Manners nowadays in big cities like London are particularly non-existent. It's nothing for a big, strong schoolboy to push an elderly woman aside in the dash for the last remaining seat on a bus, much less stand up and offer his seat to her, as he ought to. In fact, it is saddening to note that if a man does offer his seat to an older woman, it is nearly always one from the older generation.

    This question of giving up seats in public transport is much argued by young men, who say that, since women have claimed equality, they no longer deserve to be treated with courtesy and that those who go out to work should take their turn in the rat race like anyone else. Women have never claimed to be physically as strong as men. Even if it's not agreed, however, that young men should stand up for older women, the fact remains that courtesy should be shown to the old, the sick and the burdened. Are we really so lost to all ideals of unselfishness that we can sit there indifferently reading the paper or a book, saying to ourselves "First come, first served", while a gray-haired woman, a mother with a young child or a cripple stands? Yet this is too often seen.

    Older people, tired and easy annoyed from a day's work, aren't angels, either-far from it. Many an argument or an insulting quarrel breaks out as they feel tired of pushes in the queue and shove(猛推) each other to get on buses.

    If cities are to remain pleasant places to live in at all, however, it seems necessary, not only that communication in transport should be improved, but also that communication between human beings should be kept smooth and polite. Shop assistant won't bother to assist, taxi drivers shout at each other as they dash dangerously round comers, bus conductors pull the bell before their desperate passengers have had time to get on or off the bus, and so on. It seems to us that it's up to the young and strong to do their small part to stop such deterioration(恶化).

    In the last few years the popularity of eBooks has exploded．The advantages are clear：You can carry as many books with you as you want．You can simply download every book you like and instantly start reading instead of having to wait for the book to arrive by mail．

    However，one thing hadn't changed．If you wanted to rent a book you were still forced to use hardcopy books．Until now that is, Amazon．com recently announced the start of a new program where you can rent eBooks．

Where to rent eBooks？

    As mentioned before，Amazon．com is the first and currently the only retailer (零售商) that has a program in place for renting eBooks． Luckily，Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world and their eBook assortment (分类) is massive．They are also the producer of the Kindle，the most popular Reader，which means you can be sure that the eBooks you rent will work．

You can currently only rent Textbooks．But this is likely to change as soon as word gets out that you can save money by renting eBooks.

Why rent eBooks at Amazon?

* Save money：Save up to 80% of the normal price of the eBook．

* Decide how long you rent：From 30 days to 360 days，you decide how long you want it．You can extend the time by as little as a day．Or simply buy the eBook if you want to keep it after all．

*Use any device：If you rent an eBook from Amazon，you can read it on your PC，Mac，iPad，iPhone，Android device，Windows Phone 7．Blackberry．or Kindle．

* Keep your notes：Do you like to keep annotations (注释) and highlights in your eBooks？Don't worry．You can always revisit your notes and highlights through Amazon．com．

How to rent eBooks？

    Simply search for the eBook you want to rent on Amazon．com and select the "Rent eBooks" option. After that，a new page will open where you can select how long you'd like to rent the eBook．You can read eBooks for a period of 30 to 360 days．

    You decide how long you need the eBook．If you later find out you need it for longer, you can simply extend the time．Or buy it for the normal price whenever you want.

    Once you've chosen the time you want to rent the eBook，you simply go to checkout．Or you can use the "Rent now" button．

    EUROPE is home to a variety of cultural treasures. Lonely Planet, the world's largest travel guide publisher, has offered pairs of cities for culture-hungry but time poor travelers.

    London and Paris

    It takes you about two hours to travel from London to Paris by Eurostar, a high-speed railway service. The two capital cities have been competing in fashion, art and nightlife for decades — but each secretly looks up to the other.

    No one can doubt the grand and impressive beauty of Paris' Louvre Museum, but if you want to save money, you cannot skip the British Museum free to visit. Compared with London, Paris has more outdoor attractions, such as the beautiful green walkway La Promenade Plantee.

    In Paris, you'll see diners linger(逗留) over red wine. While in London, you can try some afternoon tea, eat fish and chips or salted cake.

    Vienna and Bratislava

    Austrian capital Vienna and Slovakia city Bratislava are an hour apart by train. But since they are linked by the Danube River, the best way to travel is by ship. A tour of the two cities is the perfect way to experience everything from 17^th century's Habsburg dynast splendor to sci-fi restaurants.

    Vienna is famous for Mozart and imperial palaces. You can appreciate the perfect blending(融合) of architecture and nature in the grand Scholoss Schonbrunn Palace, and reward yourself with a cup of Vienna coffee, which has made its way to the world's cultural heritage.

    Bratislava is best known for its fine dining—the remarkable UFO restaurant. You can enjoy a meat-filled dinner here in an amazing setting.

