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　　“We’re all sad, and we’re a little worried…We’re sad about something missing in childhood,”psychologist Michael Thompson told 900 early childhood educators from 22 states packed into a lecture hall last week．“We have to fight back,”he declared．“We’re going to fight for play．”

　　It is estimated that since the 1980s the average American children have 8 to 12 fewer hours of free play time per week．Some of the factors behind the decline have been there for decades, others are more recent．Among the key factors are:

　　●Parents are unwilling to let their kids play outside on their own, for fear of injury or other accidents, and organized sports and other structured activities take up a large part of a child’s non-school hours．

　　●More hours per week are spent by kids watching TV, playing video games, using the Internet, and communicating on cell phones．

　　●More importance is attached to formal learning in preschool, more homework for primary school students and more pressure from parents on young children to quickly acquire academic skills．

　　“Parents are more self-conscious and competitive than in the past,”Thompson said．“They’re pushing their kids to do better than others…Free play loses out．”But he points out that this option doesn’t necessarily breed(培养)creativity and can lead to burnout for good young athletes and frustration for the less skilled．He is also concerned that preschools, in the drive to prepare students for the academic challenges ahead, are reducing the opportunity for group fantasy play－and thus reducing children’s chances to learn on their own about fairness, kindness and other social interactions(交往)．

　　The consequences are potentially awful, according to Thompson, who points out that reduced time to play freely with other children is producing a generation of unsociable young people and is a factor behind high rates of weight problems, anxiety, and depression among youth．“Without enough opportunity for forms of play that promote creative thinking,”he says,“America’s children will be at a disadvantage in the global economy．”

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　　A group of soldiers were stationed(驻扎)in the country near the home of a big landowner, called Lord Hunt．As they wanted to stay on good terms with the landowner, they offered to blow up a large tree stump that had remained after part of a tree had been blown down in the storm．But Lord Hunt asked them not to damage the plantation of young trees that was next to the stump．The officer in charge of the engineers promised him that they would be careful．Lord Hunt was so pleased that he asked the whole group to lunch on the day of the explosion．

　　The day came and just before lunch, the officer checked with one of his men to see if they had put enough explosive in the stump．“I checked the maths,”said the soldier and it comes to 32 kilos．“Are you sure?”asked the officer．“Perhaps you’d better put in a bit more just to make sure．”The lunch continued and everyone ate a lot and drank a lot．

　　A little later, the group of soldiers went outside with Lord Hunt to see the explosion．“You just see, Lord Hunt, that tree will fall in exactly the right place without hurting any of your young trees,”said the officer．The soldier lit the fuse, then walked quickly away to take cover．After a minute the tree, instead of falling over on its side, rose with the explosion 20 metres into the air, taking with it a huge quantity of earth together with all the young plantation．“Sorry sir, I made a mistake!”said the soldier．“It should have been 3.2 kilos, not 32 kilos．”

　　Lord Hunt was so upset that he turned around and walked back to his house．He looked at the house in horror and saw that every single window had been broken by the explosion．He was so upset that he went to the toilet on the ground floor to get over his feelings of shock．When he had finished, he pulled the plug of the toilet and the whole ceiling, which had been weakened by the explosion, fell on his head．

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　　Scientists warn today that the Atlantic bluefin tuna(金枪鱼)faces disappearance unless certain action is taken．They used electronic ways to track the movement of the powerful fish from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mediterranean, and report today in the journal Nature that meals of sushi and sandwiches with tuna worldwide are more dangerous than anyone has imagined．

　　The bluefin tuna can live for 30 years, grow to three metres in length and weigh as much as 700kg．A good one can fetch as much as ￡ 52,000 in the Tokyo fish markets．“In my lifetime, we’ve brought this big fish to the doorstep of death in the western Atlantic Ocean,”said Barbara Block of Stanford University in California．“The electronic way of tracks provides the best scientific information we’ve ever had to manage these tuna and we must, as an international community, start to act actively to make sure of the future of this fish．”

　　Scientists have repeatedly said that the harvest of the seas cannot be as good as before．There are fewer and fewer fish in around Newfoundland, North Sea and Iceland, so fishermen have pushed further offshore in search of deep ocean fish．Tuna－in the Mediterranean and Japan－have been under increasing pressure for years．The International Commission on the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna has tried to manage the fish since 1969．There are two populations：a western one that has dropped by 80％ in the past 30 years, and a larger, eastern population．Although catches are controlled by 3,000 tons a year in the western fishery, and 32,000 in the east, no one knew whether the limits worked．

