NEW YORK－Australian mining enterprise Clive Palmer on Tuesday unveiled(公布)blueprints for TitanicⅡ, a modern copy of the doomed ocean liner, although he didn't call the ship unsinkable any more.

    The ship will largely recreate the design and decoration of the fabled original, with some modifications to keep it in line with current safety rules and shipbuilding practices, and the addition of some modern comforts such as air conditioning, Palmer said at a press conference in New York.

    The three passenger classes, however, will be prevented from mingling(混杂), as in 1912, Palmer said. “I'm not too superstitious(迷信的).”Palmer said when asked whether recreating a ship best­known for sinking was tempting fate.

    White Star Line, the operator of the original ship, had said the Titanic was designed to be unsinkable. About 1, 500 people died on Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912 from Southampton to New York after the ship collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic.

    Palmer, who created the company Blue Star Line last year, refused to make a similar boast.

    “Anything will sink if you put a hole in it, ” Palmer said. “I think it would be very cavalier to say it.”

    Unlike the original, TitanicⅡwill have more than enough space in its lifeboats for every person on board and will have additional escape staircases. Markku Kanerva, sales director at Deltamarin, the Finnish company designing the ship, said it would be the “safest cruise ship in the world”．

    Palmer refused to answer questions about the project's cost. Although the Titanic was the world's largest ship in her time, she would be smaller than many of today's modern cruise ships.

    “It's not about the money，” Palmer said. “I've got enough money for it. I think that's all that matters.”

    Forbes estimated Palmer's net worth to be $795 million in 2012.He describes himself as a billionaire.

    TitanicⅡwill be built by Chinese state­-owned CSC Jinling Shipyard, which has already built four ore carriers for Palmer's mining business, he said. The contract to build TitanicⅡhas not yet been signed, Palmer said.

    Stop wasting your time thinking of reasons for your failures and shortcomings. Instead, realize that the seeds of success were planted within you when you were born. Only you have the power to make those seeds grow.

    The seeds, and the power to grow them, are contained in the most awesome machine ever created: the human mind. Success is a choice and not a chance. You were born a winner. You were born rich. You can be a success if only you make the right choice.

    You cannot be successful without first developing your self-esteem (自信心). Your level of self-esteem is always based on the degree of control that you are able to exercise over yourself, and thus over your life. People with low self-esteem are people who do not believe that they have any power, or responsibility for their lives. They are always victims. They are leaves tossed (摇摆) by the winds of chance blown about with any sudden change in the weather.

    You can exercise control over your life only to the degree that you believe you are responsible for everything that happens in your life. Failures think that everything happens by accident and chance. Successful people realize that they are responsible.

    Everything happens as a result of something. If we can identify the cause, we can control the effect. We are responsible for what we choose to think and believe. One generally rises to the level that one expects. We are responsible for setting our expectations. Our success is dependent upon our level of confidence.

    If you associate with positive-thinking people, you are definitely going to achieve success. On the contrary, the opposite happens. We are responsible for finding, planting, and nurturing (培育) the seeds that contain future victory, born from setbacks (挫折).

    In short, in all areas of your life, whether they are financial, physical, emotional, or spiritual, you are responsible. Once you recognize this, accept it, and firmly believe it. You are on the road to success.

Living Music in the Home

    Living music in the Home is a Waldorf-inspired resource for parents and teachers who wish to share the joy of music with their children and student. We provide musical training for adults so they can make music in their homes and classrooms.

    NEW! In addition to our online offerings (see below), we are now offering in-person parent-child music classes in western Massachusetts. We invite you to come to join us for BabySong and ChildSong, offered at the Cottage Garden.

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

    CLICK HERE FOR REGISTER

    OUR ONLINE COURSES

    Finding Your Inner Voice

    Instructor: Michelle Prindle (about)

    Available: March 17

    This course offers instruction in vocal (唱歌的) technique that will help parents and teachers to find their inner voice. The course removes modem misunderstandings about the voice. It offers advice on overcoming psychological boundaries to joyful singing. This is done through practical, confidence-building exercise that parents and teachers can practice in their own homes along with the videos and audio files provided. The course also offers a variety of songs for singing with children.

