2 . For six hundred years, the Tower of London’s most exotic (异域风情的) prisoners were animals.

The Menagerie (动物园) began as a result of kings exchanging rare and strange animals as gifts. In 1235, Henry III was delighted to be presented with three wildcats by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. These inspired him to start a zoo at the Tower. Henry’s ‘wildcats’, although described as leopards, were probably lions. These are the ancestors of the three lions that still appear on the England football team’s shirts today.

In 1252 the lions were joined by a white bear probably a polar bear — given by the King of Norway. In 1255, the King of France sent the first elephant ever seen in England and people flocked together to see the novel (新奇的) sight. Sadly, the elephant died two years later.

Poor treatment and cramped conditions meant many of the animals did not survive for long. But the Menagerie continued to grow. Edward I created a permanent new home for the Menagerie at the western entrance to the Tower in what became known as the Lion Tower. The terrifying sounds and smells of wild animals must have both impressed and scared visitors.

By 1622, the collection had been extended to include three eagles, two pumas, a tiger and a jackal, as well as lions and leopards, who were the main attractions.

However, the end of the Menagerie came in the 1830s. Campaigners had begun to raise concerns, and the animals were expensive, occasionally dangerous and a nuisance to the guardsmen. The Duke of Wellington sent 150 of the beasts to a new zoo in Regent’s Park, today’s London Zoo.

Despite Alfred Cops’s best efforts to carry on, several further incidents including an escaped wolf and a monkey that bit a guardsman’s leg convinced King William IV to shut down the Menagerie for good in 1835. The remaining animals were sold to zoos and travelling shows and the Lion Tower was later pulled down.

3 . How to Be a Good Friend

Being a good friend isn’t always easy. As the years pass, some people will stay by your side, but many won’t. And you’ll realize that each friendship you keep is priceless. Of course, to have a good friend, you should remember the following tips:

    1    

Don’t make a promise that you can’t keep. Nobody’s perfect, and it’s okay if you skip out on a promise occasionally, but don’t make it a regular thing.

Be dependable.

Your friend will need you for support, especially in hard times.     2    

Apologize when you’ve made a mistake.

If you want your friends to trust you, then you can’t act like you’re perfect.     3     Though your friends won’t be happy that you made a mistake, they’ll be very pleased if you admit it instead of just pretending that nothing is wrong.

Be honest.

If you want to be a good friend and to have people trust you, then you have to be honest about your feelings and about how you feel about your friendship. If you’re honest about how you feel, that will make your friends more likely to open up to you.     4    

Be loyal.

    5     Just do it as you’d expect your friend to do for you. Don’t discuss your friend behind his or her back, and don’t n spread rumors.

9 . In China, tea has become an important part of everyday life for thousands of years. As the tea-processing methods and tea culture have evolved over the years, tea sets have also changed to meet the practical and cultural needs.

During the Tang Dynasty(618~907AD), tea leaves were traded across the country and Asia. For the convenience of transportation and storage, tea leaves were pressed into bricks. To prepare tea, drinkers had to cut them into small pieces and boil them in heat-resistant teapots.

By the Song Dynasty(960-1279), drinkers started to turn the hard bricks into powders (粉末) that could be whipped (搅打) in a cup with boiled water. This whipped tea is most commonly associated with Japanese tea ceremonies today.

By the 1500s, tea bricks gave way to the form of rolled leaves. This innovation led to the invention and use of teapots as we know them today. These teapots originally came from the Yi Xing region of China and were soon copied throughout the world. Then Japanese teapot-makers moved the handle from the side to the top of the teapots.

Tea finally reached Europe in the 1600s, along with the necessary tea sets made in Japan and China. As English teapot-makers began to adapt the tea sets to their country men’s tastes, they eventually added a handle to the tea bowl because of the English habit of drinking hot black tea, which was consumed at higher temperatures. The size of teacups also grew to accommodate milk and sugar in their tea.

By the early 1900s, innovations in tea drinking became an American affair. The most revolutionary one was the tea bag, which was accidentally commercialized by Thomas Sullivan. He had been sending customers tea wrapped in silk bags. Rather than take the leaves out of the bags, as Sullivan intended, the customers put the bags into their teapots instead. Not only did the tea bags push the teapot back to the sidelines of tea service, they were also too large for teacups and led to the modern practice of drinking tea from mugs.