【推荐1】Back before Shakespeare was born in 1564, theaters weren’t big business in England. Writers needed a royal or rich sponsor to support them if they wanted to make a living as a playwright, Permanent playhouses hadn’t existed since the Romans occupied Britain (43-410 CE), so actors wandered around from town to town hoping to find a paying audience. But all that changed in the decades following Shakespeare birth. London’s population started booming. All those people needed to be entertained in their spare me. Seeing the potential for permanent playhouses, investors started building new theaters.

These theaters were all competing for audiences, so they needed a constant Now of fresh material. People didn’t want to see the same play over and over. Writers were in demand to create stories that would fill seats, and some, like Shakespeare.

Competing theater companies had rival writers. Like rivals in most fields, these authors kept an eye on what their competitors were up to, so they could try to outdo them, sometimes by imitating or satirizing each other’s plays.

Shakespeare’s contemporaries weren’t nobodies. Ben Jonson actually dominated the scene back then with his political satires, which also got him in trouble with authorities who didn’t like his critical essays. And Christopher Marlowe, who historians say ended up influencing Shakespeare, was a big deal before Shakespeare got going.

Shakespeare could be pretty crafty when it came to his competitors, though. For instance, when Jonson’s satiric comedies were outshining Shakespeare’ romantic ones, Shakespeare borrowed from Jonson’s style and even got him to write for his company. Shakespeare chose collaboration over competition with other successful writers, too — such as John Fletcher, who took over as head playwright after Shakespeare left the business.

So why does Shakespeare get all the buzz and not these other writers? One simple distinction: Most of his plays were published.

Back in Shakespeare’s day, the theaters usually owned the plays. Most writers’ plays weren’t preserved with much care, much less published for the masses. Publishing scripts would just make it easier for a competing playhouse to rip off their material, and for the highly competitive players in the entertainment game, that just wasn’t good business. Most original manuscripts were eventually lost, destroyed, or discarded— including some of those written by Shakespeare.

Shakespeare wasn’t even the most prolific playwright in his day, but his name is now synonymous with Renaissance drama largely because his plays survived the centuries through publication while most others’ works didn’t. Some of his plays were published during his lifetime, and after his death in 1616, Shakespeare’s friends assembled The First Folio, a collection of 36 Shakespeare plays, 18 of which hadn’t been published previously — including All’s Well That Ends Well, Macbeth, As You Lite It, and Twelfth Night.

The First Folio is now considered one of the most influential books ever published in the English language. By preserving his legacy through its publication, Shakespeare’s pals made him a lasting literary star.

【推荐2】As an actor, you’ve heard it before: Your body is your instrument. It’s a cliche for a reason—it’s true. Just as a guitar player or violinist needs to often fine-tune (微调) their instrument, you need to do the same. Here, let’s break down everything you should learn about body language exercises for actors, as well as why they’re necessary in the first place to enhance your acting skills.

Body language is the most emotive form of communication after verbal speech. You can learn so much about what’s going on inside based on what’s being externalized. Think about how some entertainment magazines often ask a “body language expert” to analyze a photo of a celebrity couple. However legit (合法的) that person’s expertise may be, there are many truths when it comes to body language.

By that same reasoning, think about how much an audience can learn about a character based on the actor’s body language. You can pass on subconscious (潜意识的) information about your role without saying a word. These exercises will put you in touch with your body and make you more aware of what you’re expressing to the outside world. They can help you get into the physicality of your character so that you can understand them inside and out.

Each performer is different and may have their preferable body language exercise. Take gait exercises as an example. How a character walks is especially telling; it’s literally how they move through the world. An individual’s way of walking can also change depending on how they’re feeling at the moment: excited, sad, scared, etc. Have a bash at different walking styles to show the person you’re playing. Besides, you can write the gestures. This one is actually a writing exercise, but it will still come in handy when we construct a performance. Write out a short scene between two characters who have an entire conversation using only their body language.

