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　　Fucheng Garden Villas is situated along the North 4th Ring Road, just 2 kilometres east away from the Asian Games Village with easy traffic connection．It is 5 kilometres from the Beijing Lufthansa Centre．

　　Fucheng Garden Villas occupies an area of 34．7 hectares, over 80％ of which is covered by trees and green, just like a garden in the city．

　　All the 108 villas were designed by American Company IDI, in American style, luxurious besides comfortable．

　　All materials of the construction and decoration as well as equipment are famous American products．

　　From now to July 31st, preferential(优惠)prices for sale and rent are offered．You can move into Fucheng Garden Villas on signing an agreement．

　　Bank will provide a 50％ mortgage for 5 years．

　　Overseas sales License：NO．124．

　　Developer：Beijing Hongda Read Estate Co．Ltd．

　　60 East, North 4th Ring Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing．

　　Tel：(8610)64967050　64967049

　　Fax：(8610)64933575

(From Wednesday, June 25, 1997 CHINA DAILY)

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　　Our“Mommy and Me” time began two years ago．My next-door neighbor and fellow mother, Christie, and I were out in our front yards, watching seven children of age 6 and under ride their bikes up and down．“I wish I could take one of my children out alone,” said Christie．

　　Then we worked out a plan：When Christie takes one of her children out, I’ll watch her other three．And when she watches two of mine, I’ll take someone out．

　　The children were extremely quick to accept the idea of“Mommy and Me” time．Christie’s daughter, McKenzie, went first．When she returned, the other children showered her with tons of questions．McKenzie was smiling broadly．Christie looked refreshed and happy．“She’s like a different child when there’s no one else around,” Christie shared with me quickly．With her mother all to herself, McKenzie didn’t have to make an effort to gain attention．

　　Just as Christie had noticed changes in McKenzie, I also discovered something different in each of my children during our alone times．For example, I am always surprised when my daughter, who is seldom close to me, holds my hand frequently．My stuttering(口吃的)son, Tom, doesn’t stutter once during our activities since he doesn’t have to struggle for a chance to speak．And the other son, Sam, who’s always a follower when around other children shines as a leader during our times together．

　　The“Mommy and Me” time allows us to be simply alone and away with each child－talking, sharing, and laughing, which has been the biggest gain．Every child deserves(应得到)to be an only child at least once in a while．

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　　Botany, the study of plants, plays a strange role in the history of human knowledge．For many thousands of years it was one field about which humans had little knowledge．It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age Ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of preindustrial societies that still exists, a detailed learning of plants and their properties(特征)must be very ancient．This is reasonable．Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things, even for other plants．They have always been greatly important to the good of peoples, not only for food, but also for clothing, weapons, tools, medicines, housing, and a great many other purposes．Tribes(部落)living today in the woods of the Amazon recognize hundreds of plants and know many properties of each．To them botany, as such, has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of knowledge at all．

　　Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become the farther away we move from direct relation with plants, and the less clear our knowledge of botany grows．Yet everyone comes unconsciously on a surprising amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose or an apple．When our New Stone Age ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10 000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer production the next season, the first great step in a new connection of plants and humans was taken．Grains were discovered and from them flowed the marvel of agriculture：planted crops．From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild and the collected knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and close relations with plants in the wild would begin to disappear．

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　　If you don’t want people to know too much about you, then you had better keep your fridge contents secret according to a British market research document released last week．

　　Researchers peered(凝视)into the fridges of 400 people in Britain and compared the contents with the owners’ lifestyles．They claim to be able to classify the nation’s people by fridge contents．

　　They say those people can be separated into five categories："nutrition nerds(no social sense)", "food faddies(whatever’s in style)","martyr mums", "fast food fanatics" and "restaurant regulars"．

　　"Nutrition nerds" care much about what they put into their bodies．Their fridges are stocked with fruit, vegetables and healthy meat．

　　People in this category tend to be highly organized and usually work in law or accountancy．The vast majority are single, but if they have a partner, that person will be similar．

　　A fridge full of vitamins－enriched juices implies its owner works in media or fashion．They tend not to eat the foods they buy．Known as the "food faddies", they just want to be seen as purchasing the latest important things．

