3 . Known as “China’s most popular love comedy”, Romance of the Western Chamber is regarded as one of the best works of its time. The play was written over 700 years ago by Yuan Dynasty dramatist Wang Shifu (1260-1336).

Set in the Tang Dynasty, the play tells the secret love story between a young scholar Zhang Sheng, who is on his way to take the highest imperial exam in the capital city, and Cui Yingying, daughter of a chief minister of the Tang court.

After bandits(土匪) surround Cui at a temple, her mother promises her daughter’s hand in marriage to whoever can defeat them. Zhang manages to drive the bandits away, but Cui’s mother takes back her word because Zhang is poor. However, Zhang and Cui have already fallen in love. With the help of Cui’s maid Hong Niang, the two continue their romance and break many barriers.

The play incorporates much of the beauty of the poetry from the Tang and Song eras in Chinese history. Part of its appeal to readers is found in the style, grace and flow of the language. In fact, the play represents a high mark of achievement in romantic Chinese literature, and is quite popular. It has given rise to many sequels and rewritings, and also influenced countless plays, short stories and novels. The Peony Pavilion and Dream of the Red Chamber probably wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Wang’s classic play.

The play also inspired generations of artists across various mediums such as woodblock prints, paintings and porcelain. This fine art is still on display at places such as Freer Gallery of Art in the US and Kwun Tong’s Sun Museum in Hong Kong.

The ancient porcelain pieces depicting iconic scenes from the tale are indeed impressive. The characters are like “the superheroes from another time”, Rachel Leung, associate curator(副馆长) of Sun Museum told China Daily. “It’s exactly like the Marvel franchise.”

“This story is basically about trying to break the societal strictures. It’s about courage and perseverance to pursue true love,” Leung said. “It’s surprising to know that centuries ago our ancestors imagined a story like that. They proved that they were not rigid or passive and they could be creative enough to make things for themselves.”

Indeed, Romance of the Western Chamber is known for opposing traditional norms associated with marriage and love during a more orthodox era. It has a positive take on marriage, emphasizing that true love should prevail(占上风).

Henry is carried out to sea by a strong wind but     1     (spot) by a ship, on which he earns his passage by working without pay. As a result, he is brought to London. Feeling hungry, he     2     (wander) alone on the streets, hoping for     3     job.

Then unexpectedly he is     4     (invite) to a large and beautiful house by two rich brothers, Roderick and Oliver. They give an envelope     5     a bank note in it to him.

They have made a     6     (secretly) bet on whether a man can survive   a month in the city with a million-pound bank note. Henry is the person they want.

He feels surprised at first and doesn’t want     7    (accept) it, for he just wants an honest job from them, not     8    (they) charity. The two brothers persuade him    9    take it at last, however. Though feeling very     10    (surprise) about the matter, Henry promises them not to open the letter until one and a half hours later.

5 . Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote hundreds of poems during her lifetime. She was known around the world for using poetry to increase understanding about black culture in America.

Her poems described conditions in the black community. She also wrote poems about the struggles of black women. But her skill was more than her ability to write about struggling black people. She was an expert at the language of poetry. She combined traditional European poetry styles with the African American experience.

In her early poetry, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about the South Side of Chicago, where many black people live. In her poems, the South Side is called Bronzeville. It was A Street in Bronzeville that gained the attention of literary experts in 1945. Critics praised her poetic skill and her powerful descriptions of the black experience during the time. The Bronzeville poems were her first published collection.

In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks won Pulitzer Prize for her second book of poems called Annie Allen. Annie Allen is `a collection of poetry about the life of a Bronzeville girl as a daughter, a wife and mother. She experiences loneliness, loss, death and being poor. Ms. Brooks said that winning the prize changed her life.

Her next work was a novel written in 1953 called Maud Martha, which received little notice when it was first published. But now it is considered an important work by some critics. Its main ideas about the difficult life of many women are popular among female writers today.

In some of her poems, Gwendolyn Brooks described how what people see in life is affected by who they are. One example is this poem, Corners on the Curing Sky.

