Four Famous Castles In Britain

The country is abundant of castles, some ruined, and others still surviving today. They are a reminder of their either glorious or violent past. Read on for the one that interests you most.

Bodiam Castle, East Sussex

Built primarily for defence in the 14th century, the castle looks perfectly protected from the outside. You might think you could expect much of the same inside it, but sadly not. The war reduced the inside to ruins. The fairytale appearance of the castle standing within its broad moat (护城河) makes an indescribably spectacular picture.

Hever Castle, Kent

As a queen's childhood home, it is the perfect picture-book castle. Its thick creeper-covered walls are surrounded by double channels. With large collections including portraits, paintings, furniture and treasures, it attracts a lot of tourists here. Among its collections are two private books signed by the queen herself, which are historically valuable.

Windsor Castle, Berkshire

If you want to have a better understanding of more than 900 years'royal (王室的) life, then there really is no better place to visit than this splendid castle. It is the largest and oldest castle that is still occupied now in the world. In 1992, a fire swept through the castle, destroying 115 rooms. The repairing was completed five years later.

Tintagel Castle, Cornwall

Few places can compete with Tintagel Castle in romance and mystery. The ruins that you see today date from the 13th century, which, however, didn't stop it to become a popular attraction. Due to the legend of King Arthur, for centuries the castle has fired writers' and artists' imaginations on how the heroic king's life began here.

The name England comes from the words "Angle land". The Angles were people who came from northern Germany in the 5th and 6th centuries after the Romans had left. The French name for England is Angleterre, which also means "Angle land". There were also invasions (侵略) of southern England by Saxons and Jutes (people from another part of northern Germany). English people are sometimes called Anglo－Saxons. The Celts who used to live in this area were forced to move back into Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall and into Western France (the area known as Brittany).

England at first became a series of kingdoms, the strongest of which was Wessex (the name comes from West－Saxon). The names of many of the areas in England come from this period—for example, the name Sussex comes from South－Saxon, Essex from East－Saxon, and East Anglia from East－Angle. The Vikings then came from Denmark, and later the Normans invaded from France. Eventually England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were united, forming the United Kingdom.

The English language is the main language spoken throughout England, although there are many different accents. It can be difficult to know how to spell or to pronounce some English words, because the language has been influenced by Latin and Greek (languages used at the time of the Romans, and used in religion and education until recent times), German (the language of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes), French(the language of the Normans), Gaelic/Scots (Celtic languages) and Danish (the language of the Vikings).

There are now many people throughout the United Kingdom who speak a foreign language either as their first or second language, mainly due to immigration (移民) from Europe or the Commonwealth (countries which used to be part of the British Empire).

At a large forest park in eastern Beijing, 11 birds on the state -level protection list were recently released, which owed to Beijing's big step in wildlife protection.

These birds had recovered after the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center rescued and took care of them. "We will speed up our efforts to push the establishment of district-level wildlife rescue centers to guard the health of wildlife," said Mr. Du, director of the center. The center was set up in 2001 and built a wildlife rescue base in the capital's Shunyi District in 2005. Staff at the base have rescued and rehabilitated over 30,000 wild animals in total.

Wildlife protection has been strengthened in Beijing in recent years. On June 1, the city's newly adopted regulation (法规) on wildlife protection took effect, introducing stricter and more concrete measures to protect the environment and wildlife. For example, the regulation states clearly that Beijing bans hunting throughout the year, compared with the previous regulation which bans hunting during the periods of March to May and September to November each year. The new regulation also gives more serious punishment for illegal hunters.

After years of monitoring, the species and quantity of wild animals in Beijing are continuously increasing, with the number of terrestrial spinal wild animals (陆地脊椎野生动物) growing from 461 species in 1994 to more than 500. The habitat of the endangered bird has expanded from Fangshan District to the whole city.

"The enforcement of the new regulation marked a new stage in Beijing's wildlife protection work," said Mr. Du." We will step up the publicity of the regulation and raise citizens' awareness of wildlife protection," Du said. "In our protection of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands. we take into full consideration the requirements of ecological corridor construction (生态走廊建设), food- chain construction and wildlife and their habitat protection."

For many kids, the Internet is at their fingertips. From computers to smartphones, a web of information is open to them. According to a new report, about three out of four kids aged 12 to 15 connect the Internet using a mobile device from time to time. Many younger kids are online too.

 Julian Zeitlinger, 9, from New Jersey, uses his computer to watch videos and play games. To keep him safe online, his parents monitor his web use and discuss Internet safety with him. "I ask my parents whether something is nice or bad，" Julian says.

Mobile devices offer more ways than ever to share personal information. The information can be dangerous in the wrong hands.A study found that 62% of children aged 8 to 17 have had an unpleasant online experience.

Have you ever had to enter a parent's e－mail address when signing up for a website? That safety measure is there because of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The law says sites for kids under 13 cannot collect personal information, such as a phone number or full name, without a parent's permission.

This July, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will update COPPA for the first time since the law was created in 1998 when there were no smart phones. The nature of the way kids get online has changed, FTC lawyer Phyllis Marcus said.

When the changes take effect, COPPA will apply to mobile devices and newer forms of advertising. It will expand what falls under "personal information" to include videos, photographs, and services that give users location.

COPPA doesn't cover everything that can go wrong online. That is why kids and parents need to know what to look out for and to stop and think before sharing information online.

"There is a misunderstanding that if a site is following COPPA, it is totally safe," says privacy expert Shai Samet. He runs kidSAFE, which checks whether a site meets kidSAFE standards and is safe. "It's important that kids know how useful the Internet is but that it also can be dangerous if you are not careful." he adds.