Many Chinese people have awakened their interest in classical Chinese poetry recently thanks to a popular TV show that aims to “appreciate classical Chinese poetry, explore cultural genes and enjoy the beauty of life” by combining traditional literary form with light-hearted TV quizzes.

    The ten-episode “Chinese Poetry Competition”, since its broadcast, has been praised for injecting vitality(活力) into TV programs with fantastic performances of contestants, impressive comments from judges as well as its innovative interactive mode. In the show, poems can be adapted into songs or depicted(描绘) through artistic pictures. Any contestant who can memorize the largest number of poems may not necessarily be the final winner, while fast reaction and usage of poems matter a lot more in the competition.

    Wu Yishu, a 16-year-old student from the High School Attached to Fudan University in Shanghai, is the champion of this season. Her rich knowledge of classical poetry impressed everyone and she rose to become famous online. In an earlier episode, Wu wowed the audience when performing in a section. She amazingly recited lines from the Classic of Poetry(《诗经》), the earliest collection of poems in China.

    “Learning poems isn't about winning or losing. The power of poetry lies in shaping one's view of life and developing one's inner world,” said Li Bo, an expert guest at the Chinese Poetry Competition's second season.

    When it comes to teaching people about poetry, Li Dingguang, the show's academic advisor, suggested that teachers should explain more about the beauty of the poetry from both the aesthetic(审美的) and emotional sides, and guide students to lose themselves in the poems' rhythmic and rhyming(押韵的) lines.

    “Although the proportion（比例) of ancient Chinese poems in the textbooks of primary and secondary schools has increased, many students still learn them for exams,” Li Dingguang said.“ Therefore, it's important to help students truly appreciate the artistry and fun of poetry.”

    Started in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest of all the many colleges and universities in the United States. Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth were opened soon after Harvard.

    In the early years, these schools were much alike. Only young men went to colleges. All the students studied the same subjects, and everyone learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Little was known about science then, and one kind of school could teach everything that was known about the world. When the students graduated, most of them become ministers or teachers.

    In 1782, Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors. Later, lawyers could receive their training in Harvard's law school. In 1825, besides Latin and Greek, Harvard began teaching modern languages, such as French and German. Soon it began teaching American history.

    As knowledge increased, Harvard and other colleges began to teach many new subjects. Students were allowed to choose the subjects that interested them.

    Today there are many different kinds of colleges and universities. Most of them are made up of smaller schools that deal with special fields of learning. There's so much to learn that one kind of school can' offer it all.

    Play time is in short supply for young children these days and the lifelong consequences for developing children can be more serious than many people realize.

    An article in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Play details not only how much children's play time has declined, but how this lack of play affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self control. “Since about 1955, children's free play has been continually declining, at least partly because adults have applied ever-increasing control over children's activities.” says the author Peter Gray, Ph. D, Professor of Psychology at Boston College.

    We can describe the unstructured freely-chosen play as a testing ground for life. It provides critical life experiences without which young children cannot develop into confident and competent adults. So kids need more of it, not less. Because play is how young children learn important social and emotional skills such as sharing, cooperating, communicating, and empathizing. It helps them develop fit bodies, strong minds, and brave hearts, so they can take on new challenges and risky situations.

    Gray's article is meant to serve as a wake-up call regarding the effects of lost play. We must know that lack of childhood free play time is a huge loss that must be paid attention to for the sake of our children and society. But parents who keep a lookout over and disturb their children's play are a big part of the problem. It is hard to find groups of children outdoors at all, and, if you do find them, they are likely to be wearing school uniforms and following the directions of coaches while their parents dutifully watch and cheer.

    Actually, when children are in charge of their own play, it provides a foundation for their future mental health as older children and adults. Play gives children a chance to find and develop a connection to their own self-identified and self-guided interest. It is through play that children first learn to make decisions, solve problems, improve self-control, and follow rules. Play helps children make friends and learn to get along with each other as equals. Most importantly, play is a source of happiness.

When parents realize the major role that free play can take in the development of emotionally healthy children and adults, they may wish to reassess the priorities ruling their children's lives. The needs for childcare, academic and athletic success and children's safety is important. But perhaps parents can begin to identify small changes——such as openings in the schedule, backing off from quite so many supervised (有监督的) activities, and possibly slightly less keeping watch on the playground that would start the slow returning to the direction of free, imaginative-directed play.

