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When can I get a cell phone?

　　The answer is when your parents think you need one, though many kids seem to be getting them around age 12 or 13．some younger kids may have them because their parents see it as an issue of safety and convenience．For instance, a kid can call or text mom and dad when sports practice is over．And a cell phone can give kids almost instant access to their parents if something goes wrong or they need help．Likewise, it can give parents quick access to their kids so they can check on them and make sure they're OK．

　　If you do get a cell phone, work out some rules with your parents．Some plans charge you extra if you send too many texts or talk too long．Also hammer out some other details; When can you use your phone?When must the phone be turned off?And what will you do if someone calls you too often or leaves a mean message for you?You'll also want to make sure you take care of this new item in your life．Have a routine for keeping it charred and storing it in the same place so it doesn't get lost．And whatever you do, don't use it in the bathroom．We know someone who dropped her phone in the toilet!

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　　◆1．Malan Flower：China Children's Art Theatre stages a fairy tale musical(音乐剧)“Malan Flower”this weekend．

　　Beautiful Malan flowers were blossoming everywhere on Malan Mountain, and hard-working girl Xiao Lan was married to the god of flowers, Ma Lang．They lived a happy life in harmony with Grandpa Tree．and all the lovely little animals．However, greedy Old Cat made use of the jealousy of elder sister Da Lan to kill Xiao Lan, in an attempt to keep the magic Malan flower under her possession．

　　This fairy tale entertained three generations of Chinese youth．

　　Time：7∶30 p.m., until August 21

　　Place：The Great Theatre of the Cultural Palace of the Nationalities, west of Xidan Area

　　Tel：6602－2530

　　◆2．Joyful jugglers：The China Acrobatic Troupe is staging a nightly variety show at the Tiandi Theatre, where the seemingly impossible becomes a reality, where performers spin(旋转)plates and juggle umbrellas．

　　Contortionists(柔术演员)show incredible feats of flexibility and acrobats leap through the air．Integrating juggling, unicycling, balancing and jumping through hoops with the finest ancient Chinese dancing, the performance will amuse you．

　　Time：7∶15 p.m., daily

　　Place：10 Dongzhimen Nandajie, Chaoyang District

　　Tel：6502－3984

　　◆3．Tour of love：Taiwan singer David Tao(Tao Zhe), who is on a global tour, will arrive in Beijing next month．

　　Tao Zhe was born into a musical family．His father is an expert in Western pop music while his mother is from a family famous for playing Peking Opera．This probably explains why Too approaches pop music from a unique angle(角度), which separates him from the average pop singer．

　　With the song“Forever Love You”as the theme of the concert, Tao will share his love and ideas for life and music with his fans．

　　Time：7∶30 p.m., September 10

　　Place：Capital Gymnasium, Baishiqiao Lu

　　Tel：6835－4055

　　◆4．Army artist：An exhibition featuring artist Li Shaozhou's personal and meticulous(注意细节的)style of painting will be held at the National Art Museum of China．

　　Born in Henan Province, Li showed strong interests in art during his childhood, and was a specialized artist in the army．

　　The exhibition will present 65 paintings of modern figures, birds and flowers that he has made over the past decade, during which he has formed his own style by absorbing other painting techniques．

　　Time：9 a.m.~ 5 p.m., August 23～29

　　Place：1 Wusi Dajie

　　Tel：8403－3500

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　　Flying over a desert in an airplane, two scientists looked down with trained eyes at trees and bushes．After an hour's flight one of the scientists wrote in his notebook,“Look here for probable metal．”Walking across hilly ground, four scientists reported,“This ground should be searched for metals．”From an airplane over a hilly wasteland a scientist sent back by radio one word“Uranium”．

　　None of the scientists had X-ray eyes：they had no magic powers for looking down below the earth's surface．They were merely putting to use one of the newest methods of locating minerals in the ground－using trees and plants as signs that certain minerals may lie under the ground on which the trees and plants are growing．

