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Dear all,

Please read Professor Hume's email about his next lecture on Rosa Parks．

Susan Miller

Secretary

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Dear Susan,

　　Please forward this message to students of my history class．

　　Besides the life story of Rosa Parks in the textbook, the students are also required to read the passage below and some related stories that can be borrowed from the school library．

　　Ted Hume

　　The early experiences of Rosa Parks(1913-2005), long known as the “mother of the civil rights movement, ”were not different from those of many African-Americans at that time．The black woman, however, turned the course of American history in December 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man．“By sitting down, ”remarked John Lewis, “she was standing up for all Americans．”

　　Among the numerous awards Parks received in her life were the Presidential Medal of Freedom(1996)and the Congressional Gold Medal(1999)．

　　Parks died on Oct．24, 2005．At St．Paul A．M．E．Church in Montgomery, a large crowd including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice celebrated her life．Rice said she and others, who grew up when the political activities of Parks held public attention, might not have realized her impact(影响)on their lives, “but I can honestly say that without Mrs．Parks, I probably would not be standing here as Secretary of State．”

　　After her casket(灵柩)was placed at the Capitol, U．S．President Bush, members of Congress and ordinary Americans paid their respects．In American history Parks is the first woman to lie in state at the Capitol, a very high regard usually reserved for Presidents of the United States．

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　　Camp memories last forever!We make sure they are unforgettable!

　　Shadow Ridge Summer Camps offer so many exciting things for campers to do．Unlike other camp programs that include horses as a small part of their program, at Shadow Ridge horses ARE the program!We are 100%horse from stable(马厩)management, nature walks, and track rides to bedroom furnishings．

　　Horses help us achieve many of our aims．Girls can learn to develop responsibility, self-confidence and personal connections in their lives while having fun．Using horses as a wonderful tool for education, our camps offer an interesting place for growth and learning．

　　Imagine each girl having her very own horse to spend time with and a best friend to love and take care of．Each camper is responsible for a horse for the week．Our riding program provides a lot of riding and lesson time．Campers will learn how to take care of the horse and the tack(马具)，as well as how to ride．Days are filled with horse-related activities to strengthen the connection between each girl and horse, as the girls learn to work safely around the horses．

　　At Shadow Ridge we try to create a loving, caring family atmosphere for our campers．We have “The Bunkhouse”(4 girls), the“ Wranglers Roost”(4 girls), and “The Hideout”(2 girls)in our comfortable 177-year-old farm house．All meals are home cooked, offering delicious and healthy food for the hungry rider．

　　Our excellent activities create personalized memories of your child's vacation, Each child will receive a camp T-shirt and a photo album(usually 300-500 pictures)of their stay at camp．

　　Our camps are offered during June, July and August 2007, for small groups of girls aged 13-16 years, not only from Canada but also other parts of the world．

　　We will send you full program descriptions at your request．

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　　The very wealthy English Baron Fitzgerald had only one child, a son, who understandably was the apple of his eye．His wife died when the child was in his early teens．So Fitzgerald devoted himself to fathering the kid．Unfortunately the son died in his late teens．

　　Meanwhile, Fitzgerald's wealth greatly increased．He spent a lot on art works of the masters．Later Fitzgerald himself became seriously ill．Before his death, he had carefully prepared his will as to how his wealth would be settled-to sell his entire collection at an auction(拍卖)．

　　Because of the large quantity and high quality of his collection, a huge crowd of possible buyers gathered for the auction．Many of them were museum directors and private collectors eager to bid(出价)．Before the auction, the art works were shown, among which was a painting of Fitzgerald's son by an unknown artist．Because of its poor quality, it received little attention．

　　When it was time for the auction, the auctioneer gaveled(敲槌)the crowd to attention．First the lawyer read from Fitzgerald's will that the first art work to be auctioned was the painting of his son．

