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    Happy Shakespeare Day!

    The 23rd April is World Book Day, but did you know that it is also Shakespeare Day? Everybody has heard of Shakespeare, but do you know many plays he wrote? Have you heard of many of his poetry?

    Shakespeare's plays fit into three categories: tragedies, comedies and histories. Perhaps his most famous play is the tragedy story of Romeo and Juliet, which deals with two young lovers who are forbidden to marry by their parents. Other tragedies include Hamlet, a play about a vengeful ghost Othello, about an army general who is manipulated(操纵) into killing his wife, and Macbeth(麦克白). If you've seen Harry Potterandthe Prisoner of Azkaban written which is sung in the Great Hall after the Sorting Ceremony. These words come from the Witches in Macbeth!

    Shakespeare's comedies include Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night is a play about confusing identities. Two twins are shipwrecked and the sister, Viola, dresses up as her brother, Sebastian, who she thinks is dead. It's hilarious, because the brother reappears without Viola realizing and there's a big love triangle going on: Viola is in love with the Duke Osino, who is in love with Olivia, who falls in love with Sebastian, except she doesn't realize that Sebastian is actually Viola dressed up! Everybody falls in love with the wrong person, but it is all made right in the end.

    The history plays, such as Antony and Cleopatra, Richard III and Henry V are based on the lives of real historical people. Antony and Cleopatra is a story about a doomed romance in ancient Egypt. Cleopatra becomes Antony's mistress and Antony becomes so obsessed with her that he loses his military might. Cleopatra kills self by letting a snake bite her after Egypt's army has been defeated by Octavius and Antony kills himself too.

    Shakespeare's plays can be very heavy going sometimes. Some of the themes they deal with are heavy and complex, so they almost always contain a lighter subplot with characters who aren't closely linked to the characters in the main plot. They are often used in tragedies to lighten the mood of the play and to keep the audience interested in the main plot.

    You eat food and drink water, right? Skipping Rocks Lab is changing how you and your future generations will have water. Have you ever thought you could eat water? Think again, this is actually happening somewhere in the world.

    The group at Skipping Rocks Lab has made a water bottle you can eat. The product is called Ooho. Unlike plastic bottles, Oohos are neither tall nor hard. They look more like bubbles, or small, round, clear balls. They can hold liquid inside. People who drink Oohos can be surprised: the outside bursts in the mouth.

    Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez is with Skipping Rocks Lab. He explains that the outside, or the membrane, of Ooho is made of seaweed, a plant that grows in the ocean. “It's a membrane made of seaweed that can contain water or any kind of liquid. It's made from an extract (汁) of the brown seaweed.”

    The Ooho membrane is tasteless, and you can eat it. The company says even if you throw away the membrane, it will break down in about four weeks. Gonzalez says the membrane is strong, and good for the environment.

Every year, billions of plastic water bottles are thrown away, polluting land and waterways around the world. The typical water bottle made of plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade.

    Lise Honsinger is also with Skipping Rocks Lab. “Most people just grab a bottle of water, hold it for five minutes, drink it, and throw it away. How can that then exist for 700 years? So, yeah, this is absolutely a solution to that. We are very purist: we don't want to see this packaged in plastic.”

    There are limits to the Ooho. It cannot be refilled. Each bottle is small. And Oohos do not store for more than a few days. The Skipping Rocks Lab is working on those issues. “We're still working on things like extending the shelf life, looking at different options in terms of thickness, if we want to make one that stands up more, or more flexible for marathons where people just want to eat it whole.”

    Right now, Skipping Rocks Lab can make only a few thousand Oohos a day. But it is developing new technology that could increase that number to hundreds of thousands.

    I'm Caty Weaver. Kevin Enochs wrote this story. Anne Ball adapted it for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

    Philadelphia offers a ton of attractions that are suitable for people of every age and here are some family—friendly attractions．

    Spruce Street Harbor Park

    Spruce Street Harbor Park，one of the best urban beaches in American，is an outdoor heaven on the Delaware River waterfront．Visitors can relax in a hammock，play on the playgrounds，and play games like table tennis and giant chess．Don't miss out on the park at night，when colorful LED lights hanging from treetops make the entire area bright.

