The Swedish Academy's mid-October announcement regarding literature seldom fails to cause second-guessing.

    Bob Dylan was awarded the big prize this morning, and my social media has been alive with indignation ever since. The Nobel did not go to those excellent novelists but to a songwriter. Some of those same people are still protesting that last year it was warded to Svetlana Alexievich, a “journalist”. They have decided, for whatever reasons, that song lyrics(歌词) are not literature.

    And people are upset because Bob Dylan is the voice of some generation other than theirs, because he works in a popular style, because he does not work in this minute's popular style, because he appeared on a car commercial that aired during the Super Bowl, because his songwriting skills dropped off — he was famous long ago, after all.

    You may not think of Dylan as a poet, but Dylan created a climate in which lyrics were taken seriously. And Dylan accomplished something that few novelists or poets or for that matter songwriters have managed to do in our time: he changed the time he lived. Through words, with music, he affected the opinions and ambitions of hundreds of millions of people all over the world. The Nobel Prize in Literature cannot ever be all things to all people, and while this year's award failed to accomplish various possible objectives, it was not in any way misapplied.

"Mum, what does it mean when someone tells you that they have a skeleton(骨骼) in the closet?" Jessica asked. "A skeleton in the closet?" her mother paused thoughtfully. "Well, it's something that you would rather not have anyone else know about. For example, if in the past, someone in Dad's family had been arrested for stealing a horse, it would be 'a skeleton in his family's closet'. He really wouldn't want any neighbor to know about it."

"Why pick on my family?" Jessica's father said with anger. "Your family history isn't so good. you know. Wasn't your great-great-grandfather a prisoner who was transported to Australia for his crimes?" "Yes, but people these days say that you are not a real Australian unless your ancestors arrived as prisoners ." "Gosh, sorry I asked, I think I understand now," Jessica cut in before things grew worse.

    After dinner, the house was very quiet. Jessica's parents were still quite angry with each other. Her mother was ironing clothes and every now and then she glared at her husband, who hid behind his newspaper pretending to read. When she finished, she gathered the freshly pressed clothes in her arms and walked to Jessica's closet. Just as she opened the door and reached in to hang a skirt, a bony arm stuck out from the dark depths and a bundle of white bones fell to the floor. Jessica's mother sank into a faint(晕倒), waking only when Jessica put a cold, wet cloth on her forehead.  She looked up to see the worried faces of her husband and daughter.

"What happened？Where am I?" she asked. "You just destroyed the school's skeleton, Mum," explained Jessica. "I brought it home to help me with my health project, I meant to tell you, but it seemed that as soon as I mentioned skeletons and closets, it caused a problem between you and Dad." Jessica looked in amazement as her parents began to laugh madly. "they're both crazy," she thought.

    Mary bought a dress in a women's clothing store.She felt very happy about buying the dress until she got home. Then she remembered she had left her purse at the store.It was the third time that month that Mary had forgotten something important.Mary was angry with herself.She said,“Am I losing it?”

    Emma was teaching a class in mathematics at a college.She began to explain to the students how to solve a very difficult problem.She understood it very well.But somehow,at that moment,she could not explain it.Emma said,“I must be losing it.”

    Americans seem to have a lot of concern about losing it.At least that is what you would think from hearing them talk.They use the expression when they feel they are losing control.It can mean losing emotional control.Or losing the ability to do something.Or losing intelligence.

    Word experts differ about how the expression started.Some believe it came from television programs popular in the 1980s.Others believe it began with psychologists,who deal with how people think,feel and act.

    “We Americans have many concerns about controlling our lives.Perhaps we worry too much,”one psychologist said.“In many situations to say you are losing it eases the tension（不安）.”

    It's healthy.And most people who say they are having a problem are not losing it.

    People may feel more like they are losing it when they are “down in the dumps”.Word expert Charles Funk says people have been feeling down in the dumps for more than 400 years.The word dumps probably comes from Northern European countries.The languages of Denmark and Norway both have similar words.The words mean to fall suddenly.Americans borrowed this saying.And,over the years,it has become a popular way of expressing sadness.

    Mr. Jackson was tired of living in his old house in the countryside and wanted to sell it and buy a better one. He tried to sell it for a long time, but was not successful, so at last he decided to go to an estate agent（房产经纪人）.

    The agent advertised the house straight away, and a few days later, the owner saw a very beautiful photograph of his house, with a wonderful description of his garden in an expensive magazine.

    Having read the advertisement through, the house owner hurried to phone the estate agent, saying, “I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, but I've decided not to sell my house after all.” “Why?” the agent asked in a surprised voice. “Because from the advertisement in that magazine I can see it's just the kind of house I've wanted to live in all my life.”

    In the first year or so of Web business, most of the action has revolved around efforts to tap the consumer market. More recently, as the Web proved to be more than a fashion, companies have started to buy and sell products and services with one another. Such business-to-business sales make sense because business people typically know what product they are looking for.

    However, many companies still hesitate to use the Web because of doubts about its reliability. "Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway between them and the suppliers," says senior analyst Blane Erwin of Forrester Research. Some companies are limiting the risk by conducting online transactions only with established business partners who are given access to the company's private Internet.

    Another major shift in the model for Internet commerce concerns the technology available for marketing. Until recently, Internet marketing activities have focused on strategies to "pull" customers to sites. In the past year, however, software companies have developed tools that allow companies to "push" information directly onto consumers. Companies such as Virtual Vineyards are already starting to use similar technologies to push messages to customers about special sales, product offerings, or other events. But push technology has earned the contempt of many Web users. Online culture thinks highly of the notion that the information flowing onto the screen comes there by specific request. Once commercial promotion begins to fill the screen uninvited, the distinction between the Web and television fades. That's a prospect that horrifies Net purists.

    But it is nearly inevitable that companies on the Web will need to resort to past strategies to make money. A Web site selling the right kind of products with the right mix of interactivity, hospitality, and security will attract online customers. And the cost of computing power continues to free fall, which is a good sign for any enterprises setting up shop in silicon. People looking back 5 or 10 years from now may well wonder why so few companies took the online plunge.

Recently, my dad and I decided to take a day trip to the Florida Keys, a coral cay archipelago located off the southernmost coast of the US. I was super excited because I had not been able to go anywhere within the past nine months because of COVID-19.

With masks and hand sanitizer, we began our fun journey before sunrise. The Keys are about two hours away from where I live in Florida, so we would get there early to see the sun coming up over the ocean. On the road, we got to enjoy the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.

When we stopped by Curry Hammock State Park, I was really amazed. The park contains 1,000 acres of land, which protects mangroves, rock land and seagrass beds that are important to the ecosyst (生态系统) in the Keys. During our time there, we were able to see some hawks flying by, and they followed the Gulf coastline of the Caribbean, migrating (迁徙) from Canada and as far south as Peru. These hawks put their wings out, "floated" up in the wide sky and then glided for long distances. After flying for thousands of miles, they still kept their fast flight patterns.

After that, we went to Key West and visited some iconic (标志性的) stops, like Duvall Street and Mile Marker 0. It was really cool because it is the very beginning of US 1, which is the longest road that runs from Key West to the Canadian border.

It was an amazing trip to the Florida Keys, and it was thrilling to have a change of scenery.