Welcome to the world-famous house where William Shakespeare was born in l564 and where he grew up. The property (房产) remained in the ownership of Shakespeare’s family until 1806. The House has welcomed visitors traveling from all over the world for over 250 years.

◆Enter through the Visitors’ Centre and see the highly-praised exhibition Shakespeare’s World, a lively and full introduction to the life and work of Shakespeare.

◆Stand in the rooms where Shakespeare grew up.

◆Discover examples of furniture and needlework from Shakespeare’s period.

◆Enjoy the traditional English garden, planted with trees and flowers mentioned in the poet’s works.

OPENING TIMES

20 Mar to 19 Oct

Mon to Sat: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm        Sun: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

20 Oct to 19 Mar

Mon to Sat: 9:30 am to 4:00 pm        Sun: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

The Birthplace is within easy walking distance of all the car parks shown on the map; nearest is Windsor Street (3 minutes’ walk).

The House may present difficulties but the Visitors’ Centre, its exhibition, and the garden are accessible to wheelchair users.

The Shakespeare Coffee House (opposite the Birthplace).

Can you imagine a world without music? Studies show that public schools across the country are cutting back on music classes to save money. Worse, some schools have never had music classes to begin with. But without them, students’ academic(学业的) growth and emotional health could suffer. In fact, music classes are necessary for all students in schools.

A recent study by Brown University has shown that students who had music classes were better in math and reading skills than those without having music classes. Another study by The College Board found that students taking music and art classes got higher points. Students’ academic success seems to depend on taking part in music education.

Music programs in public schools also help to add to a student’s sense of pride and self-confidence. Teens today have too many learning tasks. Besides, they have family problems, self-confidence problems, relationship troubles, and choices about drugs and alcohol. All of these can stop academic success, but music education can help. Students who took part in school music programs were less likely to turn to drugs. Music programs encourage students to work together to produce an excellent performance.

Music crosses language, class cultural and political boundaries(界限). Music allows students from different countries to connect. For example, at a school talent show, a new Japanese student played a piano duet(二重奏) with an American classmate. Although they could not communicate verbally, they were able to read the music in order to play the duet. Two students from different cultures worked as a team with self-confidence and a common purpose through music.

The gift of music is priceless. We need to be sure of having necessary music classes for all students. The world is losing its music, and putting music into schools is the first step to get it back.

Do you often listen to music at loud volume? Over one billion young people are at risk of hearing loss because of listening to loud noise for long periods of time. Listening to music or watching a TV show at loud volume is harmful to your hearing.

The united Nations has standards for safe listening. It is not safe to listen to sounds that are louder than 85 decibels (分贝) for eight hours or 100 decibels for 15minutes. The sound of a rock concert can be about 100 decibels.

Loud noise is harmful to the inner ears. Most of us are born with about 16,000 hair cell (听毛细胞) in our inner ears. These cells notice sounds . However, listening to loud noise for a long time can make these cells work too hard and cause some of them to die. This is what causes hearing loss.Some people might think that their music isn’t all that loud. But this can depend where you are. For example, if you are in a noisy place like the subway, you might turn up your music too loud without realizing it. Later, when you listen to it at the same volume in a quiet place, you might feel uncomfortable.

The “safe level” for moist sound is the below 80 decibels for up to 40 hours a week. A level of 80 decibels is roughly equal to the noise of a subway.