1 . The scent of hot bread drifting from the shops along the Street of Flour was sweeter than any perfume Arya had ever smelled. She took a deep breath and stepped closer to the pigeon. It was a plump one, speckled brown, busily pecking at a crust that had fallen between two cobblestones, but when Arya’s shadow touched it, it took to the air.

Her stick sword whistled out and caught it two feet off the ground, and it went down in a flurry of brown feathers. She was on it in the blink of an eye, grabbing a wing as the pigeon flapped and fluttered. It pecked at her hand. She grabbed its neck and twisted until she felt the bone snap.

Compared with catching cats, pigeons were easy.

She tied the pigeon to her belt and started down the street. A man was pushing a load of tarts by on a two-wheeled cart; the smells sang of blueberries and lemons and apricots. Her stomach made a hollow rumbly noise. “Could I have one?” she heard herself say. “A lemon, or…or any kind.”

The pushcart man looked her up and down. Plainly he did not like what he saw. “Three coppers.”

Arya tapped her wooden sword against the side of her boot. “I’ll trade you a fat pigeon,” she said.

“The Others take your pigeon,” the pushcart man said.

The tarts were still warm from the oven. The smells were making her mouth water, but she did not have three coppers... or one. She gave the pushcart man a look, remembering what Syrio had told her about seeing. He was short, with a little round belly, and when he moved he seemed favor his left leg a little. She was just thinking that if she snatched a tart and ran he would never be able to catch her when he said, “You be keeping your filthy hands off. The gold cloaks know how to deal with thieving little gutter rats, that they do.”

Arya glanced warily behind her. Two of the City Watch were standing at the mouth of an alley. Their cloaks hung almost to the ground, the heavy wool dyed a rich gold; their mail and boots and gloves were black. One wore a long sword at his hip, the other an iron cudgel. With a last wistful glance at the tarts, Arya edged back from the cart and hurried off. The gold cloaks had not been paying her any special attention, but the sight of them tied her stomach in knots. Arya had been staying as far from the castle as she could get, yet even from a distance she could see the heads rotting atop the high red walls. Flocks of crows squabbled noisily over each head, thick as flies. The talk in Flea Bottom was that the gold cloaks had associated themselves with the Lannisters, their commander raised to a lord, with lands on the Trident and a seat on the king’s council.

5 . Do you find yourself checking social media sites as soon as you wake up? Do you answer e-mails on your phone while surfing the Web? Actually, we've lived a life in which we're all connected, all the time. Whether or not this is a good thing is the subject of Hamlet's BlackBerry, a non-fiction book by William Powers based on an essay he penned.

Early in the work, Powers questions the way we use devices, but certainly he doesn't criticize it. He does, however, recognize the downside of constantly being overstimulated—or what he calls the “problem of connectedness”. Among the things disturbed by the problem, Powers says, are the ways in which people are connected and deal with each other. “Constantly switching among people on social media platforms, texts and all the new ways of connecting all day, we never have a sustained connection.” His intention of writing Hamlet's BlackBerry is to help teach people how to connect more wisely. Powers looked to the past, where he found several precedents(先例)for both the current information age and the anxiety that has come with it.

One major figure Powers examines actually developed his own strategies for dealing with overstimulation. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet is informed his father is murdered by his uncle and too shocked by the news to think calmly, so he pulls out his “tables” from the pocket, an object Powers describes as a so rt of original electronic planner. In the Elizabethan age, tables were a kind of new device designed to help people bring order to their lives despite massive news. You could write notes during the day and wipe(擦掉) them away at night.

But how do we deal with the same problem? Powers has one suggestion that's child's play: just disconnect. His family, for example, takes an “Internet Rest Day” every weekend. “We don't have smart phones. Therefore we can't check our inboxes and do Web surfing that day. We really enter another zone and it's wonderful. Even when we're connected to the Internet again, we feel benefits of having been disconnected days before,” he says. “It's just about that simple word—balance.”

