Great speakers are not born but made. You too can become a good orator by taking up the public speaking courses. Those who are incapable of speaking in front of the public can't come up in their life. The art of public speaking must be practiced by everybody who wants to reach great heights in their career. A lot of public speaking courses are available on the Internet. Choosing the best course that is right for you may be difficult but not impossible.

    The basic motive of public speaking courses should be to train you to become a public speaker and improve your skills of delivering a public speech. The course should first educate you with the principles of public speaking and tell you how to overcome stress and anxiety. By overcoming fear, you will be able to deliver your presentation clearly to your audience.

    A speaker can have a great influence on the audience with his body language and your public speaking course should tell you the gestures on stage that can attract the audience. Non-verbal communication also has a major role to play in delivering a speech effectively to a group. Though body language is important, the content and the natural use of words are what the audience are closely caring about. Public speaking courses should give tips in using the right words at the right time.

    Even though you have prepared well, the real success of public speaking lies in the way your speech is delivered. Public speaking courses will train you to present the contents in a lively manner impressing the audience. Your presentation should be professional and stylish. You can add humor or interactive sessions (互动环节) to your presentation to gain the audience attraction.

    American college students are becoming more adventuresome as they study abroad, showing less interests in English-speaking destinations such as Great Britain and Australia and more in such countries as China, India, Argentina and Brazil.

    Britain remained the most popular study destination in 2005, according to annual figures from the Institute of International Education, followed by Italy, Spain and France. But the number of American students studying in Britain and Australia descended a little, even as the number of American students abroad rose by 8%. The growth came in non-English speaking European countries and in Asia. China is now the eighth most popular destination for American students, attracting nearly 6,400 in 2005, up 35% from the number of the year before. Argentina and India saw increases of more than 50%.

    Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, said that a range of factors contributed to the trend, from growing awareness of globalization after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, to programs such as former President Bush's National Security Language Initiative, which trains soldiers, intelligence officers and diplomats in foreign languages. “What Americans are doing is waking up and discovering there's a world out there,” he said.

    Other figures showed the flow of students in the opposite direction, from foreign countries into American universities. The institute found that international enrollment (入学) in American higher education remained steady at about 565,000. The figures are of keen interest to universities, which depend on foreign students for teaching and research help, and to policy-makers, who consider it important, as future foreign leaders may be familiar with the United States. The year of 2005 saw big increases in students from South Korea, Mexico and Taiwan of China. India sends the most students and China is No.2. Other countries that show large percentage increases in the number of students sent to the US include Nepal and Vietnam, while Japan, Turkey and Malaysia saw declines. About 58% of international students in the US come from Asia.

    "Fast fashion" means clothes which are inexpensive but look like the latest designs. One reason for the success of fast fashion is the rise of the social media. A report by the investment research firm Bernstein found that Millennials—people born in the 1980s and 90s— wanted to wear a variety of clothes in the photos they posted on social media. As a result, many businesses which offer trendy and low-cost clothes are growing.

    But the situation is changing now. Maxine, a woman in her early thirties, looks in her closet full of clothes, but she has nothing to wear. She says she hates always shopping for what is in style.    Instead, she wants to buy fewer clothes that she can wear over and over. "Other people want the same thing." she says.

    So Maxine and a business partner, Soraya, started a "slow fashion" clothing company called Zady. "Slow fashion" means clothes that last a long time. They often feature classic colors and shapes, and are made from natural materials.

    The terms "fast fashion" and "slow fashion" are related to "fast food" and "slow food": fast food is still popular in the U.S., but many restaurants increasingly offer high-quality, more expensive and relaxed meals.

    Like slow food, slow fashion also aims to use sources that are good for the environment and workers. Maxine says people in her generation want to know where their clothes come from and who is making them. To answer Millennials' demand for information about the products they buy, Ms Maxine's company, Zady, includes details about the history of the brands. It also describes the process in which the clothes are made. Maxine says Zady aims to tell shoppers where their clothes come from, where they go, and how they impact the world.

    The international business H&M is answering Millennials' demands in another way. It has created a recycling program for clothes. Shoppers who bring clothes they no longer want to H&M stores can receive a discount on new things they buy. An H&M spokesman says, "We have a clear vision to avoid and minimize waste that goes into landfills."

    American and British people both speak English of course. But sometimes it does not seem like the same language. In fact, there are some important differences between British English and American English.

    First of all, they sound very different. Often, Americans don't say each word separately. They say several words together. Americans may say "I dunno" instead of "I don't know". Or they may say "Whaddaya say?" instead of "What do you say?" However, the British are more careful in their speech. They usually say all the words and keep them separate.

    Sound is not the only difference between British English and American English. Words sometimes have different meanings too. Some American words are never used in England. The same thing is true of some British words in America. For example, the vocabulary for cars and driving is very different. Americans drive trucks, but in England people drive lorries.

    Many expressions are also different in the two countries. In England，if you are going to telephone your friends, you "phone them up". In America, you "give them a call". When you are saying goodbye in England you might say "Cheerio!" In America you might say "See you later."

    There're also some differences in grammar. For example, Americans usually use the helping verb "do" when they ask a question. They say "Do you have a storybook?" But the British often leave out the helping verb. They say "Have you a storybook?"

    All these differences can be confusing if you are learning English. But most languages are like this. Languages change over time. When people live in separate places, the languages change in different ways. This is what has happened to English. It can also happen to other languages, such as French. Many people in Canada speak French, but their French is very different from the French of France.

The language Centers first Trivia Night tested students' knowledge on different languages and their histories last Friday at Douglass commons.

"We have decided to conduct this event when the weather is bad so that students who have nowhere to go and stay on campus can come and find a comfortable shelter during a cold winter day," Language Center Director, Teresa Valdez said. According to Valdez, the idea for Trivia night came a year ago from a junior and team-member called Elizabeth de Los Reyes. The event engaged students' interest in languages and showed the high-quality services that the Language Center provides.

Participants competed in small groups that each represented a different language and country. There were five teams in total: Russia, China, Japan, Spain and France. The competition consisted of four rounds with each round consisting of three questions relating to the following topics literature, language, geography, culture and history.

After a few warm-up questions about how people greet each other in different languages, what continent Turkey is found in, and who is the first man to fly to the moon, the questions became increasingly difficult. Each round offered an increasing amount of points a team could receive. The final question was worth 20 points. If a team did not answer it correctly, the points were taken from the total.

In the meantime, students enjoyed pizza, snacks, and drinks while sharing their linguistic (语言的) interest. Most of the participants knew two or three languages. Others knew more, such as first-year Bartek Jezierski from Poland, who can speak English, Polish, German, Spanish, and Russian.

The winners from first to third place were France, Japan and Russia respectively. All five teams were given some prizes—a blue shopping bag, a cup and stuffed toys. However, students believed the most important prize of the evening was the process of the competition—how students from diverse backgrounds and cultures were able to participate in a friendly competition, and shared their mutual (相互的) love of languages.