It was 3:21 a.m. when nine-year-old Glenn Kreamer awoke to the smell of burning. Except for the cracking(爆烈声) of flames somewhere below there was not a sound in the two-storey house at Baldwin Long Island.

    With his father away on night duty at a local factory, Glenn was worried about the safety of his mother, his sister Karen, 14 and his 12-year-old brother Todd. He ran downstairs through the smoke-filled house to push and pull at Karen and Todd until they sat up. Then he helped each one through the house to the safety of the garden. There, his sister and brother, taking short and quick breaths and coughing, fell down onto the lawn.

    The nine-year-old boy raced back into the house and upstairs to his mother's room. He found it impossible to wake her up. Mrs. Kreamer, a victim of the smoke, was unconscious(昏厥的), and there was nobody to help Glenn carry her to the garden. But the boy remained calm and, as a fireman said later, "acted with all the self-control of a trained adult."

    On the bedroom telephone, luckily still working, Glenn called his father and, leaving Mr. Kreamer to telephone the fire brigade and ambulance service, got on with the task of saving his mother.

    First he filled a bucket with water from the bathroom and threw water over his mother and her bed. Then, with a wet cloth around his head he went back to the garden.

    He could hear the fire engine coming up, but how would the firemen find his mother in the smoke-filled house where flames had almost swallowed up the ground floor?

    Grasping firmly a ball of string(线) from the garage, Glenn raced back into the house and dashed upstairs to his mother's room. Tying one end of the string to her hand, he ran back, laying out the string as he went, through the hall and back out into the garden.

    Minutes later he was telling fire chief John Coughlan, "The string will lead you to mother." Mrs. Kreamer was carried to safety as the flames were breaking through her bedroom floor.

    Let's say you want to hit the gym more regularly this year. How do you make that happen? Consider putting the habit loop to use.

    Here's how it works:

    A habit is a 3-step process. First, there's a cue, something that tells your brain to operate automatically. Then there's a routine. And finally, a reward, which helps your brain learn to desire the behavior. It's what you can use to create-or break-habits of your own.

    Here's how to apply it:

    Choose a cue, like leaving your running shoes by the door, then pick. a reward-say, a piece of chocolate when you get home from the gym. That way, the cue and the reward become interconnected. Finally, when you see the shoes, your brain will start longing for the reward, which will make it easier to work out day after day. The best part? In a couple of weeks, you won't need the chocolate at all. Your brain will come to see the workout itself as the reward. Which is the whole point, right?

    Whatever life threw at us each year, our family had one tradition at Christmas: our dog Pepper opened our presents for us.

    Last year, everyone made it home for a Christmas get-together. However, it couldn't feel perfect because Pepper's health was becoming worse. Her life had already been longer than we expected-she was fourteen-and yet her mind was still sharp. Her love for life made us feel better. But her body could not keep up with her mind.

    Probably it was Pepper's last Christmas, so we decided to make sure she would enjoy it. On Christmas Eve, we each prepared presents for her.

    Soon, Pepper selected her first Christmas gift. She turned the present, just as she was a young dog once more. She pulled the paper off the dog treat before she chewed (咀嚼) it slowly. Our family was so happy.

    Pepper saw the remaining three presents, and then turned to Mom as if asking, “May I open another?”

    “Go ahead, girl!” Mom encouraged.

    For the next few minutes, Pepper opened each of her Christmas presents. While she did, she reminded us of the joy of being together. Our family felt as a whole-not because we were in the same room or city, but because our love brought us together.

    Pepper passed away after Christmas. Her peaceful passing made us tearful. Her passing was also a celebration of life, because she gave my family so much love and laughter.

    I still treasure Pepper's final Christmas gift. She taught me that no matter where we each spend the holidays, the smallest act of sincere giving can unite our family through our love. For me, that knowledge is the longest-lasting gift of all.

    In the coming months, we are bringing together artists from all over the globe, to enjoy speaking Shakespeare's plays in their own language, in our Globe, within the architecture Shakespeare wrote for. Please come and join us.

    National Theatre of China   Beijing︱Chinese

    This great occasion will be the National Theatre of China's first visit to the UK. The company's productions show the new face of 21st century Chinese theatre. This production of Shakespeare's Richard III will be directed by the National's Associate Director, Wang Xiaoying.

