Want to improve your writing skills? New Writing South is directing the way!

    Towner Writer Squad (班组）for kids aged 13-17

    Led by comedy and TV writer, Marian Kilpatrick, Towner Writer Squad will meet once a month at the contemporary art museum for 11 months, starting 12 October, 2014.

    The FREE squad sessions will include introductions to a wide range of writing styles, from poetry to play writing and lyrics (抒情诗）to flash fiction, to support the development of young writers.

    Application & Selection

    If you would like to apply to be part of the Towner Writer Squad, please send a sample piece of your writing (about 500 words), responding to the title‘LUNCH,'with your name, age, address and e-mail address to: debo@newwritingsouth.com.

    Once all applications are in, you will be invited to an open selection event on 17 September，4-5pm, at the gallery of Towner. This will be an informal opportunity to meet the Squad Leader, Squad Associate and other young people.

    You will also have a chance to get to know the fantastic gallery space and get a taste of what's to come.

    Deadline for applications: 8 September, 2014

    For further information go to: facebook.com/towner or towner.org.uk or newwritingsouth.com

    Any questions 一 feel free to send your e-mail to Towner Writer Squad Associate: whame@towner.gov.uk

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    Beginner Writing Project for kids aged 10-13

    Due to popular demand, a writing project will be started for eager beginners.

    Start time: 6 September, 2014

    Meet every other Saturday，2-4pm, at the Towner Study Centre.

    Study and write at your own pace 一 you do not have to rush 一 as you have a year to go through the project. Practise under the guidance of some experienced writers and teachers who can help you with basic writing skills. Most importantly, build confidence and have fun while writing!

    No previous experience or special background is required. Many others have been successful this way. If they can do it, why can't you?

    Fee: £179

    For more information go to: newtowner.org.uk or generate.org.uk

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    Four Must-See Route 66 (66号公路) Attractions

    The United States is full of odd roadside attractions. Route 66 is home to some of the oldest and most known attractions of them all. Here are four attractions you should see along the Mother Road:

    ⒈Paul Bunyan and a Hot Dog

    Route 66 travelers pass by many fiberglass giants（巨人）right along the road. These giants were a popular form of advertising in the 1960s.Many of them stood in front of service stations. They held car parts, such as mufflers. The collection of Route 66 giants became known as “Muffler Men”. Businesses hoped the strange statues would get travelers' attention.

    The first fiberglass giant was a “Paul Bunyan” figure, built in the early 1960s. It's said that Paul Bunyan is a famous wood worker.

    ⒉Crown Candy Kitchen and Jamaica Ray

    Crown Candy Kitchen has been serving Route 66 travelers from the very beginning. It is just a few short blocks from the 66 path through St. Louis, Missouri. The family-run soda fountain shop opened more than 100 years ago, and has been making candies and meals ever since.

    On weekends, people sometimes wait in line for a table at Crown Candy for over an hour. Luckily there is free entertainment right outside. Jamaica Ray, a local folk artist, creates unusual sculptures.

    ⒊The World's Largest Rocking Chair

    Fanning, Missouri, is home to one of the strangest Route 66 attractions. Just off the road sits an almost 13-meter-tall rocking chair.

    The structure was completed in 2008 on the first of April, or April Fool's Day. At one time the chair actually rocked. But officials decided it had to be still to be safe for ever. People are not permitted to climb the chair. We think, however, that it probably happens once in a while, when no one is watching.

    ⒋Big Texan's Steak Challenge

    Few places better represent the common expression “Everything's Bigger in Texas” than the Big Texan Steak Ranch. Since 1960.it has appealed to travelers with big appetites and a big love of beef.

    It is hard to miss the huge yellow restaurant or the giant cow statue that sits out front. The cow advertises Big Texan's special deal, and what has made this steak ranch famous: a “free” 72-ounce（英两）or 2-kilogram steak. There is one trick: the steak is only free if you can eat the entire thing in one hour.

    A special table is in the middle of the restaurant for the daring diners who accept the challenge. Since 1990, more than 9,000 diners have eaten the entire 2-kilogram steak.

    On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of the New York railway station, playing his violin. The music was so great that many people stopped to put some money into the hat of the young man.

    The next day, the young artist came to the same place, and put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different from the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it under his hat. Then he began to play the violin. It sounded more pleasant than ever.

    Soon he was surrounded with people who were attracted by the words on that paper. It said, "Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Please come to claim（认领）it soon."