　　So Professor Block and her team placed tracks on hundreds of the fish and tracked them to depths of more than 900 metres and on journeys of thousands of miles, measuring the movement, body and water temperatures．“There are two ways to save the Atlantic bluefin tuna－protect them in their production grounds and in their feeding grounds,”Prof．Block said．“This will need immediate action in both the central Atlantic, to reduce the loss of the big fish while hunting, and in the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean, where tuna produce as separate populations．”

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Tuesday March 4, 2008

　　8∶00－8∶45　　　Breakfast and welcome

　　8∶45－9∶15　　　Dat Phan, Comedian

　　9∶15－9∶25　　　Break

　　9∶25－10∶10　　　Tour#1

　　10∶20－11∶05　　　Tour#2

　　11∶15－12∶00　　　Tour#3

　　12∶00－1∶00　　　Lunch, Prize giveaways and wrap－up(总结)

　　Go on a behind-the-scenes tour of Barona, a luxury hotel and resort．Your tour guides will be actual employees who can give you the inside sight about running this great business and what it takes to get an exciting career in hospitality industry．

　　Who want to be a top chef(厨师)?Watch and smell as award winning chefs demonstrate their cooking art and share some of their kitchen secrets with you．

　　Take advantage of this opportunity to speak with various professionals from hotels, schools and other businesses in the hospitality industry．Learn about education and career options; and don’t forget to stop by the interview skills workshop．

　　Dat was born in Saigon, Vietnam and grew up struggling and poor in California．He worked at Barona Resort before he made it big as a comedian!

　　His culturally insightful(发人深省的)comedy inspects ridiculous stereotypes, and shared his experience of being a regular American guy with a Vietnamese heritage(文化遗产)．He has been honored as The Top 10 Most Influential Vietnamese-Americans．

　　Dat Phan aims to create a more positive image of Asian-Americans in the world of entertainment and Hollywood．“We want to be seen as more than just martial artists(武术家), or bad stereotype roles in American TV & Movies．”

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　　All over the country these days, e-mail messages are ending with this strange little mark：-)or：-(．It was 20 years ago that Scott Fahlman taught the Net how to smile．The Carnegie Mellon computer scientist has devoted his life to man-made intelligence, the practice of teaching computers how to think like humans, but the scientist is perhaps best known for a flash of inspiration that helped to define Internet culture．

　　By the early 1980s the Computer Science Group at Carnegie Mellon was making heavy use of online notice boards．A good many of the messages were humorous．The problem was that if someone made a humorous remark, a few readers would fail to get the joke．This problem caused some people to suggest that maybe it would be a good idea to clearly mark messages that were not to be taken seriously．After all, when using text-based online communication, we lack the body language or the tone of voice that communicates this information when we talk in person or on the phone．So on Sept．19, 1982, Fahlman typed：-)in an online message．“I had no idea I was starting something that would soon pollute all the world’s communications channels,”he wrote later．The“smiley face”has since become common in online communication．

　　This creation caught on quickly around Carnegie Mellon, and soon spread to other universities and research labs by means of the computer networks of the day．Since then, the smiling marks have taken the e-mail world by storm．

　　Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online all put the faces into their instant-messaging systems, while telecom companies, jewelry makers and online merchants have sent in trademark applications for products and ads that include Fahlman’s smiley face．

　　But Fahlman has never seen a dollar from his creation．“If it cost people a cent to use it, nobody would have used it．This is my little gift to the world, for better or worse,”he said．

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　　Educating girls quite possibly outputs a higher rate of return than any other investment(投资)available in the developing world．Women’s education may be an unusual field for economists, but raising women’s contribution to development is actually as much an economic as a social problem．And economics, with its emphasis on motivation, provides an explanation for why so many girls can’t receive education．

　　Parents in low-income countries fail to invest in their daughters because they do not expect them to make an economic contribution to the family：girls grow up only to marry into somebody else’s family and bear children．Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and are kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school－the prediction becomes self-fulfilling, trapping women in a vicious circle(恶性循环)of lack of attention．

