2 . Literary festivals are held annually in many corners of the globe and attract large numbers of readers, writers, playwrights (剧作家) and publishers.

Miami Book Fair

For eight days each year in November, the campus of Miami Dade College hosts over 500 outstanding authors during the Miami Book Fair. The fair offers young writers a unique opportunity to attend creative writing courses and workshops. Readers can listen to famous international authors talk about their latest books. Most of the events are offered free of charge to encourage a love of literature across all income groups.

Cheltenham Literature Festival

The festival runs for 10 days every autumn in Cheltenham. It’s the world’s first literature festival, leading the way in celebrating the writ- ten and spoken word. The fair offers something to everyone-you can attend reading activities and debates, and bring your children to see their favorite storybook characters brought to life.

Paraty International Literary Festival

It’s held each year in the city of Paraty, Brazil. Visitors can meet many local and international authors, poets and playwrights, and attend literature workshops. As part of the festival, Flipinha is mainly for children where young readers can meet writers and relax with a book in a special space. A further arm of the festival is called FlipMais. A series of free events about live theatre, music and cinema are held throughout the city of Paraty.

Edinburgh International Book Festival

The festival lasts for over 16 days every August and usually features around 900 events where you can meet your favorite authors, and bring your children to attend magical story-telling sessions and special workshops for children with learning disabilities. In most years, the festival attracts over 1,000 authors, poets and educators.

3 . Four Hotels That Will Make Your Life Easier

It’s such an ideal option for business travelers in a hurry. Here is the basic idea: You download the iPhone or Android app. The night before, you can “check-in” virtually. When you arrive you get a message that the room is ready and your key, which is already tied to your reservation, is waiting for you at the desk.

The self-service kiosks (一体机) at this high-tech New York hotel are open 24x7 and work just like the ones you’d see at an airport. There are just five-steps to register and obtain your room card. There’s even a luggage robot. You tap in the number of bags you’re carrying, then wait for a robot arm to swing down and store your luggage in a locker.

Business travelers like the fast kiosk check-in works. Like the Yotel, the kiosk asks you to put in your credit card. The whole process takes about three minutes. When travelers leave, they can be equally impressed with the fast check-out. You never have to wait in line.

The Radisson is trying to make the kiosk process even faster, you use a mobile app to register and then receive a password by email or text. When you get to the kiosk, you can scan the password to get your key without any other steps required. It’s incredibly fast.

5 . Packing up your kids and heading to the best beach attractions in the U.S. is one of the most popular family vacation ideas. From coast to coast, here are the most kid-friendly beach attractions in the U.S., where sun, sand and surf are just the beginning of the family vacation experience.

Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Located in Cape Elizabeth, the 45-room Inn by the Sea is the best East Coast beach hotel for dog lovers. And even if you don’t have a dog in your family group, you can head to its dog shelter partnered with the Animal Refuge League. Guests can play with, walk and even adopt the rescue dog if so moved.

Chatham Bars Inn, Chatham, Massachusetts

Dating back to 1914 and open year-round, the Chatham Bars Inn has 217 guest rooms along with plenty of seaside charm. Lie on the inn’s private beach, or relax by the oceanfront pool. The inn’s boats take guests on whale-watching and fishing.

The Lodge at Gulf State Park, A Hilton Hotel Gulf Shores, Alabama

The Lodge at Gulf State Park is an environmentally friendly family beach attraction designed for getaway-from-it-all nature-filled escapes. Built to meet LEED Gold standards, The Lodge offers 350 guest rooms in casual contemporary style with views of the Gulf of Mexico.

Hotel Del Coronado, Coronado Island, California

Recognized as one of the best beach sites in the U.S., Hotel Del Coronado has a history of more than more than 130 years. This kid-friendly U.S. beach hotel’s 901 guest rooms are located in different “neighborhoods” around the hotel.

6 . Jeremy Pound recommends compositions inspired by the beauty of the British countryside.

Frederick Delius: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring

A bird, cuckoo, in Bradford born Delius’s short work for orchestra. In this instance, the call of the bird is heard in one wind instrument and later another, while a soft, gentle tune in the strings promises sunny days ahead.

Arnold Bax: November Woods

Bax’s 1917 symphonic poem for orchestra has, as the title suggests, a wonderfully autumnal feel. A storm gathers in the first half but eventually the music switches to a calmer mood. Few works display the British weather so delicately.

Gustav Holst: Egdon Heath

Though the title of Holst’s 1927 orchestral work comes from a fictional location described by Thomas Hardy, the composer was initially inspired to write it by long walks in the south of England. The musical landscape here is rough and sometimes predictive.

Edward Elgar: Cello concerto

Is an ageing Elgar looking back over recent global and personal ups and downs in this grand but sorrowful 1919 work, or expressing the beauty of the British countryside? A bit of both, one feels—he associated a passage from it with the Malvern Hills.

8 . The Enrollment of International Students of Xi’an University of Science and Technology (XUST)

Application Procedure

1. Log in to the website (gjjl.xust.edu.cn) to download and fill in the Application Form for International Students;

2. Provide digital photocopies or scans of valid (有效的) regular passport.

Charge List

1. Registration fee ( not refunded) : ￥200 per person (under 3 months), ￥400 per person (over 3 months)

2. Tuition and other charges

Medical Insurance

According to the regulations issued by the Chinese Ministry of Education, all international students are required to purchase the Comprehensive Insurance & Protection scheme for Foreigners Staying in China on the registration day. Students who do not have valid medical insurance will not be allowed to register.

Medical insurance fee: ￥800 per person per year

Contact Information

Room B202, Admission Division, International Exchange and Cooperation Office, Xi’ an University of Science and Technology, 58 Yanta Road, Xi’ an, Shaanxi, 710054, China.

Tel: + 86-29-85583033

Fax: + 86-29-85583719

E-mail: luc@xust.edu.cn

Website: www.xust.edu.cn

9 . The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by MARK TWAIN

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" is a novel that can be considered autobiography as it is based on the experiences of Mark Twain. Tom Sawyer stands out for his intelligent, wild and humorous nature. He is a person who can overcome any problem, and nothing is impossible for him. He looks at the difficulties as a challenge and tries to solve them. He is powered by great optimism despite everything bad that has happened to him.

The Happy Prince by OSCAR WILDE

The Happy Prince is a tale with multiple lessons. From one side it is the critic of the society that can be cruel and heartless and on the other side, it is about the sympathy for humans' troubles. Oscar Wild tried to state in a simple way the virtues and weaknesses of a person in all of his fairy tales and criticize the society which is insensible.

The Old Man and the Sea by ERNEST HEMINGWAY

"The Old Man and the Sea" is a novel which was published in 1952 for the first time in the magazine Life. The theme is the relationship between man and nature. Even though at the beginning Santiago is represented like a man who is defeated in life and has no strength, with time we find out that he is the real hero characterized by strength and faith.

Beauty and the Beast by JEANNE-MARIE LEPRINCE DE BEAUMONT

"Beauty and the Beast" is a heartfelt story about the birth of love and the capability of love to trans-form the way you look at people you love. The moral of this fairy tale is that person' s beauty comes from a heart in love and when the beauty realizes the inner beauty of the beast and the feelings it has, the outer appearance means nothing to her anymore.