    Date & Time: Saturday 28 April, 2:30pm & Sunday 29 April, 1:30pm & 6:30pm

    Marjanishvili Theatre   Tbilisi | Georgian

    One of the most famous theatres in Georgia, the Marjanishvili, founded in 1928, appears regularly at theatre festivals all over the world. This new production of As You Like It is helmed (指导) by the company's Artistic Director

    LevanTsuladze.

    Date & Time: Friday 18 May, 2:30pm & Saturday 19 May, 7:30pm

    DeafinitelyTheatre London | British Sign Language (BSL)

    By translating the rich and humorous text of Love's Labor's Lost into the physical language of BSL, Deafinitely Theatre creates a new interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy and aims to build a bridge between deaf and hearing worlds by performing to both groups as one audience.

    Date & Time: Tuesday 22 May, 2:30pm & Wednesday 23 May, 7:30pm

    Habima National Theatre Tel Aviv | Hebrew

    The Habima is the centre of Hebrew-language theatre worldwide. Founded in Moscow after the 1905 revolution, the company eventually settled in Tel Aviv in the late 1920s. Since 1958, they have been recognized as the national theatre of Israel. This production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice marks their first visit to the UK.

    Date & Time: Monday 28 May, 7:30pm & Tuesday 29 May,7:30pm

    In the years ahead, AI will raise three big questions for bosses and governments. One is the effect on jobs. Although bosses publicly praise the broad benefits AI will bring very much, their main interest lies in cutting costs. One European bank asked a technology company to find a way of reducing the staff in its operations department from 50,000 to 500. This special report has shown that AI-enhanced tools can help reduce staff in departments such as customer service and human resources by a large amount. The McKinsey Global Institute finds that by 2030 up to 375m people, or 14% of the global workers in companies or countries, could have their jobs automated away. Bosses will need to decide whether they are prepared to offer and pay for retraining, and whether they will give time off for it. Many companies say they are all for workers developing new skills, but not at the employer's expense.

    A second important question is how to protect privacy as AI spreads. The Internet has already made it possible to track people's digital（数字的）behaviour in extremely small detail. AT will offer even better tools for businesses to monitor consumers(客户) and workers, both online and in the physical world. Consumers are sometimes happy to go along with this if it results in personalised（个性化的）service. But AI probably brings privacy violations (侵犯) that are seen as shocking and morally unacceptable. In the wrong hands, useful technology could be against fair and equal treatment. Countries with a record of the careful watching of a person place, especially by the police or army and human-rights abuses already using AI to monitor political activity. The police around the world will use AI to spot criminals, but may also look on ordinary citizens secretly, in order to discover things or find out information about them. New rules will be needed to ensure agreement on what degree of monitoring is acceptable.

    The third question is about the effect of AI on competition in business. Today many firms are competing to provide AI-enhanced tools to companies. But a technology company that achieves artificial intelligence could race ahead of competitors, put others out of business and lessen competition. This is unlikely to happen in the near future, but if it did it would be of great concern.

    Listed here are four of the thousands of impressive museums around the world.

    The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Bilbao, Spain

    Built in 1997, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is one of the newest in the world. It has transformed the industrial city of Bilbao into a travelers' desired destination. The beautiful architecture of the museum has provided a dramatic background for movies and commercials.

    The Louvre in Paris, France

    Probably the most famous Louvre also holds the most famous painting in the world, the "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci. Crowds can be found any day surrounding the small, but mysterious painting of the smiling woman. But, the Louvre is much more than a home to the "Mona Lisa". The Louvre is visited by more people each year than any other museum in the world.

    The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, America

    Just opened in its new downtown location in 2012, the Barnes Foundation is "unique" in that it is a completely reproduced display from one man's private collection. Dr. Albert C. Barnes started collecting art in the early 20th century and collected, among others, the largest number of original Renoir paintings in the world.

    The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy

    Walking on the marbled floors feels like stepping back in time. The building itself is a beautiful palace—like structure with frescoes(湿壁画) decorating the ceilings and walls. Viewers are bowled over(印象深刻) by the works by Botticelli, such as "The Birth of Venus". Classic artworks from nearly 1, 000 years ago describe religious events of the time.