When I was young I wanted to be a model,so when a national contest was staged,I convinced my parents to have a try.I was selected and told that I was talented and that for only $900 I could attend a weekend event which dozens of the most famous modeling agencies from around the world would attend.At 13,my hopes of fame and fortune clouded all judgment and I begged my parents to let me go.We have never been rich,but they saw my enthusiasm and agreed.

    I imagined being signed by some famous model companies.For months,any boredom or disappointment I faced was pushed aside because I knew I would soon have the chance to be a real model.I thought I would grace the covers of famous magazines!

    Of course,I wasn't signed,but what hurt the most was being told that if I grew to about 1.75metres I could be a success.I prayed for a growth spurt（冲刺）because I could not imagine giving up my dream.I made an appointment with a local modeling agency and the agent demanded $500 for classes,$500 for a photo shoot,and $300 for other expenses.My parents only agreed after hours and hours of my begging.

    The agency sent me out on a few auditions,but with every clay I didn't receive a call,I grew more depressed.The final straw came in July after I had decided to focus on commercial modeling.There was an open call in New York City.We spent hours driving and another few hours waiting,only to be told that I was too short.I was depressed.

    Years later,I realized that the trip to New York was good as it made me notice I didn't actually love modeling, just the idea of it.I wanted to be special and I was innocently determined to reach an impossible goal.The experience has made me stronger and that will help me in the future.

Best Inventions

    Sun Power

    People who buy solar panels (嵌板）for their home hope to help the environment and save some money. But they end up with large metal boxes on their roof. Tesla, a car company, solved the problem. The solution is the Solar Roof. It is a series of tiles (瓦) made to look like traditional roofing material while using the power of the sun. Tesla developed it with SolarCity, a longtime provider of solar panels. It is now available to the public.

    Talking Tech

    Echo gives users the ability to talk to their tech. Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana do that too. But in many ways，Amazon's version，Alexa, which is built into Echo，is more powerful. Alexa has grown since it was put on the market in 2014, and today, you can use it to turn on the lights, order a pizza, and more. Echo costs $ 180. Amazon recently developed a junior version, the $ 50 Echo Dot.

    Spin and Roll

    Goodyear is reinventing the wheel. It introduced its Eagle 360 spherical tire (球形轮胎) in March, 2016. The tires allow cars to move in many directions, including sideways, and at angles to handle slippery surfaces. The key is magnetic levitation (磁悬浮). Tires are fixed to cars, but Eagle 360s float beneath them. They're meant for self-driving cars of tomorrow.

    Cycle Safety

    Jeff Woolf had a serious bike crash. If he hadn't been wearing his helmet, he would have been badly hurt. He wondered why so many riders didn't wear helmets. That turns out it was mostly because helmets were big and hard to carry around. Woolf, an engineer, came up with Morpher. The helmet is made from interwoven plastics (交错编织的塑料). It is strong, but it's also flexible enough to fold almost totally flat. That makes it easy to carry. Morpher is priced at $ 119.

    As the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, mooncakes are turning up all over China, from traditional teashops to Starbucks counters. The holiday is one of China's four most important festivals, and in the weeks before the date arrives, top hotels get into the spirit with lavish(奢华) treats in lovely packaging. Traditionally, the cookie-sized round pastry(馅饼) has a rich thick filling usually made from red-bean or lotus-seed paste and covered by a thin crust. It may also contain yolks from salted duck eggs, integrating a beautiful savory tinge into the sugary taste. Fillings and crusts have become more diverse over time, especially in the hands of skilled pastry chefs. The mooncakes in Chinese culture represent homesickness, and the top crust of each moon-shaped pastry is generally imprinted with the Chinese characters for longevity or harmony.

    This year, the fancy gift boxes that have long driven the mooncake trade are particularly striking and rich with tradition.

    For example, the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, built in 1929 and a magnet for Hollywood celebrities in the 1930s, has prepared a selection of mooncake gift boxes with designs inspired by the beauty and elegance of the hotel's famous art deco style. The simplest box of four pieces (red-bean paste, creamy custard, plain cheese, green-bean paste) is 198 yuan($29.64), while more lavish selections of five or six pieces, including mooncakes with egg yolk, run up to 338 yuan for a box.

    Beijing's Nuo Hotel, meanwhile, has created Ming Dynasty (1368－1644) inspired mooncake gift packs based on the design of porcelain vases in the hotel lobby, with the essence of landscape painting using Zhang Dai's poetic passages to show the peaceful harmony of man and nature. The box of six is 158 yuan, and includes mooncakes ranging from cheese mango to charcoal burning fragrant Pu'er tea and white lotus with egg yolk. A box of eight cakes of different flavors is 228 yuan.