　　The poor-quality painting didn't receive any bidders．．except one-the old servant who had served the son and loved him, and who for emotional reasons offered the only bid．

　　As soon as the servant bought the painting for less than one English pound, the auctioneer stopped the bidding and asked the lawyer to read again from the will．The crowd became quiet, and the lawyer read from the will： “Whoever buys the painting of my son gets all my collection．”Then the auction was over．

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　　I began working in journalism(新闻工作)when I was eight．It was my mother’s idea．She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition．

　　With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue．The crowds were there．There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union．For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST．When it was suppertime, I walked back home．

　　“ How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked．

　　“ None．”

　　“ Where did you go?”

　　“ The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues．”

　　“ What did you do?”

　　“ Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post．”

　　“ You just stood there?”

　　“ Didn’t sell a single one．”

　　“ My God, Russell!”

　　Uncle Allen put in, “ Well, I’ve decided to take the Post．” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickle(五分镍币)．It was the first nickle I earned．

　　Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman．I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence(自信)，and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home．

　　One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind．I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business．

　　“ If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “ you’ll become a good-for-nothing．” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines．Whenever I said no, she would scold me．

　　My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember．My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people．But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love．

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　　Tell a story and tell it well, and you may open wide the eyes of a child, open up lines of communication in a business, or even open people’s mind to another culture or race．

　　People in many places are digging up the old folk stories and the messages in them．For example, most American storytellers get their tales from a wide variety of sources, cultures, and times．They regard storytelling not only as a useful tool in child education, but also as a meaningful activity that helps adults understand themselves as well as those whose culture may be very different from their own．

　　“ Most local stories are based on a larger theme,” American storyteller Opalanga Pugh says, “ Cinderella(灰姑娘)，or the central idea of a good child protected by her goodness, appears in various forms in almost every culture of the world．”

　　Working with students in schools, Pugh helps them understand their own cultures and the general messages of the stories．She works with prisoner too, helping them knowing who they are by telling stories that her listeners can write, direct, and act in their own lives．If they don’t like the story they are living, they can rewrite the story．Pugh also works to help open up lines of communication between managers and workers．“For every advance in business,” she says,“ there is a greater need for communication．” Storytelling can have a great effect on either side of the manager-worker relationship, she says．

　　Pugh spent several years in Nigeria, where she learned how closely storytelling was linked to the everyday life of the people there．The benefits of storytelling are found everywhere, she says．

　　“I learned how people used stories to spread their culture,” she says, “ What I do is to focus on the value of the stories that people can translate into their own daily world of affairs．We are all storytellers．We all have a story to tell．We tell everybody’s story．”

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　　People who have lost the ability to understand or use words due to brain damage are called aphasics(失语症患者)．Such patients can be extremely good at something else．From the changing expressions on speakers’ faces and the tones of their voices, they can tell lies from truths．

　　Doctors studying the human brain have given a number of examples of this amazing power of aphasics．Some have even compared this power to that of a dog with an ability to find out the drugs hidden in the baggage．

　　Recently, scientists carried out tests to see if all that was said about aphasics was true．They studied a mixed group of people．Some were normal; others were aphasics．It was proved that the aphasics were far ahead of the normal people in recognizing false speeches－in most cases, the normal people were fooled by words, but the aphasics were not．

　　Some years ago, Dr．Oliver Sacks wrote in his book about his experiences with aphasics．He mentioned a particular case in a hospital．Some aphasics were watching the president giving a speech on TV．Since the president had been an actor earlier, making a good speech was no problem for him．He was trying to put his feelings into every word of his speech．

　　But his way of speaking had the opposite effect on the patients．They didn’t seem to believe him．Instead, they burst into laughter．The aphasics knew that the president did not mean a word of what he was saying．He was lying!

