What's On?

    Electric Underground

    7.30pm－1.00am   Free at the Cyclops Theatre

    Do you know who's playing in your area? We're bringing you an evening of live rock and pop music from the best local bands. Are you interested in becoming a musician and getting a recording contract(合同)? If so, come early to the talk at 7.30pm by Jules Skye, a successful record producer. He's going to talk about how you can find the right person to produce you music.

    Gee Whizz

    8.30pm-10.30pm   Comedy at Kaleidoscope

    Come and see Gee Whizz perform. He's the funniest stand-up comedian(喜剧演员) on the comedy scene. This joyful show will please everyone, from the youngest to the oldest. Gee Whizz really knows how to make you laugh! Our bar is open from 7.00pm for drinks and snacks(快餐).

    Simon's Workshop

    5.00pm-7.30pm    Wednesdays at Victoria Stage

    This is a good chance for anyone who wants to learn how to do comedy. The workshop looks at every kind of comedy, and practices many different ways of making people laugh. Simon is a comedian and actor who has 10 years' experience of teaching comedy. His workshops are exciting and fun. An evening with Simon will give you the confidence to be funny.

    Charlotte Stone

    8.00pm-11.00pm     Pizza World

    Fine food with beautiful jazz music; this is a great evening out. Charlotte Stone will perform songs from her new best-selling CD, with James Pickering on the piano. The menu is Italian, with excellent meat and fresh fish, pizzas and pasta(面食). Book early to get a table. Our bar is open all day, and serves cocktails, coffee, beer, and white wine.

    The hit movie Notting Hill（诺丁山）begins with a famous scene. Hugh Grant bumps into Julia Roberts and spills orange juice all over her. After the collision, Grant repeatedly says, “I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.”

    His actions in this scene are very British. If Roberts' character were from the Britain, than she would probably apologize repeatedly as well – even if the crash were not her fault. But this doesn't happen in the movie, as Roberts is from the US.

    A report in The Telegraph once said that three quarters of British people apologize when they bump into someone in the street – regardless of whether they are responsible or not. In fact, Britons use “sorry” in many situations. For example, if they mishear someone, they say “Sorry?” The person they are talking to will also apologize by replying, “No, I am sorry!” This can go on for up to five minutes as they compete over who is the most sorry.

    Why are Britons so sorry? Mark Tyrell, a psychology writer in the UK, thinks that their apologetic tendencies are rooted in British class system. “We say sorry because historically the new middle class in Britain had to apologize for not being the working class, but also for really being the upper class.” Another theory is that they apologize to avoid conflicts. For example, if they bump into someone, he might get angry. To avoid this, they instantly say “Sorry!”

    True manners are about being considerate, and today's constant use of apologizing shows that we are perhaps not as thoughtful as we once were. The word “sorry” has lost some of its meaning.

    Do you see my point? Sorry, it might just be a British thing.

    If you read and listen to one article every day, your reading and listening skills can improve fast. You can learn quickly and after some time you will not have to translate it into your own language. You will simply understand. Why should you do this?

    When you listen to your native language, you do not translate. You simply understand. The same has to be in English. When you learn English, you have to learn the whole sentences in the context (语境).

    Students, who translate English texts, do exercises and do tests, are very good at translating, doing exercises and doing tests, but they have problems with understanding English in real life. In real life, nobody waits for your translation. People usually use simple English when they speak but they speak it fast. You have to understand with no translation into your native language. If you translate, you cannot be part of communication because you are thinking about the language too much.

    You also have to hear every new word 5 to 10 times if you want to remember it. That's why we use the same words at one level. If you read and hear the same words again and again, you will understand them and remember them. If you know words from one level perfectly well, you can go to a higher level and learn new words. It is important to go step by step, and read and listen to words which are used in English often.

    We are trying to do everything possible to help you learn English fast and understand it. That's why we prepare easy English news for you. If you can use this website every day, you can learn 5,000 words which you need for communication with anybody. Now click the OK button to start.

    A Guide to the University

    Food

    The TWU Cafeteria is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. It serves snacks(小吃), drinks, ice cream bars and meals. You can pay with cash or your ID cards. You can add meal money to your ID cards at the Front Desk. Even if you do not buy your food in the cafeteria, you can use the tables to eat your lunch, to have meetings with your friends and to study.

