Why do parents have such a difficult time to communicate openly and honestly with their teens? For this, there are many reasons but most of them stem from not being able to properly understand their teens. It is a dangerous gap because parents will have to communicate with their teens about a wide variety of issues during the most important years of their lives. Thus, parents must know how to communicate openly and honestly with their teens.

    Here are a few tips to make communication easier between parents and teenagers.

    1）Try not to talk down to your teens. Make them feel as if their views really matter, which not only helps your discussions with your teen but bring you closer to him.

    2）Imagine what it would be like to be a teen. Try to remember some of the negative feelings you experienced as a teenager and apply it to your teen's situation.

    3）Never make negative remarks to your teen about what he has said or done.

    4）Remember how much courage it would have taken for your teen to come and talk to you about his personal issues. So listen respectfully.

    5）Don't ignore your teen's feelings because it is usually a cry for help. For instance, if your teen is unusually angry, it may be time to spend a bit of quality time with your teen to determine what is wrong and where he is coming from.

    It is, therefore, necessary for parents to strive to keep lines of communication open at all times with their teens. Try to remember what it was like to be a teenager and how vulnerable（脆弱的）you felt. Then you will be well on your way to help your teen communicate more openly and honestly.

    When children start kindergarten, evident gaps in science knowledge already exist between Whites and minorities and between youngsters from upper-income and low-income families. And they often deepen into significant achievement gaps by the end of eighth grade if they are not dealt with during elementary school.

    The findings suggest that, in order for the United States to maintain(维持) long-term scientific and economic competitiveness in the world, policymakers need to renew efforts to ensure access(n.使用或见到的机会，权利) to high-quality, early learning experiences in childcare settings, preschools and elementary schools.

    The researchers' study tracked 7,757 children from their start in kindergarten to the end of eighth grade. Researchers found that, among kindergarteners with low levels of general knowledge, 62 percent were struggling in science by the time they reached third grade and 54 percent were struggling in that subject in eighth grade. And general knowledge gaps between minorities and Whites were already large at the time when students began kindergarten.

    “Children growing up in low-income families typically experience comparatively fewer early opportunities to learn about the natural and social sciences,” the authors wrote. “Their parents often have lower educational levels and therefore less science knowledge themselves as well as fewer resources available to direct the children's academic growth. Children raised in poverty often attend poorly resourced schools that futher limit their academic opportunities.”

    Morgan said that, within families, parents who regularly talk and interact with toddlers(学步的儿童) can point out and explain physical, natural and social events occurring around them daily. This might help youngsters learn facts and concepts that will prepare them to take better advantage of science instruction they receive during elementary and middle school.

    Written in the first chapter of the book Pride and Prejudice is an extraordinary sentence of which even a person who has had only a brief look upon the book will not fail to receive a deep impression — It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. In terms of Sherlock Holmes, we'd better alter the sentence into “It is a fact universally accepted by readers throughout the world that an excellent book in possession of our famous detective Sherlock Holmes is undoubtedly a masterpiece of all times.” Perhaps this is one of the most obvious explanations for the unrivaled popularity of “Holmes series” in the field of detective stories. Overwhelmed by the recommendations provided by my friends, I decided to take a look on this Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son originally published by Oxford University Press.

    As a whole, this book is about a case concerning the Duke's missing son. Arthur, the Duke's son, was found out in a certain morning to have disappeared, accompanied with which was also the disappearance of the German teacher. The school master Dr. Huxtable then turned to the famous detective of the time Sherlock Holmes for help. Realizing how tough and important the case is, Holmes immediately made up his mind to accept the case and followed Dr. Huxtable back to Mackleton by train. Having formed a rough idea about the whole matter, Holmes probed into the case immediately and had a careful investigation of the entire area shortly after the arrival, during the process of which he discovered the body of the German teacher Heidegger. Finally, primarily due to his prominent ability as a detective, he managed to unravel the mystery.

