Canadian short story writer Alice Munro wonthe Nobel Prize for Literature. Eighty-two-year-old Munro is only the 13thwoman to win the 112-year-old prize．

Munro didn't publish her first collectionof short stories until she was 37 years old, but her stories have always beenwell-received. Lots of her stories share similar themes and characters, buteach story has its own twists and turns.

Even though she's won Canada's most famousliterary award, the Giller Prize, twice, winning the Nobel Prize for Literatureis the cherry on top of Munro's career. “It brings this incredible recognition，both of her and her career，and of the dedication to the short story,”said one person.

Along with the well-respected title comes1.3 million dollars. Munro said everything was “so surprising and wonderful”and that she was “dazed by all the attention and affection that has been comingmy way.”

Munro knew she was in the running—she wasnamed the second-most likely person to win this year's prize, after HarukiMurakami（村上春树）of Japan—but she never thought that she would win.

Munro's win also represents the long wayCanadian writers have come. “When I began writing there was a very smallcommunity of Canadian writers and little attention was paid by the world. NowCanadian writers are read, admired and respected around the globe,” Munro saidon Thursday.

She is technically not the first Canadianto win the Nobel Prize for Literature, but many like to think that she is．In 1976 Saul Bellow, who was born in Quebecbut moved to Chicago when he was still a child, won the prize. Even though hewas born in Canada, he is mostly considered to be an American writer.

“This is a win for us all. Canadians, byour very nature，are not very nationalistic,” said Geoffrey Taylor. “But things like thissuddenly make you want to find a flag．”

She wasn't sure whether she would keepwriting if she won the prize，saying that it would be “nice to go out with a bang. But this may change mymind.”

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    All the denim (牛仔布) will be donated to Cotton From Blue to Green, which recycles jeans into UltraTouch Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation (纤维隔热材料), which is used to help build houses in places that have been damaged by hurricanes and other natural disasters. Your jeans will help keep clothes out of landfills (垃圾场), and build houses for families to live in! UltraTouch is made of 85% recycled fibers and is an environmentally safe, natural cotton fiber insulation.

It's a Fact

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    A black hole is created when a large star burns out. Like our sun, stars are unbelievably hot furnaces(熔炉) that burn their own matter as fuel. When most of the fuel is used up, the star begins to die.

    The death of a star is not a quiet event. First there is a huge explosion. As its outer layer is blasted off into space, the dying star shines as brightly as a billion suns.

    After the explosion, gravity pulls in what's left of the star. As the outside of the star sinks toward the center, the star gets smaller and smaller. The material the star is made of becomes tightly packed together. A star is so solid that a teaspoon of matter from it weighs billion of pounds.

    The more the star shrinks(收缩), the stronger the gravity inside it becomes. Soon the star is very tiny, and the gravity pulling it in is unbelievably strong. In fact, the gravity is so strong that it even pulls light into the star! Since all the light is pulled in, none can go out. The star becomes black when there is no light. Then a black hole is born!

    That's what we know about black holes. What we don't know is this: What happens inside a black hole after the star has been squeezed into a tiny ball? Does it keep getting smaller and smaller forever? Such a possibility is hard to imagine.

    But if the black hole doesn't keep shrinking, what happens to it? Some scientists think black holes are like doorways to another world. They say that as the star disappears from our universe, it goes into another universe. In other words a black hole in our universe could turn into a "white hole" in a different universe. As the black hole swallows(吞噬) light, the white hole shines brightly--somewhere else. But where? A different place, perhaps, or a different time--many years in the past or future.

    Could you travel through a black hole? Right now, no. Nothing we know of could go into a black hole without being crushed(挤压). So far the time being, black hole must remain a mystery.

    Black holes are a mystery--but that hasn't stopped scientists from dreaming about them. One scientist suggested that in the future we might make use of the power of black holes. They would supply all of Earth's energy needs, with plenty to spare. Another scientist wondered if a black hole could some day be used to swallow earthly waste--a sort of huge waste disposal(处理) in the sky!

