It's a popular belief that a fish's memory lasts for only seven seconds. It may seem sad to think that they don't remember what they've eaten or where they've been, and they don't recognize you or any of their friends — every moment in their life would be like seeing the world for the first time.

    But don't be so quick to feel sorry for them. A new study has found that fish have a much better memory than we used to think. In fact, certain species of fish can even remember events from as long as 12 days ago.

    In the study, researchers from MacEwan University in Canada trained a kind of fish called African cichlids to go to a certain area of their tank to get food. They then waited for 12 days before putting them back in the tank again.

    Researchers used computer software to monitor the fish's movements. They found that after such a long break the fish still went to the same place where they first got food. This suggested that they could remember their past experiences.

    In fact, scientists had been thinking for a long time that African cichlids might have a good memory. An earlier study showed that they behaved aggressively（挑衅地） in front of certain fish, perhaps because they remembered their past “fights”. But until the latest findings, there was no clear evidence.

    Just as a good memory can make our lives easier, it also plays an important part when a fish is trying to survive in the wild.

    “If fish are able to remember that a certain area contains safe food, they will be able to go back to that area without putting their lives at risks,” lead researcher Trevor Hamilton told Live Science.

    For a long time, fish were placed far below chimpanzees, dolphins and mice on the list of smart animals. But this study has given scientists a new understanding of their intelligence.

    Her Fearful Symmetry

    By Audrey Niffenegger

    RRP $ 12.48(original price)  $11.23(special price)—Save $ 1.25

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    Julia and Valentine Poole are normal American teenagers. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn't know has died and left them her flat in London.

    Published: 05 July 2010

    Format: Paperback 496 pages

    Sales rank: 114

    The Book Thief

    By Markus Zusak

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    Liesel, a nine-year-old girl is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the people of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

    Published: 01January 2008

    Format: paperback 560 pages

    Sales rank: 188,505

    The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

    By John Boyne

    RRP $12.48(original price) $11.39(special price)—Save $1.09

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    The book tells the story of a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. And sooner or later the reader arrives with Bruno at a “fence”, which is not meant to be crossed.

    Published: 11 September 2008

    Format: paperback 224 pages

    Sales rank: 113

    The Help

    By Kathryn Stockett

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    It's Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. No one would believe they'd be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is in search of truth.

    Published: 13 May 2010

    Format: Paperback 464 pages

    Sales rank: 16

Hong Kong Science Museum

    You might really like the Science Museum if you are interested in science. The Museum wants to teach kids science. It gives them a place to have fun with the equipment there. However, adults can learn some science too.

    The Museum has 6,500 square metres. There are over 500 exhibits, and nearly 70 percent of them are suitable for visitors of all ages. Since its opening in April 1991, the Hong Kong Science Museum has proven itself to be a good place for learning science. Through having better exhibits and fun science programs in an enjoyable environment, the Museum wants to popularize science to the public and the support science education in schools. Visitors at the Science Museum can visit the exhibition in their own way and enjoy the fun of discovery learning.

    If you want to have a visit, you'd better read the information carefully.

    If you are heading for Paris this year, be sure to include at least one of these shopping malls in your schedule.

    Au Printemps

    Tel: 01133014282

    Located near the Paris Opera, this huge store is well-known for household goods as well as its fashion. The store also offers many services to overseas visitors, including shipping, translation and a personal shopping service. Au Printemps, whose name means springtime, hosts several free fashion shows each week. The store's beauty department has one of the world's largest selections of perfumes（香水）.

    Galeries Lafayette

    Tel: 01133014283

    The Galeries Lafayette was built in 1906. It is as much fun to look at as it is to shop in this 10-storey shopping palace. In fact, the flagship store is the second most visited attraction in Paris, after the Louvre Museum. This shopping palace specializes in women's clothing. Make sure to take in the view from the tea shop on the top floor; it's well worth the visit.

    Le Bon Marche

    Tel: 01133014439

    This stylish Left Bank department store was Paris' first such store. Designed by Gustave Eiffel, Le Bon Marche is particularly known for its food hall, its wedding shops and its selection of modern clothes.

    La Forum des Halles

    Tel: 01133014476

    This modern, underground shopping center was built in 1979. La Forum des Halles, the three-storey-tall shopping center offers everything from souvenirs to haute couture（高级女子时装）to entertainment, such as first-run movies and street performers. The shopping center is attached to the busy La Halle-Chatelet metro station and can be easily reached from all over Paris.

    When my daughter Sara was in the fifth grade, she came to me with a problem." Marcy hates me！" she cried." Because Kathy is my friend, too. She wants me to be her friend and nobody else's. You talk to Marcy. You tell her that I want to be her friend, but I can have other friends, too！"

    Oh！I looked at her for a few moments，wondering how I got into this mess，when suddenly an idea came to me.

    Picking up two baskets from the living room, I explained, "When everyone is born, he or she has a little basket. This little one here is yours. The big one is mine. As you grow, so does the basket. You can see your little basket is inside mine because when you were born, there were too many things you couldn't do for yourself. I did everything you couldn't do on your own." She nodded.

    "Well, as you grew older and began to do some things on your own, I began placing a few more things in your basket. When you learned to tie your shoes, that went in your basket."

    She said softly, "I can tie my own shoes."

    "Right. As you grow older，there will be more and more things you must do on your own." As I spoke, I gradually took her basket out of mine and handed it to her." You will finally carry your own basket with things only you can do."

    She looked up at me and said," I understand. There are some things that I have to do for myself because they are in my basket."

At school, I was in the top set for maths. My teachers recommended that I study economics and statistics as my A-level subjects, but I had my mind set on a life fulfilled by the arts.

In fact, I was a victim of a gender stereotype made stronger since birth, that men do science and maths and women do arts or languages. Computer science, technology and physics just did not figure in my teenage world view. Nobody popular in my school chose to study those subjects.

Reality struck hard when I began attending job interviews and interviewers would say: "It's great that you speak foreign languages, but what else do you do?" Nobody asked my friends who had studied science or technology those questions.

A survey recently showed that three of the best-paid jobs for women are in the technology sector. It's a sector that really can change the world. We must show girls that technology has an effect on every industry out there, from fashion to architecture to journalism. Anybody can learn to code and these days it's as important as reading and writing. I've realized that at university I'd achieved the wrong kind of literacy. Not being able to code limit your impact on the world far more than an ignorance of great literature.

Now I have a five-year-old daughter. I don't want her to blindly follow gender roles the way I did. I want her to know the fact that a science or technical degree will not limit her creativity but expand it and broaden her horizons far more than my arts background could. I'm exposing her to Minecraft and apps, which help improve analytical thinking and problem solving skills. I'm hoping that my daughter will discover and accept her potentials in science and want to change the world.