    Mood of the Fifth

    Instructor: Dan Prindle (About)

    Available: March 17

    This course begins by giving parents and teachers a solid foundation in the basics of western music theory that are necessary for understanding music in the mood of the fifth. These include the fundamentals of music theory (basics of pitch and rhythm). The course then continues to define the mood of the fifth, describe its elements and give a variety of examples. This course provides the necessary knowledge for parents and teachers to fully understand this often unclearly defined concept.

    In this day and age, you can practically do anything with the help of the Internet. While chatting with a stranger may seem new and exciting, make sure that you stay safe while still having fun.

    While there are some unpleasant people in the world, let's remember that most people are friendly! If you find someone who likes the same restaurant as you or who is also crazy about Gilmore Girls, then feel free to talk the night away! Just keep the conversation light and talk about your common interests. If a topic that doesn't fit well with you is brought up, keep in mind that you are always in control. Under no circumstances should you be forced to talk or think about anything inappropriate. Ignore your manners at this time!

    Do stay open-minded. Sometimes chatting with strangers can turn into a close bond—or just another person you can turn to for a laugh. But when you are typing away in your computer, it's easy for you to get carried away and to tell your new friends all about yourself. Keep the personal details secret, and instead talk about fun hobbies or the latest episode (一集) of The Good Wife.

    Always listen to your instincts (直觉). If something inside of you is telling you something isn't right, it probably isn't. Pay attention to how your body responds to certain people online. Remember, you never really know who you are talking to just by looking at a computer screen name, so downloading anything is absolutely no.

    See? Talking to strangers online doesn't always have to be appalling experience. By following these do's and don'ts, chatting with someone you don't know can be cool and pleasant, and can make sure that you stay safe in the world of the Internet.

    Teenagers around the world can be happy with the news that the brain will ignore parents' order when they use their smart phones. A new scientific study from the University College London has shown that humans may temporarily go deaf when they're focusing on something visual (视觉的) at the same time.

    The researchers played the normal-volume sounds in the background. And 13 volunteers experienced inattentional deafness as their visual tasks became increasingly difficult. "We found that when volunteers were performing the difficult visual task, they were unable to hear sounds that they would normally hear," Maria Chait said in a statement. "The brain scans showed that people didn't filter out the sounds on purpose. They were not actually hearing them in the first place."

    The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that the centre of sights and the center of sounds share limited resources. Inattentional deafness is a common everyday experience and the study explains why, according to UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience Professor Nili Lavie.

    If you try to talk to someone focusing on a book, game, or television program and don't receive a response, they aren't necessarily ignoring you. They simply might not hear you at all. This could also explain why you might not hear your bus or train stop being announced if you're lost in your phone, book or newspaper. However, some loud sounds will still be able to break through.

    Some situations could become possibly dangerous when the quieter ones go unheard. As you can imagine, in the operating room, when a doctor concentrates on his work, he might not hear the equipment beeping. It also applies to drivers who center on complex directions. Fortunately, experts have given us some useful tips on preventing such situations.

Teaching Poetry

    No poem should ever be discussed or "analyzed", until it has been read aloud by someone, teacher or student. Better still, perhaps, is the practice of reading it twice, once at the beginning of the discussion and once at the end, so the sound of the poem is the last thing one hears of it.

    All discussions of poetry are, in fact, preparations for reading it aloud, and the reading of the poem is, finally, the most telling "interpretation" of it, suggesting tone, rhythm, and meaning all at once. Hearing a poet read the work in his or her own voice, on records or on film, is obviously a special reward. But even those aids to teaching can not replace the student and teacher reading it or, best of all, reciting it.

    I have come to think, in fact, that time spent reading a poem aloud is much more important than "analysing" it, if there isn't time for both. I think one of our goals as teachers of English is to have students love poetry. Poetry is "a criticism of life", and "a heightening of lief". It is "an approach to the truth of feeling", and it "can save your life". It also deserves a place in the teaching of language and literature more central than it presently occupies.

    I am not saying that every English teacher must teach poetry. Those who don't like it should not be forced to communicate this to anyone else. But those who do teach poetry must keep in mind a few things about its essential nature, about its sound as well as its sense, and they must make room in the classroom for hearing poetry as well as thinking about it.