After two years of careful consideration, Robert McCrum has reached a conclusion on his selection of the 100 greatest novels written in English. Take a look at a few in his list.

    The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (1678)

    A story of a man in search of truth told with the simple clarity and beauty of Bunyan's prose makes this an English classic.

    Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)

    By the end of the 19th century, no book in English literary history had enjoyed more editions and translations. This world-famous novel is a complex literature that one cannot resist.

    Gulliver s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)

    A great work that s been repeatedly printed, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels comes third in our list of the best novels written in English.

    Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (1748)

    Clarissa is a tragic heroine, pressured by her dishonorable family to marry a wealthy man she dislikes, in the book that Samuel Johnson described as “the first book in the world that shows the knowledge about the human heart”.

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (1749)

    Tom Jones is a classic English novel that gets the spirit of its age and whose characters are well-known since they have come to represent the society at that time.

    Emma by Jane Austen (1816)

    Jane Austen's Emma is her most outstanding work, mixing the best parts of her early books with a deep sense of feelings.

    The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)

    Edgar Allan Poe's only novel－a classic adventure story with supernatural elements－has fascinated and influenced generations of writers.

    Can dogs and cats get along well in the same home? People who are thinking about getting a dog as a friend for their cat are worried that they will fight. A recent research has found that if the cat is taken back home before the dog, and if they are introduced when still young (less than 6 months for cats, a year for dogs), it is highly probable that the two pets will get along swimmingly. In two-thirds of the homes cats and dogs have a good relationship.

    However, it wasn't all sweetness and light. There was a reported coldness between the cat and dog in 25% of the homes, while aggression(侵略，好斗) and fighting were found in 10% of the homes. One reason for this is probably that some of their body languages are just different. For example, when a cat turns its head away it means aggression, while a dog doing the same means submission(顺从).

    In homes with cats and dogs living peacefully, researchers found a surprising behavior. They are learning how to talk each other's language. It is a surprise that cats can learn how to talk "Dog", and dogs can learn how to talk "Cat".

    What's interesting is that both cats and dogs have appeared to become smarter. They can learn to read each other's body languages, suggesting that the two may have more in common than was expected. Once familiar with each other's body language, cats and dogs can play together, and enjoy sleeping together on the sofa.

    The importance of this research on cats and dogs may go beyond pets — to people who don't get along well, including neighbors, colleagues at work, and even countries. If cats and dogs can learn to get along, surely people have a good chance.

    Pop music is the name for different forms of popular, commercial (商业) music. It had its beginning in the USA and spread throughout the whole world during the 1950s and 1960s. It is widely liked by the young people. The best known early form of pop music was “rock' n' roll”; another was “blues”. A more recent development is “folk-rock”.

    Pop music has taken the place of native music in many parts of the world; it has caused the number of people for jazz to become much smaller than it was in the 1950s and earlier, and it has now begun to rule musical stage productions. It's a big industry. Much pop music is without artistic value, but the work of some pop singers, e.g. the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the groups like Floyd and Crosby, Stills and Nash, is on a higher musical level. And there is still a great interest in it today. Pop music concerts and festivals take place all over the world.

    To travel abroad, we often meet the problem of what to take and how to take it. Take as little as possible. Choose clothes for your use in different kinds of situations and when you have made your final choice, take half of it! It's always a big problem to take too many things, and anyway if necessary, you can buy what you need in America. Things like jeans, T-shirts and other clothes are good buys in the US. If you hunt around you can usually find something on sale.

    Whatever baggage you take, make sure it is easy to take. Getting on and off buses and trains, even just changing planes, can be a test if your bags are too heavy or too many. The best way is to take one holdall, like a suitcase or a backpack, and then a smaller bag. Even when you have to check in your holdall, at the airport or bus station, you can keep all your money and documents by your side. It is also a good idea to keep a change of clothing in your shoulder bag in case your suitcase or backpack gets lost by an airline or a bus company.

The means you choose to travel around the US will depend on your money, you time and something else. Since there are certain discounts available to travelers who buy their tickets outside the US, it is a good idea to make travel plans before you go. Also, when you buy your tickets outside the US, you save the eight percent sales tax. Travel is like everything else in America—you have to shop around for the best busy. Never be afraid to ask for the cheapest fare. The clerk seldom offers you the cheapest one.

    Environmental experts warn that our planet is drowning inplastic.

    The world's cities produce 2 billion tons of trash everyyear. By the year 2050 that number is expected to rise to 3 billion tons. TheWorld Bank estimates that the largest amount of trash today, about 44 percent,is plastic. But we often have to buy packaged goods. And often that packagingis made of plastic.

    Now, that may be changing. A new environmentally-friendlyshopping model was recently launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos,Switzerland. This shopping model, called Loop, aims to replace throwawaycontainers with reusable ones.

    Loop is the idea of Terra Cycle, an American-based recyclingcompany. Its chief, Tom Szaky told the Associated Press (AP) that "removingplastics from the ocean is not enough." He said the point is to get awayfrom single-use packages. Szaky said that Loop is the future of shopping. Butit comes from an idea of the past.

    He compared it to the "milkman model" of the 1950sin the United States. Back then, someone brought milk to your doorstep in glassbottles and then left with empty bottles. These could be cleaned and used again.The result is zero-waste.

    Jennifer Morgan from the environmental non-profitorganization Greenpeace also joined in the discussion about Loop at Davos. Shesaid that "Greenpeace welcomes the aim of the Loop Alliance to move awayfrom throwaway culture and disposability." But Morgan questioned whethercompanies worldwide are ready to change their business models.

    Loop is set to launch later this year in three eastern U.S.states, and also in Paris, France and some of the surrounding area. Then Loopplans to expand to the U.S. West Coast, Toronto, Canada and Britain by the endof this year or 2020.

    Floating on the surface of the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They move about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals. Plankton has been described as the equivalent (相等的东西) of the grasses that grow on dry land, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value, however, plankton far outweighs that of land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates(碳水化合物) each year, the sea's plankton produces more than twice as much.

    Despite its enormous food potential, little effort was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea's resources appear even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.

    No one yet has seriously suggested that “planktonburgers” may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among scientists.

    One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny creature called krill(磷虾). Growing to two or three inches long, krill are a major food source for the giant blue whale, the largest animal ever to live on the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow 100 feet and weigh about 150 tons, it is not surprising that each one swallows more than one ton of krill daily.

    Krill swim about just below the surface in huge schools sometimes wide, mainly in the cold Antarctic. Because of their pink color, they often appear as an entire reddish mass when viewed from a ship or from the air. Krill are very high in food value. If krill can feed such huge creatures as whales, many scientists reason, they must certainly be competitors among possible new food sources for humans.