Happy Shakespeare Day!

    The 23rd April is World Book Day, but did you know that it is also Shakespeare Day? Everybody has heard of Shakespeare, but do you know many plays he wrote? Have you heard of many of his poetry?

    Shakespeare's plays fit into three categories: tragedies, comedies and histories. Perhaps his most famous play is the tragedy story of Romeo and Juliet, which deals with two young lovers who are forbidden to marry by their parents. Other tragedies include Hamlet, a play about a vengeful ghost Othello, about an army general who is manipulated(操纵) into killing his wife, and Macbeth(麦克白). If you've seen Harry Potterandthe Prisoner of Azkaban written which is sung in the Great Hall after the Sorting Ceremony. These words come from the Witches in Macbeth!

    Shakespeare's comedies include Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night is a play about confusing identities. Two twins are shipwrecked and the sister, Viola, dresses up as her brother, Sebastian, who she thinks is dead. It's hilarious, because the brother reappears without Viola realizing and there's a big love triangle going on: Viola is in love with the Duke Osino, who is in love with Olivia, who falls in love with Sebastian, except she doesn't realize that Sebastian is actually Viola dressed up! Everybody falls in love with the wrong person, but it is all made right in the end.

    The history plays, such as Antony and Cleopatra, Richard III and Henry V are based on the lives of real historical people. Antony and Cleopatra is a story about a doomed romance in ancient Egypt. Cleopatra becomes Antony's mistress and Antony becomes so obsessed with her that he loses his military might. Cleopatra kills self by letting a snake bite her after Egypt's army has been defeated by Octavius and Antony kills himself too.

    Shakespeare's plays can be very heavy going sometimes. Some of the themes they deal with are heavy and complex, so they almost always contain a lighter subplot with characters who aren't closely linked to the characters in the main plot. They are often used in tragedies to lighten the mood of the play and to keep the audience interested in the main plot.

    Animal Farm by George Orwell

    Animal Farm is probably one of the most popular school reads in the world. George Orwell wrote it as a political allegory(讽喻)and has since then inspired the minds of not only adult revolutionaries but also the younger ones who start feeling the spark of being right and free for all of the humanity in their hearts.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

    This is a wise, funny, and heartbreaking memory of Marjane Satrapi's years growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, and how she dealt with life while experiencing the ruinous effects of the war with Iraq. The mistakes she felt she made opened her eyes and shaped her into becoming the influential individual she is today.

    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Regarded as a masterpiece of literature—-it is no wonder it won the Pulitzer Prize. The plot and characters are based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 16 years old. The novel is famous for its warmth and humor, despite telling a story of innocent Tom Robinson being accused of raping(强暴)a white woman because he was black.

    The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

    A story showing the absolute courage of a young boy, who was never afraid to speak his mind in the face of injustice and would always defend the helpless. A boy shows us the importance of believing in ourselves and others. Harry Potter reminds us that the true power to defeat any enemy is not found in others, but found within each of us.

    Are you using a dating App to make friends? How do you know that Ben from London is really 25-year-old? Is his photo taken recently? Is his name even Ben? Dating apps can be tricky to operate, particularly when you're trying to know whether someone is trustworthy, but one thing you can't cheat is your gene, which is why a new dating app is using DNA as a basis for its match.

    A dating app named Pheramor requires all users to hand in a cheek sample, from which a team of in-house scientists using a specially-created tool can queue the specific genes connected with attraction and then identify which users might be suitable. The process works by separating the 11 genes that link to our pheromones（信息素）, the chemical signals that are believed to control one's attraction. Combining this data with the personal information allows the app to make very specific matches.

    “Pheramor uses both your biology and your social technology: we collect your genetic data through a cheek sample and collect your like, dislikes, and interest from your social media introductions like Facebook, Twitter, etc,” the app's website explains. “All of them will be used in our specific software, which is designed to learn what you prefer.”

    The co-founder Brittany Barreto, who has a PHD in genetics added that Pheramor's technology digs deeper than traditional dating apps, making it almost impossible for people to cheat their way to a date.

    The Houston-based app is already up and running but hopes to be officially put into market in February with 3,000 members.

    Siblings refer to one's brothers and sisters. We're attached to siblings as adults far longer than we are as children. Our sibling relationships, in fact, are the longest-lasting family ties we have.

    “Paul, my younger brother, and I, kind of annoyed each other when we were kids,” said Anna, an interviewee, “But as adults, we've always had each other's back, especially when dealing with our mother's health crisis. Paul is the first person I want to talk to when something worries me.”

