Tonight, my piano concert was the most important thing in my family. My grandparents were coming by plane to hear me play. Even my busy Aunt Dianne who is on TV every night reading the news, was coming.

    But one thing was for sure. I would never win an award for my piano playing. And that's just because the more I practiced ,the more nervous I got. So there I was, on stage, in my beautiful dress, and I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play, I hit a wrong note. I told myself to start over. But then I hit the wrong note again. It was as if I hadn't practiced at all.

    Finally the disaster was over. I ran off the stage. I couldn't understand why people were applauding. But they were. My mom and my dad had flowers for me, and we were all supposed to go out for a nice dinner, but I couldn't. I just wanted to go home and cry and never go anywhere again. After we went back home, Aunt Dianne just came in and sat down on the side of my bed.

    "It was my first night on the air," she said."I had never been on television before, and I made a mistake. I mispronounced my name and the name of the news show. And you know what? No one even noticed but me. Just like tonight, no one noticed—just you". Aunt Dianne was right. I think we are harder on ourselves than anyone else is. Maybe I will leave my room. And maybe, I'll play the piano again.

    It was five years since I had become a mother, and I felt like I had slowly been losing more and more of myself. I looked in the mirror one morning and saw a tired, crazy woman, and I just wanted to cry. And just like that my new journey into becoming a “do less” mom began. I remember the first time I tried it. I had rushed to get my kids from school after work, arriving home completely shattered(散架了).

    I made myself a lovely cup of hot tea and headed to the sofa, I lay down and closed my eyes. At this point, all three of my kids stopped speaking and just stared. My eldest broke the silence and asked, “What are you doing mommy?” I replied: “I'm resting.” It took the kids a few more minutes to realize I wasn't going anywhere and they did eventually leave me alone. They even figured out that they should probably take their coats off. I did not cook dinner that night--we ordered in. I did not put on a wash; instead, I told the kids they had better not get their clothes dirty during dinner because they are wearing them again tomorrow. We skipped the bath and watched a movie all on the sofa.

    To my amazement--no one died. The house did not fall apart. The kids were happy and fed but most importantly, when I looked into the mirror that night, I could see that woman I remember. The fun, silly woman who truly thinks she is still 25 years old, who loves ice cream and traveling and music and drinking wine. And I went to bed a bit happier that night knowing that although the road is still long, I am finally on the right track.

    Earlier this month, the University of Glasgow in Scotland launched a course entitled: The Simpsons Introduce Philosophy（哲学）. The course's aim is to ease students into the typically heavy topic by relating it to the popular cartoon family.

    “The Simpsons is one of the modem world's greatest cultural products, partly because it is so full of philosophy,” John Donaldson, creator of the course, told the BBC. “Aristotle, Kant, Marx, Camus and many other great thinkers' ideas are represented in what is arguably the purest of philosophical forms — the comic cartoon.”

    While this may seem like an unusual way to attract pupils to a traditionally dull topic, this class isn't the first of its kind. In 2009, Liverpool Hope University in the UK began offering a master's degree on the music of world-famous 60's group The Beatles, which still runs today. The following year, the UK's Durham University gave students the chance to enroll on a Harry Potter-themed module, covering contents such as “Gryffindor and Slytherin: prejudice and intolerance in the classroom,” and “muggles and magic”.

    To some, these courses may seem like a waste of a valuable education, but Donaldson believes that packaging certain topics into something more easy to relate to will enhance the learning experience, without distracting（分离）from the main subject. “Firstly, scholars want to be taken seriously by other scholars and ideas like this can be seen as not serious,” he tells iNews. “There are definitely ways to include popular culture into academic subjects that still remains their nature and doesn't take away from the quality of the ideas,”

    Already booked full, Donaldson's Simpsons class isn't meant to be taken as seriously, however. The lecturer says that his one-day course, which will pose philosophical questions around morality, free will, and religion by relating them to scenarios（情节）from The Simpsons, aims to introduce students to his area of expertise greatly while having a bit of fun.

