Relics are artifacts(人工制品) from ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Mayans. On many occasions, archaeologists discover relics containing text written in ancient languages. These items could be ancient books and scrolls(卷轴) or they could simply be vases and coins with writing on them. Interpreting these texts can be difficult, particularly if the language is a previously undiscovered one, and the texts may additionally be hard to read if they are incomplete or if sections have worn away. Another complication is that interpreting them must be done without the reader introducing any bias (偏见) based upon modern language and culture.

Lost languages are among the numerous barriers archaeologists must break through to interpret texts on relics. One solution is to employ a key, such as the Rosetta Stone, which was discovered in Egypt in 1799. It contains an ancient Egyptian decree(法令) written in three languages, one of which is in Egyptian hieroglyphics(象形文字), an unknown language at the time of its discovery; however, another language on it is ancient Greek, which scholars understood. By comparing the text, scholars made great leaps(跃进) in interpreting hieroglyphics. Unfortunately, other ancient languages, such as Minoan Linear A, have not been figured out primarily because no key that can assist translation efforts has been discovered yet.

The Rosetta Stone was mostly unscathed, but its missing parts increased the difficulty of interpreting its text, something which frequently happens with relics. The passage of time may result in carvings, paintings, drawings, and textual inscriptions(题字) getting worn away. For example, the Tel Dan Stone, a stone with ancient Hebrew inscriptions that was found in Israel in 1993, is broken in places, and large pieces of text are missing. The result is a long-standing controversy over the precise interpretation of the writing on it.

How modern scholars view texts is another barrier to interpreting them since translators have their own personal biases. Researchers must therefore keep the historical and cultural context of the period when the text was written in mind. This can be difficult when little is known of the people who wrote the text and when or why they wrote it .

We all know what a brain is. A doctor will tell you that the brain is the organ of the body in the head. It controls our body's functions, movements, emotions and thoughts. But a brain can mean so much more.

A brain can also simply be a smart person. If a person is called brainy, she is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one of them is super smart, you could say “She's the brains in the family. ” And if you are the brains behind an organization, you are responsible for developing or organizing it.

Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase “brain trust” became popular when Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932. Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues facing the US. These professors were called his “brain trust”.

These ways we use the word “brain” all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. For example, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know the word “drain”. As a verb, to drain means to remove something by letting it flow away. So a brain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out the ears. But, a brain drain is when a country's most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are, sort of, draining out of the country.

However, if people are responsible for a great idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. For example, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.

If people are brainwashed, it does not mean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make someone accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep in mind that brainwash is never used in a good way.

Jeremy from America cannot understand why a lady he met outside the Hyde Park in London said, “Oh, isn’t it cold?”, and he thinks of this behaviour as a distinctively English concern about the weather. In fact, the female was just trying to strike up a conversation with Jeremy. Not necessarily a long conversation — just an exchange of greetings. It is not always quite that obvious, but all English weather conversations have a distinctive system conducted according to unwritten but accepted rules.

The unpredictable nature of our weather ensures that there is always something new to comment on, or perhaps most importantly, agree about. We have already generally recognized that weather-speak greetings like “Cold, isn’t it?” require the response expressing agreement, as in “Yes, isn’t it?”. It would be very rude to respond with “No, actually it’s quite mild.” or “It’s pretty hot to me.” If you break the rule on purpose, you will find that the atmosphere becomes rather tense and awkward. There may be an uncomfortable silence. Most likely, they will either change the subject or continue talking about the weather among themselves politely, if coldly, ignoring your faux pas.

There is, however, one situation in which English weather-speakers are not required to obey the agreement rule at all and that is the male-bonding argument, particularly the pub-argument. In the special environment of the pub, constant disagreement not just on the weather, but on everything else as well is a means of expressing friendship.

While we may spend much of our time complaining about our weather, foreigners are not allowed to criticize it. Indeed, this brings us to the weather as family rule. In this respect, we treat the English weather like a member of our family: one can complain about the behavior of one’s own children or parents, but any blame from an outsider is unacceptable. The weather may be one of the few things about which the English are still unconsciously and unashamedly patriotic (爱国的).