    After about half an hour, a middle-aged man rushed through the crowd to the violinist and said, "Yes, it's you. I knew that you were an honest man and would certainly come here." The young violinist asked calmly, "Are you Mr. George Sang?" The man nodded. The violinist asked, "Did you lose something?" "It's a lottery ticket（彩票）," said the man. The violinist took out a lottery ticket on which George Sang's name was seen. "Is it?" he asked. George nodded and took the lottery ticket and kissed it, then danced with the violinist.

    The violinist was a student at an arts college and had planned to attend advanced studies in Vienna. Later his classmate asked the violinist, "At that time you needed money to pay the tuition （学费）and you had to play the violin in the railway station every day to make money. Why didn't you keep the lottery ticket for yourself?" The violinist said, "Although I don't have much money, I live happily. But if I lose honesty I won't be happy forever."

    Through our lives, we can gain a lot and lose so much. But being honest should always be with us.

    A mother goat is able to pick out her own baby from its voice alone by the time the kid is just five days old.

    Researchers from University of London played kids' bleats to female goats and studied their responses. They were surprised to find that the animals were able to pick out their own kids' voices.

    “A mother and the kid rely a lot on smell to recognize one another and, in the wild, during the first week of their lives, the animals hide in grass and don't call much. It's a strategy they use to avoid enemies,” Dr Elodie Briefer, who led the research, explained to BBC News. “The mother call to the kids when she want them to come and feed, so we expected that kids would recognize the mothers' voices.” In fact, this was the case for deer, which also use this hiding strategy, although they do not belong to the same family of species as goats.

    She and her team recorded and played back young kids' calls to the female goats and recorded their responses. She explained, “Even when the calls came from kids that are five to six days old, we could see the mothers responding more to the voices of their own babies.” Hearing the voice of their own kids, the females would look towards the speaker that the sound was coming from, moving around and calling in response.

    The scientists say that understanding how goats behave and communicate is very important. “This helps us understand just how smart these animals are,” said Dr. Briefer. “Farmers might be able to change their way to raise goats considering this natural behaviour.”

    The world's insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a "catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems", according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles.

    "It should be of huge concern to all of us, for insects are at the heart of every food web,  they pollinate the large majority of plant species, keep the soil healthy, recycle nutrients, control pests, and much more. Love them or loathe them, we humans cannot survive without insects," said Prof Dave Goulson at the University of Sussex in the UK.

    The analysis, published in the journal Biological Conservation, says intensive agriculture is the main driver of the declines, particularly the heavy use of pesticides. Urbanization and climate change are also significant factors.

    One of the biggest impacts of insect loss is on the many birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish that eat insects. A small number of adaptable species are increasing in number, but not nearly enough to outweigh the big losses.

    Matt Shardlow, at the conservation charity Buglife, said: "It is gravely sobering to see this collation of evidence that demonstrates the pitiful state of the world's insect populations. It is increasingly obvious that the planet's ecology is breaking and there is a need for an intense and global effort to stop and reverse these dreadful trends."

    I believe in the power of science fiction, not just for its capacity to transform dreams into reality, but also for its power to bond together those who share a common vision of the future. For me, that's true for my relationship with my dad. Some fathers and sons bond over sports, fishing or hunting, but my dad and I bond over Star Trek. We tried a trip to Disney World, but one of my earliest memories wasn't Mickey, but a Klingon battle cruiser(巡洋) on the screen.

    Over the years, nearly every setting and situation has become far away for my dad and me. When it's warm at night, we're not driving along some dark streets in Indiana, but going at a slow speed with stars dimly shining. Both of us are thinking of them, without needing to say a word. All these visions of other universes have together created a private universe for my dad and me.

    Gene Rodenberry, creator of Star Trek, once said, " Science fiction is a way of thinking, a way of logic that bypasses(绕过)a lot of nonsense. It allows people to look directly at important subjects. "A lifetime of science fiction has influenced more than just my relationship with my dad, but has also helped me shape my own hopes for the future. I'm now a science writer.

    Yes, science fiction has made me into a "nerd"(书呆子), and it also has been a source of joy for my family, making me an optimist while enabling me to think critically about the danger of technology. Thank those authors who have shared their visions; the world and my family are better for it. Thank my dad, who is both the best storyteller and the best man I have ever known because he helped me realize the truth of Tennyson's words," Since I dipped into the future, I saw the vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be."