　　A fridge filled with everything from steak to frozen fish suggests the "martyr mum"．Her fridge tends to be stocked with every kind of product, except what she herself would want．This fridge hints at difficulty balancing family and work life．

　　"Fast food fanatics" always buy mineral water for soda pop; the nearest they will get to fresh fruit is tomato sauce．Their fridges hint at someone who works hard and plays hard．Also, someone who is not into long term planning．

　　Finally, a fridge filled with nothing more than a bottle of white wine and some sparkling mineral water implies an owner who is single, lives in a big city and enjoys the finer things in life．The fridge is empty because this person regularly eats in restaurants．

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　　Several days ago, a Beijing-based IT company fired about 400 people overnight．No one had expected the job cuts, which broke with traditional ways of letting go of workers in China．Moreover, what was special about this case was that the day before the 400 were fired, they all received from their boss a gift-the book “Who Moved My Cheese?”．

　　The book-a bestseller in the US-is being used by men and women to deal with changes in their lives and work．Some large organizations, including Coca-Cola, Kodak and General Motors, ask their employees to read it in order to encourage them to be active towards changes．

　　Cheese is something related to everyone’s livelihood-our jobs, the industries we work in, relationships and love as well．

　　With China’s official entry into WTO, the whole nation will face up to more changes and challenges．So what should we do once this “cheese” on which we are so dependent is moved?

　　“Whatever challenges and changes we meet, we should face up to them bravely” Jiang Hengwei, a civil servant said after reading the book．

　　Professor Yang in Renmin University of China agrees．“We should change our way of thinking．The coming competitive foreign companies and products provide us with great chances to learn from them and improve our own products to meet international standards and be more competitive．”

　　“With hard work and wisdom, we will create a much larger and better piece of cheese．”Zhang smiled confidently．

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　　Dr Wiseman started “the laugh lab” project in September 2001．It is the largest study of humour．Participants(参加者)are invited to log on to the laugh lab website, give a few personal details, tell their favourite jokes and judge the jokes told by other people．

　　The project will last for a year, and the organizers hope to finally discover the world’s funniest joke．But there is also a serious purpose．The researches want to know what people from different nations and cultures find funny．And they want to find out the differences between the male and female sense of humour．The idea is that if we want to understand each other, we have to find out what makes us laugh．

　　This is a subject that has long interested psychologists(心理学家)and philosophers(哲学家)．Most of the time, people are not completely honest．We do things that society expects us to and say things that help us get what we want．But laughing cannot be controlled．When we laugh, we tell the truth about ourselves．

　　By December 2001 over 10,000 jokes had been submitted．This gave the scientists enough evidence(证据)to make early conclusions．It seems that men and women do have different senses of humour, for instance．

　　“Our findings show the major differences in the ways in which males and females use humour, ”said Dr．Wiseman．“Males use humour to appear superior(优越)to others, while women are more skilled in languages and prefer word play．”

　　Researchers also found that there really is such a thing as a national sense of humour．the British enjoy what is usually called “toilet humour”．But the French like their jokes short and sharp：“You’re a high priced lawyer．Will you answer two questions for 500?”“Yes．What’s the second question?”

　　The Germans are famous for not having a sense of humour．But the survey found that German participants were more likely to find submitted jokes funny than any other nationality．Perhaps that proves the point．Is this joke funny? I don’t know, but let’s say yes, just to be safe．

　　Dr Wiseman and his workmates also submitted jokes created by computer．But none of those who took part in the survey found any of them amusing．Perhaps this is relief．Computers already seem like they can do everything．At least they should leave the funny stuff to us．

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　　218 Chestnut Street

　　Philadelphia, PA28774

　　May 7th, 2002

　　Social Security Administration

　　2119 Main Street

　　Philadelphia, PA28000

　　Dear Social Security,

　　I am applying for a new Social Security Card．

　　I lost my old one last week．I was walking home from the subway station, and I pulled a tissue(纸巾)out of my pocket and lost my wallet at the same time．My card was in my wallet．Please send me a new card．If you can get the card to me within two weeks, please sent it to the address at the top of the page．If it will take longer than this, then you will have to send it to my new address．I am moving on May 23rd to：

