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ISC(HS)Reference No．S006864　　　　　　　　　　　　New South Wales

Student Date of Birth：19/08/1988　　　Department of Education and Training

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　International Students Centre

Hong Xue　　　　　　　　　　　　　　827-839 George Street PO Box 707

60 Waratah Street　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Broadway NSW 21007

Croydon Park NSW 2133　　　　　　　Phone：(612)9217 4801 1300 302 456

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Fax：(612)9212 6721

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　http：//www.tafensw.edu.au/international/

Dear Hong Xue,

　　As you are aware, your student visa regulations set out a number of conditions applying to your visa．It has come to our attention that you are failing to meet the following conditions：You must maintain accommodation, support and general welfare arrangements that have been approved by your education provider if you：

　　●have not turned 18; and

　　●are not staying in Australia with：

　　－a parent

　　－a custodian(监护人); or

　　－a relative who has been nominated(指定)by your parent or a custodian, is aged at least 21 and is of good character．

　　Note：You must not change those arrangements without the written approval of your education provider．

　　You must obey the following rules：

　　1．During term time you must：

　　a)remain in your homestay during the school term;

　　b)come home every night; and

　　c)inform your guardian at all times of your whereabouts．

　　2．On weekends you must：

　　a)have your guardian's permission to stay with friends; and

　　b)inform your guardian of the name, address and phone numbers of people you are visiting．

　　3．You must return your guardian's telephone calls．

　　This will be your only warning．If you continue to breach(违反)your student visa regulations we will report you to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs．Such action may lead to the cancellation(取消)of your student visa．Please contact me on(612)9217 4801 or fax(612)9212 6721 if you have questions about your enrolment．

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Yours sincerely

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Tracey Carlon

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Student Advisor

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　International Students Centre

NSW Department of Education and Training

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　　The playwright George Bernard Shaw once said humorously,“England and America are two nations divided by a common language．If he were writing today, he might add”divided by a common technology-E-mail．

　　Two completely different styles of e-mail have formed on either side of the Atlantic-Euromail and Amerimail．Amerimail is informal and chatty．It's likely to begin with a“Hi”and end with a“Bye”．The chances of Amerimail containing a smiley face or an“xoxo”are disturbingly high．We Americans are unwilling to dive into the meat of an e-mail．We feel we have to first inform recipients(收信人)about our vacation on the island which was really excellent except the jellyfish were biting and the kids caught a bad cold, so we had to skip the whale watching trip, but about that investors' meeting in New York…．Amerimail is a bundle of contradictions(矛盾), casual and yet direct, respectful yet over proud．In other words, Amerimail is America．

　　Euromail is stiff and cold often beginning with a formal“Dear Mr．X”and ending with a simple“Sincerely”．You won't find any mention of kids or the weather or jellyfish in Euromail．It's all business．It's also slow．Your correspondent(通信者)might take days even weeks to answer a message．Euromail is exactly like the Europeans themselves．

　　Recently about 100 managers were asked on both sides of the Atlantic whether they noticed differences in e-mail styles．Most said yes．Here are a few of their observations：

　　“Americans tend to write(e-mails)exactly as they speak．”

　　“Why don't you just call me instead of writing five e-mails back and forth?”

　　“Europeans are less interested in checking e-mail”．

　　“In general, Americans are much more responsive to e-mail-they respond faster and provide more information．'

　　So which is better, Euromail or Amerimail?I realize it's not popular these days to suggest we have anything to learn from Europeans, but I'm fed up with an inbox filled with casual, barely meaningful e-mails from friends and colleagues．If the alternative is a few earnestly written, carefully worded bits of Euromail, then I say：“Bring it on．”

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　　Many people often say there is more stress(压力)in today's society than in years past．In fact, these people are comparing our lives with that of the cave man, who didn't have to worry about the stock market or the atomic bomb．They forget that the cave man worried about being eaten by a hear while he was asleep, or about dying of hunger-things that few people worry much about today．

