“It's just a story,”you may think. But new research has found that crows' brains may sometimes be better than those of 6-year-old children.

In a recent experiment, American scientist Corina Logan and her team caught six crows to test them. The crows and children had to choose between two sets of tubes(试管). They had to drop stones in and get water.

With the red set, when they dropped a stone into a wide tube, the water level raised in a connected narrow tube. The blue set of tubes, however, had no connection between them.

Children aged 7 to 10 were able to learn the rule. Children aged 4-6, however, failed.Five of the six crows failed the test. But Kitty, a 6-month-old crow, passed it. She put most of the stones into the red tubes.

So, could a bird be more clever than a kindergartner? Don't be too quick to say no.

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    He Jiang, a postgraduate（研究生）in biology. will become the first Chinese student to give a speech in the commencement(毕业典礼)at Harvard University on May 26, 2016.

    Given the highest honor by the university, He Jiang, who was born in a small village in Hunan province, said, "People in China often believe that it's useless to study and children from the countryside cannot be successful in the future. However, I cannot agree with them. Education can change a person's life. I hope my experience can encourage the students from the countryside to spare no effort in study and make their dreams come true."

    Different from many other families in the village, his parents never thought about finding a job in big cities and leaving their two sons at home without their care. His father was strict about their studies. He and his younger brother studied at home while the other kids in the village played in the fields. Unlike his strict father, his mother took her sons' side when her husband scolded the boys. She preferred to sit with her sons when they studied rather than chat with other women in the village.

    Getting the chance to speak at the commencement is no accident. During his first days in Harvard, it was quite difficult for him to follow the professors in class and he was speechless in campus because of his poor English. Instead of giving up, He Jiang spent all his free time on English. He also made friends with natives to improve his speaking English. One year later, he had little difficulty in class and soon became one of the top students in his class. With the encouragement from Professor Diana Eck. He Jiang decided to apply(申请）for the chance to speak at the commencement.“Few Chinese students had applied before, but I wanted to have a try. I just want to realize my idea of letting more people hear the voice from China and telling them that China is not what it used to be." said He Jiang. After beating three students from Harvard Kennedy School in the third and final round, He Jiang made it to get the chance to speak at the commencement.

    He Jiang will go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology after graduating from Harvard.

    Pablo Casals was a great cello（大提琴） player and music writer. He was born in Catalonia, Spain. He first heard the cello played when he was 11.Generally, he felling love with the instrument. So, he went to school at the Escuela Municipal de Musica. He focused on his studies and got high grades. When he finished school, he played the cello in the queen's palace. He became more and more famous. Soon, he began to play for audiences worldwide.

    After the events of the Spanish Civil War, Casals left Spain. He refused to go back. He went to live in Puerto Roco. He continued his work as a teacher. Healso recorded many albums（相册）. At the age of 80 he married his third and final wife, Marta Montanez.

    Casals died in 1973.The king of Spain had enjoyed Casals' music very much. He ordered a postage stamp to be made. It showed a picture of the cellist.

    "The hound of Baskervilles" is a legend which tells us that a hound used to kill people in the Baskervilles family. Sherlock Holmes is good at searching and discovering. He is a very careful person as well. In the stories, he can quickly give you the explanation of the things happened just now. Sherlock Holmes is such a person.

    Sherlock Holmes wants to know more about it because Doctor James asks him for help. During the case, Charles Baskervilles dies and the cause of his death may be the hound. After watching the situation in a small house for some time, Holmes finds the murderer and he is going to murder Sir Henry Baskervilles. Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson and Henry Baskervilles kill the hound at last and the murderer(凶手) who wants to get the money of the family finally dies in the marsh(沼泽地).It is a very exciting story shows how clever Sherlock Holmes is. Thanks to Konan Doyle, we can read a lot of good detective stories now.

    Reading Oliver James' Affluenza, I thought about what often happens at home. My 12-year-old daughter is in tears. "I have to take a test tomorrow. I don't understand any of it, "she cries out. After shouting and shutting her door, she calms down enough to go through her notes. The following day I ask her how the test went and she just says "OK, I got a nine".

    "Wow. Well done!" I say, before she finishes with "But I never get a ten!"

    According to James, this obsession with getting top marks has been a bad development, which encourages people to think of education in terms of work and money. To test this, I asked my daughter why she was so worried about her tests. She looked at me as if I was thick. "Well, if I don't get good grades, I won't be able to afford nice things like a car and stuff."

    I was quite surprised, because I don't consider myself a pushy parent. But James suggests and it leaves students feeling failures even if they are very bright. He points to the Danish system (体制) of education as a better model. Creating happy citizens who have good social skills is seen as more important than high achievements at school or the needs of business.

    For me, I cannot remember the last time I had to work out the area of a circle, recite a Shakespeare poem or grammar rules, yet I have lived a happy life. What I really needed to learn at school was how to make polite conversations, or how to avoid getting into debt or how to develop good personality.

    This is in fact similar to what Oliver James really has in mind. And he is looking for schools where students are encouraged to find and follow their own interests, something more like Tongjon.  Tongjon has been developed in some Korean private schools. It is quite different from the more rigid system of learning things by heart that is used in Korea, and indeed in many other school systems around the world.

    As the Russian poet Pushkin said," Inspiration(灵感)is needed in geometry(几何学)just as much as in poetry", and inspiration does not come from endlessly revising for tests or getting worried about them.