The first day of the month of May is known as May Day. It is the time of year when warmer weather begins. People celebrate the coming of summer with customs that are expressions of joy and hope after a long winter. Today, May Day activities have been moved to the May Day holiday on the first Monday of the month. It is a public holiday when families take advantage of the time off to visit some of the UK's many attractions, including parks, zoos, historic buildings, ancient towns and villages and beautiful countryside.

    May Day celebrations have their origins in the Roman festival of Flora, the goddess of fruit and flowers, which marked the beginning of summer. People would decorate their houses and villages with leaves and flowers they picked at daybreak in the belief that the vegetation spirits would bring good luck. In the very early morning, young girls went into the fields and washed their faces with dew (露水). They believed this made them very beautiful for the following year.

    May Day was an important day in the Middle Ages and was a favorite holiday of many English villages. People of the time used to cut down young trees and stick them in the ground in the village to mark the arrival of summer. This is the origin of the maypole (五月柱). People danced around them in celebration of the end of winter. Maypoles were once common all over England and were kept from one year to the next. The tallest maypole is said to have been put up in London on the Strand in 1661. It stood more than 143 feet high and was cut down in 1717, when it was used by Newton to support a new reflecting telescope (反射式望远镜) invented by Dutch scientist Huygens.

    A Guide to the University

    Food

    The TWU Cafeteria is open 7am to 8pm. It serves snacks(), 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 and to study.

    If you are on campus in the evening or lat at night, you can buy snacks, fast food, and drinks in the Lower Café located in the bottom level of the Gouglas Centre. 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 10 am to 10 pm, closed on Sundays.

Health

    Located on the top floor of Douglas Hall, the Wellness Centre is committed to physical, emotional and social health. A doctor and nurse is available if you have health questions or need immediate medical help or personal advice. The cost of this is included in your medical insurance. Hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to noon and 1;00 to 4;30pm.

    Academic Support

    All students have access to the Writing Centre on the upper floor of Douglas Hall. Here, qualified volunteers will work with you on written work, grammar, vocabulary, and other academic skills. You can sign up for an appointment on 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 service. The shuttle transports students between campus and the shopping centre, leaving from the Mattson Centre. Operation hours are between 8am and 3pm. Saturdays only. Round trip fare is $1.

    Sharing E Umbrella, a new umbrella sharing company based in Shenzhen, China, recently announced that it had lost most of the 300,000 umbrellas since it set up.

    China's sharing economy has been growing rapidly, with companies offering anything from bicycles and basketballs to phone batteries for people to rent. Customers make a small deposit（押金）and get to use the thing for a daily cost, with a fine put in place for every day if they fail to return the product in time. It's a simple business model, and market data shows that people see sharing as a cheap and convenient way to cut down waste.

    Zhao Shuping founded the Sharing E Umbrella, an umbrella sharing service, in April. By the end of June, he had already started in 11 major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou. While picking up the umbrellas was simple, as they were made available（可得到的）at bus and subway stations, the return system turned out to be a different matter. “Umbrellas are different from bicycles,” Mr. Zhao told Chinese news site thepaper.cn. “Bikes can be parked anywhere, but with an umbrella you need something to hang it on.”

    So instead of bothering to return the umbrellas back to a station, a lot of people just took them home, and Sharing E Umbrella has reportedly lost track of most of the 300,000 umbrellas. Considering that borrowing umbrellas requires a 19 yuan deposit, with a fee of 0.50 yuan per half an hour usage, Zhao says that he suffers a loss of 60 yuan per lost umbrella, so the company is now in the red, but he is not ready to stop it just yet. Zhao announces that Sharing E Umbrella still plans to roll out（推出）30 million nationwide by the end of the year.

    “Get your hands off me; I have been stolen,” the laptop, a portable computer, shouted. That is a new solution to laptop computer theft: a program that lets owners give their property a voice when it has been taken.

    The program allows users to display alerts on the missing computer's screen and even to set a spoken message. Tracking software for stolen laptops has been on the market for some time, but this is thought to be the first that allows owners to give the thief a piece of their mind.