　　Actually stress is a normal state of affairs, and it's important that people understand what they are talking about when they speak about stress．Whenever anyone experiences something unpleasant, for lack of a better word they say they are under stress．Yet there is such a thing as pleasant stress-as in the case of the Olympic winner at the moment of his glory, or a conductor as his orchestra(乐队)performs particularly well．They are just sending out excitement, and they are giving off all the stress hormones(荷尔蒙)exactly the same as if they were in low spirits or had just heard of a death in the family．We call the pleasant or healthy kind“eustress”and the unpleasant or unhealthy kind“distress”．

　　Then how can people deal with stress?The secret is not to avoid it but to“do your own thing”．It implies doing what you like to do and what you are made to do at your own speed．For most people, it is really a matter of learning how to live and how to behave in various situations, to decide：“Do I really want to take my father's business or be a musician?”If you really want to be a musician, then be one．

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　　Research on the human brain has been attracting more and more scientists in recent years, just like the booming hi-tech industry．One of the latest research topics is how to change the human brain or combine the computer and the human brain, i．e．to transplant a chip into o human brain．This innovation(改革) may make everyone’s dream come true．If we compare a human brain to a hard disc, what the scientists are doing is to enlarge the applicable capacity of the hard disc．For the time being, there are some difficulties in such transplant experiments, but scientists never give up．

　　Experiments have started on animals．In 1996, a transplant experiment performed at the Defense and Military Physiology Research Institute in the U．S．turned a bear into a dolphin．

　　The dolphin was named Ted, and the bear was named Tallin．Using the most advanced technology available, deep and detailed images were made of the memory area in Ted’s brain containing information about swimming by the scientists．They obtained a series of useful information, the signals transferred by the nervous system．Such information was saved into a button-sized chip, which was then transplanted into the action memory area in Tallin’s brain．The information saved on the chip was released by means of electric power．

　　Recently, another comprehensive memory transplant was performed at the Motor Never Research Institute of the University of California．The comprehensive memory transplanted in the experiment included actions, moods, logic, words, images, etc．The experiment involved an entire transplant of the memory area．This was the largest such experiment done so far．

　　The transplant was performed making a transfer from a dog named“Genius”to a dog named“Idiot”．“Genius”could understand and follow up to 100 gestures and orders made by its master．It was a real genius in memorizing．“Idiot”was the younger brother of“Genius”．It had no contact with people at all since its birth．It became an animal with nothing in its brain, without any memory．

　　The operation was a complete success．When the two dogs woke up．“Idiot”had grasped all the abilities“Genius”possessed; it was good at memorizing and sensible．It could follow every gesture and any command given by its master．But“Genius”gave no response to its master, and in fact did not recognize him at all．

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EVENTS

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　　A proud US father has named his son after a computer software term(术语)．

　　Jon Blake Cusack, from Mocjogam, told local newspapers the US traditional way of adding“Junior”or“Ⅱ”after a boy’s name was too common．

　　So, when his son was born last week, he decided on the name Jon Blake Cusack 2.0, as if he were a software upgrade．

　　Mr Cusack admitted that it took months to persuade his wife, Jamie, to accept the idea．

　　Mrs Cusack said she asked several friends whether they can accept this name or not．

　　All the men, she said, felt the name was“cool”．However, her women friends did not think so．“I think the women will end up liking it,”she said．

　　Mr Cusack told the local newspaper he got the idea from a film called The Legend of 1900, in which an abandoned baby is given the name 1900 to remember the year of its birth．

　　“I thought that if they can do it, why can’t we?”he said．

　　After little Jon Version 2.0 was born, Mr Cusack even sent a celebratory e-mail to the family and friends designed to look as though he and his wife had created new software．

　　“I wrote things like ‘there are a lot of new features from Version 1.0 with additional features from Jamie’,”he said．And he is already planning for his son’s future．“If he has a child, he could name it 3.0,”he said．