【推荐3】Space junk is just what it sounds like: Things that people don’t want or use anymore, just in space. In this case, it’s mostly deserted satellites, related equipment, and bits and pieces of both that have crashed into each other and created even more debris (残骸; 碎片).     1    

“We launch many satellites we use for phone calls, TV signals scientific instruments, and so on,” says a professor at Louisiana State University, “When these satellites die and stop working, they become space junk.”     2     Space junk is also made up of pieces of the rockets, along with other pieces.

Space junk is out of sight. It’s unlikely that space junk would ever be a danger to us on Earth.     3     There are presently around 29,000 pieces of space debris in orbit.

    4     There’s already so much out there, and cleanup is technologically difficult, costly and dangerous. In late 2019 the ESA (欧洲航天局) contracted the Swiss company Clearspace Today to create “the world’s first debris-removing space task”. Set to be launched by 2025, the Clearspace-1 task involves having a four-armed robot catch space junk, then dive toward Earth’s atmosphere, where both would burn up.

But cleanup isn’t enough.     5     And we also need to discover the best methods for the removal of satellites and space junk.

In recent years, various space organizations have worked to reduce the amount of trash added to Earth’s orbit by carrying out better designs.

【推荐1】Reflexology is a natural treatment dating back to ancient times. It is based on the idea that there are zones, or areas, in the feet and hands that are related to other parts and systems of the body. For example, the tips of the toes and fingers are related to the head and neck, and the ball of the foot is related to the heart and chest. A reflexologist applies pressure to specific areas in a patient’s feet and hands to relieve symptoms or pain in other related areas.

This type of treatment does not cure or diagnose specific health problems, and it does not involve any medicine or drugs. Yet many patients find that it successfully relieves symptoms of stress and disease. Reflexology is effective for pain, headaches, and sleeping difficulties, among other ilnesses. Applying pressure to the feet and hands relieves tension, improves blood circulation, and relaxes muscles. It promotes the natural, healthy functions and well-being of the entire body. Reflexology is often used along with other types of treatments, including conventional medicine.

This gentle therapy is safe and simple. A reflexologist’s only tools are his or her hands. Pressure is strong, but not uncomfortable. It’s not uncommon for patients to fall asleep during treatments.

A typical treatment session lasts one hour. Treatment is usually focused on the feet for most of the session. A patient is asked to remove his or her shoes and socks, to sit in a comfortable reclining chair, and then to relax as the reflexologist warms the patient’s feet with his or her hands and applies pressure to the appropriate parts of the foot. The last ten minutes of the session are dedicated to the hands.

After relieving specific problems, many patients continue a regular program of treatment to maintain good health. Some reflexologists suggest building at least a five- minute reflexology session into every day for long-term relief of stress and pain.

【推荐3】The Enjoyment of Travel

Travel used to be a pleasure, but now it has become an industry. No doubt there are greater facilities for traveling today than a hundred years ago, and governments with their official travel bureau s have developed the tourist trade, resulting in modern man traveling much more than his grandfather. Nevertheless, travel seems to have become a lost art. To understand the art of travel, one should first be aware of the different types of false travel.

The first kind of false travel is travel to improve one’s mind, which has been overdone. I always doubt whether one’s mind can be so easily improved. If we are usually so serious as to be bent upon improving our minds, we should at least during a vacation empty the mind. This false idea of travel has given rise to tourist guides, the most intolerable chattering busybodies that I can imagine.

One cannot pass a square or a statue without his attention being called to the fact that So-and-so was born on April 23, 1792, and died on December 2, 1852. I have seen convent (修道院) sisters accompanying school children to a cemetery, reading to them the dates of the dead, the age at which he married, and other such learned nonsense, which I am sure spoiled the pleasure of the entire trip for the children.

The second kind of false travel is travel for conversation, in order that one may talk about it afterward. I have seen visitors at Hupao of Hangzhou, a place famous for its tea and spring water, having their picture taken while lifting tea cups to their lips. The danger is that one spends less thought on the actual taste of the tea than on the photograph itself. This sort of thing can become an obsession, especially with travelers provided with cameras. Tourists are so busy with their cameras that they have no time to look at the places themselves.

This foolish travel produces the third type of false travelers, who travel by schedule, knowing beforehand exactly how many hours they will spend in each city. Bound by the clock and run by the calendar as he is at home, he is still bound by the clock and run by the calendar while abroad.