A telescope, called Gaia, is being designed by astronomers in Europe, and it couldn't be more different from Pan-STARRS, which is another telescope being designed. While Pan-STARRS will be looking for asteroids (小行星) and comets headed for Earth, Gaia will be looking at our entire galaxy (银河系).

    Gaia is designed to draw a map of the Milky Way, our home galaxy. Just as a map of your town gives you a picture of where things are located, Gaia's map of the galaxy will tell astronomers where the stars are. Over five years, Gaia will observe (观察) about a billion stars and other objects in our galaxy. Each object will be observed about 70 times.

    Gaia will be sent into space connected to a rocket. It contains two telescopes, each focused at a different angle (角度). These two telescopes act like Gaia's “eyes”. The reason why humans can see things in 3D is that we have two eyes focused on the same object, at slightly different angles. By using two telescopes like eyes, Gaia can produce the first 3D map of the positions of the stars it views.

    Gaia, which is to be sent into space, will be a powerful telescope. If you were to use it on Earth, for example, you could stand 600 miles away from your best friends and still get a clear picture of their hair.

    Gaia is one of more than a dozen telescopes being designed by scientists right now. The next generation of telescopes will reveal new parts of our universe that will seem surprising. The universe, with all its planets, stars and other strange objects, is a puzzle with pieces that we can see by using powerful telescopes.

    A heated debate is currently going on in our town.Should we allow the cinema to be constructed in the Havenswood Shopping Center? There is just one large lot left to build on,and the theater would use up all of that space.Some people are excited at the idea of finally having our own movie theater.Others would rather travel ten miles to the nearest theater to keep our quiet town the way it is.They say it is enough to have Marvin's Movie Video Rentals.After all,Marvin's store keeps thousands of the latest videos.

    There are certainly benefits to renting videos.For one thing,you can plan your own schedule when it is convenient for you.You can relax on your sofa,and take a break whenever you need one.You can also talk to others without bothering any strangers seated nearby.In additional,it is a less expensive way to view a movie compared to going to a theater.

    On the other hand,seeing a movie in a theater is an experience all its own.First,you can see the movie on wide screen as the filmmaker intended.To be viewed on a television screen,a film must be changed in some way to make it smaller.One is the “pan-and-scan” method,which involves removing some of the details in the picture.The other way,called “letterboxing”,keeps the image the way it is on the big screen,with one annoying exception; because the big-screen version is wide,the same picture on a television screen must be long and narrow.

    Another problem is sound.The sound from a television cannot compare to the sound system in a theater.Your experience of a movie improves when you can clearly hear all of the sounds.Furthermore,at home,viewing companions often talk during a movie,which makes you miss out on what's happening in the film.

    Besides,having a movie theater will not mean that you can't still go to Marvin's! You will just have a choice that you didn't have before.Isn't it time for Havenswood residents to enjoy a little progress?

    Everybody hates it, but everybody does it. A recent report said that 40%of Americans hate tipping. In America alone, tipping is a $ 16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting politely ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The common opinion in the past was that tips both rewarded the efforts of good service and reduced uncomfortable feelings of inequality. And also, tipping makes for closer relations. It went without saying that the better the service, the bigger the tip.

    But according to a new research from Cornell University, tips no longer serve any useful function. The paper analyzes numbers they got from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The connection between larger tips and better service was very weak. Only a tiny part of the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service.

    Tipping is better explained, by culture than by the money people spend. In America, the custom came into being a long time ago. It is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In New York restaurants, failing to tip at least 15% could well mean dissatisfaction from the customers. Hairdressers can expect to get l5%-20%, and the man who delivers your fast food $ 2. In Europe, tipping is less common. In many restaurants the amount of tip is decided by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all. Only a few have really taken to tipping. According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell papers' author, countries in which people are more social or outgoing tend to tip more. Tipping may reduce anxiety about being served by strangers. And Mr. Lynn says, “In America, where people are expressive and eager to mix up with others, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off.”

My dad was in the Air Force. When I was a kid, we moved every few years. That meant a lot of good-byes. It also meant getting used to a whole new community and a whole new school each time we moved. I can still feel what it was like to have to walk into the new school—that sinking feeling in my belly, that heaviness in my throat. It would always take time for me to learn how everything worked, what was cool and what not. It was always a struggle to find where I could fit in.

    Already shy, I didn't have much self-confidence in my friend-making abilities. I was the girl walking in the halls with her head down, panicking. When I spoke, you could hardly hear my soft voice. I was nervous and doubted myself a lot.

    It was very hard not having a history with everyone else. I was an outsider. But what I did have was soccer. Wherever I went, I knew that I could fit it with the soccer ball. The soccer team meant a familiar place and immediate friends for me. I could express myself and feel good about myself on the field. Playing hard helped to get rid of all my nervousness.

    Throughout our lives, our self-respect goes down when we feel like a failure, and it goes up when we feel successful. Doing something well, being praised, and feeling loved goes a long way. We all need to explore opportunities where we can be good at something and feel good about ourselves. Physical activity and sport participation is a terrific way to build up our sense of self-confidence and self-worth.

    In his research work, Philosophical Investigations（哲学调查）, Ludwig Wittgenstein tries to clarify（澄清）some of the problems in people's thinking about how the mind works.

    Imagine, he says, that everyone has a small box in which they keep a beetle（甲壳虫）. No one is allowed to look in anyone else's box, only in their own. Over time, people talk about what is in their boxes and the word “beetle” comes to stand for what is in everyone's box. Through this example, Wittgenstein point out that the beetle is very much like an individual's（个体的）mind; no one can know exactly what it is like to be another person or experience things from another's point of view—look in someone else's “box”—but it is general considered that the mental working of another person's mind is very similar to that of our own. However, it does not really matter—he argues—what is in the box or whether everyone indeed has a beetle, since there is no way of checking or comparing. In a sense, the word “beetle” simply means “what is in the box”. From this point of view, the mind is simply “what is in the box”, or rather “what is in your head”.

    Wittgenstein considers language to have meaning because of public usage. In other words, when we talk of having a mind—or a beetle—we are using a term that we have learned through conversation. The concept might be perceived（感知）differently in each of our minds, so the word “mind” cannot be used to refer specifically to some entity（本质）outside of our own conception（概念）, since we cannot see into other people's boxes.

    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.