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　　Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors(流星), but also because of rays from the sun and other stars．The atmosphere again acts as our protective blanket on earth．Light gets through, and this is necessary for plants to make the food which we eat．Heat, too, makes our environment endurable(可忍的)．Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer space, but enormous(巨大的) quantities of radiation from the sun are screened off．As soon as men leave the atmosphere they are exposed to this radiation but their spacesuits or the walls of their spacecraft, if they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage．

　　Radiation is the greatest known danger to explorers in space．The unit of radiation is called“rem”．Scientists have reason to think that a man can put up with far more radiation than 0.1 rem without being damaged; the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on．The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage a person may feel perfectly well, but the cells of this or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered until the birth of deformed(畸形的) children or even grandchildren．Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated(积累) a large amount of rems．So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short．We simply do not know yet how men are going to get on when they spend weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory．Drugs might help to decrease the damage done by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far．

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　　The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t know．I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder．I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being．

　　She said,“Hi, girl!My name is Rose．I’m 87 years old．Can I give you a hug?”

　　I laughed and enthusiastically(热情地)responded,“Of course you may!”and she gave me a giant squeeze．

　　“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?”I asked．She jokingly replied,“I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel!”

　　“No seriously,”I said．I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age．

　　“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”she told me．

　　Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went．She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students．She was living it up．

　　At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet．I’ll never forget what she taught us．

　　“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing．There are only two secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success．You have to laugh and find humor everyday．You’ve got to have a dream．When you lose your dreams, you die!”she said．

　　“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up．If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn 20 years older．If I am 87 years old, and stay in bed for a year, and never do anything, I will turn 88．Anybody can grow older．But every minute counts for young men,”she added．

　　“The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change．Have no regrets．The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do．The only people who fear death are those with regrets．”

　　She concluded her speech by courageously singing“The Song of Rose”．She challenged each of us to study the lyrics(歌词)and live them out in our daily lives．

　　At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago．One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep．

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　　Since the beginning of time, man has been interested in the moon．The Romans designed a special day to show admiration and respect to the moon．They called it“Moonday”, or“Monday”, as we know it today．Later, the great mind of Leonardo da Vinci studied the moon and designed a machine to carry a human to the moon．Leonardo said that one day a great machine bird would take a person to the moon and bring great honour to the home where it was born．

　　Four and a half centuries later, Leonardo’s idea was realized．Apollo II took three Americans Collins, Aldrin, and Armstrong to the moon．The mission(任务)did fill the whole world with great surprise, as Leonardo had said it would．Numerous essays, articles, and books were written about man’s first moon mission．But perhaps the most interesting story was one written before the event over 100 years before．

　　In 1865, French author Jules Verne wrote a story about the first journey to the moon．His story was very similar to the 1969 Apollo II mission．

　　Verne’s spacecraft also contained three men－two Americans and a Frenchman．The spacecraft was described as being almost the same size as Apollo II．The launch(发射)site in Verne’s story was also in Florida．The spacecraft in Verne’s story was named the“Columbiad”．The Apollo II command ship was called“Columbia”．His account of sending the spacecraft into the space could easily have been written about how Apollo II was sent into the space．

　　Verne’s story was the same as the actual event in several other respects．The speed of Verne’s spacecraft was 36, 000 feet per second; Apollo’s was 35, 533 feet per second．Verne’s spacecraft took 97 hours to reach the moon; Apollo’s time was 103 hours．Like Apollo’s spacemen, Verne’s spacemen took pictures of the moon’s surface, relaxed on their seats, cooked with gas, and experienced weightlessness．They too came down in the Pacific and were picked up by an American warship．

　　What were the reasons for Jules Verne’s extreme accuracy in describing an event 100 years or more before it actually occurred?He based his writings on the laws of physics and astronomy(天文学)．Nineteenth-century science and the vivid Vernes imagination gave people an unbelievably accurate preview of one of the greatest events of the 20 the century．

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