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　　It happened in a certain country during World War Ⅱ．A boy named John was only sixteen years old, but he wanted to fight the enemy very much．To his disappointment, he was not old enough to be a soldier．Only when a boy is eighteen can he be enlisted．Such as it stood, the boy insisted on being taken in．So when the army doctor examined him, he said that he was already in his late teens．

　　John had a brother who had joined the army only a few days before．It was the same doctor who had examined his brother that was now examining him．The doctor had a good memory and remembered his elder brother’s age clearly．So when he saw John’s papers, he didn’t believe what the boy said．

　　“How old on earth are you, boy?” asked the doctor．

　　“Eighteen, sir, ” John answered．

　　“But your brother is eighteen, too,” said the doctor．“Are you twins?”

　　“Oh, no, sir”, said John while his face went a little red．“My brother is only half a year older than I．”

　　Hearing that, the doctor couldn’t help laughing but was touched by the boy’s sincerity．He began to examine the boy, and let him pass the physical check．

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　　David Beckham was born in 1975 in London, at a place called Leytonstone．When he was a young boy, his greatest passion was in football．He played it whenever he had the chance．Sometimes he would go and watch a game with his friends．When David Beckham was 12 years old, he won the Bobby Charlton Soccer Skills award(奖金)．This was an important step forward for this young boy, and it led him to go for a visit to a football training camp in Spain．As a boy he played for schools of Essex and also for his county team．

　　In 1991, he became a trainee with Manchester United．This meant that he could practice football as much as he wanted to and play for the highly successful Manchester United Youth Cup team and Under 21 team．In April, 1995 he played his first football league game against Leeds Untied．During 1995 and 1996, David became a regular member of the team and Manchester United won in both football seasons, with David scoring many goals．

　　His goals made him a household name．In the first game of the 1996?1997 season, he scored an surprising goal from beyond the halfway line; seeing the goalkeeper a little way out of his goal, Beckham became famous overnight．He continued to score astonishing goals, especially from free-kicks．The speed of one of his shots was timed at 157 kph．He also had the ability to make the ball go from left to right, or right to left, whenever he chose．Goalkeepers were never sure where the ball was going, and it regularly ended up in the goal．

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　　Auctions(拍卖)are public sales of goods conducted by an officially approved auctioneer．He asks the crowd gathered in the auction-room to make offers or “bids”, for the various items on sale．He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods．

　　Almost all goods of various qualities are sold by auction．Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, fruit, vegetables and wines．Auction sales are also useful for land and property, antique(古董), furniture, pictures, rare books, old china(瓷器), and works of art．

　　An auction is usually advertised beforehand with a full description of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by possible buyers．If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues(目录)are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot”, is usually given a number．The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1, and continue with Lot 2, Lot 3 and so on; be may wait until he sees certain dealers in the room and then produces the lots they are likely to be interested in．The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible．

　　The auctioneer must know quite accurately the current market values of the goods he is selling, and he should be acquainted(熟悉)with regular buyers of such goods．He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low．He will also encourage the rivals among buyers to bid against each other in order to get a high price．It is largely in his advice that a seller will fix a “reserved” price, that is, a price below which the goods cannot be sold．Even the best auctioneer, however, finds it difficult to stop a “knock-out”(联合拍货), because dealers illegally arranged beforehand not to bid against each other, but choose one of them as the only bidder, in the hope of buying goods at very low prices．If such a “knock-out” succeeds, the real auction sale takes place privately afterwards among the dealers．

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Way of Life for Students

　　The Internet is way of life for US college students, with research showing them to be one of the most connected groups．

　　A recent study by Harris Interactive and 360 Youth found that 93 percent of American college students visit the Internet, and this market is expected to grow from 15．2 million in 2003 to 16．4 million in 2007．That is slow but could be the result of the already high number of college Internet users．

　　About 88 percent of American college students own a computer, and more than half have broadband connections．Furthermore, 67 percent own cell phones and 36 percent use their mobile devices to visit the Internet．

　　Study findings are that 42 percent go online mainly to communicate socially, and 72 percent of college students check emails at least once a day, with 66 percent using at least two email addresses．

　　The most popular online social activity is forwarding messages to friends of family, with 37 percent of college students saying they do so．The study also looked beyond the Internet surfing(冲浪)habits and into the buying habits of this group, and found them responsible for more than ＄ 210 billion in sales last year alone．

　　College students have learned how to spend their money, with 93 percent saying low prices were important when shopping．

　　The study also showed that 65 percent make loan(贷款)payments; 41 percent of freshmen have a credit card; and 79 percent of seniors have a credit card．

　　A significant number of charges on these credit cards are likely to be for entertainment and leisure expenses．

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　　Canada is a very large country．It is bigger than China．China is the third largest country in the world．Canada is the second largest．It has an area of nearly 10 million sq．km．Canada has a very long coastline．To the west is the Pacific Ocean．To the east is the Atlantic Ocean．The Arctic Ocean is in the north．There are very many islands off the Pacific coast and off the Arctic coast．The biggest one in the west is Vancouver Island．In the east there is New Foundland, and in the Arctic Ocean the biggest islands are Baffin Island and Victoria Island．(Greenland is not part of Canada．It is a part of Denmark, a country in northern Europe．)