　　An educated mother, on the other hand, has greater earning abilities outside the home and faces an entirely different set of choices．She is likely to have fewer but healthier children and can insist on the development of all her children, ensuring that her daughters are given a fair chance．The education of her daughters then makes it much more likely that the next generation of girls, as well as of boys, will be educated and healthy．The vicious circle is thus transformed into a good circle．

　　Few will disagree with it that educating women has great social benefits．But it has huge economic advantages as well．Most obviously, there is the direct effect of education on the wages of female workers．Wages rise by 10 to 20 per cent for each extra year of schooling．Such big returns are impressive by the standard of other available investments, but they are just the beginning．Educating women also has an important influence on health practices, including family planning．

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　　If your boss asks you to work in Moscow this year, he’d better offer you more money to do so－or even double that depending on where you live now．That’s because Moscow has just been found to be the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resources Consulting．

　　Using the cost of living in New York as a base, Mercer determined Moscow is 34.4 percent more expensive including the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment．

　　A two-bedroom flat in Moscow now costs ＄4,000 a month; a CD ＄24.83, and an international newspaper ＄6.30, according to Mercer．By comparison, a fast food meal with a hamburger is a steal at ＄4.80．

　　London takes the No．2 place, up from No．5 a year ago, thanks to higher cost of housing and a stronger British pound relative to the dollar．Mercer estimates London is 26 percent more expensive than New York these days．Following London closely are Seoul and Tokyo, both of which are 22 percent more expensive than New York, while No．5 Hong Kong is 19 percent more costly．

　　Among North American cities, New York and Los Angeles are the most expensive and are the only two listed in the top 50 of the world’s most expensive cities．But both have fallen since last year’s study－New York came in 15th, down from 10th place, while Los Angeles fell to 42nd from 29th place a year ago．San Francisco came in a distant third at No．54, down 20 places from a year earlier．

　　Toronto, is Canada’s most expensive city but fell 35 places to take 82nd place worldwide．In Australia, Sydney is the priciest place to live in and No．21 worldwide．

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　　There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece．The one most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual．The argument for this view goes as follows．In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world, even the seasonal changes, as unpredictable, and they sought through various means, to control these unknown and feared powers．Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals．Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites．As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama．

　　Those who believed that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used．Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances, and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the“acting area”and the“auditorium”．In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task．Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or super natural beings, and mimed the desired effect－success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun-as an actor might．Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities．

　　Another theory traces the theater’s origin from the human interest in storytelling．According to this view, tales(about the hunt, war, or other feats)are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person．A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds．

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　　Glacier National Park in Montana shares boundaries with Canada, an American Indian reservation, and a national forest．Along the North Fork of the Flathead River, the park also borders about 17,000 acres of private lands that are currently used for ranching, timber, and agriculture．This land is an important part of the habitat and migratory routes for several endangered species that frequent the park．These private lands are essentially the only ones available for development in the region．

　　With encouragement from the park, local landowners initiated a land?use planning effort to guide the future of the North Fork．The park is a partner in an interlocal agreement that calls for resource?managing agencies to work together and with the more than 400 private owners in the area．A draft plan has been prepared, with objective of maintaining traditional economic uses but limiting new development that would damage park resources．Voluntary action by landowners, in cooperation with the park and the county, is helping to restrict small?lot subdivisions, maintain wildlife corridors, and minimize any harmful impact on the environment．

　　The willingness of local landowners to participate in this protection effort may have been stimulated by concerns that congress would impose a legislative solution．Nevertheless, many local residents want to retain the existing character of the area．Meetings between park officials and landowners have led to a dramatically improved understanding of all concerns．

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　　People have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years．The earliest pictures were painted by people who hunted animals．They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill．Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain．No one knows why they were painted there．Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals．Or perhaps human beings have always wanted to tell stories in pictures．

　　About 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as kind of writing．They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language．The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet．

　　The Egyptians used to record information and to tell stories by putting picture?writing and pictures together．When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried．Some of these pictures are like modern comic strip stories．It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic strip．But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power．So they did not try to make their way of writing simple．The ordinary people could not understand it．

　　By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea had developed a simpler system of writing．The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system．This was because each sign, or letter, represented only one sound in their language．The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet．The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world．

　　These days, we can write down a story, or record information, without using pictures．But we still need pictures of all kinds：drawing, photographs, signs and diagrams．We find them everywhere：in books and newspapers, in the street, and on the walls of the places where we live and work．Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting．

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