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.

    This column is part of a series on websites that are useful for English language learning.

Activities for ESL Students

    Includes various types of tests, exercises and puzzles designed to help people studying English as a second language（ESL）.The activities include grammar, vocabulary and idiom tests at easy, medium and difficult levels. The specially designed Chinese-English vocabulary tests can help Chinese memorize English words.

http://a4esl. org/

Interesting Things for ESL Students

    Contains a comprehensive list of audio clips（听力剪辑）from the Special English programs of Voice of America（VOA）.The list covers news of all kinds on VOA. The listening and vocabulary exercises and the word list designed with the clips will help English learners improve listening ability and increase vocabulary.

http://www.manythings.org/voa/

World-English

    This site provides a list of radio or TV channels offering English news clips. It includes the BBC radio program clips from England, CNN and ABC news clips from the US, and other news clips from other English-speaking countries. Click on the links and you will be taken to channels where you can listen to clips. This is a good way to practice listening.

http://www.world-english.org/listening.html

Listen to English

    Offers a large number of materials for English learners to practice listening. The materials include business English, English literature, history, movies, and politics. Students can improve their English while enjoying the beauty of the English of literature, songs, movies, and news in different countries.

http://eleaston.corn/listen, html

    Let's look back all these years you've gone through, what have you done for your life? Are you spending your time wisely to make your life worthwhile? Neal Wu shared some ways we should do to make our short time of life meaningful, find out what you need to do next:

    a. Make friends as opposed to networking

    Your friends will go a lot further than the professional contacts you make, especially since only one of the two groups is invested in your personal happiness.

    b. Become an expert by learning as much as you can and deeply seeking out the things you are curious about

    Find the things you enjoy and practice the skills you want to develop. If you can achieve expertise then it will be easy to obtain an audience.

    c. Volunteer to help out those less fortunate

    In the process you will gain a ton of new perspective and will better understand other people's real problems. In a society that always looks upward, these people are being forgotten easily.

    d. Become as independent as possible

    Even though you work in a big company, you should constantly make small steps to reduce your dependence on your job. Write a book, build an app, or start a small business on the side. Release your inner entrepreneur.

    e. Don't spend too much time worrying about your personal brand

    Accomplish(完成) things, and the recognition will follow.

    f. Stop treating life as a competition and do things for their own sake

    Genuine(真正的) interest should be what drives you to improve yourself, rather than a desire to beat others. Find a community of people who are interested in the same things as you do, and drive each other to keep improving.

    A Spanish company Siesta &Go has opened the first public napping (小睡) space in Madrid. It promises people a quiet rest in the middle of the city's business center.

    Napping spaces are nothing new; places to rest are already set up in other big cities in the world. But the idea would appear to work well with the culture of Spain, where people traditionally take an afternoon nap, called siesta.

    The Madrid nap space recently opened with 19 beds. People can use them by the minute or by the hour, and they can also choose either a private or shared room. An hour of napping inside a private room costs about $ l5.

    Siesta &GO provides all bedding, clean nightshirts and other materials. Nippers can request to be woken up when their time is up. It also offers areas to work, with armchairs, newspapers and coffee for those not wishing to sleep.

    Philip &Go is one happy customer. Marco says he gets tired during the day because of hard work. He says a siesta is the perfect way to build up energy. “I come for about 30 minutes or something like that. That is usually enough for me to be full of energy.”

    While many Spanish people love their naps, others like Carlos Villarroja say they are just too busy to keep the tradition. “It's a Spanish tradition, but I think it's more of a legend (传说) than a tradition. Because of the lifestyle and the working hours, we have very little free time for a siesta at least during the week.”

    But many health experts believe there is evidence that taking a short nap can be very good for the body and mind. Scientific studies show that taking a siesta can also prevent illness and lower blood pressure.

Student Job Center

My Favourite Books

    Jo Usmar is a writer for Cosmopolitan and co-author of the This Book Will series（系列）of lifestyle books. Here she picks her top reads.

    Matilda

    Roald Dahl

    I once wrote a paper on the influence of fairy tales on Roald Dahl's writing and it gave me a new appreciation for his strange and delightful words. Matilda's battles with her cruel parents and the bossy headmisres, Miss Trunchbull, are equally funny and frightening, but they're also aspirational.

    After Dark

    Haruki Murakami

    It's about two sisters-Eri, a model who either won't or can't stop sleeping, and Mari, a young student. In trying to connect to her sister. Mari starts changing her life and discovers a world of diverse "night people" who are hiding secrets.

    Gone Girl

    Gillian Fynn

    There was a bit of me that didn't want to love this when everyone else on the planet did but the horror story is brilliant. There's tension and anxiety from the beginning as Nick and Amy battle for your trust. It's a real whodunit and the frustration when you realise what's going on is horribly enjoyable

    The Stand

    Stephen King

    This is an excellent fantasy novel from one of the best storytellers around. After a serious flu outbreak wipes out 99.4% of the world's population, a battle unfolds between good and evil among those let. Randall Flagg is one of the scariest characters ever.