【推荐3】Calling all poets! Time for Kids has a challenge for you: Write a rhyming poem and enter it in the TFK Poetry Contest. It must be a poem that does not copy another poet’s work.

How to enter: This contest begins at 12 pm on May 14 and ends at 12 pm on July 15. To enter online, visit our website and follow instructions to submit the following: (a)an original and previously unpublished poem; (b)the entrant’s first name only and email address; (c)a parent’s email address. Limit one entry per person or email account.

Judging: All entries will be judged by poet Kenn Nesbitt, based on the following criteria: creativity and originality (50%),use of language and rhyme (25%) and appropriateness to contest theme (25%). Winners will be notified by email during the month of August and must respond within five days.

Eligibility(资格): Open to legal citizens of the United States who are elementary school students and are 8 to 13 years old at the time of entry.

Prizes: Our judge will select four semi-finalists (半决赛选手),from which one winner and three finalists will be chosen. The winner will receive an online class taught by Kenn Nesbitt. All the semi-finalists will receive a signed copy of Bigfoot Is Missing, which is worth about $275. The semi-finalists’ poems will be published at our website.

【推荐3】2020 at Butlin's

EASTER HOLIDAYS

Fri 3 ﹣ Mon 20 April 2020

The Easter holidays are the perfect opportunities to shake off the winter coats， breathe in the fresh sea air and have your first paddle of the year in the sea． With lots of Easter﹣themed things to do， your kids can enjoy some of the more traditional Easter activities and shows．

Come with your family， make the most of the extra days off work and spend your Easter holidays with the people who matter most to you．

MAY HALF TERM

Fri 22 May ﹣ Mon 1 June 2020

The kids are off school， spring has come and there's a bank holiday weekend in the mix； that means a trip to the seaside is a must! When the British weather's playing ball， enjoy our outdoor activities， head to the beach and treat the family to an ice cream．

And if the weather's not on our side， embrace the seaside in true British form while making the most of our indoor activity venues（场地） and brilliant live shows．

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Fri 17 July ﹣ Fri 4 September 2020

Pack up the car and take your kids on a summer holiday to create long lasting family memories． Make the most of the beautiful beaches sitting on our resorts' doorsteps， enjoy the Traditional Fairground and its unique rides， see live shows， and dive into our family pool； perfect for those not﹣so﹣sunny summer days．

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

Fri 4 Dec 2020 ﹣ Sat 2 January 2021

Join us throughout December as we transform our resorts into festive （节日的） wonderlands， with particular live Christmas shows and activities for all ages．

Whether it's seeing a festive show， sitting down to eat together or wrapping up for a wander along the beach on Christmas Eve， we're sure the whole family will leave feeling sparkly on the outside and warm and fuzzy on the inside．

【推荐1】BEIJING--More Chinese consumers prefer to make payments via smart devices as mobile app have made purchases much easier, but security concerns remain, a PwC report said.

Nearly one-third of respondents in China chose mobile payment when shopping last year doubling from 16 percent in 2014, according to the accounting firms global retail(零售) survey. The figure appeared much higher than the world's average of 12 percent.

The popularity comes as a result of rapid growth of mobile payment options and an expand mobile network, the report said.

Chinese have started to enjoy a wide range of mobile payment options that allow faster, payment through near field communication and QR code. Moreover, more advances have been seen biometric technology, such as the use of fingerprints and facial recognition.

“As competition becomes fierce, mobile payment players are trying to attract users through continuous development of technology and business models.” said Yuqing Guo, PwC China's financial service consulting partner, adding that the technology is changing the way consumers assess and purchase products.

But security problems are rising. Data security was still seen as a huge problem, with leak of user information, payment fraud(诈骗) and virus attacks appearing as the three biggest challenges for the rapid growing field. The PwC report said over 60 percent of respondents were worried that their personal information was not safe.

Chinese government has introduced a series of policies to strengthen strict supervision(监督). In the meantime, people should avoid scanning QR codes from unknown sources and raise awareness of fraudulence.

The field still has vast space for growth due to technological advances and the rise of the tech-savyy younger generation, the report said, predicting Chine's retail and consumer product in will post an annual growth rate of 7.5 percent between 2016 and 2020.

【推荐2】Here are some events in the following months.Have a look and pick out your favorite.

AVCS Informational Tour

Aliso Viejo Christian School, a highly rated private school, which serves children in grades, invites potential families to its annual AVCS informational tour.Come and see its facility, meet its staff, check out its curriculum and amazing programs.The tour would love to share the school with you and answer any questions.

Location: AVCS Campus

German Immigrants Exhibition

German immigrants played a huge role in shaping Indianapolis through the 19th century.They brought educational reform, political activity and greenhouse farming.In addition to produce, these immigrants also kept their communities full of flowers and trees, Know about this part of history in October.

