During my early twenties, to make my parents stop feeling angry, and simply to escape, I decided to live in my birthplace for a period of time, something I'd sworn I would never do. My parents were thrilled. They prayed that I'd come back triumphantly with a picture－perfect bridegroom. That was the furthest thing from my mind as I packed my faded jeans, tank tops, boots, and a photo of my freckle－faced then－boyfriend who was of Scottish descent.

    The moment I landed in Seoul, I was aware of how much I felt like a misfit. All my life I had tried to blend into the dominant culture and couldn't. And finally, when I was in a place where everyone looked like me, I still stood out. I took it for granted that I'd feel a sense of freedom. I thought I'd blend into the landscape. This was not the case. People stared at me with curious eyes. I became conscious of my American－girl swaggering body movements and inappropriate dress.

    Collecting my courage, I traveled to the demilitarized zone on my own. I touched the high barbed－wire fence that stretched across the belly of the peninsula(半岛), dividing Korea in half. I visited thousand－year－old temples and magnificent palace gates that had survived modernization and centuries of battle. I met with distant cousins who welcomed me with outstretched arms into their homes and related heroic tales about my mother and Halmoni (Grandmother) during the war. How Halmoni had led her young children out of north to the United Nation－backed south. How my mother, at the age of thirteen, saved the life of her baby sister.

    I listened with such an overwhelming thirst that when I returned to the States a year and a half later, I began to ask my parents and Halmoni (who had immigrated to the States some time after we did) all about the past. The past was no longer a time gone by, a dead weight. I now saw that it held ancient treasures. And the more I dug and discovered, the more I felt myself being steered toward a future I had never imagined for myself. I began to write. I didn't even know I could write. My family helped me knit stories into a book using Halmoni's voice. As her powerful words moved through me I was able to reflect and meditate on the ridiculous life I had fashioned for myself. I could feel my sense of self rising. This sparked a newfound awareness and excitement. I became a spokeswoman on Korean culture, traveling to various college campuses across the country. “Be proud. Embrace your heritage.” I said to young Korean American students wearing extra－large, trendy sportswear. But the whole time I was lecturing, I had very little understanding of what that self－concept meant. I was merely talking the talk. I hadn't yet fully embraced my own identity.

BERLIN—A German woman, fearful that a burglar was trying to break into her second -storey apartment, called police after she heard someone climbing up to her balcony shortly after midnight, police said Thursday. Police discovered the “burglar” was a man carrying flowers and a bottle of wine who turned out to be the woman's boyfriend. But then arrested him on an outstanding reason.

    “He was trying to surprise her with the flowers and a bottle of wine but it all went wrong,” said Korbach police spokesman Volker Koenig. He said the man jumped down from the balcony and tried to escape but was quickly caught by police.

    “He gave the police who were taking him to jail the bottle of wine as a gesture of thanks for the friendly treatment after the arrest. ” Koenig said．

LONDON—A smoker who died after battling emphysema (肺气肿) has had his dying wish granted with the placement of a “SMOKING KILLED ME” sign on his hearse (灵车) and his grave.

    Albert Whittamore blamed his youthful smoking habit for the lung disease. He said before he died in February that he wanted the sign to serve as a warning to young people about the dangers of tobacco smoking.

    The sign was designed to look like the health warning on a packet of cigarettes. The printed notice at his grave will be left in place for a week. The hearse carrying his body through the town of Dover 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of London and several of the printed signs shown in the windows.

    From the very beginning of school we make books and reading a constant source of possible failure and public humiliation. When children are little we make them read aloud, before the teacher and other children, so that we can be sure they “know” all the words they are reading. This means that when they don't know a word, they are going to make a mistake, right in front of everyone. After having taught fifth-grade classes for four years, I decided to try at all costs to rid them of their fear and dislike of books, and to get them to read oftener and more adventurously.

    One day soon after school had started, I said to them, “Now I'm going to say something about reading that you have probably never heard a teacher say before. I would like you to read a lot of  books this year, but I want you to read them only for pleasure. I am not going to ask you questions to find out whether you understand the books or not. If you understand enough of a book to enjoy it and want to go on reading it, that's enough for me. Also I'm not going to ask you what words mean. “

    The children sat stunned and silent. Was this a teacher talking? One girl, who had just come to us from a school where she had had a very hard time, looked at me steadily for a long time after I had finished. Then, still looking at me, she said slowly and seriously, Mr Holt, do you really mean that?” I said just as seriously, “I mean every word of it.

    During the spring she really astonished me. One day, she was reading at her desk, From a glimpse of the illustrations I thought I knew what the book was. I said to myself, “It can't be,” and went to take a closer look. Sure enough, she was reading Moby Dick , in edition with woodcuts. I said, “Don't you find parts of it rather heavy going?” She answered, Oh, sure, but I just skip over those parts and go on to the next good part. “

    This is exactly what reading should be and in school so seldom is, an exciting, joyous adventure. Find something, dive into it, take the good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on to something else. How different is our mean-spirited, picky insistence that every child get every last little scrap of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.

    According to Guglielmo Cavallo and Roger Chartier, reading aloud was a common practice in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Readers were “listeners attentive to a reading voice,” and “the text addressed to the ear as much as to the eye.” The significance of reading aloud continued well into the nineteenth century.