　　Canada has a long border with the U．S．A．in the south．In the northwest Canada borders on the American“State of Alaska”．Canada is a northern country．The Arctic Circle is (Latitude 16°N)passes through the northern part．In the south, half of the border with the U．S．A．follows line of latitude 49°N．

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Students Learn at Home in Online School

　　ORANDO, FLORIDA－Is it hard for you to get up early and get ready for classes? Some students at Winter Park High School just roll out of bed(get up quickly)in their pajamas and go to class in their own bedrooms．Of course, their teacher and classmates do not see them because all their class works on the computer．

　　The Florida high school, the state’s only online school, has 250 students who are taking classes at home by computer．

　　“I’m a lot more comfortable at home,” says Luke Levesque, a 16-year-old who is taking a computer class on-line．He thinks the school’s computer lab is so noisy that he can’t study well．“Home is much better, ”he says．

　　Students in this first online program take classes in algebra (a branch of maths), American government, chemistry, computer, economics, and Web-page design．They also have to go to regular school to attend other classes．

　　When a student is ready to begin a class, he or she turns on the computer, reads the teacher’s instructions, and begins working on the lesson for the day．What happens if a student has a question for the teacher? Or the teacher wants to say something about the work a student is doing? The student and the teacher talk to each other every day through e-mail or by telephone．For example, when Luke opened his daily e-mail from the teacher, it contained her instructions for the day’s computer? lesson．When he finished, he e-mailed the work back to her．

　　Is it easy for students to cheat on tests when they’re working at home? The teachers have already thought about this．They make students take their final exams in person in the classroom．

　　“You see most of the same things online that you see in a regular classroom,” says teacher Linda Hayes．“You get to know the students online．You know the kid who is a real go-getter and the one who isn’t．”

　　If this first online program goes well, in three years Florida high school students will be able to take all their classes by computer．When that happens, students will be able to get their high school diplomas (毕业文凭，学位证书)without having to set foot in a classroom．

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The Five Rules for Keeping Fit

　　Hi, there! I’m Crystal Collins and I’m very happy to share some time with you．So, you want to keep fit, huh? Well, you surely came to the right place．Together we can keep fit and healthy and succeed in doing that．It’s easy．Everybody can do it, you hear? Just remember the five golden rules．

　　Number one：Always wear comfortable clothes when you are exercising．You need to feel comfortable and relaxed(放松)．

　　Number two：You should always do some warming-up exercise first, to get your body ready for the real thing．

　　Number three：Never try to do too much exercise too soon．Take it nice and easy now, you hear? There’s no rush about this．

　　Number four：Don’t forget to relax for about five minutes when you’ve finished your exercise．You need to rest a little bit after you’ve been exercising．

　　And here is the golden rule number five．Stop at once if you feel any pain in your neck, head or any part of your body．

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　　Education for Japanese children is free for the first nine years and all children must go to school for six years of primary schooling and three years of secondary schooling．In the primary and secondary schools, about 99．9 per cent of school-age children are present．School usually begins at 8 o’clock in the morning and ends at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays．The school year begins in April and ends in March．There is a summer holiday in August and a winter holiday during the New Year season．?

　　After nine years of schooling, students can enter three-year high school by passing an examination and by paying a small charge each year．After high school, students can go on to study at various types of colleges, usually for four years．There are also two-year junior colleges．

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　　Be Healthy! Be Slim! Be Beautiful!

　　Discover the secret for a healthy, slim, and beautiful you!

　　Discover how to be healthy, slim and beautiful!

　　I love this healthy diet program because it helps you lose weight, lose inches, feel healthy and look beautiful．

　　This healthy diet is an 8 week’s program which is unlike other diet regimes(食物疗法)．In that it focuses on proper nutrition first and weight loss second．Your body must have proper levels of minerals, vitamin, and protein in order to work well．It provides a simple lifestyle change to give you more energy and improve your health most greatly．It offers control over stomach and continuing hunger with a dense diet allowing 1700 to 2000 calories a day．If a person has a weight problem, their body probably is not working at proper levels of basic nutrients．We invite you to follow this program, so you can be the slim person who lives inside you．

　　You too, can love dieting especially if you are losing weight and losing inches．

　　For more information about our program, please get to our address on the Internet：

　　http：//www．Shaklee．net/lifestyle-for-heath/products

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　　In bringing up children, every parent watches eagerly the child’s acquisition(学会)of each new skill－the first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing．It is common that parents hurry the child beyond his natural learning rate, but this can set up dangerous feelings of failure and states of worry in the child．This might happen at any stage．A baby might be forced to use a toilet too early, and a young child might be encouraged to learn to read before he knows the meaning of the words he reads．On the other hand, though, if a child is left alone too much, or without any learning opportunities, he loses his natural enthusiasm(热情)for life and his desire to find out new things for himself．

　　Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness towards their children．Some may be especially strict in money matters; others are severe over time of coming home at night or punctuality(准时)for meals．In general, the controls imposed(强加的)represent the needs of the parents and the values of the community(社区)as much as the child’s own happiness．

　　As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency is very important in parental teaching．To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality．Also, parents should realize that “example is better than precept”．If they are not sincere and do not practise what they preach(说教), their children may grow confused, and emotionally insecure when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and realize they have been to some extent fooled．

　　A sudden awareness of a marked difference between their parents’ principles and their morals can be a dangerous disappointment．