    Whenever we see a button, we are eager to press it because we know something will happen. This is true in most cases, for example on a doorbell and on the “on/off” button on the TV. But some buttons are actually fake, like the “close” button on a lift.

    Many people are in the habit of pressing the “close” button because they don't have the patience to wait for the lift doors to shut. But lifts, “close” buttons are a complete scam, at least in the US—the doors will not close any faster no matter how hard you press.

    It started in the 1990s when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in the US, making sure that all lifts stayed open long enough so that people with disabilities could enter. Only US firefighters and repairmen can use the buttons to speed up the door-closing process if they have a code or special keys.

    But to normal lift riders, the buttons aren't completely useless. According to psychologists, fake buttons can actually make you feel better by offering you a sense of control.

    “Perceived (能够感知的) control is very important. It reduces stress and increases well-being,” Ellen J. Langer, a psychology professor, said, “Having a lack of control is associated with depression.”

    Experts have revealed that a lot of buttons that don't do anything exist in our lives for this same purpose. For example, many offices in the US have fake thermostats (温度调节器) because people tend to feel better when they think they can control the temperature in their workspace.

    But psychologists found it interesting that even when people are aware of these little “white lies”, they still continue to push fake buttons because as long as the doors eventually close, it is considered to be worth the effort.

    “That habit is here to stay,” John Kounios, a psychology professor, said, ''Even though I have real doubts about the traffic light buttons, I always press them. After all, I've got nothing else to do while waiting. So why not press the button in the hope that this one will work?”

During a pandemic (流行病), for many reasons, there are lots of poor parents who are isolated (隔离) with their kids, or roommates who are stuck together in an apartment. But what about the people who have nobody to talk to?

It is common that people feel lonely. However, during the pandemic, this situation can be much worse for experiences like long-time hospital stays or being unable to move due to poor health, disability or age.

Recently, a friendly robot named Robin got a test run in the children's treatment center of the Wigmore Clinic in Yerevan. About as tall as an 8-year-old child, Robin's plastic body and square head may not put you in mind of a human partner, but its face screen containing two big eyes and expressive brows (眉毛) is attractive, which can help children forget their stress for a while.

A hospital can be very stressful for anybody. And the time of treatment and recovery might seem tiresomely long to an adult stuck in a hospital bed. For a child who can't play with his or her friends or sometimes even family, the long course and boring atmosphere seem unbearable. That's where Robin comes in. It can recognize (识别) facial expressions and use the mood of a talk to build personalized, natural conversations and dialogues with a lonely child in the way another child might use. Robin also plays games, tells stories, and makes children take part in various other activities.

According to Expper Technologies, the makers of Robin, during the program with Wigmore Clinic, Robin improved the experience of children in the hospital by 26 percent over those who did not have the chance to play with Robin, and reduced their stress levels by 34 percent during their hospital stay. Mary, whose son was one of those users, said, "Thanks to Robin, my son became happy every day during this pandemic." John Smith, a father of a five-year-old girl in the clinic, told a reporter, "Robin is a great partner. It brings big smiles to my daughter's face."

The theatre in Shakespeare's time was much different than it is today. Authors wrote plays for the masses, especially those who couldn't read or write.

The theatre changed a lot during Shakespeare's lifetime. The authorities didn't like it and didn't allow acting in the city itself: They thought it had a bad influence on people and kept them from going to church. Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, loved acting and helped the theatre become popular.

The theatre in Shakespeare's time was full of life. People did not sit all the time and it was not quiet during the performance. The audience could walk around, eat and drink during the play.

Theaters were open arenas or playhouses that had room for up to three thousand people. There was almost no scenery because the dialogue was the most important part of the play. Colourful and well­designed costumes were very important and told the people about the status of a character. Women never performed in plays, 80 young boys played female characters. The performances took place in the afternoon because it was too dark at night.

There was no stage crew as there is today. Actors had do everything themselves—from making costumes to setting the stage. Plays were organized by acting companies. They performed about 6 different plays each week because they needed money to survive. They had almost no time to rehearse (排练).

The companies in Shakespeare's time had a rank system. The company belonged to shareholders and managers. They were responsible for everything and got most of the money when the company was successful. Sometimes they even owned their own buildings. Actors worked for the managers arid after some time became a permanent member of the company. Apprentices (学徒) were young boys and were allowed to act in unimportant role. They also played females characters in play.