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　　Have you heard about“Survival(生存)Holidays”?“Survival Holidays”is for children to go into the lonely place for exciting activities．Now about 1,100 companies are allowed to take children into the great outdoors without their parents．

　　The reason why people like“Survival Holidays”is that they think being close to nature is good for children．Many children in big cities spend all time watching TV and playing computer games．“Survival Holidays”gives them an important change．

　　Is“Survival Holidays”a wonderful idea?Maybe it is．Children need more free time to play．They need to be left on their own, without adults disturbing them．Parents care too much about their children．They like to see the children being busy with activities that are controlled by adults, which causes many problems．They don't know what to do when they are in danger．Even something like crossing a small river seems to be a hard challenge．Children are not comfortable with danger．Even slight danger like getting their feet wet or falling down seems very terrible to them．

　　Many people think the survival activities are good for children．Even years later, they will still remember what they have learned．Some have learned to stay calm in different times．Some have learned how to keep safe．Others have learned how to work in a team．All these skills will help them a lot in their lives．

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　　The morning was a bit cold, but Li Yanbo quickly got out of his warm bed when it was 7∶30．He picked up two plastic buckets(塑料桶)and rushed to the center of the village, where a fire truck arrives once a day to provide water for them．

　　Li, a 24-year-old farmer, lives in Liguan village, Songming－about 60km away from Kunming．For the last three months, he has risen early to meet the fire truck because the village's only reservoir(水库)has dried up．Rain hasn't fallen for six months．

　　The queue is very long by the time Li arrives．About 4,000 thirsty villagers come with their empty buckets and stand behind the truck．

　　“My family gets two or three buckets of water every day．We use them for drinking, washing and cooking,”said Li．“If we save a little every day, then once a week we can have a short bath．”

　　Li planted two mu of broad beans(蚕豆)last autumn, but he has earned nothing because of the drought(干旱)．As usual, he would plant rice after getting in the beans．But the field is so dry that he can't even plough(耕田)it．

　　“The rice is food for my family－my parents and younger brother．We have no more money to buy rice from the market,”said Li．

　　Like most people in his village, growing tobacco(烟草)provides the family's meal ticket．Usually, Li's three mu of tobacco earns him near 10,000 yuan．But now…Luckily, local governments are trying to help families like Li's by hunting for new water resources(资源)．

　　How important it is to save water!Li says“It has taught me that, if we use water correctly, two buckets a day should be enough for four family members．We can recycle(循环利用)the water for many different uses,”said Li．“Every drop of water is worth a lot of money．I hope people realize this．”

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　　The first ever trans-Atlantic telephone call was made from New York City to London in 1927．In keeping with this spirit, we'd like to tell you some of our other communication records：

　　Most spammed person(收到垃圾邮件最多的人)

　　Microsoft chairman William H．Gates Ⅲ(the U．S．A．)receives up to four million spams(垃圾邮件)each day．However, with the help of all the people who are working in Microsoft and anti-spam technology, only around ten spares reach his inbox per day．

　　Earliest email

　　In l971, Ray Tomlinson, an engineer at the computer company, and Newman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the U．S．A．sent the first email．At first it was an experiment to see if he could get two computers to exchange(交换)a message．(It was Ray who decided to use the @ symbol to separate(分开)the others' name from their location．The first email message was“QWERTYUIOP”．put the @ sign into the first e-mail message

　　Largest LAN(局域网)party

　　The largest LAN(Local Area Network)party was made up of 8, 531 unusual computers and 9, 184 members in Sweden from 30 November to 2 December 2006．

　　Most telephone books torn(撕)in three minutes．

　　Tina Shelton tore 21 telephone books at last, each with l, 028 numbered pages in a time of three minutes in California, the U．S．A．on 9 February 2007．

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　　Starting from this month, you won't be hearing the word“NBA”on sports programs on CCTV．Instead, sport hosts will give the full Chinese name when they refer to the NBA－National Basketball Association．You also won't hear any other English abbreviations on CCTV's Chinese programs, such as GDP(gross domestic product,), or WTO(World Trade Organization,)．You will hear their Chinese translations．

　　CCTV received a notice from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, telling it to avoid using English-language abbreviations in their reports to protect the “purity” of the Chinese language．A few other TV stations also received the notice．

　　Fu Zhenguo, an editor of People's Daily, is one of the people who proposed(提议)the change．“Using English in a Chinese-speaking environment is against Chinese law,”he said．“Using English on Chinese TV programs is unfair to people who don't understand English．It will have a bad language influence on kids and teenagers．”

　　But some experts have a different opinion．Liu Yaoying, a professor at the Communications University of China, said the move shows cultural conservatism(保守主义)．

　　“If Western countries can accept some Chinglish(中国式英语)words, why can't the Chinese language be mixed with English?”Liu said．

　　A lot of people have criticized the move, saying that it will cause problems for them．

