Flicks to check out

Le Havre (2011)

Time: Oct.21, 23-25

Venue: China National Film Museum

Price: 40 yuan

    Le Havre is a comedy-drama. It centers on a shoeshiner who takes pity on an immigrant child in the French port city Le Havre. He tries to save him by inviting him to his home. The film premiered(初次公演) in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the FIPRESCI Prize.

Mia et le Migou (2008)

Time: Oct. 29

Venue: China Film Archive

Price: to be announced

    Also known as Mia and the Migoo, this animated film describes the adventure of a young girl named Mia. Motivated by a premonition(预兆), Mia sets out on a journey across mountains and jungles to search for her father. The film won the European Film Award for Best Animated Feature. Director Jacques-Remy Girerd will also show up at China Film Archive.

Le Voyage dans la Lune (1902)

Time: Oct. 22, 24-25

Venue: China National Film Museum

Price: 20 yuan

    Also known as A Trip to the Moon, this silent movie was inspired by the French novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, by Jules Verne. It follows a group of astronomers who travel to the moon and explore it. They meet lunar inhabitants and capture one before returning to Earth.

    Find schedule and ticket information about the French movie panorama at http://www. gewara.com/

    The China Film Archive will also present a short lecture before each French movie on how to understand it.

    There exist cruel wars, fighting and sadness in the world today, so it's not only necessary, but also essential to have a good sense of humor just to help us go through difficult times in out lives. Putting a smile on someone's face when you know they are feeling depressed, as the saying goes, makes me feel good and warms my heart.

    How would you feel if you could not joke around with wife, husband, child, co-worker, neighbor, close friend, or even just someone that you are standing in line with at your corner store? I am always saying things that make others smile or laugh, even if I don't know the person I'm joking around with. My Grandma always found humor in everything she did, even if it was the hardest job anyone could imagine. This not only relieves stress in any situation, but also is a common manner to speak to others that are around you.

    I know of a few people that don't have a funny bone in their bodies, as they say. Everyone around them could be rolling on the floor after hearing a great joke and they would sit there without the slightest smile on their faces. They don't get the joke that makes others laugh. I am, busting a gut while they just sit there, looking at me as if I were from outer space. How can people not get a really funny joke?

    Laughing is essential to keep your stress levels under control. Without humor, we would find ourselves with a lot of psychological problems, or on a lot of medications to keep us from going crazy. There is too much sadness and bring a little light into our lives.

    Therefore, I believe our best medicine is to get together and tell some jokes and have some fun laughing together.

    The world's first-known nursery for baby giant manta rays(蝠鲼) has been discovered hidden away in the Gulf of Mexico, the place of 70 miles off the coast of Texas, after studying decades of giant manta ray data from the area by the scientists.

    Where the baby manta rays grow up has long troubled scientists, as they are rarely spotted in the four to five years it takes them to become adults, when they can often grow to more than 20ft wide.

In the study Mr Stewart and colleagues describe a reef (暗礁)—filled with mantas of all ages—where the sea floor runs down into deeper water. He said "We think they may be feeding on specific types of zooplankton(浮游生物) there, then migrating up toward the surface, where we saw them. They might be hanging around the banks because it could be a little safer than open water. We've seen them so rarely that we know very little about these baby manta rays. We don't know how far they move, or exactly what they feed on, or all of the habitats these access.”

    Giant manta rays are listed as species dying out by protectors, although actual population numbers of the mysterious "gentle giant" are hard to calculate. Sightings of the closely-related reef manta, however, have dropped by 90 percent in regions of southeast Asia in the past decade, according to a study.

    Fishing is considered the biggest threat to giant manta numbers, both intentional and accidental. Their gill plates(腮下肉)- the parts through which they filter(过滤) their food from seawater-are sold in China for medical purposes, while they often end up as something caught by mistake due to their huge wings.

    A primary school in UK has banned Valentine's Day cards because of concerns that young pupils spend too much time talking about boyfriends and girlfriends.

