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　　Millions of people pass through the gates of Disney’s entertainment parks in California, Florida and Japan each year．What makes these places an almost universal attraction? What makes foreign kings and queens and other important people want to visit these Disney parks? Well, one reason is the way that they’re treated once they get there．The people at Disney go out of their way to serve their “guests”, as they prefer to call them, and to see that they enjoy themselves．

　　All new employees, from vice presidents to part-time workers, begin their employment by attending Disney University and taking “Traditions 1”．Here, they learn about the company’s history, how it is managed and why it is successful．They are shown now each department relates to the whole．All employees are shown how their work is important in making the park a success．

　　After passing “Traditions 1”, the employees go on to more specialized training for their specific jobs．No detail is missed．A simple job like taking tickets requires four eight-hour days of training．When one ticket taker was asked why it took so much training for such a simple, ordinary job, he replied, “What happens if someone wants to know where the restrooms are, when the parade starts or what bus to take back to the camp grounds?．．．We need to know the answers or where to get them quickly．Our constant aim is to help our guests enjoy the party．”

　　Even Disney’s managers get involved in the daily management of the park．Every year, the managers leave their desks and business suits and put on special service clothes．For a full week, the bosses sell hot dogs or icecream, take tickets or drive the monorail, and take up any of the 100 jobs that make the entertainment park come alive．The managers agree that this week helps them to see the company’s goals more clearly．

　　All these efforts to serve the public well have made Walt Disney Productions famous．Disney is considered by many as the best mass service provider in America or the world．As one long-time business observer once said, “How Disney treats people, communicates with them, rewards them, is in my view the very reason for his fifty years of success I have watched, very carefully and with great respect and admiration, the theory and practice of selling satisfaction and serving millions of people on a daily basis, successfully．It is what Disney does best．”

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　　Francesco Totti knows all about the weight of a captain’s armband．This sense of responsibility inspired the 28-year-old to score his spectacular 100th, Serie A goal．

　　The goal saved his team．AS Roma, from defeat last Sunday．The amazing 30-meter free kick went in as Roma was losing by 3-1 to Inter Milan and helped secure a draw．

　　Totti, who captains his national team, Italy, cracked under the pressure during the summer’s Euro 2004 tournament．He was caught spitting at a Danish player during a tough opening match．

　　“I did not do it on purpose．I was very nervous at the start of the championship, ”he said．“I was under an enormous amount of pressure．”

　　The incident resulted in a three-match ban and some good jokes．

　　“Hey, Frankie, where’s Sweden?” a teammate asks Totti about another of Italy’s Group C opponents．

　　“Within spitting distance of Denmark, ”comes the answer．

　　Jokes do not bother Totti, for during his entire career people have laughed at him．He even launched a best selling Totti Joke book with all profits going to UNICEF．

　　At first, the fact that all Italy joked about his Roman accent and lack of intelligence did upset him．

　　But he learned to laugh with everyone else．“Mainly, it wasn’t a problem for me．I just didn’t like it that the jokes sometimes included my family, ”he said．“Don’t take yourself so seriously and don’t think that what others say about you is true．”

　　Totti spends most of his free time at home－he views it as a refuge．“I’m lucky My girlfriend doesn’t understand anything about football, so I get a break-from the jokes, too．”

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　　Large companies need a way to reach the savings of the public at large．The same problem, on a smaller scale, faces practically every company trying to develop new products and create new jobs．There can be little hope of raising the money needed from friends and people we know, and while banks may agree to provide short-term finance, they are generally unwilling to provide money for long-term projects．So companies turn to the public, inviting people to lend them money, or take a share in the business in exchange for a share in future interests．They do this by issuing stocks and shares in the business through the Stock Exchange．By doing so they can put into circulation the savings of single persons and institutions, both at home and abroad．

　　When the saver needs his money back, he does not have to go to the company with whom originally placed it．Instead, he sells his shares through a stockbroker to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money．

　　Many of the services needed both by industry and by each of us are provided by the government or by local organizations．Without hospitals, roads, electricity, telephones, railways, this country could not work．All these require continuous spending on new equipment and new development if they are to serve us properly, frequently need to borrow money to finance major capital spending, and they, too, come to the Stock Exchange．

　　These is hardly a man or woman in this country whose standard of living does not depend on the ability of his or her employers to raise money to finance new development．In one way or another this new money must come from the savings of the country．The Stock Exchange exists to provide a channel through which these saving can reach those who need finance．

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　　A poor traveler stopped under the tree to eat the boiled rice and vegetable which he had brought with him．A few meters away, there was a small shop by the side of the road where a woman was frying fish and selling it to travelers．The woman watched the poor traveler carefully, and when he finished his food and began to go, she shouted rudely, “You haven’t paid me for the fried fish!”

