This happened when I was ten.

    My girl cousin had decided to be a boy for Halloween, so my aunt called my mom to borrow some of my clothes. The next morning, they came to our house early before school. My cousin told me that she was going to be a boy for Halloween and wear some of my clothes. I told her that I didn't care. Then, with a big grin(咧嘴笑) on her face, she told me that I was going to be a girl. I told her she was crazy but she said that she had overheard my mom's plan and that her mom had brought some of her clothes for me.

    So I went to the living room to see our moms. Then I knew she wasn't lying. There was a wig(假发）on the table and my mom and aunt were both smiling at me. I shook my head and told them “NO WAY!” before they even said a word. My aunt said that it would be really cute. Then Mom told me not to be a stick-in-the-mud. She said that it would be fun and she wanted to see what I'd look like as a little girl. I told them I absolutely would not do it!

    I was still refusing twenty minutes later… when my aunt was putting make-up on me. I was wearing a pink party dress, the blond wig with pigtails(辫子) and earrings. My cousin wore one of my sweatshirts, my jeans and a baseball cap. We were sent to school like that, where I spent a sad day. The kids thought it funny that we were dressed that way and made stupid comments about us. They also played jokes on us and I've never been so uncomfortable.

    I still don't like Halloween to this day!

Three magical destinations just one day!

    TOUR DETAILS

    Windsor Castle

    Time-honored in history, Windsor Castle is proudly located on a wooded hill overlooking the Thames River. Dating back to Norman times, it is famous for sweeping landscaped gardens, which is easy to see why it's the Queen's favorite week place. Famous for its architecture and Royal palace, the Castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion. It's home to priceless artworks and you can visit Queen Mary's Dolls' House. Remember don't miss the ceremony—Changing of the Guards.

    Stonehenge

    Stonehenge is located in the county of Wiltshire. This is your chance to see a side of the world-famous stones that most people don't get a chance to see! You will never forget your first glimpse of grand Stonehenge with its rocks rising up against the skyline on Salisbury Plain. There are many unsolved mysteries about the rocks. Was Stonehenge intended as a religious temple? A clock for astronomy? A burial ground? Make up your own mind as you explore this unique site that has confused the world for 5, 000 years.

    Bath

    Beautiful Bath was the first city in England to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. No tour of Bath would be complete with a visit to the famous Roman Baths that gave the city its name. This beautifully preserved bathing site still has flowing water from Brain's only hot spring. You will be amazed by the impressive torch-lighting ceremony as dusk falls. You can also have a taste of Bath's water in Pump Room, where hot waters are drawn for drinking.

    Living and dealing with kids can be a tough job these days, but living and dealing with parents can be even tougher.

    If I have learned anything in my 16 years, it is that communication is very important, both when you disagree and when you get along. With any relationship, you need to let other person know how you are feeling. If you are not able to communicate, you drift apart. When you are mad at your parents, or anyone else, not talking to them doesn't solve anything.

    Communication begins with the concerns (关心) of another. It means that you can't just come home from school, go up to your room and ignore (不理睬) everyone. Even if you just say "Hi", and see how their day was for five minutes, it is better than nothing.

    If you looked up the word "communication" in a dictionary, it would say "the exchange of ideas, the conveyance (表达) of information, correspondence (通信), means of communication: a letter or a message". To maintain (保持) a good relationship, you must keep communication strong. Let people know how you feel, even if it's just by writing a note.

    When dealing with parents, you always have to make them feel good about how they are doing as a parent. If you are trying to make them see something as you see it, tell them that you'll listen to what they have to say, but ask them politely to listen to you. Yelling or walking away only makes the situation worse.

    This is an example: one night, Sophie went to a street party with her friends. She knew she had to be home by midnight after the fireworks, but she didn't feel she could just ask to go home. That would be rude. After all, they had been nice enough to take her along with them. Needless to say, she was late getting home. Her parents were mad at first, not when Sophie explained why she was late, they weren't as mad and let the incident go. Communication is the key factor here. If Sophie's parents had not been willing to listen, Sophie would have been in a lot of trouble.