    Having once started reading this fiction, I was completely immersed in the mysterious story. At the beginning, unlike other detective stories, this story first delineates the client's strange behavior at length to indicate the severity of the incident in order to attract the readers to continue reading it. As is known to all, vivid depiction is essential to detective stories as it makes the story more authentic and attractive. Therefore, trying to present a “real world” to his readership, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the original “Holmes series”, has skillfully arranged the plots of the whole story from the perspective of Dr. Watson, a friend of Homes'. In this way, he elaborately (精心)depicted every scene and character in the book. Apart from the special start, the ending of the whole story, being dramatic but reasonable, is certainly an outstanding one. After all, except the author himself, who knows that the Duke's seemingly ordinary secretary is in fact the Duke's bastard(私生子)? In addition, who knows that the Duke actually has already been acquainted with the whole thing before Holmes solves this complicated problem? Yet, surprising as it is, this ending seems so natural that it fits all the plots of the story perfectly well. Closing my eyes, I can even “see” the story happening just like watching a film.

    As far as I am concerned, nothing is more admirable and surprising in the hero Sherlock Homes than his profound knowledge which has certainly assisted him a lot when he was studying the case. Take the bicycle tyres for instance, Holmes is capable of recognizing 42 different varieties of bicycle tyres. Except for his illimitable knowledge, Holmes also specializes in arranging the facts in order and then finding the fact leading him to a great discovery or even the truth itself. In this case, after getting rid of unrelated facts, Sherlock Homes eventually grasped the clue and discovered the amazing fact.

    Needless to say, as a world-renowned masterpiece, Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son has attracted and is still charming numerous readers from all corners of the world and people from all walks of life. The “Holmes series” has already set up a standard against which all the following detective fictions are measured. Sherlock Holmes, beyond all doubt, has been a name firmly rooted in people's memories. Although Dr. Watson's closing The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes in 1927 was a great pity to the readers, the discontinuance of the entire “Holmes series” may have actually added to the legendary stature of Sherlock Holmes.

    Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki has become the first female artist in the Arab world to be nominated (提名)for an Academy Award ,or Oscar.

    Labaki directed the film Capernaum ,a film about a Syrian refugee (难民)boy and a Kenyan baby who live without parents on the streets of Beirut. It was nominated for best foreign language film.

Labaki will be one of the few female directors to compete for an Oscar this year. She told the Associated press "I wish there were a lot more women filmmakers this year represented, nominated in the Oscars. But I am sure in a few years we won't be having this problem anymore."

    Unlike in the West, women filmmakers are industry leaders in Lebanon.

Capernaum received a 15-minute standing ovation (热烈欢迎)at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It won the Jury Prize—the third-highest award given at Cannes.

    The United Nations has publicly praised the film. Lebanon's Foreign Minister said.

    Capernaum put a Lebanese touch on the international film industry.

    The Oscar nomination of Capernaum is the second for Lebanon in two years in the film group. It demonstrates the country's rising star power.

    Labaki called making the movie a life-changing experience. She said Capernaum helps humanize the real struggles of refugees only briefly talked about in the news.

    We can't help but acknowledge that there is a fear of refugees in general around the world and there are these walls we are building, and this fear that keeps growing," Labaki said.

    Capernaum will compete against four other films for the Oscar, including awards season favorite Roma. Directed by Mexico's Alfonso Cuaron, it earned 10 Oscar nominations, including for best picture.

    Closeness and independence are both important in our life. Though all humans need both of them women tend to focus on the first and men on the second. It is as if their lifeblood ran in different directions.

    These differences can give women and men differing views of the same situation, as they did in the case of couple I will call Tracy and Brian. When Brian's old high school friend called him at work and announced he'd be in town on business the following month, Brian invited him to stay for the weekend. That evening he informed Tracy that they were going to have a houseguest, and that he and his friend would go out together the first night to chat like old times. Tracy was upset. She was going to be away on business the week before, and the Friday night when Brian would be out with his friend would be her first night home. But what upset her the most was that Brian had made these plans on his own and informed her of them, rather than discussing them with her before extending the invitation.

    Tracy would never make plans, for a weekend or an evening, without first checking with Brian. She can't understand why he doesn't show her the same courtesy and consideration that she shows him. But when she protests, Brian says, "I can't say to my friend, 'I have to ask my wife for permission'!"

    To Brian, checking with his wife means seeking permission, which implies that he is not independent, not free to act on his own. To Tracy, checking with her husband makes her feel good to know and show that she is involved with someone, that her life is bound up with someone else's.

    Tracy and Brian both felt upset by this incident because it cut to the core of their primary concerns. Tracy was hurt because she sensed a failure of closeness in their relationship: He didn't care about her as much as she cared about him. And he was hurt because he felt she was trying to control him and limit his freedom.