　　“But I have not had any fried fish!” he said．

　　“But everyone can see that you enjoyed the smell of my fried fish with your rice and vegetables, ” said the woman．“If you had not smelled the fish, your meal would not have been so pleasant!”

　　Soon a crowd collected, and although they supported the poor traveler, they had to admit that wind was blowing from the shop to the place where he had eaten, and that it had carried the smell of the fried fish to him．

　　Finally, the woman took the poor traveler to a judge, who said, “The woman says that the traveler ate his meal with the smell of her fried fish．The traveler agrees that the wind was blowing from the woman’s shop to the place where he ate his rice and vegetables and that it carried the smell of her fried fish to his nose while he was eating, so he must pay for it．What does your fried fish cost?” he asked the woman．

　　“Twenty-five cents a plate,” she answered, delighted．

　　“Then go outside together, ”said the judge．There the traveler must hold up a twenty-five-cent piece so that its shadow falls on the woman’s hand．The price of the smell of a plate of fried fish is the shadow of twenty-five cents．

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　　Youth volunteers from Beijing University visited Songtang Hospital, a care clinic for the aged and dying patients, during the second Global Youth Service Day on April 21．

　　Thirty student volunteers from the university’s School of International Studies sat at the beds of the patients in their specially-decorated “careful huts”．They talked with them and gave massages to patients kept in their beds．

　　“I felt sorry that I could not offer more to these people than talking with them and trying to cheer them up, ”said Deng Yetao, 20, a third-year student．“But it occurred to me that they need more care and love than babies．They are afraid of the coming death．Their loneliness is worse than physical pains．”

　　“Even though they are suffering a lot, the majority of the elderly people want to talk to us．Each of them has a lot of life experiences and philosophies to share．Instead of doing them a favor, I felt I was gaining a valuable lesson, ”said Mao Xiaohua, another third-year student．

　　The fact that most of the patients in the 80-room clinic are aged people with diseases which will lead to death soon made the volunteers hearts heavy．

　　Ninety-one percent of the patients will spend the last days of their lives in the clinic, according to a survey by the hospital．“For people at this stage of their lives, loneliness is even more dreadful than death itself, ”said Li Wei, president of the hospital．

　　Daily visits and services by social workers and youth volunteers are a very important part of their programme．A total of 330 000 Beijing students from 119 universities and colleges have visited the hospital．Many continue to offer services in their spare time．Some of them volunteer to hold the hands of dying patients during the last minutes of their lives．

　　Yin Hang, a student from Beijing Medical College, said he felt “the glory of life” as he saw the fading smile on the face of the old man who passed into a deep unconsciousness while he was holding his hands．

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　　Your mobile phone rings, and instead of usual electronic signals, it’s playing your favorite music．A friend sends your favorite song to cheer you up．One day, a record company might forward new records and music videos to your phone

　　The mobile business is getting into the music business．For the moment, the interest is in pleasant ring tones, but some companies are hoping to take full advantage of the next generation of mobile phones-all-purpose gadgets that blend phone, personal stereo, video player and Internet browser into one．

　　Finally, record companies might send new records and videos to fans who register their cell phone numbers．

　　The fans could pass music or songs along to friends－a kind of musical trading card．Unlike Internet tracks, mobile downloads would be easy for record companies to control, said former record industry official Ralph Simon, who is now chairman of your mobile, based in Santa Monic, California．

　　“If you pass a song along to other phones through a network, each phone can be charged,” said Simon．“It’s like going through a toll gate(收费站)．There’s more possibility for copyright control than there is on the Internet．”

　　Massachusetts-based Converse is offering a service in Portugal and the Netherlands that lets people record tunes on their voice mail or send music as presents to friends．Finally, people might be able to sing karaoke and pass them along．The company is sure that people will want to use music to reach out and touch someone．

　　“A mobile phone is not a listening machine, and you’ll be disappointed if you think you can change it to a radio, ”said Ohad Ouziel, a creative manager for Converse in Israel．“But if someone sends you a song while you’re on vacation, you appreciate the feeling．”

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　　One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bank-issued credit card．They give their owners automatic credit in stores, restaurants, and hotels, at home, across the country, and even abroad, and they make many banking services available as well．More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open．For many of us the “cashless society” is not on the horizon－it’s already here．