    Walt Disney is credited for creating such wonderful things as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. However, he cannot take the credit for creating other well-loved characters, such as Cinderella and Snow White. They are almost automatically associated with Disney because Disney turned old fables(寓言) into cartoon movies.

    The original Cinderella varies very much from the Disney version we know today. It started off with the girl mourning her mother's death and going to her tomb three times a day. In addition, there were only birds that helped Cinderella; there was no such thing as a fairy godmother or helpful mice, nor was there mention of a horse and carriage.

    The stepsisters were cruel: they always threw Cinderella's food into the ashes of the fire and made her sleep on the ashes on the floor, hence（因此）her name.

    In the original story, the king's ball actually lasted for three days. With the help of the birds, the girl, beautifully dressed, danced with the prince on all three nights and the prince fell in love with her. However, she broke away from him to rush back home each night. On the last night, the prince placed soothing sticky on the stairs; as Cinderella made her escape, a shoe got stuck on it.

    Here now is where the story becomes unpleasant: when the prince went to the house looking for the girl whose foot fit the shoe, the wicked(邪恶的) stepmother told one of her two daughters to cut off her big toe to fit into the shoe. The daughter did as told. So the prince took her away to be his bride. But when they passed the tomb of Cinderella's mother, the birds called out to the prince,

    “Turn and peep, there's blood in the shoe;the shoe is too small, the true bride waits for you.”

    Realizing he had been tricked, the prince returned the daughter to her mother. The other then had to cut off part of her heel in order to fit into the shoe, with the same result. Only Cinderella's foot fit perfectly and so the prince chose to marry her. The story ends with the wedding day: as Cinderella's two stepsisters followed her, pretending to be devoted to her so that they could enjoy the king's riches, two birds flew by and plucked(啄) out their eyes. Because of their wickedness and falsehood, they had to spend the rest of their days blind.

    The original Cinderella is so different from the Disney version. Thank goodness Disney made such changes; it indeed was a wise move.

Scholastic Art: What is your job?

Jayson Fann: I build human-sized nests all over the world.

SA: Can people sit in your nests?

JF: Yes! People have dinner parties in my nests. They read and relax in them. Some of my nests even have several rooms. My nests are even used as hotel rooms.

SA: How do you make a nest?

JF: First, I make a design for the nest. Then I review the design with my client（客户）. After the design is final, I collect wood and work with a team to build it.

SA: What do you use to make your nests?

JF：I use eucalyptus（按树）wood， which is soft and easy to bend when it is young and freshly cut. But when it dries, it becomes extremely hard. So it holds its shape and can support weight. But the structure's strength also comes from the engineering -- how I weave the wood, and how I join major sections by bolting（用螺栓固定）them together.

SA: What makes a great nest design?

JF: Placement is important. The lines of the branches（树枝） create movement and energy, resulting in a cleaner, simpler background -- such as smooth stone or the sky -- which really fits the nest. For me, it's all about balance.

SA: What skills do you need for your job?

JF: You have to be able to draw and use different artistic tools. But you also have to know how to speak to people -- your clients and the people who work for you.

SA: What inspires you?

IF: I love to see how other artists, like Andy Goldsworthy, take common and natural materials and make something special with them.

SA: What is the best part of your job?

JF: I get to be creative in a way that doesn't harm the environment!

    A group of scientists is gathering today in the U. K. to discuss a thick piece of ice that's cracking in Antarctica, which is of the size of Delaware.

    The ice shelf is called Larsen C, and it now has a 90-mile crack running through it. The big rift (裂缝) is slicing the ice shelf from top to bottom. But this is not just another sad climate change story. It's more complicated. "A lot of things are going on deep inside the ice," says Adrian Luckman, a glaciologist.

    Luckman says climate change is certainly influencing this region. Larsen C used to have two neighbors to the north, Larsen A and Larsen B. As the air and water warmed, those ice shelves started melting and then disappeared in 1995 and 2002. But the crack in Larsen C seems to have happened on its own, for different reasons.

    Larsen C has many cracks. All ice shelves do. This particular crack has been around since at least the 1960s. The unusual part is that in 2014, this crack — and only this crack — started growing quickly. Why?

    "Well, that is a little bit of a mystery and that's why it drew itself to our attention," says Luckman. One puzzling aspect is how it managed to cut through areas of softer ice that bind (连接) the ice from neighboring glaciers into one giant sheet. Starting in 2014, that soft ice did very little to slow down this rift.

    Scientists are split on how important this crack is for the stability of the whole ice shelf. Some say if this giant section breaks off, it won't make a difference. Others disagree.

    "Ice shelves are the gates of Antarctica in a way, and the gatekeepers of Antarctica. The ice shelves are already floating, so if they fall apart it does not immediately affect sea levels. It's what they hold back -water from all the inland glaciers — that could be problematic. If all the water packed in those glaciers made their way to the sea, it could significantly raise global sea levels," says Ala Khazendar, a geophysicist.