　　“I understand what CD, VCD and DVD mean when I hear them．But I won't know what the TV programs are talking about if I hear those products' full Chinese names,”a person wrote in a BBS post．Following the same post, another person wrote jokingly：“I'm not listening to my MP3 now．I'm listening to my Moving Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3．”

　　Some people also question why CCTV is keeping its logo, since it is also an English abbreviation．

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　　China is a friendly country．Many leaders in other countries have come to China for their visits．

　　He first took a plane to Shanghai on the night of November 15．Chinese people there gave him a warm welcome．The next day, ha had a face-to-face conversation with the college students at Shanghai Science and Technology Museum．At noon, the Chinese leader Hu Jintao invited him to have a big dinner．Then they sat together, talking relationship between the two countries and some other important things．

　　Obama had a very busy schedule(日程)every day．But he still spent some time visiting the Forbidden City and the Great Wall．When a leader visits another country, he or she sometimes goes to the country's most famous places．It is to show respect to the local culture．For the leaders, it's also a good time to relax during a foreign trip．Obama spent 50 minutes in the Forbidden City on November 17．He thought the Forbidden City“a magnificent place to visit”．He said,“I will come back with my girls and my wife．”

　　The next afternoon, he took a quick tour of the Great Wall at Badaling．There, he enjoyed a moment of peace．“How wonderful!It reminds you of the progression(进程)of history．”Obama said about the Great Wall．There is proverb in China：He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a True man．US President Barack Obama is a true man．

　　On the night of November 18, Obama ended his visit and came to Korea by plane．He has left China, but his visit will be remembered by Chinese people．

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　　A man in a very famous restaurant started to take off his jacket．As soon as the head waiter saw this, he rushed over to his table and said,“I'm afraid I must ask you to keep your jacket on, sir, because it is not good manners to do it in such a nice restaurant．”

　　“Now, listen,”said the man．“I will let you know that the Queen of England gave me permission(许可)to take off my jacket here．”

　　“The Queen of England?”said the waiter in great surprise．

　　“Sure．”replied the man,“When I was in England last month, a friend of mine took me to see the Queen．It was very hot．I started taking my coat off．The Queen looked over and said,‘You may do that in the United States, but you may not do it here!'So I got the Queen's permission, right?”

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　　Cell phones are all around us．We use cell phones to call our friends, send text messages, play games, and even take photographs．Now imagine using your cell phone to call your air conditioner(空调)．If this were possible you could tell your air conditioner to turn on before you got home．Does this sound impossible to you?Well, it could become possible sooner than you think．In the near future, we might use cell phones as remote controls(遥控器)for the electrical machines in our homes．

　　People are already working to develop different ways to communicate wirelessly(无线通讯)with machines we use every day．For example, it is already possible for cell phones to communicate with laptop computers．Business people using laptops during meetings can use their cell phones as remote controls．They can use their cell phones to send instructions to computers to turn on, change pictures, and turn off．

　　With the same technology, people can use their cell phones to control other machines．You can call your stereo(立体声音响设备)to play music automatically(自动地)．You can call your lights to turn on when you enter a room．Maybe even by next summer you will be able to call your air conditioner!

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　　Do you know how to play a game called“Musical Chairs”?It is easy to play and most people enjoy it．All you need are some chairs, some people and some way of making music．You may use a piano or any other musical instrument(乐器), if someone can play it．You may use a tape recorder．You can even use a radio．

　　Put the chairs in a row．The chairs may be put in twos, back to back．A better way is to have the chairs in one row with each chair facing in the opposite direction to the chair next to it．

　　The game is easy．When the music starts, the players walk round the chairs．Everyone goes in the same direction, of course, they should walk in time to the music．If the music is fast they should walk quickly．If the music is slow, they should walk slowly．

　　The person playing music cannot see the people in the game．When the music stops, the players try to sit on the chairs．If a person cannot find a chair to sit on, he drops out．Then, before the music starts again, one chair must be taken away．When the music stops again, one more player will be out．

　　At last, there will be two players and one chair．The one who sits on the chair when the music stops is the winner．

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　　If you have no special plans for your holidays, why not spend your time helping others?

　　Don't listen to people who say the young people today often think only of themselves．It's not true at all．More and more young people in the USA volunteer to spend their school holidays working for others, and they don't do it for money．Here are some of their stories．

　　Alice Hamilton, 17

　　I'm going to help the Forest Center build new hiking paths in the mountains．It's going to be great－I'll spend the whole summer living in the tent and breathing the clean mountain air．I'm going to sleep under the stars．It will be a nice sport, and I'll be able to do something good at the same time．

　　Jason Moore, 18

　　This summer, I'm going to volunteer with Special House Program．They build good, low-cost houses and sell them to families that are not very rich．They'll teach me what to do, so I'll help people and also have a chance to learn how to build houses．

　　Trish Anderson, 16

　　I'm going to teach kids who have trouble reading．I'll work for a program called Reading for Life．Every day, I'm going to help kids choose and read books that they like．I want to be a teacher, and I love children and reading, so this is going to be a great experience for me．