A lost poem by Anne Frank that she wrote shortly before she and her family went into hiding from the Nazis has been unearthed (找到) more than 70 years later. The previously-unseen eight-line poem was penned (写) by the Jewish schoolgirl for the sister of her closest friend on March 28, 1942. She wrote it, aged 12, in a book belonging to Christiane ‘Cri-cri’ Van Maarsen, the younger sister of her best friend Jacqueline.

Anne Frank was born in 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany, but her family fled the Nazis in 1933, moving to Amsterdam where her father worked in the fruit extract business. But in 1940, Holland was occupied by the Nazis and the family were once again under threat because they were Jews.

The newly found poem was written in Dutch, begins Dear Cri-Cri, and seems to be giving homely advice to the younger girl. It reads:

If you did not finish your work properly,

And lost precious time,

Then once again take up your task

And try harder than before.

If others have reproached you

For what you have done wrong,

Then be sure to amend your mistake.

That is the best memory one can make.

Cri - cri died 10 years ago and her sister has now put the poem up for auction (拍卖), where it is expected to fetch around 50, 000 euros (£ 42, 000).

Her diary was left behind when the hiding place was eventually discovered by Dutch collaborators (通敌者) in August 1944, who handed them over to the occupying German Army in 1944.

The family ended up in a concentration camp and Anne died in February or March 1945. But her father Otto, who survived the camps, returned to the house in Amsterdam and found Anne's diary, which had been kept by a Dutch friend, Miep Gies.

Anne Frank's diary, an account of her life in hiding, was published in 1947 and became a global sensation, being translated into 67 languages. Thijs Blankevoort, director of Dutch auction house Bubb Kuyper Auctions, which is selling the poem this week, said: “The poem is very simple but very significant because it is very rare.”

The Case for Classics

Many high school students complain when they look at a course syllabus for Chinese and know they should read The Story of the Stone and other pieces of classic literature. 【小题1】 But there are some good reasons why reading the classics is an important part of a 21st century education.

【小题2】 As students explore texts that were written hundreds of years before, they know the world as it was in those days. Being able to hear those voices from the past is a good chance young people should be grateful to have.

Furthermore, as students read classic works, they begin to see history in a new way. Living in the modern world, most teens don't think about that human civilization has been around for a longtime. 【小题3】 Yet the experiences of those people can help students deal with the challenge today. The wording and writing style may have changed, but the deep themes (love, loss, and courage) are as true today as they were for the authors of these early works.

One of the most important reasons to study classic literature, however, is to expand one's mind. 【小题4】 To prove this, a group of scientists gathered volunteers who agreed to have their brains canned while reading phrases from classic literature in both their original form and in modern translations. The result of the study showed a significant increase in the brain activity of people reading the original literature works.

【小题5】 It connects students to history, helps them solve today's problems and improves their thinking. Therefore, if today's teens are going to grow as readers, writers, and critical thinkers, it is important that classic literature remains a part of their education.