In order to help customers find what they want quickly, it's important to keep the thousands of titles in the Main Street Movies store organized properly. This section of the Employee Handbook will tell you how to organize videos.

    Each Main street Movies store has three main sections:

1). New Releases Wall.

2). Film library.

3). Video Games.

    New Releases Wall. Almost 70 percent of movie rentals are new releases, and that is the first place where most customers go when they enter the store. The center section of shelves on this wall holds Hottest Hits. When new titles come into the store, place them on this wall in alphabetical order. The shelves beside Hottest Hits are called Recent Releases. The New Releases Wall, including the Hottest Hits and Recent Releases shelves, holds about 350 titles.

    Film Library. The thousands of titles in the Film Library are organized into categories. The films within each category are displayed alphabetically. Here are the categories and their two-letter computer codes:

    Foreign Language titles include films that were originally made in a foreign language and films with foreign language subtitles. A sticker on the back of each box tells which type of film it is.

    Video Game. All the video games in Main street Movies are arranged in alphabetical order. Although video games represent only a small percentage of our inventory(库存), they are stolen more often than any other type of goods in our store. Therefore, video games are never displayed on the shelves. Shelves in the Video Game section hold cardboard with pictures and information about each game. When a customer wants to rent a particular game, you then find the game from the locked case behind the counter.

    Have you ever seen a real night sky that looks like Van Gogh's Starry Night? I hope not! So, why would an artist paint the sky this way? Perhaps I can answer that with another question. When you're happy, why do you sing instead of speaking? Or when you're in love, why do you speak of roses and honey? When we do these things, we, too are artists. We're using something that goes beyond a mere scientific description in order to communicate our feelings more powerfully than straightforward words can. So consider for a moment that Van Gogh might not have been hallucinating on the night he painted this. Maybe he felt something so powerful that he had to go beyond the familiar to express it.

    I hope I'm reminding you of something you already know as I describe the experience of being outside at night under a crystal clear sky that makes everything seem clean and refreshing. So you look up. And suddenly you see the sky that you've seldom seen before. It's not just the same old dark night sky tonight. Instead, the blackness is a deep, rich blue that is more bottomless than any ocean. The stars are not spots of light but brilliant, magical diamonds that dance like tiny angels. In just this special moment, the sky is somehow alive, and it seems to speak to you silently about the meaning of infinity.

    Now look at the painting again. Can you see something of what makes this such a famous and well-loved image? But there's more here than that. Van Gogh painted this while he was quite struck down by a mental disease. It is natural to imagine that he frequently battled the fear that he would never escape his prison to true freedom. It is natural for us to imagine this because each of us has faced our own personal prison, whether it be disease, the loss of a loved one, serious financial problems … In such moments it is tempting to give up to despair and collapse in hopelessness.

    Looking at this painting, I imagine Van Gogh in just such a moment of despair, when he is struck by the memory of one of those amazing night skies. He recalls the sense that he is not alone, that there is a living, infinite world with rich colorful creatures and scenes all around.

    And so the sky flows across the canvas full of vitality and power. The stars don't just sparkle; they explode. Looking closer, we notice that the earth itself seems to respond to the movement in the sky, forming its own living waves in the mountain and rolling trees. In the sleepy village, the windows of the houses glow with the same light that brightens the universe. The giant trees at the left seem to capture the joy by stretching upwards toward the sky.

    What a tremendous message of hope there is in this masterpiece! Even if our troubles persist, the world around us assures us that life is worth living. That's what the angels sing about. Doesn't it make you want to sing, too?

    English Classes for Free

    Adults of all nationalities (国籍) are welcome to take our English classes. Our classes meet every day, Monday to Friday from 1 pm to 3 pm. Our classes are free because we are running a teacher training center and our teachers need students for teaching practice. Classes will cover grammar, vocabulary, conversations, reading and writing skills. Classes will begin on July 24th and will end on October 13th. All students must be 18 and over.

    Table Tennis Lessons

    If you love to play ping-pong and like to improve your game, welcome to Chicago Table Tennis Club all year around. We are the biggest club in Chicago with more than 100 members and students at all levels and ages. We can improve your ping-pong skills and within one class you will see the result. If you or your kids are interested, please feel free to call 317-287-9852.

    Dance Classes Start Soon

    Don't worry if you have no dance experience. 90% of our students don't. Our summer dance classes start you off at ground zero and build you up. The classes are for adults and are full of people in their 20's and 30's hoping to learn some moves, stay in shape, and meet cool people!