    We now think that chocolate is sweet, but once it was bitter. We think of it as a candy, but once it was a medicine. Today, chocolate can be a hot drink, a frozen dessert, or just a snack. Sometimes it's an ingredient（构成部分）in the main course of a meal. Mexicans make a hot chocolate sauce called Mole and pour it over chicken. The Mexicans also eat chocolate with spices like chili peppers.

    Chocolate is a product of the tropical cacao tree. The beans taste so bitter that even the monkeys say "Ugh!" and run away. Workers must first dry and then roast the beans. This removes the bitter taste.

    The word "chocolate" comes from a Mayan word. The Mayas were an ancient people who once lived in Mexico. They valued the cacao tree. Some used the beans for money, while others crushed them to make a drink.

    When the Spaniards came to Mexico in the sixteenth century, they started drinking cacao, too. Because the drink was strong and bitter, they thought it was a medicine. No one had the idea of adding sugar. The Spaniards took some beans back to Europe and opened cafes. Wealthy people drank cacao and said it was good for the digestion.

    In the 1800s, the owner of a chocolate factory in England discovered that sugar removed the bitter taste of cacao. It quickly became a cheap and popular drink. Soon afterwards, a factory made the first solid block of sweetened chocolate. Later on, another factory mixed milk and chocolate together. People liked the taste of milk chocolate even better.

    Besides the chocolate candy bar, one of the most popular American snacks is the chocolate chip cookie. Favorite desserts are the chocolate cream pie and, of course, an ice cream sundae with hot fudge sauce.

    Like any new ninth­grader on the first day of school, Joemar Class had ninth­grader emotion (情绪). He's not used to school in Hartford. He's used to going to school in his hometown of Florida, used to seeing his friends, used to having class in Spanish.

    "Nervioso，"he said in Spanish.

    We first met Joemar in mid­October in the San Juan Airport. His father, Guillermo Class, had sold his car to buy plane tickets to get his kids and fly them up from Puerto Rico. The island was almost destroyed (毁坏) by the deadly storm — Hurricane Maria.

    Now, they are settling into their new home in Hartford's South End. A week later, and, using his wife's car, Class drove 16­year­old Joemar to his first day at Bulkeley High School. After a short ride, he got out in front of his new school. Inside, he met Gretchen Levitz — the school's program director.

    "I see you have a new uniform (校服)," Levitz said. "You look great. Are you ready for a good first day？"

    Then he met a couple of teachers.

    "Hello," they each said in Spanish. They asked where he's from, and told him they were happy to see him. Then, Levitz took him on a quick tour of the school before classes began — to her office, the school store, the library, and the dining hall.

    A total of 19 languages are spoken in Bulkeley High School. "We have so many new students coming here from other countries every single day," Levitz said. "So it's not like he's the only one who has that feeling."

    "You could tell he's a little worried," Guillermo said as we left. "But, at the same time, he's looking forward to it."

Dear Max,

It must seem a little odd to get a letter from your own mother who m you see every day, but I hope you will read this and take what I have to say seriously. 

I bought you a phone for your 12th birthday because you wanted one so much, and all your friends have one. I know you love your phone, but I wonder whether you are aware of just how much you use it. 

From my perspective, it seems that you are constantly checking your phone for notifications（通知） or messages. You even do this when we're having a family meal in a restaurant or when I'm talking to you. You may not realise this, but whenever you feel even slightly bored, you check your phone. You never seem to relax. You're constantly on alert, and I don't think this is very good for you. We all need to switch it off every now and then. And if I ask you to leave your phone at home when we go out, you sulk（生气） and get twitchy, almost as if you're suffering withdrawal symptoms（戒断症状）. It's like your phone is a drug.

I have tried to talk to you about this, but whenever I ask you to put down your phone and look at me, you say "in a minute". Unfortunately, "in a minute" never comes, and we never talk. I can't actually remember the last time we had a proper face-to-face conversation. I even have to message you to let you know dinner is on the table! That's why I decided to put my concerns in a letter to you.

Please don't think I am writing this letter to punish you or to nag（唠叨） you. I know you are a good boy. I don't think you want to hurt me or be rude intentionally. However, I recently heard about something called "nomophobia"—the fear of being without a phone. It's a real illness and I'm worried whether you have it. I really think it would be a good idea if we all went to see an addiction expert together so we can all have a discussion about this serious problem. I know you won't want to, but I'm very concerned about you. Please take some time to think about what I have written. Then let's talk.

Mum,