　　103 Walnut Street

　　Philadelphia, PA28445

　　If you can send my new card within two weeks, I would be very pleased．I am applying for a new job at Ventura Savings Bank, and I know they will want to have my Social Security Number．Unfortunately I have forgotten it, so I will need my card to find out．On my old card I was called Victoria Matthews．Since then I have gotten married．Please issue my new card in my married name：Victoria Villata．In case you need more information about me to hunt down my old number, my date of birth was September 11,1985．Thank you very much．

　　Sincerely

　　Victoria Villata need

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　　Businesses are expected to cut spending dramatically through much of 2009．A number of economists, including those National City and Wachovia, don’t expect business investment, which make up about one－tenth of US economic activity, to decline through 2009．According to a survey of 679 chief financial officers by Duke University and CFO Magazine this month, US businesses expect to cut capital spending by more than 10％ in the next 12 months, a sharp decrease from September, when the CFOs expected business investment to increase slightly．

　　John Graham, finance professor at Duke and director of the survey, says businesses are finding ways to repair existing machinery and buildings rather than replace equipment or move．They likely won’t increase their spending until they see concrete evidence that the economy is improving．

　　Those planning meeting for late winter and early spring are either buying fewer or less－expensive items, or they’re not buying at all．One client who usually spends about ＄ 80,000 on a conference each year is spending half that．Robert Coen, director of forecasting at media－analysis firm Magna, predicts a 4.5％ drop in ad spending to ＄ 259 billion in 2009 on the heels of a 3.2％ drop in 2008．“A recovery in US ad budgets will probably not get underway until 2010,” he says．Another negative for 2009：There aren’t any big ad－spending events such as the Olympics or national elections．

　　Declining business spending will hurt a number of industries but will be especially tough for the manufacturing sector．Nearly two－thirds of manufacturers expect revenue(税收)to be unchanged or lower in 2009 than 2008, a survey from the Institute for Supply Management found．

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　　In the past, young people in Japan were expected to take on responsibilities to support their parents and grandparents．Now they expect to be supported well into young adulthood．The “new breed”, born since the 1960s, have never known anything but richness．Youth are seen as resistant to entering society as mature adults, to becoming social citizens．Once the great objective of reconstruction after the Second World War was accomplished, a new generation lost the motivating power that had united the nation together．

　　Japan’s birth rate has been falling rapidly, partly because of economic decline, and the job and financial insecurity that it has caused．In 1999, the figure was 1.38 children per woman, the lowest ever recorded．At the same time, youth crime, although still especially low by western standards, rose to its highest level since record – keeping began 32 years ago．Likewise, the proportion of students dropping out before graduating, at 2.5％ also very low by western standards, has never the less been rising．

　　Entrepreneurial(企业家的)role models are few and far between．Bill Gates is often mentioned, but a foreign model can only have so much influence．The problem is that Japanese culture discourages people from revealing details of personal life, including such difficult or painful experience as starting a company．In the past, successful companies such as Honda or Hitachi provided role models of a sort．But today they have been faded by the downturn, and few others have risen to take their place．

　　By the same reason, young people often feel isolated from their fathers, who worked too hard at their jobs to establish much of a relationship with their children．“The one thing they’re sure of is that they don’t want to be like their fathers．And the girls don’t want to be with boys who are like their fathers, so the boys are sure not to be,” says Professor Morishima．

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　　Dogs for Kids offers interactive and educational editorials and engaging activities, which is geared towards children(ages 8 to 12)who love dogs and puppies．Each full－colour issue has training tips, different breed descriptions, fun activities to do with dogs, games, puzzles and posters．Dogs for Kids has received the Maxwell Award for Special－Interest Magazines from the Dog Writer’s of America for 2 years in a row．

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　　Dog owners BEWARE! Bark magazine is dedicated to everything related do canine(犬齿的)culture．Each issue includes stories, essays, poetry, reviews, interviews and artwork related to the relationship between humans and dogs．Bark is not a how－to－care－for－your－dog magazine．It’s a magazine about living with dogs, which is your magazine：charming, touching, smart and simply wonderful．

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