It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views (观点）of our President. A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was, in his words, "a brilliantly (精彩地) written book". However, he then went on to talk about Mr. Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.

    And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven't. In the World Book Day's “Report on Guilty Secrets”. Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various author: which people have lied about reading, and as I'm not one to lie too often (I'd hate to be caught out), I'll admit (承认) here and now that I haven't read the entire (全部的) top ten. But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell's 1984.I think it's really brilliant.

    The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky (I haven't read him, but haven't lied about it either) and Herman Melville.

    Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to "impress"（使留下深刻印象) someone they were speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in-depth!

    But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J. K. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story (I'll come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so).

    Researchers are often interested in how culture changes over time. All cultures go through periods of change and some cultures change faster than others. For example, in the past 10 years, Chinese culture has changed rapidly as western products have become popular. Other countries, such as France, have created rules to prevent their culture from changing too quickly.

    Even though cultures change at different paces, the causes of cultural change are quite similar around the world. One of these is technology and medicine. In the United States the invention and development of birth control pills and other measures helped parents to limit the size of their families. As a result, families grew smaller and parents could give more attention to fewer children.  On the other hand, new technology has also created emotional distance among families.

    Cultures also change when they come into contact with other cultures. Immigration, for example, often results in cultural change for both immigrants and the host culture. Immigrants often bring with them different ideas, food, music, language, and manners when they move to a new culture. In Canada, for example, the government has a policy of multiculturalism where immigrants are encouraged to share their background cultures with Canadians while adopting and accepting Canadian culture.

    Cultural change can occur due to larger events. For example, economic depression, war, and disaster can endanger societies, which must adapt to these challenges and events. Because of these changes in society, ideas and ways of life also affect the entire culture. For example, during World War II, many American men were sent far off to fight. Consequently, women were suddenly needed to work in the factories. As a result of this change, it is no longer culturally acceptable to believe that they should not have the right to work.

    A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens. The first 6,000 copies of the book were sold out in a week. And the book has inspired many plays and movies. The first play was put on in 1844. The first two movies were silent films made in 1901 and 1908. Since then, the story has been remade more than 60 times for television and cinema. What makes such a tale so attractive? Audiences have always loved a good plot, a villain(反面人物) who harms other people or breaks the law, and the ending of right over wrong. The book offers all three.

    The book tells the story of a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. He is mean and cruel(残忍的) to his clerk and turns away his only living relative. One night, Scrooge is visited by three spirits. The first shows scenes from Scrooge's youth that led to this present state. The second takes him to the homes of his clerk and his nephew. Here Scrooge sees that people can be happy without lots of money. The spirit also shows him the desperate poor people of London. The third spirit shows Scrooge will die alone, and no one will care if he continues to live as he has. At last the message is understood, and Scrooge repents. He becomes generous and caring to all around him, especially to his clerk's sick son, Tiny Tim.

    Every year, thousands of people watch A Christmas Carol. Why? They may be touched by its lessons on the true meanings of wealth and happiness. They may enjoy the special effects and feelings or watching every year may be just a habit. Viewers never seem to grow tired of the old miser(守财奴), Scrooge, and his dramatic message of hope and change.

Words are important, but body language can also give us {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(inform) about people's feelings. Body language is one of {#blank#}2{#/blank#} most powerful means of communication. It is used {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(convey) people's thoughts and opinions and to communicate with each other. When talking with others, you are not just using words, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} using facial expressions as well as gestures. Just like spoken language, body language {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(vary) from culture to culture. The gesture for "OK" has different meanings in different cultures. The gestures we use for "yes" and "no" and the way we greet {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(different) around the world. Some gestures seem to have the same meaning everywhere. Placing your hands together and resting them on the side of your head while closing your eyes means "sleep". Some body language has many different uses. Perhaps the best example is smiling.

A smile can help us get {#blank#}7{#/blank#} difficult situations and find friends. A smile can break {#blank#}8{#/blank#} barriers. Experts suggest {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(smile) at yourself in the mirror {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(make) yourself feel happier.

  A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic

Genre: Fantasy

Number of Pages: 320

What's the basic story line?

Kai and Leila have never met, but their seemingly dull lives will be drawn together in unbelievable ways. Each girl is vacationing—Kai in Texas and Leila in Pakistan. Each girl finds a copy of a book called The Exquisite Corpse. Each book is blank, but when Kai writes a sentence, the book magically begins a story. When either girl writes another phrase, the book shows more. Whatever the girls are doing when they write—getting attacked by a dog, hunting for a rare species, accidentally buying a goat—helps to develop the plot of The Exquisite Corpse. It also makes reading A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic even more enjoyable.

Are the characters believable? Many aspects of the characters are realistic. Readers see that the characters, like all of us, can sometimes fail. Also, both characters have some unflattering (不讨人喜欢的) qualities, even though they're represented as "the good guys" in the story.

Who would like this book? Any lover of fantasy and stories about magic would enjoy this book. Readers who enjoy knowing things the characters don't, or who like being shocked by a huge plot twist (曲折的情节),will like this book.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this book? I would rate A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic a perfect 10, because of the creative story idea and the crazy plot twists that keep the reader turning page after page. I, for one, did not want the story to end.

Bruce, a parrot missing part of his beak （喙）,  creatively uses stones to clean feathers （羽毛）,  highlighting advanced intelligence in parrots. 

Bruce lost the upper part of his beak in 2012 and was sent to live at a reserve in New Zealand. The defect made Bruce unable to search for food on his own, let alone keep his feathers clean with his beak. But in 2021, when comparative psychologist Bastos arrived at the reserve with colleagues to study parrots, zookeepers reported something strange：Bruce had seemingly figured out how to select and use small stones to clean his own feathers with his beak. 

Over nine days, the team kept a close eye on Bruce, quickly taking, videos if he started cleaning his feathers. It turned out that Bruce had indeed invented his own way to do so, the researchers reported in Scientific Reports. 

"It's crazy because the behavior was not from the wild, " Bastos says. When Bruce arrived at the reserve, he was too young to learn how to clean his feathers. And no other bird in the reserve uses stones in this way. "It seems like he just invented this tool use for himself, " she says. 

Tool use is just one of parrots' many talents. They're famous for copying and even understanding human speech. Some species can also solve complex puzzles, like how to enter a covered rubbish bin or practice self-control. 

For a concept as abstract （抽象的） as intelligence, it's challenging to develop a definition that applies across animals. Researchers often point to features once thought to make humans special—enhanced learning, memory, attention and movement control—as signs of advanced skills. However, many of these abilities can also be seen in parrots, as well as other animals like chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants. 

"Parrots are our evolutionary （进化的） mirror image. These brilliant birds may teach us about how humanlike intelligence can appear, " behavioral ecologist Antone wrote in his 2022 book The Parrot in the Mirror. With powerful brains and a preference for words, these birds are "the very best example, " he writes,  "of nature's 'other try' at humanlike intelligence. "