    For those concerned about wrinkly old skin, it might be a creative solution: an elastic(有弹性的) “second skin” that can be smoothed on to make aged tissue look more youthful.

    The wearable film, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has shown promise in a series of small experiments where it was applied to wrinkles, under-eye bags and areas of dry skin. When applied to the face or body, the thin, transparent layer sticks to the skin and supports the tissue, making it look and behave like younger skin, its producers claim.

    “What we've been able to do is create a cream that you can put on the skin, and then when it's on the skin it can actually form, essentially, an elastic second skin,” said Bob Langer, who led the research. Tests in the lab found that the polymer film (高分子膜), which is only 70 thousandths of a millimeter thick, reduced the appearance of wrinkles and under-eye bags, and helped keep moisture (水分) in areas of dry skin.

    The layer is designed to be applied in the morning, then peeled off at night, In previous studies, the second skin withstood normal daily wear, and the stresses and strains of exercise and swimming, without falling off or causing irritation. It also survived exposure to rain.

    “It's something you can wear for a whole day or longer, depending on the physical forces that get applied to the area where it is worn, "said Daniel Anderson, who helped develop the product at MIT. “You can't tell you're wearing it.”

    While normal cosmetics can mask imperfections on the skin, the new coating changes the way skin behaves by giving it the elasticity of young skin. It was developed with help from two companies.

    We've all had cases where we've waited just a bit too long to pay an electric bill or speeding ticket. But one man, from California by reasonable assumption, who goes by "Dave", recently took procrastination (拖延) one step further, by paying a parking ticket almost a half-century after it was given.

    In December 2018, the Minersville Police Department in Pennsylvania received a letter in the mail. Whoever wrote the letter decided it was best to keep his name somewhat unknown, so he put the return address as "Wayward Road, Anytown California" under the name "Feeling guilty".

    When the officers opened the envelope, they found a brief letter, along with a $5 bill, and a parking ticket dating all the way back to 1974. The note read, "Dear PD, I've been carrying this ticket around for 40 plus years always intending to pay. Forgive me if I don't give you my info. With respect, Dave."

    Even though the initial parking ticket was only for $2, "Dave" must have felt awfully guilty because he left 150 percent, or $3, in interest.

    Michael Combs, the Police Chief of the Minersville Police Department, stated in an interview that the same ticket would cost about $20 if it were given today. Combs went on to share that the original ticket from 1974 was given to a vehicle that had an Ohio license plate.

    Because there was no system for tracking tickets given to out-of-state cars back then, "Dave" could have gotten away with never paying the $2 fine. But apparently, guilt got the best of him, and he decided to finally cough up the money more than 40 years past its due date.

    "You know, the soft subjects," says the boy in maths. "The easy ones: the stupid girls at the bottom take them. Like dance. It shouldn't even be a subject." We're choosing subjects for our A-level taster day at school. I see the raised eyebrows (眉毛) when I explain two of my GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) choices are dance and drama(戏剧).

    I was told by advisers that dance and drama wouldn't help me to get a suitable career. My friends told me I'd get bored of dance and switch to science within the first month.

    But taking GCSE dance was the best decision I ever made. Dance gives me something to pour my head and heart into. It gives me a feeling of belonging, creativity, security and freedom.

    The education secretary Nicky Morgan has put emphasis on (强调) science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), saying that students who focus on the arts risk their careers. Stopping young people from expressing themselves at such a young age is not doing them any favours. Perhaps Nicky Morgan has forgotten to open the door of having a drive to study that subject day in, day out. It shouldn't matter what that subject is.

    I don't doubt the influence that STEM subjects can have on the people that love them. But to force children into one field is cruel. As much as I try, I'm not good at and don't love physics, biology or maths. I don't want a career in these areas.

    There has been a decrease in the number of state schools offering arts subjects taught by specialist teachers. I can't even imagine how it feels to be told that you don't teach a "real subject" by an 8-year-old boy.

    To the teachers, the parents, the government I say: Let children make their own decisions. Let them live in the present. Let them have a real, unlimited education.