British Women Writers in different periods of time

The English Renaissance

    The English Renaissance began in the later part of the fifteenth century and lasted until the 1660s. Among the most famous women writers of this period is Aphra Behn, who is seen as the first professional woman writer in English. She wrote a number of plays that dealt with topics such as racism and slavery. A good example is Oroonoko published in 1688. Aphra Behn's works include also the plays The Amourous Prince, The Town Fop, The Dutch Lover and her only tragedy, Abdelazer.

The neoclassical period

    Among the well-known women in Bristish literature during the neoclassical period, from 1660 to the end of the eighteenth century, is Anne Finch. She wrote poetry and tried to express all that she saw and experienced. Two other women are recognized for their contribution to neoclassical British literature: Mary Astell and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Mary Astell was a philosopher and a feminist writer. She is best known now for her theories on the education of women.

The Romantic period

    Jane Austen is one of the most famous women writers that worked during the Romantic period (1798-1832). Her works include several novels, most of which focus on marriage as a way for young women to secure social standing and economic security. Her most famous novels are Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma. Another famous woman writer from the English Romanticism is Mary Shelley. She is the author of Frankenstein, History of Six Weeks Tour and The Last Man.

The Victorian period

    The Victorian period, between the 1830s and 1900, was the time when the Bronte sisters, George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell lived and wrote. Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte produced many British literary classics. Charlotte's novels include Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette and The Professor. Mary Anne Evans adopted the male pen name George as she wanted to set herself apart from the feminine genre of cookbooks and domestic moral tales. Her most famous novel is The Mill on the Floss published in 1860.

    Many people believe that you lose the ability to learn new languages as you get older. Language experts, however, will tell you that you're never too old to learn a new language. As you get older, it can be more difficult to learn a new language, though.

    Children and adults learn new languages in different ways. For children, language is their life. They study for thousands of hours every year, because they need to learn languages to become part of their communities. Adults, on the other hand, are already part of a language community. Learning a new language means becoming part of another language community, and adults rarely get the chance to practice as much as young children do.

    Moreover, children learning a new language are expected to make mistakes. This gives them freedom when learning to be daring and confident. Adults, however, often feel pressured to be perfect when learning a new language. This can discourage many people and make it even harder to learn a new language.

    When young children learn a new language, they come to see various languages as a “normal” part of society. This mindset （思维模式） helps them embrace learning a new language without feeling like they're doing something unusual or “too hard”.

    So if you want to learn a new language, go for it! It's never too late to learn a new language. If you're older, it may take more work, but it can be done. If you're a young child, though, now is the time to step out and learn a new language!

    Why do we read poetry? First obvious one: because we enjoy it. The only other reason is for academic purposes, and that's not why this is here.

    Many of us read poetry simply because we often feel depressed and hopelessly lost, and in poetry we see how beautiful and strange everything is. So in that way poetry calms our anxiety.

    There are many different kinds of poems. They are not all calming. Some poems make me anxious, angry, scared, and sad, which is why I value them. As a reader, I want a full meal, not just dessert. I want the sweet and the bitter. Often, I read poetry when I'm already relaxed. In fact, I read more when I'm not stressed out.

    Here are the main reasons I respond to poetry, as far as I can tell. Metrical(格律的) poems are about setting up rules and then bending them. Usually, this is done by setting up a rhythm and then violating it or almost violating it. And then returning to it again. This satisfies my desire for order and also my desire for testing boundaries.

    Poetry plays with language and often slams words together in surprising ways, which is thrilling the way food can be when the chef has paired ingredients you never thought would taste good together but somehow do.

    Many poems are dense. Words mean two or three things at once and lots of suggestions are packed between the lines. This is intellectually inspiring and it allows me to read the same poem over and over always finding new things in it.

    And, of course, there's the subject matter. It interests me just as it would if the same subject was explored in a story or essay. Not all poems interest me in this way, but then not all stories and essays do, either.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    Four years ago, Chris Nagele did what many other technology CEO have done before—he moved his team into an open concept office.

    His staff had been working from home, but he wanted everyone to be together. It quickly became clear, though, that Nagele had made a huge mistake. Everyone was distracted, productivity(生产率) suffered and the nine employees were unhappy, not to mention Nagele himself.

    In April 2015, about three years after moving into the open office, Nagele moved the company into a 10,000-square-foot office where everyone now has their own space — complete with closing doors.

    Numerous companies have accepted the open office. But we're 15% less productive, we have great trouble concentrating.

    Since moving, Nagele himself has heard from others in technology who say they long for the closed office lifestyle. It's unlikely that the open office concept will go away anytime soon, but some companies are following Nagele's example and making a return to private spaces.

    There's one big reason we'd all love a space with four walls and a door that shuts: focus. The truth is, we can't multitask(多任务化) and small distractions can cause us to lose focus for upwards of 20 minutes.

    What's more, certain open spaces can negatively impact our memory. We retain(保留) more information when we sit in one spot, says Sally Augustin, an environmental and design psychologist in La Grange Park, Illinois. It's not so obvious to us each day, but we offload(卸下) memories — often little details — into our surroundings, she says.

    Beside the cheaper cost, one main argument for the open workspace is that it increases teamwork. However, it's well documented(记载) that we rarely brainstorm brilliant ideas when we're just talk casually in a crowd.

    We all need to eat. So, meals could be a chance to stop what we're doing and spend time with the people in our lives. A recent study from a team of South Korea suggests that eating together has many good effects on children and teenagers while frequently eating alone may lead to poor eating habits and poor food choices. People who eat alone more than twice a week have a greater risk of developing high blood pressure.

    There are benefits of family dinners on children and teenagers.

    In 2014, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) looked at data from nearly three-quarters of the world's countries. Among its findings is the fact that students who share a main meal with their families are less likely to hate school. Children who eat a main meal with their families are also less likely to take drugs (毒品).

    In the report, titled “The Importance of Family Dinners (VIII),'' researchers say that teens who have frequent family dinners are more likely to say their parents know a lot about what's going on in their lives.

    Another study from the University of Montreal finds that children who eat with their families experience long-term physical and mental health benefits. These children are physically in better shape and drink fewer sugary soft drinks. These children also seem to have better social skills and are less violent.

    One of the researchers, Pagani, involved in this study is a professor at the university. She says that mealtimes with parents possibly provide young children with firsthand social events, which helps them have better communication skills.

Hot Technology Products at CES 2020

The consumer electronics show, or CES, presents new technology developments annually. Here are some latest products launched at CES 2020.

The Sero TV

Samsung introduced a TV that can be used to watch video designed for a smartphone. The Sero TV does this by turning itself from the normal TV position to an upright position that looks like the shape of a phone. The V can connect to mobile devices to play video directly from the phone.

Smart waste can

A company called TOWNEW presented; waste can designed for the home that does a lot of the dirty work on its own. When the can is full, the user touches a button to activate the machine's smart abilities. The device then completely closes off the waste bag inside, puts a new one in place, all by itself, and raises its top so the user can pick up and throw away the bag.

Invisible car hood(引擎盖)

Automobile industry company Continental showed off a new technology that seems to make the front end of a vehicle disappear. The technology, called "Transparent Hood," aims to make driving safer and easier. Cameras provide video of the area underneath the vehicle, permitting the driver to see objects and road conditions that might present danger.

Wearable air purifier

A company called Aō Air introduced a wearable air purifier. Designed to be a high-tech face covering to block pollution, the device pulls air through a filtration(过滤)system and then uses fans to create a small area of clean air at its front, allowing the air to be purified-without the need for a solid container.