Location: Indiana Historical Society

Whale Watching

Gray whales migrate (迁徙) annually along the west coast of North America.They can be seen from the Orange County coast from December through early April.Summer and fall bring the giant blue whales.They can be seen from June through September.Since the gray whales migrate just a few miles off the coast, simple sail from Newport Beach enables you to see these spectacular creatures in their natural habitat.

Location: Newport Beach

Sunday Brunch(早午餐)

Sunday brunch is a wonderful way to enjoy your weekend.At View Restaurant, Sunday brunch is always accompanied by champagne, spectacular views and unique atmosphere.The menu includes traditional breakfast foods and lunch favorites like barbeque and fresh fish selections.You can also choose to view sporting events in the restaurant.With enough variety to satisfy every appetite from kids to adults, this is one Sunday brunch you'll keep coming back to!

Location: View Restaurant

【推荐3】The kakapo, a bird that lives in New Zealand, is not designed for survival. Weighing up to 4 kilograms, it is the world's fattest parrot. It mates (交配) only when the rimu tree is in fruit, which happens every few years. It developed gradually in the absence of land-based natural enemies, so instead of flying above the trees it walks like a duck across the dry forest floor. When it moves unsteadily across something that might kill it, it will stand still.

Such unusual characteristics turned it into fast food for human settlers, and for the cats and rats they brought with them. It seemed to have disappeared by the 1970s, until scientists came across two undiscovered populations in the country's south. These survivors were eventually moved to small enemy-free islands, where researchers have spent decades trying to get them to breed (繁殖).

The scientists' patience is finally rewarded. The rimu was in fruit this year, and more than 80 chicks hatched, making this the best breeding season on record. Many have survived into adolescence, increasing the number of adult kakapos by a third, to 200 birds.

Another danger to the kakapo is a lack of genetic diversity. This is one reason why fewer than half of kakapo eggs hatch. By arranging the genome (基因组) of every living bird, scientists can identify closely-related individuals and put them on different islands. Every bird is fitted with something to track its slightest movement. If a female mates with an "unsuitable” male, the process can be stopped.

All these efforts cost almost New Zealand $1.3 million this breeding season. Yet the kakapo's future still looks unsafe. Earlier this year a severe disease tore through the population. And tiny as the number of kakapos is, space is running out on the two islands where most of them live. New enemy-free settlement must soon be found.

【推荐1】On one of her trips to New York several years ago, Eudora Welty decided to take a couple of New York friends out to dinner. They settled in at a comfortable East Side cafe and within minutes, another customer was approaching their table.

“Hey, aren’t you from Mississippi?” the elegant, white-haired writer remembered being asked by the stranger. “I’m from Mississippi too.”

Without a second thought, the woman joined the Welty party. When her dinner partner showed up, she also pulled up a chair.

“They began telling me all the news of Mississippi,” Welty said. “I didn’t know what my New York friends were thinking.”

Taxis on a rainy New York night are rarer than sunshine. By the time the group got up to leave, it was pouring outside. Welty’s new friends immediately sent a waiter to find a cab. Heading back downtown toward her hotel, her big-city friends were amazed at the turn of events that had changed their Big Apple dinner into a Mississippi.

“My friends said: ‘Now we believe your stories,’” Welty added. “And I said: ‘Now you know. These are the people that make me write them.’”

Sitting on a sofa in her room, Welty, a slim figure in a simple gray dress, looked pleased with this explanation.

“I don’t make them up,” she said of the characters in her fiction these last 50 or so years. “I don’t have to.”

Beauticians, bartenders, piano players and people with purple hats, Welty’s people come from afternoons spent visiting with old friends, from walks through the streets of her native Jackson, Miss., from conversations overheard on a bus. It annoys Welty that, at 78, her left ear has now given out. Sometimes, sitting on a bus or a train, she hears only a fragment(片段) of a particularly interesting story.

【推荐3】Old tennis balls are being used in an unusual way to help us learn more about one of the rarest mammals(哺乳动物)in the country.

Harvest mice are only about 2 inches(5cm)long.This spring and summer，wildlife experts are encouraging people to report sightings of harvest mice so that records can be built up about numbers and locations can be made.

Meadows and grassland are animals'traditional homes but as farming methods change over time，the habitats are being lost and numbers are thought to be declining．

Old tennis balls，complete with penny－sized holes，make a strong and popular choice of home for the mice and around 200 are available for surveyors to distribute and monitor，after being donated by a local tennis club.

The project，supported by the Leicestershire County Council，is thought to be the biggest of its kind ever run in Leicestershire.

County Council wildlife expert，Helen O'Brien，said，“Little is known about the creatures'present situation locally so we need people to look in tall grass and fields and send in their information.The information will help us track numbers and tell us where we need to focus our attention to safeguard(保障)their future.”

Anyone interested in getting involved(参与)，can pick up tips and learn more about harvest mice on a training day.This is taking place between 7：30 p．m.and 9：30 p．m.on Monday，14th June at the County Council's Environmental Resource Centre in Birsall.People living in Leicester，Leicestershire and Rutland can get involved with the survey or book a place on the training day by calling Gareth Price at 0116－267－1950.