    There's probably a biological explanation for the close bond of the sibling relationship. Siblings share half their genes, which biologists say should be motivation enough for each other's devotion.

    One thing that can weaken closeness in adulthood is a parent who played favorites in childhood; this sense of hatred can last a lifetime. The simple concept of parental favoritism was enough to shake their relationship.

    “What Paul and I are pretty sure is our parents treated us the same when we were growing up. Yet we're very different people,” Anna said,“ Paul is outgoing while I'm shy. Paul is an amateur pianist while I can't read music or carry a tune. In families with more than one child, every sibling seems to get a label in contrast to every other sibling.”

    The very presence of siblings in the household can be an education. When a new baby is born, the older sibling gains social skills by interacting with the younger, and the younger gains cognitively（认知角度地）by imitating the older. They learn from the friction between them, too, as they fight for their parents' attention. Mild conflict between brothers and sisters teaches them how to interact with friends and co-workers for the rest of their lives.

    It's so sad when things between siblings fall apart, which happens when aging parents need care or die — old feelings of contradiction and jealousy erupt all over again. Many families get through their parents' illnesses just fine, establishing networks where the workload is divided pretty much equally. But about 40 percent of the time there is a single primary caregiver who feels like she is not getting any help from her brothers and sisters, which can lead to serious conflicts.

    Throughout adulthood, the sibling relationship “is powerful and unchanged,” said Jane Mersky Leder, author of the new e-book The Sibling Connection. Whether we are close to our siblings or distant, she writes, they remain our brothers and sisters — for better or for worse.

    So remember the immortal（永恒的）words of folksinger Loudon Wainwright Ⅲ, in a song called Thanksgiving.“ On this brilliant occasion, this special family dinner, if I argue with a loved one, please make me…”

    The United States will introduce a new and comprehensive(综合的) exam for students who seek to study in American and other English-speaking countries, Xinhua News Agency reported from New York.

    The exam, which stands for a great change from the current English level test, was disclosed by Theresa Chang Wei Jen, associate director of the International Service of the US College Board, America's leading educational organization.

    The Advanced Placement International English Language (APIEL) will be offered for the first time throughout the world on May 10, 2002, said Jen.

    However, the APIEL is a strange title to most Chinese students, and it is unlikely to soon gain the similarity of other already existing exams, such as the TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language), the GRE(Graduate Record Examination), or the IELTS(International English Language Testing System).

    "I have never heard of such a test and I would prefer the IELTS if I need another exam," said Xu Jingyan, a graduating student from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, who wants to study in England and has already taken the TOEFL.

    Most of Xu's classmates have never heard of the APIEL. "The APIEL is designed for international students who wish to get university studies in English-speaking countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia." said Jen.

    The APIEL has been adopted, said Jen, because the TOEFL can no longer accurately reflect the abilities of students of using the English language comprehensively in an academic environment. Xinhua reported that a fairly large number of foreign students who earned high scores in TOEFL exam turned out to be very ordinary educational performers after admission.

    Compared with the TOEFL, the APIEL measures a student's ability to read, write, speak and understand English through testing his or her skills in listening comprehension, speaking with accuracy(精确) and resourcefulness, and writing with clarity(清晰) and fluency, Jen said.

    My sister Alice and I have been trying to get people to stop dropping cigarette (香烟)butts(烟头)for seven years. One day, we were walking in our hometown and saw hundreds of cigarette butts on the ground. They made the town look so ugly that we decided to start a group to make people dropping butts. We called it "No Butts About It".

    At first, we drew pictures with "The Earth is not your ashtray(烟灰缸)"written on them. We put the pictures around our hometown—in parks, by beaches, and along roads. We wanted to make people understand that dropping butts hurts the environment. Most smokers don't think that dropping butts hurts the Earth. But it does, and all rubbish does!

    Later, we wrote to companies and asked them for money to help us. We used the money to buy ashtrays to give to smokers. We wanted smokers to carry the ashtrays with them so they didn't have to drop butts.

    At the moment, we are trying to get cigarette companies to put an ashtray in each pack of cigarettes. Some companies want to do it. Many people have started to join our group since it began. Today there are 45 other "No Butts About It" groups in America.

    Now there even groups in England, Australia, and India! Many newspapers have written about my sister and me over the last seven years. And we have won many prizes for what we do. But we are not interested in prizes. We just want to make the Earth a better and cleaner place for animals, plants and people.

    One day, it will be.