    If you are on campus in the evening or late at night, you can buy snacks, fast food, and drinks in the Lower Cafe located in the bottom level of the Douglas Center. This area is often used for entertainment such as concerts, games or TV watching.

    Relaxation

    The Globe, located in the bottom level of McMillan Hall, is available for relaxing, studying, cooking and eating. Monthly activities are held here for all international students. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., closed on Sundays.

    Academic Support

    All students have access to the Writing Center on the upper floor of Douglas Hall. Here, qualified volunteers will work with you on written work, grammar, vocabulary and other academic skills. If you need help, you can sign up for an appointment by finishing the sign-up sheet outside the door, two 30-minute appointments per week maximum. This service is free.

    Transportation

    The TWU Express is a shuttle(班车)service. The shuttle transports students between campus and the shopping center, leaving from the Mattson Centre. Operation hours are between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays only. Round trip fare is $1.

    Since 2013,Torobo, a robotic are designed to test the limits of artificial intelligence, has had one ambition—to be admitted to the University of Tokyo, one of Asia's top-ranked educational institutions. Although equipped with an extensive database of textbooks and other teaching materials, Torobo has repeatedly failed to obtain the university's required minimum 80% score in the National Center Test, a yearly standardized entrance examination adopted by Japanese universities. This year was no exception.

    In early November, Torobo, along with millions of Japanese high school students, took a mock(模拟的)exam to prepare for the all-important standardized test.

    Torobo's total score of 525 out of 950, which was higher than the national average, was enough for it to get admitted to many other influential Japanese universities.

    However, its standard score of 57.1%, though 14 points higher than in 2015, still fell short of the minimum required for the University of Tokyo.

    A closer analysis of the results showed that Torobo was able to draw from its database to solve knowledge-based questions and ones involving complex mathematical calculations, but it had a hard time thinking independently, failing to comprehend multiple sentences and phrases to arrive at the logical conclusions. This weakness was reflected in its shabby English scores.

    Fortunately, the robot's creators have decided to free Torobo from its four-year sufferings. Noriko Arai, professor of the University of Tokyo who heads the team, says, “From the present results, we are able to evaluate the possibilities and limits of artificial intelligence. From now on, we will grow its abilities in the fields where it is doing well and aim to improve them to levels that can be applied in industry.” So while Torobo will never graduate from the University of Tokyo, it can still look forward to a bright future!

    Until the 1990s coffee was rarely served in China except at luxury hotels aimed at foreigners. When Starbucks opened its first shop there in 1999, it was far from clear that the country's tea-drinkers would take to such a different and usually more costly source of caffeine. Starbucks tried to attract customers to coffee's bitter taste by promoting milk and sugar-heavy concoctions(调和) such as Frappuccinos.

    But coffee has become fashionable among the middle class in China. Starbucks now has about 3, 800 shops in China more than in any other country outside America. Statista, a business-intelligence portal(门户网站), says the roast coffee market in China is growing by more than10 %year. Starbucks and its rivals see big opportunities for expanding there.

    So too, however, do home-grown competitors. A major new presence is Luckin Coffee, Beijing- based chain. Since its founding less than two years ago, it has opened more than 2,300 shops. On May 17th Luckin's initial public offering on the Nasdaq stockmarket raised more than $570m, giving it a value of about $4bn.

    Luckin's remarkable growth is sign of change. No longer do Chinese consumers see coffee as such a luxury. Most of Luckin's shops are merely kiosks where busy white-collar workers pick up their drinks, having ordered them online. Super-fast delivery can also be arranged through the company's app. Independent coffee shops are springing up. The growth is striking considering the country's reputation for its tea-drinking culture where many residents like to relax in teahouses sipping tea served gracefully.

    But the two markets are different. The teahouses tend to cater to older people who like to spend long hours playing mahjong and gossiping. At the coffee shops it is rare to see anyone over 40. Young people use them for socialising, but much of their interaction is online -sharing photos of their drinks and of the coffee-making equipment. An option on the Chinese rating app Dianping allows users to search for wanghong ("internet viral") coffee houses.