol take over their lives.

    Helen Hunt has some other reasons why she doesn't want her daughter to be in the entertainment business. Many child stars can never make a successful transition to meaningful adulthood. However, as with many Hollywood movies, I believe there are both good and bad scenes about how it can be played out in real life.

    Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones. There were many famous poets living in the Tang period such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin. Poems of the Tang Dynasty edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of more than 48,900 poem that were written by over 2,200 poets. But it didn't cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.

    During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.

    Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems to win fame and also to develop their temperament(性情). They poured out deep feelings for their friends and criticized in injustice in the world through poems.

    In the Tang Dynasty scholars had to be poets. Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people. Poets recited poems, women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems. This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.

    Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It's a miracle in the cultural history of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited(继承)Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world. Tang poetry wasn't the only spiritual wealth created by the Tang Dynasty people. Philosophy and religion, handwriting and painting and music and dance all gained new peaks of development. Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and its greatest achievement.

    When it comes to gifts, it's not easy to shop for someone when you're not sure what they're into. Thankfully, Crate and Barrel's sister store — the modern, fancy version — CB2 has a gift collection that is just as beautiful as it is practical. They're known for their modern designs. We've edited a list of some of our favorite gift ideas from CB2 so you'll know just what to get.

    Galactic Jewelry Box ($21)

    This jewelry box is not only a place to store your jewels, but it looks like one itself. “Designed by UK-based Seascape Curiosities, the jewelry box brings deep space to your room. Open storage space lined with light grey cotton velvet holds most-precious possessions,” CB2 states. The best part? It's under $25.

    Flamingo Catchall ($29.95)

    Designed by the British fashion designer Matthew Williamson, this flamingo catchall is a pop of color in every room and offers a secure place to store some of your favorite rings, earrings, or little items. Not only is it an awesome addition to just about any home, it's also a great conversation starter at dinner parties.

    Heritage Navy Leather Activity Ball ($49)

    It's a great gift for the man in your life who loves sports. Crafted with design and function in mind, handmade activity ball (think of it as a smaller basketball) stands up to years of play and even gets better looking with age. It's a super addition to any bookshelf.

    Black Nickel Cocktail Shaker ($24.95)

    This cocktail shaker starts off with a smoky black finish and fades into grey. It's fashionable, functional, and — above all — easy to clean.

    We've all experienced the feeling that comes when your phone makes a sound to tell you that its battery level is low. It often comes at the worst times—when you're out on a trip and don't have a charger（充电器）, or when you're expecting an important phone call.

    Indeed, this feeling is so common that South Korean electronics manufacturer LG has given it a name: low battery anxiety（低电量焦虑）.

    According to a survey of 2,000 US adults conducted by the company last year, 90 percent of respondents said that they panic if their battery level reaches 20 percent or lower. And last month, UK telecommunications service provider found that around 15. 5 million Britons live in “constant fear” of their mobile phones running out of power, according to a survey by the company.

    “The problem is not about being unable to make calls, but is rooted in the fact that smartphones are now where we store digital memories,” noted the Daily Mail, However, battery worries don't just affect smartphone lovers. Many owners of electric vehicles also suffer from so-called “range anxiety”. This refers to the concern that the vehicle may not make it to its destination before the power runs out. Meanwhile, it isn't just low power that people worry about. A study carried out by South Korea's Sungkyunkwan University and China's City University of Hong Kong found that many of us also worry about not having constant access to our phone.

    This condition is known as homophobia, short for “ no mobile phone phobia（恐惧症）”. Symptoms include feeling uncomfortable when access to one's phone isn't possible, being unable to turn off your phone, and constantly topping up the battery to make sure it never dies.

    So, why do so many people treat their smartphone with such importance? The reason may be that they keep us connected to the people around us, and if we're unable to use our phone, we feel like we're cut off from our social life.

    With products with bigger batteries being released all the time-such as Xiaomi's Mi Max smartphone range or Tesla's Model S cars-battery anxiety may hopefully soon be a thing of the past.

    It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth(收费站). “I'm paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”

    It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend's refrigerator: “Practice random(随意的) kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.

    Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse(仓库) wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she'd taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn't know where it came from or what it really meant.

    Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.

    “Here's the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies(想象) include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”

    The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!