    We have been in business for 5 years now, and have taught almost 2,000 students!

    Summer Theatre Camp

    Our Summer Theatre Camp educates young people aged 7〜14 in the theatre arts. The camp offers classes in speech, character-building, dance, reading and so on. Camp hours will be 8 am to 4 pm. The camp will provide theatre experience for only 45 campers. The campers will have to join in a contest and be chosen for the camp.

    Flu easily spreads from one person to another. This is especially true to people who are weak. If you are weak, you are more likely to catch flu easily. Do you know how you can avoid flu?

    Keep in good health

    The best antidote (解药) to illness is good health. You can eat everything you want but make sure that your diet is healthy. The healthier you are, the better for you to avoid any type of illness around. Most doctors suggest plenty of fresh fruit juice and water in order that one can avoid flu.

    Stay away from people with flu

    If a member of the family or a friend has flu, stay away from them until they are well. Flu is very communicable and you can catch it by going with the person with flu. Wear a mask (面罩) and avoid using things that the person with flu is using.

    Exercise

    Exercising will make you stronger which means a stronger immune (免疫的) system too. Exercise often so that your body will keep healthy. It doesn't matter what kind of exercise.

    What is important is you are making your body stronger to prevent illness from attacking you.

    Be happy

    Happy people are healthy people. Their life is stress-free, so they are more likely to be safe from illness. If you are unhappy, which affects your immune system, you will easily get sick.

    Avoiding the flu is easy. Just boost (增强) your immune system and it will take care of the rest.

A new study of fifth and sixth graders in Germany examined the relation between classmates' gender stereotypes (性别刻板印象) and individual students' reading outcomes to explain how these stereotypes contribute to the gender gap in reading.

"It's a cycle of sorts," explains Francesca Muntoni, a researcher at the University of Hamburg, who leads the study. "Reading is first thought as a female advantage." It stresses that girls are born to have an advantage in reading, which in turn greatly affects boys by causing them to devalue their actual reading ability. So finally, it damages their reading motivation (积极性)."

The study has proven that boys are less motivated to read and hold weaker reading-related beliefs about their own skills if they hold the strong stereotype mentioned above. And accordingly, they perform poorly in the reading test. The effect of classmates' stereotypes is seen over and above the effect of individual stereotypes. The study found fewer individual positive effects and no effects of classmates, stereotyping on reading-related outcomes for girls.

The researchers say although their study provides evidence of lasting negative effects of stereotypical beliefs in a classroom context, they need more experimental findings on the subject. They also note that students' gender stereotypes were measured by self-reports, which might limit their accuracy. Finally, they point out that their study did not settle how gender stereotypes were formed.

"To solve socially the determined gender inequality in reading and help create classroom contexts that discourage students from acting on their stereotypical beliefs, teacher and parents may consider educating boys and girls in ways that change stereotypical behaviors. And thus students can become aware of their gender stereotypes to counteract their effects on other students' outcomes and to create a gender-fair learning environment," says Jan Retelsdorf, professor of the University of Hamburg, who co-authored the study.

If New Year's Eve had an official song, it would be Auld Lang Syne. Every year, just after the clock strikes midnight, many people around the world will sing this beloved song. Why is Auld Lang Syne a New Year's tradition? From its beginning as an 18th-century Scottish poem {#blank#}1{#/blank#} its popularity today, Auld Lang Syne always          {#blank#}2{#/blank#}（carry）the spirit of the holiday. The song is actually a poem written by Robert Burns in 1788. Traditionally {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（consider）Scotland's national poet, Burns raised the country's national awareness by writing it in the dying-out Scots language. In English, "auld lang syne" {#blank#}4{#/blank#}（rough）means "times long past". The song tells of old friends meeting after time apart. 

Although Burns' version is the only one we know today, there were also some earlier {#blank#}5{#/blank#} （version）of the poem, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} （include）Allan Ramsay's from 1724. Burns' version {#blank#}7{#/blank#} （inspire）by an old man's singing. 

Burns was not satisfied with his version of the poem's {#blank#}8{#/blank#} （origin） tune and dismissed it. So between 1799 and 1801, George Thomson composed {#blank#}9{#/blank#} different tune for the song. It's the one we sing today. 

With its emphasis on friendship and parting, Auld Lang Syne expresses the spirit of New Year's Eve, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} is saying goodbye to one year so that another can begin.