　　While computers offer these conveniences to consumers, they have many advantages for sellers, too．Electronic cash registers can do much more than simply ring up sales．They can keep a wide range of records, including who sold what, when, and to whom．This information allows businessmen to keep track of their list of goods by showing which items are being sold and how fast they are moving．Decisions to reorder or return goods to suppliers can then be made．At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employees are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly．And they also identify preferred custom for promotional campaigns．Computers are relied on by manufactures for similar reasons．Computer analyzed marketing reports can help to decide which products to emphasize now, which to develop for the future, and which to drop．Computers keep track of goods in stock, of raw materials on hand, and even of the production process itself．?

　　Numerous other commercial enterprises, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computers．

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　　I shall never forget the day when the earthquake took place．The time was about 5 o’clock in the afternoon and I was driving along the road to take my daughter from school．Our plan was to go swimming together．I had finished my work at 4 o’clock and then gone to the post office．Then I’d stopped off at a shop in order to get some fresh fruit．We like to have some fruit to eat after our swim．

　　I was driving along a high road on my way to my daughter’s school．Over my road was another road, which was built like a bridge for cars coming to the other way．I was hungry so I put the bag of apples in the seat beside me and started to eat one．

　　Suddenly I saw the cars in front of me start to move from side to side．Then my car started to shake! I didn’t know what was happening．Perhaps? something had gone wrong with my car．I drove a little more slowly and then I stopped the car and at the same moment the road fell onto the cars in front of me．

　　I found myself in the dark．I couldn’t move．The bottom parts of both of my legs and my feet were hurting badly and I couldn’t move them．All around me was quiet．But above me I could hear shouts and a lot of noise．Then I memorized what had happened．I had been in an earthquake．

For about two hours nobody came．Luckily I could reach the bag of apples, so at least I had plenty to eat．Then I heard people climbing towards me．A team of people had come to see if anyone was under the broken road．I called out, “I’m here!” I heard a shout．Soon a stranger climbed to the side of the road near my car．“How are you doing?” he asked．

　　“Not too bad,” I said．“But my feet and legs feel as if they re broken．” “We’ll have you out of there just as soon as we can．” They didn’t get me out until the next morning．I had been in my car for fourteen hours．

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　　She was known to millions as the “Queen of Crime” or the “Duchess(女公爵)of Death”．But surprisingly, she hated violence and blood, and knew nothing of the weapons most often used in murder．“I don’t think I dare look at a really horrible and damaged body,” Agatha Christie once said．

　　But her pen dared travel where her eyes would not．In a 50-year writing career, Christie’s murder stories made her the world’s best-known mystery writer．She is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare．

　　Her works have been turned into films and TV series, and a line of computer games is set to be released over the next six years．

　　“My grandmother liked to use new ways to reach people who wanted to enjoy her work, ”said Christie’s grandson, Mathew Prichard．“Turning her stories into PC games allows us to introduce classic mysteries to new audiences．”

　　Born in 1890 in England, Christie was educated at home and began her writing career while working as a nurse during World War Ⅰ．She went on to produce 79 novels and numerous short stories, ?dying at the age of 86．

　　“With her knowledge of murder, Christie could have been a teacher at police academies, ”said one fan．

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　　Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but also the most neglected．Common reasons for not eating breakfast include lack of time, not feeling hungry, traditional dislike for breakfast, and dieting．

　　Breakfast simply means：break the fast．Your body spends at least 6 to 12 hours each night in a fasting state．In the morning your body needs energy for the day’s work ahead．

　　A good breakfast should provide up to 1/3 of your total calories needs for the day．On average(平均)we eat 400 calories less for breakfast than for dinner．If you don’t want to have breakfast in the morning, try eating a lighter dinner earlier in the evening or save half of your dinner for breakfast in the morning．

　　Some people fear eating breakfast will make them hungrier during the day and they will eat more．It is true that eating breakfast is likely to make you feel hungry throughout the day．That’s because your body is working．Although you may feel as if you are eating more all day long, in fact you are probably not．

　　Not eating breakfast can last cause you to overeat, since a fall in blood sugar often makes you feel very hungry later．What’s worse, since your body is in a slow state it will not be able to burn those extra calories very efficiently(有效率的)．

　　Breakfast is the first and most important．The best breakfast foods are fruits, juice, meat, and grain products such as bread, rice, and noodles．