    Ashcombe Primary School in Weston Super Mare, Somerset, has told parents that cards declaring love can be "confusing" for children under the age of 11, who are still emotionally and socially developing. In this month 's newsletter(通讯), Peter Turner, the head teacher, warned that any cards found in school would be confiscated(没收). He wrote: "We do not wish to see any Valentine's Day cards in school this year. Some children and parents encourage a lot of talk about boyfriends and girlfriends. We believe that such ideas should wait until children are mature enough emotionally and socially to understand the commitment involved in having or being a boyfriend or girlfriend." Mr. Turner said any family wanting to support the Valentine's Day idea should send cards in the post or deliver them to home addresses by hand.

    His views were endorsed by Ruth Rice, 46, who has twins Harriet and Olivia at the school. She said, "Children at that age shouldn't really be thinking about Valentine's Day, they should be concentrating on their schoolwork." They are at an age when they are impressionable(易受影响的)and most parents including myself are with Mr. Turner." She added that "the cards cause too much competition. If someone gets a card and another doesn't, then someone will be disappointed."

    However, Rajeev Takyar, 40, who has two children Jai, 11, and Aryan, five, at the school, said he was "very angry". He said, "There are schools that have banned computer games and snowballs, and now Valentine's Cards." I think banning the cards stops children from having social skills. How are they going to learn about relationships otherwise? It's ridiculous. Alec Suttenwood, father of three children, said of the ban: "It's totally ridiculous. Young children just send the cards to each other as friends and to their parents. It's just a bit of harmless fun. There is no difference between this and Mother's or Father's Day."

    I came to the United States ten years ago. I would always say that I was trying to study, but there were always things like work and my kids that would not allow me to start.

    Now I realized that those were only excuses. What stopped me was that I was afraid to start studying again. I always believed I would learn by myself.

    One day, however, my son told me that he was sad because his friends would come over and I didn't understand them because I didn't speak English. He was also sad because I could never help him with his homework. That same day, I told myself, "Rocio, you have to start believing in yourself and you will see you can make it."

    The next day, I went downtown to look for a big banner (横幅) in front of the school which said that they offered classes for adults. I came in to see if I could join, but the classes were closed already. That night I took the kids to the movies, and on the way back, I told them we would take a new route. I ended up getting lost. That's the way I found Chaffey College. The following Monday, I went to ask for information. They told me that summer school was starting that week.

    That's how I started studying English last summer. It is difficult, but I have had great rewards. My daughter had written a story for school. It was about the female they most admired and why. She wrote that I was the person she most admired because I had started going to college. I will never forget this.

What's your favorite book? Think of all the books you have ever read. Now imagine if you had not read any of them, how would your life be different?

Out of 7.8 billion people in the world today, 12% are illiterate(文盲的). This means that 1 in 5 adults are incapable of writing their own name, let alone reading a line out of a book. While the Universal Declaration of Human Rights expressly states under its 26th article the right to a free education"at least in the elementary and fundamental stages",marginalized(边缘化的) populations are often denied this basic right.

September 8 is International Literacy Day, established by UNESCO in 1966 to raise awareness on the issue by giving rise to support worldwide. In 1965, the World Conference ofMinisters of Education(WCME) met in Tehran, Iran to discuss future plans which would involve the eradication(消除) of illiteracy. As a way to honor the opening of this meeting,the conference decided that September 8 would be announced as International Literacy Day.

This year's theme for the day is"Literacy And Sustainable Societies". But what exactly does that mean? Literacy has been associated with the reduction of poverty as it offers skills for gaining knowledge, values, and attitudes for expanding societies in a sustainable way. At the same time, the promotion of literacy boosts agriculture, health, and vocational skills,leading societies to become more efficient and environmentally literate.

So how can you raise awareness and promote literacy on this day? Host a reading competition at your school or simply exchange books with friends. You could create a book club or even start a writing competition. Be an active global citizen by commitment to raising awareness so that we can eradicate illiteracy.