The first capsule hotel(胶囊旅馆) which will be opened in Shanghai has attracted many travelers with a little money because of its prices.

The hotel has 68 "capsules", each 1.1-meters high, 1.1-meters wide and 2.2-meters long. The basic price is 28 Yuan ($4.22) per person, plus an additional 4 Yuan an hour. The hotel also offers a package of 88 Yuan for 24 hours.

All of the capsules are from Japan where capsule hotels started, and each is with independent clocks, lights, TV and wireless Internet service. The hotel also has a public lavatory(洗手间)，shower room, smoking room and shared guest room.

"This is a huge bargain compared with other hotels in Shanghai," said Ta Zan, the owner of the hotel. Ta used to stay at capsule hotels in Tokyo during his college years and worked at a capsule hotel while he was doing his MBA in Germany in 2005, so he knows how they work and how to make guests feel comfortable.

He learned experience about capsule hotels from Japan but he has made some special changes based on Chinese guestsˈ habits. "In Japan capsule hotels are usually with bathtubs(浴缸), but in China people are more willing to take a shower, so we have the shower room," he said. He has also separated(分隔开) the capsules into three snoring (打鼾的) zones so that guests who often snore wonˈt disturb others. Like most of capsule hotels in Japan, the one in Shanghai is for men only.

But the idea of staying in such a compact space is not attractive to everyone. "I feel the idea is like putting a person in a coffin(棺材), and the price is also not that attractive. A bed at a youth hostel in Shanghai costs about 60 Yuan per night," said Wang Lei, a student from Beijing.

Thanksgiving Day is special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.

Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4, 1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.

The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a three-day feast（盛宴）. The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.

In time, other colonies（殖民地）began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed（宣布）the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours. But the Canadian thanks-giving Day falls on the second Monday in October.

 How will you celebrate New Yearˈs Eve? By having a party with your classmates? Going to the karaoke for a singing competition? Many people around the world celebrate the day. Letˈs have a look at what people in other countries do.

In the United States, thousands of people jam into Times Square in New York to welcome in the new year at midnight. The change from New Yearˈs Eve and New Yearˈs Day is very exciting. People count down(倒计时) the seconds to welcome the new day as the New Year ball slowly gets down and lights up the area.

In Spain, when the clock strikes midnight, everyone eats 12 grapes. They eat one grape for each toll(钟声) to bring good luck for the next 12 months of the new year.

In Scotland, fireworks are set off in front of the Edinburgh Castle. Immediately after midnight, people sing Auld Lang Syne. The words are in Scottish and mean “days gone by”. The famous Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote the song.

In Brazil, most people wear white clothes on New Yearˈs Eve to bring good luck for the new year, If they live near a beach, after midnight, people go there, light candles in the sand, throw flowers in the sea and make a wish. They say that the goddess who protects the sea will make their wishes come true.

Did you know?

The date January 1 was picked by the Roman leader Julius Caesar(凯撒大帝) as the change of the year when he established his own calendar in 46 BC. The month of January was named after the Roman god, Janus. He is pictured with two heads. One head looks forward and the other back. They represent a break between the old and new.

Current Culture: Is Common Culture Alive?

The digitizing and globalizing world is changing the working of culture. As some see it, cities and nations are losing their common culture and their general spirit: people can no longer count on those around them valuing any of the same music or films. Others argue that a common culture is not dying so much as changing forms: it is less and less attached to a particular area and ever more linked to global networks.

The facts lead to the change that anyone can become a cultural producer today, that the culture is increasingly available everywhere you want it, and whenever you want it, not just in the two months after the movie or book came out. Cultural possibilities have multiplied as a result, but the change also means fewer cultural moments. It is easy to find the change in terms of loss of diversity of society. So what will it mean if globalization turns us into one wide world culture?

For the enthusiasts of these changes, culture is not about popular artists or books, but centers on platforms like Google and Wikipedia, where every variety of culture brings about the exchange of knowledge and ideas, and makes connections across boundaries. It is perhaps debatable whether two people who have participated in such websites, but in totally different corners of them, have had a cultural experience in common. In fact, these platforms become very successful with a large crowd of people, who build things together, share information, and forward articles back and forth.

There are still more questions. What does it mean for the future of countries that culture now goes beyond the limits of the nation? Is there anything to defend and preserve in the passing cultural world, or is that merely to favor pen over printing press, horse over automobile?

Up to now a growing quantity of culture has been globally spreading and developing. More individuals (个人) than ever have the chances to be makers of culture, even if that means more to choose from and fewer standards to be reached in common. What it means is this strange feeling: that of being more connected than ever, with one-click access to so much of the cultural harvest around the world, and yet, of being starved for having similar interests and opinions with others, concerned only with ourselves.

Attractions

Do you：

◆Love the National Park, value it and hope to safeguard its future?

◆Wish to see the beautiful landscape of the Park protected?

◆Like to enjoy peaceful, informal recreation within the Park?

Aims

The Friends organization aims are to help protect and improve the Pembroke shire Coast National Park for all to enjoy. We are a voluntary organization and registered charity without financial links to the National Park Authority.

Activities

We encourage everyone to enjoy the National Park through regular talks and visits to interesting places in the Park with expert guides.

We keep an eye on planning applications，Park Authority policies and threats to the National Park such as massive leisure complexes. We work with like-minded organizations such as the Campaign for National Parks to make our voice more effective., We help children to understand the National Park by sponsoring publications such as an adventure booklet and projects in local schools.,Benefits,◆Guided visits to places of interest which may not always be available to the general public.,◆All members receive our regular News and Views.,◆Talks by experts in their fields on current issues.,◆A discount is available on Friends items for sale.,◆Satisfaction of participation in work parties， for those willing and able to be involved. If interested， please complete the Application Form at www. fpnp.org. uk.

Young Mr. Smith had an idea for his employer. It was an idea for saving money for the company by increasing prices. At the same time, he suggested that the company sell goods of less value.

If his employer liked the idea, he might be given more pay. Perhaps he might even get a better job with the company.

Business had been very slow. So Mr. Smith's employer thought a few minutes about the idea. But then she shook her head. "I am sorry, Smith," his employer said. "It just will not wash."

Now, the meaning of these English words should be, "It will not get clean." Yet Smith's idea did not have anything to do with making something clean. So why did his employer say, "It will not wash?"

Most word experts agree that "it will not wash" means it will not work. In 19th century of England, the expression meant an undependable statement. It was used mainly to describe an idea. But sometimes it was used about a person.

Happily for the young employee, his employer wanted him to do well in the company. So the employer "talked turkey" to him. She said, "Your idea would be unfair to our buyers. Think of another way to save money."

A century ago, to talk turkey meant to talk pleasantly. Turkeys in the barnyard(谷仓院场) were thought to be speaking pleasantly to one another. In recent years, the saying has come to mean an attempt to teach something important.

Mr. Smith thought of a better idea after his employer talked turkey to him. He was given an increase in pay. So if your idea "will not wash," try "talking turkey" to yourself and come up with a better idea.

English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary — perhaps as many as two million words.

However, let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat。 We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,  public bathrooms have no baths in them.    

And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out, they are visible ; but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.