    Blue Cross RiverRink

    Offering ice skating in the winter and roller skating in the summer，Blue Cross RiverRink creates a fun，outdoor experience for the whole family．Visitors can play on the nine-hole mini-golf course during the summer，and enjoy eats and drinks from the on-site(现场的)bar and restaurant all year round．

    Sesame Place

    Big Bird，Elmo and the other stars of Sesame Street come out and play at Sesame Place，the only theme park in the nation starring the popular TV show's most lovable characters．A water park，interactive activities，parades，fireworks and shows add to the fun．

    Once Upon a Nation Storytelling Benches

    On summer days，uniformed and professional storytellers at 13 storytelling benches throughout Philadelphia's Historic District entertain visitors with true，free，three-to-five minute tales about the colonial(殖民的)era as part of Once Upon a Nation．Children can pick up a Story Flag at any storytelling bench，and then collect a star from every storyteller on their journeys．Flags with all the stars can get free rides on the Parx Liberty Carousel at Franklin Square．

    In China, chain restaurants especially the big multinational ones are cool. Going to Starbucks, for example, is a status symbol. It not only says, "I'm rich enough to buy this overpriced coffee, "but also, "I'm cosmopolitan (见多识广的) enough to be part of globalization."

    Where I come from in the UK, however, chains are neither fashionable nor gourmet (美食的). Chains are where you go on New Year's Day when nowhere else is open, or when you are 5 years old and your parents can't stand hearing, "I'm hungry!" any longer. In my own case (with regards to McDonald's), a chain is where you are taken on your first "date". Even at the age of 13, I knew to give the guy the "let's just be friends" phone call the next day.

    In the UK, independent cafes and restaurants are making a comeback on the fashion scene. Nowadays, a Londoner who says "let's meet for a coffee at Monmouth" (an independent café) is much cooler than one who says "let's go to Starbucks". Even if Monmouth's coffee is a little more expensive, there's a satisfaction in knowing your pounds aren't going straight to the big corporations.

    Of course, there are chain stores all over the UK; you can't go five minutes without spotting a Costa Coffee. But numbers do not add up to good taste.

    I do, however, have a confession (坦白). After moving to China I had moments when all the rice and Kung Pao Chicken became too much. I, too, have retreated to McDonald's.

The Tokyo Olympics have been postponed until 2021. That delay offers a chance for reflection. The International Olympic Committee wants to make the games more popular with young people. To that end, it is introducing new events, such as skateboarding, surfing and climbing. Why not go further and let national teams compete at video games? Electronic sports such as "Fortnite", are vastly more popular than strange Olympic sports like curling (冰壶). In fact, they are more appealing than most mainstream sports. Only 28% of British boys aged 16-19 watch any traditional live sports; 57% play video games.

Some may complain that e-sports are not proper sports. Many parents, observing their teenagers sitting on the sofa all day shouting "Quick, pass me the shotgun!" at a screen, would agree. Yet video games are highly competitive, with professional teams that play to packed stadiums. There are perhaps only 200 tennis stars in the world who can make a living from playing in major competitions. By contrast, "League of Legends", a fantasy game played by teams of five, supports over 1,000 on good wages. Its World Championship final last year was watched by 44 million people.

Those against e-sports offer moral objections, too. They are addictive. Prince Harry has called for "Fortnite" to be banned for this reason. They are violent. At a time of global disharmony, it is bad idea to make virtual (虚拟的) killing an Olympic sport. The Olympics aim to promote peace.

Neither of these arguments is convincing. The idea that an activity, rather than material, can be addictive is controversial among doctors, as is the existence of a causal (因果的) link between gaming and violence. And the belief that warlike sports have no place in the Olympics is hard to agree with history. Wrestling was introduced in 708 BC. It is still there.