　　Many doctors see aphasics as people who are not completely normal because they lack the ability to understand words．However, according to Dr．Sacks, they are more gifted than normal people．Normal people may get carried away by words．Aphasics seem to understand human expressions better, though they cannot understand words．

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　　If you were to walk up to Arthur Bonner and say, “ Hey, Butterfly Man,” his face would break into a smile．The title suits him．And he loves it．

　　Arthur Bonner works with the Palos Verdes blue butterfly(蝴蝶)，once thought to have died out．Today the butterfly is coming back－thanks to him．But years ago if you’d told him this was what he’d be doing someday, he would have laughed, “ You’re crazy．” As a boy, he used to be “ a little tough guy on the streets”．At age thirteen, he was caught by police stealing．At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man．

　　“ I knew it had hury my mom,” Bonner said after he got out of prison．“ So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again．”

　　One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat(栖息地)for an endangered butterfly called El Segundo blue．

　　“ I saw the sign ‘ Butterfly Habitat’ and asked, ‘ How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?’” Bonner recalls．“ Dr．Mattoni laughed and handed me a magnifying glass(放大镜)，‘Look at the leaves．’I could see all these caterpillars(蝴蝶的幼虫)on the plant．Dr Mattoni explained, ‘Without the plant, there are no butterflies．’”

　　Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr．Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly needed help．That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue．Since then he’s been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back．He grows astragalus, the only plant the butterfly eats．He collects butterflies and brings them into a lab to lay eggs．Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat．

　　The butterfly’s population, once almost zero, is now up to 900．For their work, Bonner and Dr．Mattoni receiced lots of awards．But for Bonner, he earned something more：he turned his life around．

　　For six years now Bonner has kept his promise to stay out of prison．While he’s bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too．

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　　I entered high school having read hundreds of books．But I was not a good reader．Merely bookish, I lacked a point of view when I read．Rather, I read in order to get a point of view．I searched books for good expressions and sayings, pieces of information, ideas, themes－anything to enrich my thought and make me feel educated．When one of my teachers suggested to his sleepy tenth-grade English class that a person could not have a "complicated(复杂的)idea" until he had read at least two thousand books, I heard the words without recognizing either its irony(嘲讽)or its very complicated truth．I merely determined to make a list of all the books I had ever read．Strict with myself, I included only once a title I might have read several times．(How, after all, could one read a book more than once?)And I included only those books over a hundred pages in length．(Could anything shorter be a book?)

　　There was yet another high school list I made．One day I came across a newspaper article about an English professor at a nearby state college．The article had a list of the "hundred most important books of Western Civilization．" "More than anything else in my life," the professor told the reporter with finality, " these books have made me all that I am ．" That was the kind of words I couldn’t ignore(忽视)．I kept the list for the several months it took me to read all of the titles．Most books, of course, I hardly understood．While reading Plato's The Republic, for example, I needed to keep looking at the introduction of the book to remind myself what the text was about．However, with the special patience and superstition(迷信)of a schoolboy, I looked at every word of the text．And by me time I reached the last word, pleased, I persuaded myself that I had read The Republic, and seriously crossed Plato off my list．

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　　Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the Cruelty young age of 30．It used to be thought that this couldn't be helped, but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster．"Your brain is a learning machine," says University of California scientist Dr．Michael Merzenich．Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger．All that's required is the practice designed just for the purpose： a few exercises for the mind．

　　Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process(过程)in which the brain deals with information(positscience.com)．Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy(准确性)．

　　Over the course of training, the program starts asking you to distinguish(辨别)sounds(between "dog" and "bog", for example)at an increasingly faster speed．It's a bit like tennis instructor, says Merzenich, hitting balls at you～faster and faster to keep you challenged(受到挑战)．You may start out slow, but before long you're pretty quick．

　　The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly plastic．If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn．And it may even speed up while in the process．

　　To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you： playing table tennis or bridge, doing crossword puzzles, learning a language…．"When it comes to preventing ageing, you really do 'use it or lose it' ," says Barbara Sahakian, professor at Cambridge University．

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