When was the last time you did something really fun with one of your parents—just the two of you?

    Parents who take their young children to music，swimming and art classes often stop arranging such activities once their kids are older and in school all day.But it doesn't have to be that way.Doing something enjoyable with your kids just might make you look at each other in a whole new way，especially if you do it through a class or an event.When parent and child become students together，it puts them on the same level，at least for a while.

“I really like parents to come to class with their kids—they start sharing things and talking about what they're doing and what they like，” said art teacher Pyper Dixon.

    However，finding something new in common is a big  choice for them，especially when kids get involved in sports and other after­school activities.But it's possible to learn a new skill or hobby together.

    That's certainly true of Lauren,11，from Silver Spring，who is in Dixon's class with her father，Dennis.“I was just going to drop her off，” Dennis said，“but Dixon persuaded me to stay.”

    Now Lauren gets to nag her father about doing his art homework.“He always leaves it to the last minute，” she said.“But then he'll turn around to do amazing drawings，”  she added.“We have different styles of drawing，so it's interesting  to talk it over with him.”

    Without the Saturday morning art class，Dennis said，he  would be reading the paper，and Lauren would be on her own in her room or on the computer.But they talk more now.“I can't think of an experience where you communicate with your kid so closely，” he said.

    Dictionaries are not closed books. There is still plenty of room for more words in these great vocabulary authorities.

    Dictionaries are not closed books. There is still plenty of room for more words in these great vocabulary authorities. New words are continually being created and added to our language. And many of today's word experts can credit a famous mathematician with the creation of the method by which they develop many new words. The mathematician was an Englishman named Charles L. Dodgson. In addition to working with figures, Dodgson wrote books. His imaginative stories and poems have made Dodgson beloved to generations of readers. We know him, however, not by the name of Dodgson but by his pen name, Lewis Carroll.

    Lewis Carroll has delighted countless readers, young and old, with Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and numerous poems. In these works, Carroll developed dozens of nonsensical words such as "chortle" and "galumph". Many of these words are combined naturally with more common words in the English language. Carroll referred to his made-up words as "portmanteau" words, named after a kind of leather suitcase that opens into two compartments. The name was well suited, because most of Carroll's words had two compartments. Rather than being entirely fabricated（虚构）, they were usually made from the combined parts of two different words. A "snark", for example, clearly came from a snake and a shark.

    Although Carroll died long ago, his technique continues to be used today. We clearly see his influence in such words as smog, brunch, and guesstimate.

    Program fools humans

    Have you ever been so bored that you started a conversation with a “chatbot (聊天机器人)”? You probably discovered quickly that it wasn't much fun, because the things it says hardly ever make any sense and chatting with it doesn't provide the same kind of back-and-forth as a human conversation.

    That might have made you wonder: will a computer ever be able to talk like a human?

    That day is certainly getting closer now. A computer program named “Eugene Goostman” has successfully passed the Turing test – by fooling people into thinking it was a 13-year-old boy, reported AFP on June 9.

    While you may have never heard of the Turing test, it means a lot in the world of artificial (人工的) intelligence.

    According to USA Today, the test was first invented in 1950 by Alan Turing, a British computer expert best known for his code-breaking work during World War II. In his test, a group of human judges take turns having keyboard conversations for five minutes with two subjects – a human and a piece of computer software. If up to 30 percent of the judges fail to tell the two apart, the program is considered to have passed the test.

“If a machine is indistinguishable (无法区分的) from a human, then it could be said to be ‘thinking',” wrote Turing in his paper Computing, Machinery & Intelligence back in 1950.

    No computer had ever passed the Turing test before. But this time, Eugene Goostman, developed by two Russian scientists to simulate (模拟) a 13-year-old boy, managed to convince 33 percent of judges that it was human.

    Machines are close to “reaching the milestone of communicating with us in a way that we are comfortable with”, Professor Kevin Warwick of the University of Reading, UK, told The Telegraph. “This brings closer the time in which robots start to play an active role in our daily lives.”

    Some people feel a bit disturbed by the news. They worry that computers will outsmart humans in the near future and take over the world. But Warwick said that it is unlikely that this will happen any time soon. After all, computers have only just learned to have a five-minute conversation, while we humans can do so much more than that.