6 . Short stories are amazing. You can get something useful out of them.

A woman finds a pot of treasure on the road. Pleased with her luck, she decides to keep it. As she is taking it home, it keeps changing. However, her enthusiasm(热情)refuses to fade away. Her positive personality tries to make every terrible situation seem like a gift.

Earth has been destroyed by war. However, machines continue to function and serve humans who have long ago died. The title is taken from a poem describing how nature will continue its work long after humanity is gone. But in this story, we see that nature plays a supporting role and machines have taken its place.

Timmie is a country mouse accidentally taken to a city. He finds himself at a party and makes a friend. When he can’t bear the city life, he returns to his home. When his friend visits him, something similar happens. Village and city life are recent inventions and we need to decide their costs and benefits.

While taking the train, Ruskin Bond always has to pass through a small station called Deoli. One day he sees a girl selling fruit and he is unable to forget her. This is about our attachment to strangers and why we treasure them even though we do not meet them ever again.

8 . Andrea Lankford quit her job after spending 12 years as a National Park Service forester specializing in search and rescue missions in scenic and remote American landscapes. However, decades later, three young hikers went missing on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). She found herself unable to turn away from the three separate cases despite challenges in the inquiry into them.

Trail of the Lost was her answer.

It’s an absorbing nonfiction narrative (叙事) about the three hikers, including their lives and those of the people looking for them. It also explores the history of the PCT and the rich subculture, practices and even literature that surround it and those who undertake the 2,650-mile journey.

The book is a rich multilayered narrative that works on three different levels. The first is the story of each of the three hikers. Lankford offers a biography (传记) of each of the missing men and shows them through the eyes of those who knew them well and those who joined the search.

Right underneath the narratives about the three hikers are the stories of everyone looking for them. Lankford played a role in each search but she allowed friends, family and even strangers to occupy center stage throughout most of the narrative. The story looks at the role of missing person Facebook groups in the searches and how crucial word of mouth can be. Many warm-hearted individuals came forth and became instrumental in the searches or provided valuable information. But Lankford also writes of the many who lied for no apparent reason and confused the investigations.

The narrative also shines a light on diverse aspects of the PCT. Lankford, who has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail and was the first person to mountain bike the 800-mile Arizona Trail, knows just how the PCT is physically and mentally demanding. Besides, the book explores threats from mountain lions to people with bad intentions who don’t observe the PCT’s unspoken moral rules, serving as a revelation of the well-known, hidden or ignored dangers of the PCT.

Written with a clear, fast-paced, straightforward style, Trail of the Lost is as full of hope and humanity as it is packed with pain, sorrow, danger and tension. Read it and you’ll find more than you seek.

10 . Guernsey International Poetry Competition — Poems on the Move

Your poem could be on show in 2024. Winning entries are displayed in two stages: 21 bus poems will be chosen, and the top 9 of these will take part in a second, larger exhibition, first at Guernsey Airport, then all over the island.

·Online by completing the online entry form and payment, at www.poemsonthemove.com.

·By email: PotM@guernseyliteraryfestival.com .

·By post: Poems on the Move 2024, Guernsey Literary Festival, PO Box 174, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK,GY1 3LG.

·Entries are £4 per poem or 3 poems for £10.

·Fees are not refundable.

·Young People’s Poetry: Aged 11-17, entries FREE

·Entries must be no longer than 14 lines and must be typed and fit on a single A4 page.

·Please do not write your name or age on the same sheet as your poems.

·Enter each poem on a separate page and enclose another separate sheet with your name, address, telephone number, email address, plus the title(s) of your poems.

·Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been published, self-published, published on any public website or broadcast, nor winning or placed in any other competition.

·Closing date for receipt of entries: February15, 2024

The prize is open to anyone except those involved in organizing the competition. Winners will be contacted by March 5, 2024. Winning poems will be shown on Guernsey buses, and 9 of these poems will become part of the Poems on the Move exhibition, for no less than six months.