How cool can libraries be in an era of iPods and Kindles? Morethan you think．Only if youknow where to go.

Central Library: Seattle, Washington, United States

The Central Library in Seattle is modern and fashionable and hastourists from around the world paying visits and taking tours. It was designedby Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and American designer Joshua Ramus. Tours beganin 2006, two years after its opening. The library holds various artexhibitions, book signings and other events, while visitors can stop by theChocolate cart for a coffee and scan through the gift shop anytime.

Trinity College Library: Dublin, Ireland

The Trinity College Library in Dublin is the oldest library inIreland, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It is the largest single libraryin the world, also known as the Long Room, which contains more than 200,000 ofthe library's oldest books. The Long Room houses one of the oldest harps（竖琴）in Ireland.Dating to the 15th century, the old harp is the model for the symbol foreland.

Geisel Library, University of California: San Diego, UnitedStates

At first glance, it looks like a spaceship. Architect WilliamPereira, who helped design actual space launch facilities at Cape Canaveral inHouston, Texas, designed the library in 1970. It has been featured in sci-fifilms, short stories and novels. The library hosts “Dinner in the Library,”which invites readers for cocktails, and also a special speech fromdistinguished authors．

TU Delft Library: The Netherlands

The library at the Delft University of Technology wasconstructed in 1997 and has more than 862,000 books, 16,000 magazinesubscriptions and its own museum．The buildingitself exists beneath the ground, so you can't really see the actual Library.What makes it interesting is the roof, which is a grassy hill. The roof covers5,500 square meters. And it has become one of the most striking and greeneststructures in the area.

    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.

    When you choose a friend, you should be very careful. A good friend can help you study. You can have fun together and make each other happy. Sometimes you will meet fair weather friends. They will be with you as long as you have money or luck, but when you are down, they will run away. How do I know when I have found a good friend? I look for certain qualities of character, especially understanding, honesty and reliability (可靠).

    Above all else, I look for understanding in a friend. A good friend tries to understand how another person is feeling. He is not quick to judge. Instead, he tries to learn from others. He puts himself in the other person's place, and he tries to think of ways to be helpful. He is also a good listener.

    At the same time, however, a good friend is honest. He does not look for faults (过错) in others. He notices their good points. In short, good friends will be honest to each other and accept each other.

    Another quality of a friend is reliability. I can always depend on a good friend. If he tells me he will meet me somewhere at a certain time, I can be sure that he will be there. If I need a favor, he will do his best to help me. If I am in trouble, he will not run away from me.

    There is a fourth quality that makes a friend special. A special friend is someone with whom we can have fun. We should enjoy our lives, and we would enjoy our friendship. That is why I especially like friends who are fun to be with. A good friend likes the same things I like. We share experience and learn from each other. A good friend has a good sense of humor, too. He likes to laugh with me. That is how we share in the joy of being friends. And I know that he is looking for the same quality in me.

    When I meet someone who is reliable, honest, and understanding, I know I've found a friend!

    One night I received a Facebook message from Laura, a former classmate. "Hey Steve," she said, "I know you've always been an animal lover. I've just had a baby and I can't keep my mini pig."

    Being fond of animals, I knew I wanted the pig. I just had to figure out how to make it happen. I lived in a two-bedroom single-level house in Georgetwon, Ontario. It's tough to bring a pig back to the house I share with two dogs, two cats, and my lifelong partner.

    But I was not letting that pig go. So I told Laura I'd take the animal. When I got home with the pig, I hid her in the bedroom, and began to prepare a dinner for Alisha—her favourite bacon cheeseburgers. It's better to make her happy before introducing the new member to her.

    When I led her to the bedroom and showed her the surprise, Alisha stood in the doorway like a statue. It took her a few seconds to know what I had done. She complained about my unreasonable action. She insisted there was no more room in the house.

    I knew I was wrong, but I hoped I could smooth things over. Soon enough, the lovely pig did the smoothing for me. Never had we felt such joy as she brought to us. We got her a name "Esther".

    Esther's arrival changed our lives. A few weeks later, we decided to stop eating bacon. We figured it was our turn to try to change the world for other animals. A few months later, we moved to a farm where we cared for abandoned animals—so far, six rabbits, six goats, two sheep, one horse, three cows and three chickens.

    Imagine someone who has spent the majority of their life sitting with a sign on the side of the road and that very person giving someone their last 20 dollars. That's exactly what Marine Corps veteran (退伍军人) Johnny Bobbitt, 34, did in October in Philadelphia.

    Bobbitt served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked as a paramedic (医务辅助人员) in Vance County, N. C. before he became homeless. Nobody knew how he got to where he was because he was discreet about that.

    One night in October, Bobbitt was sitting roadside with a sign in Philadelphia as usual, when Kate McClure of Florence Township, N. J. was driving home down Interstate 95 and ran out of gas. Scared and nervous, she got out of the car to head to the nearest gas station. As McClure was heading to the nearest gas station, she ran into Bobbitt and he told her to get back in the vehicle and lock the door. Minutes later, he appeared with a red gas can. He'd used his last $20 to buy her gas.

    After that unexpected meeting, McClure and her boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, who both live in New Jersey, visited Bobbitt several times to deliver gift cards, cash, snacks and toiletries. They then decided to create a fund raising page so he wouldn't have to spend the holidays sleeping on the street.

    McClure started the GoFundMe page on November 10. With the page, the couple hoped to raise $10,000, enough money for his rent, a reliable vehicle and up to six months' expenses. Bobbitt's story ran in a local paper. By November 15，more than 10,000 local people had made donations through the GoFundMe page and more than $300,000 had been raised.

    On Thanksgiving, Bobbitt was resting in a hotel, his feet up on the bed, drawing up a grand plan for his new life, thanks to several thousand dollars raised to repay him for a good deed.

An increase in a country's working-age population is a blessing. Lots of workers support relatively few children and retired people. So long as the labor market can absorb an increasing number of job-seekers, output per head will rise. That can boost savings and investment, leading to higher economic growth, more productivity gains and developmental speed-up. Yet for countries that fail to seize this opportunity, the results can be tough. 

Consider Thailand. It is rapidly aging. In 2021, the share of Thais aged 65 or over hit 14%, a figure that is often used to define an aged society Soon Thailand will, like Japan, South Korea and most Western countries, see a decreasing supply of workers and flagging productivity and growth without extraordinary measures. Yet unlike Japan and the rest Thailand is not a developed country. It has got old before it has got rich. 

This is a big barrier to Thailand's future development. To protect its aging citizens, many of whom are poor, Thailand's government will have to spend more on health care and pensions (养老金). This will make it harder to invest in productivity-boosting skills and infrastructure (基础设施). And where Thailand goes, many developing countries will follow.

One conclusion is that countries with a working-age burst need seeking more economic growth out of it. India may never have a better chance than the present. It is widely accepted that privatization and looser foreign-investment rules could raise its growth rate. 

Another conclusion is that developing countries need to start planning for old age earlier. They should reform their pension systems, including by raising retirement ages. They should encourage financial markets, providing options for long-term saving and health insurance. And they should try harder to increase female participation in the labor force. Getting more women into jobs would help deal with the fact that women live longer than men, but tend to have less savings and pensions, leaving them in difficult situations in old age.