    Owners must report their laptop missing by logging on to a website, which sends a message to the model: a red and yellow “lost or stolen” banner pops up on its screen when it is started. Under the latest version of the software, users can also send a spoken message.

    The message can be set to reappear every 30 seconds, no matter how many times the thief closes it. “One customer sent a message saying, 'You are being tracked. I am right at your door', said Carrie Hafeman, chief executive of the company which produces the program, Retriever.

    In the latest version, people can add a spoken message. For example, the laptop's speaker will say: “Help, this laptop is reported lost or stolen. If you are not my owner, please report me now.”

    The Retriever software package, which costs $29.95 but has a free trial period, has the functions of many security software programs. Owners can remotely switch to an alternative password if they fear that the thief has also got hold of the access details.

    If a thief accesses the Internet with the stolen laptop, Retriever will collect information on the Internet service provider in use, so that the police can be alerted to its location.

    Thousands of laptops are stolen every year from homes and offices, but with the use of laptops increasing, the number stolen while their owners are out and about has been rising sharply.

    Other security software allows users to erase data remotely or lock down the computer.

    121min Adventure/Biography/Drama

    Storyline: A group of climbers start their final climb to the summit of Mount Everest，the highest point on Earth. With little warning，a violent storm strikes the mountain，swallowing the adventurers...

    Director: Baltasar Kormakur

    Stars:Jason Clarke, Ang Phula Sherpa, Thomas M.Wright

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    War Room

    120min Drama

    Storyline: Tony and Elizabeth Jordan, seemingly have it all--great jobs, a beautiful daughter, their dream home. In reality, their marriage has been a war zone. With guidance from Miss Clara, an older, wiser woman, Elizabeth discovers she can start fighting for her family instead of against them.

    Director: Alex Kendrick

    Stars: Priscilla C. Shirer, T.C. Stalligs, Karen Abercrombie

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    Straight Outta Compton

    147min Biography/Drama/Music

    Storyline: In 1987, five young men, using honest rhymes, put their frustration and anger about life into the most powerful weapon they had: their music. Straight Outta Compton tells the true story of how these cultural rebels（叛逆者）stood up to the authorities that meant to keep them down and formed the world's most dangerous group N.W.A.

    Director: F. Gary Gray

    Stars: O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell

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    A Walk In The Woods

    104min Adventure/Biography/Comedy

    Storyline: After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson returns to the US, where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail. He travels with Katz, one of his oldest friends. The trouble is that the two have a completely different definition of the word, “adventure”. The real fun begins...

    Director: Ken Kwapis

    Stars: Robort Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson

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    The theatre in Shakespeare's time was much different than it is today. Authors wrote plays for the masses, especially those who couldn't read or write.

    The theatre changed a lot during Shakespeare's lifetime. The authorities didn't like it and didn't allow acting in the city itself: They thought it had a bad influence on people and kept them from going to church. Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, loved acting and helped the theatre become popular.

    The theatre in Shakespeare's time was full of life. People did not sit all the time and it was not quiet during the performance. The audience could walk around, eat and drink during the play.

    Theaters were open arenas or playhouses that had room for up to three thousand people. There was almost no scenery because the dialogue was the most important part of the play. Colourful and well-designed costumes were very important and told the people about the status of a character. Women never performed in plays, 80 young boys played female characters. The performances took place in the afternoon because it was too dark at night.

    There was no stage crew as there is today. Actors had to do everything themselves-from making costumes to setting the stage. Plays were organized by acting companies. They performed about 6 different plays each week because they needed money to survive. They had almost no time to rehearse (排练).

    The companies in Shakespeare's time had a rank system. The company belonged to shareholders and managers. They were responsible for everything and got most of the money when the company was successful. Sometimes they even owned their own buildings. Actors worked for the managers and after some time became a permanent member of the company. Apprentices (学徒) were young boys and were allowed to act in unimportant role. They also played female characters in plays.