    American and British people use different greetings. In the USA the commonest greeting is “Hi”. In Britain it is “Hello!” or “How are you?”. “Hi!” is creeping(不知不觉地进入) into British, too. When they are introduced to someone, the Americans say, “Glad to know you.” The British say, “How do you do?” or “Pleased to meet you.” When Americans say “Good-bye”, they nearly always add, “Have a good day.” or “Have a good trip.” etc. to friends and strangers alike. Britains are already beginning to use “Have a good day.”

    The British usually use “got” in the sense of “have”. The Americans hardly ever do.

AmE: Do you have a car, room, etc.? Yes, I do.

BrE: Have you got a car, room, etc.? Yes, I have.

    There are a number of differences between American and British English in the spelling of words, e.g. check(US)/cheque (UK). Many American words ending in “or”, e.g. honor, labor are spelt in British English with an “our,” e.g. honour, labour. Many verbs in American English with “ize” or “izing” forms, e.g. organize, realizing are spelt in BrE with “ise” or “ising”, e.g. organise, realising. In American English, “practice” is used both for the verb and noun. In BrE, the verb is spelt “practise”, and the noun “practice.” In American English, one writes “traveler,” while in British English, one writes  “traveller”.

    It was once predicted that British and American English would become separate languages finally. But the opposite has happened. The links(联系) between the two countries are so strong that linguistically(语言上地),and probably culturally(文化上地) too, they are closer together than ever.

    Canterbury College

    COURSE A

    This course will enable students to experience performing arts and the media at a basic level. It will give them the experience to decide if they wish to develop an interest in this field and to train their potential and adaptability for working in a performance company in either a performing or a technical role.

    COURSE B

    The aim of this course is to provide a series of training in business-related skills and a comprehensive knowledge of business practice. It is for students with a business learning experience who can manage a heavy workload.

    COURSE C

    This course gives a foundation for a career in caring for children, the elderly or people with special needs. Core units are Emergency Treatment, Communication and Information Technology. Practical training is an important part of the course.

    COURSE D

    This course is designed to provide an introduction to the construction industry. Units covered include Heat, Light and Sound, Introduction to the Urban Environment, Communication Processes and Techniques. All students will complete vocational assignments with work experience in the big companies.

    COURSE E

    The qualifications gained and the skills developed on this course will provide a good basis for gaining employment in office work. In addition to word processing, the course also covers spreadsheets, computerized accounting, databases and desktop publishing. All students are given chances to develop their confidence, and advice and information is given on job search skills, presentation techniques and personal appearance.

    COURSE F

    This course is designed to provide a foundation in graphic and visual communication skills. Students complete units in picture composition and photographic processing alongside elements of graphic design, and gain hands-on experience of desktop publishing and presentations.

A study of 500,000 songs released in the UK between 1985 and 2015 showed that pop music had decreased in happiness and increased in sadness.

In a report published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers at the University of California examined hundreds of thousands of songs and classified them by their mood. "‘Happiness' is going down, 'sadness' is going up, and at the same time, the songs are becoming more 'danceable' and more 'party-like'," co-author Natalia L. Komarova told The Associated Press.

The study found songs in 2014 like Stay With Me by Sam Smith, Whispers by Passenger and Unmissable by Gorgon City have a "low happiness" trend. However, tracks from 1984 like Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen, "Would I Lie To You?" by Eurythmics and "Freedom" by Wham had a "high happiness" trend. "The public seems to prefer happier songs, even though more and more unhappy songs are being released each year," the researchers wrote.

Apart from the emotional trends, researchers discovered that dances and pop were the most successful styles of music and that there was a "clear downward" trend, with the popularity of rock beginning in the early 2000s. "So it looks like, while the overall mood is becoming less happy, people seem to want to forget it all and dance," Komarova wrote in an email.

It was also found that the "maleness" of songs—the frequency of male singers in popular music-had decreased during the last 30 years. "Successful songs are characterised by a larger percentage of female artists compared to all songs," they wrote.

This discovery appears at a time when the conversation around sex equality in the music industry is at its height, with more male artists and songwriters.