    Communication isn't a one-way deal: it goes both ways. Just remember: if you get into a situation like Sophie's, telling the other person how you feel-listening is the key factor to communication.

Both humans and animals have enemies. 11 is easy for us to know the difference between our friends and our enemies. But can other animals do the same? Elephants can! They can use their sense of vision and smell to tell the difference between people who mean a threat and those who do not. In Kenya, researchers find that elephants react differently to clothing worn by men of the Maasai and Kamba ethnic groups. Young Maasai men hunt animals and thus mean a threat to elephants; Kamba men are mainly farmers and are not a danger to elephants.

In an experiment conducted by animal scientists, elephants were first presented with clean clothing or clothing that had been worn for five days by either a Maasai or a Kamba man. When the elephants noticed the smell of clothing worn by a Maasai man, they moved away from the smell faster and took longer to relax than when they noticed the smells of either clean clothing or clothing worn by a Kamba man.

Clothing color also plays a role. In the same study, when the elephants saw red clothing not worn before, they reacted angrily, as red is typically worn by Maasai men. Rather than running away as they did with the smell, the elephants acted angrily toward the red clothing.

The researchers believe that the elephants' emotional reactions arc due to their different senses of smell and sight. Smelling a possible danger means that a threat is nearby and the best thing to do is run away and hide. Seeing a potential threat without its smell means that risk is low. Therefore, instead of showing fear and running away, the elephants express their anger and become aggressive.

    Robots that can chat, find misplaced glasses, draw airplanes and play with your children are attracting thousands of visitors during an expo in Tokyo as Japan adapts to changes in society.

    Robots, such as the sound-sensitive Chapit, answer simple questions and even joke with people to help the solitary fight loneliness and stay alert (机警的) in old age. "Many old people in Japan live alone and have no one to talk to," said Kazuya Kitamura, a representative of the expo organizer. "Communication robots stay together with old people and don't mind listening to the same stories over and over again."

    While Chapit, a relatively simple robot, managed to attract a partner, many researchers, such as Kiyoshi Matsumoto, a professor at the University of Tokyo, struggle to attract sponsors for more expensive projects.

    Matsumoto's "Personal Mobility Robot", equipped with four cameras and a sensor to recognize the user's centre of gravity, is designed to help the elderly move around without pressing buttons as in traditional wheelchairs.

    The robot can also help find misplaced glasses by recognizing them with a sensor. "We have developed a robot that can assist many people, but because of the high cost, we still haven't found a sponsor," said Matsumoto, who added that the cost of the machine, if produced in large quantities, would be comparable to that of a small car. "In the current economic environment there are few companies willing to invest (投资) in such a costly project," he said.

    Other robots, such as the award-winning "DiGRO", can support busy parents who have little time to play with their children. The robot can use the Internet to find a simple image and then draw pictures, looking after children while parents work.

    Japan is one of the world's fastest-aging countries and the government predicts that by 2050 the population of people over 65 will reach 40 percent.

    When Shakespeare was twenty-one, he went to London, a very interesting place, to try his fortune.

    There was the famous London Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral, and palaces and markets and long streets full of shops.

    Then, too, there were the daily crowds where could be seen people from all over the world. Knights, scholars and the highwayman (拦路强盗）or thieves, who had been infamous for their clever robberies, passed by each other.

    Here, also, were noblemen dressed in gold, from Italy and Spain and France; slaves from Spanish America, sea captains and ministers, soldiers and servants—all held by chances or interests within the gray walls which circled London, and whose gates gave welcome to as strange a crowd as could be found in the world.

    Into this curious crowd came Shakespeare, quick to see and eager to learn. And before long all these strange sights were as familiar to him as the faces of his own town's residents. Each one told its story to him so plainly that, as before he had learned the secrets of the fields and woods, so now he learned men and men's interests that make up the great world.

    And he learned these lessons so well that when he came to write his plays, he made such use of them as no writer ever made before or since; for it is the use of this knowledge of the world, combined with his own genius, that makes Shakespeare the greatest dramatist that has ever lived.