    The best bikes for the beginners

    When it comes to purchasing your first bike, the choice is endless, making it tough to know what to go for. Here are the the best buys on the market right now.

⒈Boardman Cx Comp

    This is a cross country bike, and it's so multifunctional that you can handle any terrain(地势) on it , making it a great choice for those wanting to try various cycling subjects. If you leave on the thick tires it comes with, it can ride on various paths and can even handle some less demanding mountain bike routes. Alternatively, put on thin, smooth tires and treat it asa road bike. It has a basket and comes with Shimano Sora gears (变速器), which are outstanding for its price.

£650, Halfords

⒉Planet X RT-58 v2

    Planet X is based in Yorkshire, which means you'd probably have to buy this bike without seeing it. But it's worth it，because this is an excellent machine at a lower price, Planet X is a highly rated manufacturer and this model comes with Shimano Sora gearing.

£585, Planet X

⒊Specialized Allez E5

    Specialized is one of the biggest and most popular brands in cycling, and this is its hugely popular primary road bike. It comes with solid components from front to back and you'll look great out on the road.

£ 75, Evans Cycles

⒋Boardman Road Team Carbon

    If you can push your budget further still, this bike is worth the extra investment. The frame is made entirely from carbon, which is lighter, faster and more comfortable than the composition metal models above and gives you an all round and more enjoyable ride. It also means that if you get really serious about cycling, you don't have to upgrade as quickly as you would with a cheaper bike.

£800, Halfords

    As computers become more popular in China, Chinese people are increasingly relying on computer keyboards to input (输入) Chinese characters. But if they use the computer too much, they may end up forgetting the exact strokes（笔画）of each Chinese character when writing on paper. Experts suggest people, especially students, write by hand more.

    Do you write by hand more or type more? In Beijing, students start using a computer as early as primary school. And computer dependence is more wide-spread among university students. Almost all their assignments and essays are typed on a computer.

    All the students interviewed say they usually use a computer.

    It's faster and easier to correct if using a computer. And that's why computers are being applied more and more often to modern education.

    "When I'm writing with a pen, I find I often can't remember how to write a character, though I feel I'm familiar with it."

    "I'm not in the mood to write when faced with a pen and paper."

    Many students don't feel this is something to worry about. Now that it's more convenient and efficient to write on a computer, why bother to handwrite?

    Many educators think differently. Shi Liwei, the headmaster of a famous primary school in the capital, said, "Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic（审美的）value. But those characters typed with computer keyboards only maintain their practical value. All the artistic beauty of the characters is lost. And handwriting contains the writer's emotion. Through one's handwriting, people can get to know one's thinking and personality. Beautiful writing will give people a better first impression of them."

    To encourage students to handwrite more, many primary schools in Beijing have made writing classes compulsory（必修的）and in universities, some professors are asking students to turn in their homework and essays written by hand.

The theatre in Shakespeare's time was much different than it is today. Authors wrote plays for the masses, especially those who couldn't read or write.

The theatre changed a lot during Shakespeare's lifetime. The authorities didn't like it and didn't allow acting in the city itself: They thought it had a bad influence on people and kept them from going to church. Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, loved acting and helped the theatre become popular.

The theatre in Shakespeare's time was full of life. People did not sit all the time and it was not quiet during the performance. The audience could walk around, eat and drink during the play.

Theaters were open arenas or playhouses that had room for up to three thousand people. There was almost no scenery because the dialogue was the most important part of the play. Colourful and well­designed costumes were very important and told the people about the status of a character. Women never performed in plays, 80 young boys played female characters. The performances took place in the afternoon because it was too dark at night.

There was no stage crew as there is today. Actors had do everything themselves—from making costumes to setting the stage. Plays were organized by acting companies. They performed about 6 different plays each week because they needed money to survive. They had almost no time to rehearse (排练).

The companies in Shakespeare's time had a rank system. The company belonged to shareholders and managers. They were responsible for everything and got most of the money when the company was successful. Sometimes they even owned their own buildings. Actors worked for the managers arid after some time became a permanent member of the company. Apprentices (学徒) were young boys and were allowed to act in unimportant role. They also played females characters in play.