By the end of the 1960s, Gwendolyn Brooks’s poetry expanded from the everyday experiences of people in Bronzeville. She wrote about a wider world and dealt with important political issues.

6 . No poem should ever be discussed or “analyzed”，until it has been read aloud by someone，teacher or student.Better still，perhaps，is the practice of reading it twice，once at the beginning of the discussion and once at the end，so the sound of the poem is the last thing one hears of it.

All discussions of poetry are，in fact，preparations for reading it aloud，and the reading of the poem is，finally，the most telling “interpretation” of it，suggesting tone，rhythm，and meaning all at once.Hearing a poet read the work in his or her own voice，on records or on film，is obviously a special reward.But even those aids to teaching can not replace the student and teacher reading it or，best of all，reciting it.

I have come to think，in fact，that time spent reading a poem aloud is much more important than “analyzing” it，if there isn't time for both.I think one of our goals as teachers of English is to have students love poetry.Poetry is “a criticism of life”，and “a heightening(提升) of life”．It is “an approach to the truth of feeling”，and it “can save your life”．It also deserves a place in the teaching of language and literature more central than it presently occupies.

I am not saying that every English teacher must teach poetry.Those who don't like it should not be forced to put that dislike on anyone else.But those who do teach poetry must keep in mind a few things about its essential nature，about its sound as well as its sense，and they must make__room in the classroom for hearing poetry as well as thinking about it.

7 . Regrowth Poetry Competition is open to all published and unpublished, UK and non-UK based male and female writers over 16 years of age. This competition is open to poetry submissions. Poems must be based around the theme of “regrowth, birth, survival, and new life” and in any genre. The poem should be between 5 and 30 lines in length (including title).

Entry details, rules and regulations to the competition are listed below:

1. All entries must be sent using the form online.

2. Entry will cost £4.00. You can pay online via PayPal or credit card. You can also pay by cheque, making it payable to Susan Cawte. The postal address is 412 Thorold Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4HF. Multiple entries are allowed.

3. Entries will not be returned.

4. All entries submitted must be work which has not been published elsewhere or submitted to another competition which is currently still open.

5. All entries must be your own work. Any entry found to be plagiarized or printed elsewhere will be disqualified.

6. All entries submitted must clearly state the author's name, address, email address and contact telephone number on the submission.

7. The winner will be notified within one month of the closing date.

8. The closing date for entries is midnight (BST) 30th April 2016.

Prizes:

1st: £50, published story in the magazine, and a feature article about the winning author.

2nd: £25, story published in the magazine.

The 20 shortlisted authors will be listed online in May. Winners will be announced on 1st June 2016.

Tears have played a surprisingly important part in the history of the novel. Readers have always asked about the role that emotion plays in reading: What does it mean to be deeply moved by a book? Which books are worthy objects of our feelings?

In different times, people answered those questions in different ways. In the early eighteenth century, when the novel was still a new form, crying was a sign of readers’ virtue. “Sentimental” novels, full of touching scenes, gave readers an occasion to exercise their “finer feelings.” Your tear proved that you were likely to feel the suffering of others.

At that time, sentimental novels were hugely popular, but also easy to attack. Tears, after all, had no necessary connection to actual virtue, and they could be not true. As the critic John Mullan points out, by the end of the eighteenth century, the word “sentimental” had acquired a new meaning - “addicted to low emotion” - bringing it closer to the meaning that it has for us today.

In the nineteenth century, the meaning of tears evolved in two different directions. Some writers sought to waken “higher” feelings in their readers: Victorian sentimentalists wrote touching scenes in an effort to inspire social and political reform. However, the “sensation” novel, a different type of Victorian best-seller, showed that tears could be enjoyable in themselves. Sensation novels were the leaders of the modern thriller and mystery. Heavy on secrets, and madness, they were known for creating physical “sensations” in their readers - trembling, a fast beating heart, and tears. But these were tears without moral purpose or effect.

Today’s debate about crying while reading looks back on all of this history. The debate, in fact, is about why books matter to us, and what reading is “for.” Talking about what makes us cry is a way of talking about ourselves.