The Penguins

    Skipper and his fellow penguins were originally just supporting roles in animated film Madagascar (2005). But in 2008 they took leading roles in their own TV series, and in 2014 starred in the film Penguins of Madagascar. The penguins' wisdom and humor not only appeal to kids, but also serve adult audiences well. So, it's not surprising that they get their own movie.

Scrat

    A small and furry squirrel with a long tail from animated movie Ice Age (2002), Scrat played a supporting role but has won the hearts of both children and grown-ups with his persistence(毅力). In the film, his chasing after his prized acorn(橡子) causes an Earth-shattering geological event. Scrat is a big part in the lasting attraction of the movie series Ice Age. Today, Scrat has his own animated mini-movies.

    Since his students began using Quizlet, English teacher Tristan Thorne has noticed an improvement in their ability to learn and use new words. Quizlet is a learning App, a computer program you use on your mobile phone. It can help users build and test their knowledge of English words. Quizlet has word sets for millions of subjects. And, it is quickly becoming a useful mobile tool for language learners.

    Thorne teachers at Columbia University in New York City. Thanks to learning Apps, Jeff Strack, another English teacher, has also notice improvement in his students' ability to remember information. He teaches at Hostos Community College, also in New York. He and Thorne are part of a growing number of language educators adding mobile Apps to their classes.

    Strack and Thorne seem to agree that the days when teachers would not permit the use of mobile phones are gone. When they use Apps, language learners communicate more differently than in a traditional classroom. Users act on or respond to something, instead of just listening to new information.

    Thorne believes that Apps can help learners become more active in learning. For example, each week, his students are required to add vocabulary words into Quizlet for others to use. He says some Apps also make it easy for students to know their language strengths and weaknesses.

    The biggest improvement Strack has seen in his students is that they are much more active in whole-class or small-group discussions. “Apps let all students take part in the activity, whether it's a game, quiz or practice activity.” he says.

    Many existing learning Apps are designed for students of all ages and levels. Some are designed for group activities. some support independent learning. Still some are good for homework. Thorne says he especially likes Quizlet and three other Apps: QR Codes, Socrative and Evernote.

    The 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Mo Yan for his writing that mixes folk tales, history and the modern events with hallucinatory realism（魔幻现实主义）, the Swedish Academy announced.

    The 57-year-old is the first Chinese resident to win the prize. Only one other Chinese-language writer has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Gao Zingjian was honored in 2000. However, he is a French citizen.

    Mr Mo said he was “overjoyed and scared” when he learned he had won the award. He will receive his Nobel diploma, a medal and more than one million dollars at a ceremony in Stockholm in December.

    China is celebrating the victory of this native son. Minutes after the award was announced, millions of Chinese expressed pleasure and pride for Mo Yan on social media websites. Senior CPC leader Li Changchun has congratulated Mo Yan on winning the 2012 Nobel Literature Prize. Li says in a letter to the China Writers Association that Mo's winning of the prize reflects the prosperity and progress of the Chinese literature.

    His real name is Guan Moye. Mo Yan means “Don't Speak.” The writer said he chose the name to remember to stop his tongue from getting him in trouble. Mo Yan's novel “Red Sorghum” first became a cable hit on the big screen both at home and abroad in 1987. The film was directed by Zhang Yimou and marked the acting start of Gong Li.

    As a productive author, Mo has published dozens of short stories, with his first work published in 1981. Mo Yan's other major works include, “Big Breasts and Wide Hips,” “Republic of Wine” and “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out.”

    The single, decisive factor that made it possible for mankind to settle in lasting communities（社区，聚居地）was agriculture. After farming was developed in the Middle East in about 6500 BC, people living in family units did not have to be on the move continually searching for food or hunting their animals. Once people could control the production of food and be assured of a reliable supply of it, their lives changed completely.

    Farming was a revolutionary discovery. It not only made settlements possible and later the building of cities but it also made available a reliable food supply. With more food available, more people could be fed. Population therefore increased. The growing number of people available for more kinds of work led to the development of new social formations. With more and more food, a community could support a variety of workers who were not farmers.

Farming in the world over has always relied upon a dependable water supply. For the earliest societies this meant rivers and streams or regular rainfall. The first great civilizations grew up along rivers. Later communities were able to develop by taking advantage of the rainy seasons.

    All of the ancient civilizations probably developed in much the same way, in spite of a few differences. As villages grew, the production of more numerous goods became possible. Cloth could be woven from wool. Houses made of wood, brick, and stone could be put up.

    The science of mathematics was an early outcome of agriculture. People studied the movements of the moon, the sun, and the planets to work out seasons, By doing so they created the first calendars（日历）. With a calendar it was possible to find out the arrival of each growing season. Measurement of land areas was necessary if field was to be divided accurately. Measurement of amounts, for example, of seeds or grains was also a factor in farming and housekeeping. Later measures of value as money exchange became common.

    All of the major ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China appeared in the 4th millennium（千年）BC. Historians still argue over which one came into being first. It may well have been the Middle East. This place reaches out from the Nile River in Egypt northward along the coast of former Palestine, then eastward into Asia to include Mesopotamia. In this area people settled along the riverbanks and practiced field agriculture. This kind of farming depended on the reproduction of seed, normally from grain crops.

    Across Europe, where visitors can outnumber residents in the summer months, the complaints have started. Last week, in Barcelona, an open-top bus was spray-painted across its windscreen with the words “Tourism Kills Neighbourhoods”. The message is clear: such cities are under pressure. In tourists and residents' battle for shared spaces, local authorities are uncomfortably in the middle. The tourism is one of the largest employers in the world, with one new job created for every 30 new visitors to a destination—but at what cost to locals' quality of life?

    More people are travelling than ever before, and lower barriers to entry and falling costs mean they are doing so for shorter periods. The rise of “city breaks”—48-hour bursts of foreign cultures—has increased tourist numbers. “Too many people do the same thing at the exact same time,” says Xavier Font, a professor at the University of Surrey, “For locals, the city no longer belongs to them.”

    Compounding the problem is Airbnb, which has made tourists more casual in their approach to international travel, but added to residents' headaches. Those permanent citizens who share their apartment blocks with Airbnb hosts have lost their patience, “No longer do we have to share the streets with tourists, we have to share our own buildings!” To ease the congestion around the main attractions, many cities are taking immediate action. Venice is proposing a new concept of “detourism”: sustainable travel tips and alternative routes for exploring a different Venice. A greater variety of guidance for future visitors—ideas for what to do in off-peak seasons, for example, —can guide them from overcrowded landmarks. Repeat visitors have a better sense of the culture and it is much easier to integrate their behaviour with residents of the cities.

    “But the locals should learn to take tourists as a part of urban life. Tourists do not have to be considered passive players, but rather as visitors with rights and duties,” says Font, “Everyone has a part to play in promoting that change.”

    There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have ever taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority (优先) it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities (复杂性) of spelling. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content (内容) rather than spelling.

    If spelling becomes the only focus of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play safe". He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language.

    I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a piece of writing about a personal experience. "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling mistakes and your writing is terrible." It may have been a sharp comment on the pupil's spelling in writing, but it was also a sad sign that the teacher had failed to read the composition, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the mistakes, but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the spelling would have given the pupil more encouragement to seek improvement.