    Using Charles Dickens's nineteenth century as a point of departure, it would be useful to look at the familial and social uses of reading aloud and reflect on the functional change of the practice. Dickens habitually read his work to a domestic audience or friends. In his later years he also read to a broader public crowd Chapters of reading aloud also abound in Dickens's own literary works. More importantly, he took into consideration the Victorian practice when composing his prose, so much so that his writing is meant to be heard, not only read on the page.

    Performing a literary text orally in a Victorian family is well documented. Apart from promoting a pleasant family relationship, reading aloud was also a means of protecting young people from the danger of solitary (孤独的) reading. Reading aloud was a tool for parental guidance. By means of reading aloud, parents could also introduce literature to their children, and as such the practice combined leisure and more serious purposes such as religious cultivation in the youths. Within the family, it was commonplace for the father to read aloud Dickens read to his children: one of his surviving and often-reprinted photographs features him posing on a chair, reading to his two daughters.

    Reading aloud in the nineteenth century was as much a class phenomenon as a family affair, which points to a widespread belief that Victorian readership primarily meant a middle-class readership, Those who fell outside this group tended to be overlooked by Victorian publishers。Despite this, Dickens, with his publishers Chapman and Hall, managed to distribute literary reading materials to people from different social classes by reducing the price of novels. This was also made possible with the technological and mechanical advances in printing and the spread of railway networks at the time.

    Since the literacy level of this section of the population was still low before school attendance was made compulsory in 1870 by the Education Act, a considerable number of people from lower classes would listen to recitals of texts. Dickens's readers, who were from such social backgrounds, might have heard Dickens in this manner. Several biographers of Dickens also draw attention to the fact that it was typical for his texts to be read aloud in Victorian England, and thus illiteracy was not an obstacle for reading Dickens. Reading was no longer a chiefly closeted form of entertainment practiced by the middle class at home.

    A working-class home was in many ways not convenient for reading: there were too many distractions, the lighting was bad, and the home was also often half a workhouse. As a result, the Victorians from the non-middle classes tended to find relaxation outside the home such as in parks and squares, which were ideal places for the public to go while away their limited leisure time. Reading aloud, in particular public reading, to some extent blurred the distinctions between classes. The Victorian middle class defined its identity through differences with other classes. Dickens's popularity among readers from the non-middle classes contributed to the creation of a new class of readers who read through listening.

    Different readers of Dickens were not reading solitarily and “jealously,” to use Walter Benjamin's term. Instead, they often enjoyed a more communal experience, an experience that is generally lacking in today's world. Modem audiobooks can be considered a contemporary version of the practice. However, while the twentieth- and twentieth-first-century trend for individuals to listen to audiobooks keeps some eharacteristics of traditional reading aloud-such as “listeners attentive to a reading voice” and the ear being the focus—it is a far more solitary activity.

    A good hiking trip should be planned out ahead of time. Whether it is a hike on a mountain trail or through the woods, an enjoyable hiking trip can easily turn into a dangerous situation if safety is not considered well. North Mountain State Park recommends hikers consider the following tips before hitting any trails:

    Make a copy of your itinerary to give to a family member or a friend. Make sure that someone close to you knows where you are and how long you will be gone.

    Wear a good pair of hiking boots or strong athletic shoes. The right shoes will keep you safe, warm, and comfortable.

    Prepare for various types of weather conditions. Check the forecast before you leave; take along sunglasses and extra clothing (e.g., a hat and /or a jacket for a day hike).

    Pack plenty of food and water. Consider how long your hike will be and pack accordingly.

    Pack basic and necessary supplies. Bring a first-aid kit, a flashlight, a pocket knife, a map of the area (if available), and a compass. You may need other supplies, such as matches, depending on how long your hike will be.

    Determine what time the sun sets. This information is available in most local newspapers. Most people become lost after nightfall, so it is important to know this information.

    Stay on properly marked trails. Stay on established trails to decrease the chances of becoming lost. Staying on established trails also lowers the risk of doing harm to rare and endangered plants.

    Carry a whistle(哨子). Using a loud whistle is a good way to call attention to your location if you get lost.

    Keep an eye out for wildlife. Do not approach animals in the wild, even if they seem friendly.

    The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (WSPRC) manages a diverse system of more than 120 parks. The 90-year-old park system, which receives nearly 48 million visits a year, ranks 4th nationally in day-use attendance, 10th in overnight attendance, and the WSPRC has a smaller budget than most states.

    What's your feeling when you step into senior high school? It is a completely new experience, but you shouldn't worry. We've got some tips to help you.

    You're not alone

    Remember that everybody else in your grade is in the same boat. You may not notice it, but they're just as nervous as you are.

    Moving up to senior high school is a chance, not a problem. Things are different, and all you need to do is to be polite and learn the new rules.

    The teachers will help you

    If you don't know what to do or are worried about something, then ask for help. Teachers are probably the best people to turn to because they have experience in helping new students. Pay attention to what your teachers say.

    Everything changes

    There are lots of differences between junior high school and senior high school. You will you're your lessons with different teachers in different schools. You will have homework for different subjects on different days, so make sure you get organized.

    Other points

    If you've got an elder brother or sister at senior high school, then ask them for advice. Be yourself! It sounds simple, but things will become much better if you just act naturally.

    Going to bed early makes a difference. You'll also find it easier to get up in the morning!