　　This newest method of searching for minerals is based on the fact that minerals deep in the earth may affect the kind of bushes and trees that grow on the surface．

　　At Watson Bar Creek, a mineral search group gathered bags of tree seeds．Boxes were filled with small branches from the trees．Roots were dug and put into boxes．Each bag and box was carefully marked．In a scientific laboratory the parts of the forest trees were burned to ashes and tested．Each small part was examined to learn whether there were minerals in it．

　　Study of the roots, branches and seeds showed no silver．But there were small amount of gold in the roots and a little less gold in the branches and seeds．The seeds growing nearest to the tree trunk had more gold than those growing on the ends of the branches．

　　If the trees indicated that there was no gold in the ground, the scientists wouldn't spare money to pay for digging into the ground．

　　James Cleveland Owens was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves．His family moved to Cleveland when he was 9．There, a school teacher asked the youth his name．

　　“J．C．,”he replied．

　　She thought he had said“Jesse”, and he had a new name．

　　Owens ran his first race at age 13．After high school, he went to Ohio State University．He had to work part time so as to pay for his education．As a second year student, in the Big Ten games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year later．

　　A week before the Big Ten meet, Owens accidentally fell down a flight of stairs．His back hurt so much that he could not exercise all week, and he had to be helped in and out of the car that drove him to the meet．He refused to listen to the suggestions that he give up and said he would try, event by event．He did try, and the results are in the record book．

　　The stage was set for Owens victory at the Olympic Games in Berlin the next year, and his success would come to be regarded as not only athletic but also political．Hitler did not congratulate any of the African American winners．

　　“It was all right with me,”he said years later．“I didn't go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway．”

　　Having returned from Berlin, he received no telephone calls from the president of his own country, either．In fact, he was not honored by the United States until 1976, four years before his death．

　　Owens Olympic victories made little difference to him．He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and accepted money to race against cars, trucks, motorcycles and dogs．

　　“Sure, it bothered me,”he said later．“But at least it was an honest living．I had to eat．”

　　In time, however, his gold medals changed his life．“They have kept me alive over the years,”he once said．“Time has stood still for me．That golden moment dies hard．”

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　　Beijing(Xinhua)：When she appeared on stage, singing a Japanese song, hundreds of excited teenagers crowded around shouting,“Curarpikt(酷拉皮卡)!It's Curarpikt!”

　　At the Beijing Comic and Animation Expo last week, that's exactly who Shi Jia was．The Senior 1 girl was cosplaying(角色扮演)“Curarpikt”, a character from the popular Japanese comic book Hunter X Hunter(《猎人》)by Yoshihiro Togashi．

　　“I cosplay Curarpikt because I like him,”said the pretty 15 year old girl．“I'm moved by his sad story and I'm attracted by his courage and personality．”

　　In the adventure comic story, Curarpikt, a handsome and kind?hearted boy, struggles to become a hunter so he can capture(掳获)the people who killed his tribe(部落)．

　　Shi has read all the comic books and is a big fan of the animated series(动画片)of Hunter X Hunter．Then last year she saw a real“Curarpikt”in a cosplay show．

　　“I had watched cosplay shows before but only for fun,”she explained．“It's really exciting to see young people wearing the make?up and costumes of characters that you've read about and are familiar with．”

　　“But that time I just fell in love with cosplaying, probably because I like Curarpikt so much．I thought I could play the character better, so I decided to have a go．”

　　Shi bought some cloth and asked a tailor to make a Curarpikt costume for her．She was delighted to find out there was a cosplay show in Beijing in October．

　　“It's a great way to spend the national holiday．Posing on the stage for all the comic book fans, I knew I was doing something I had always wanted to do,”she said．

　　But she never talks about her hobby with her parents．

　　“They think it will distract me from my studies．I don't want to upset them, that's my secret hobby,”she said．“It's also why I don't dye my hair for cosplaying like all the others．”

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　　BEUING(Associated Press 美联社)－China has a growing middle class, a tradition(传统)of expecting education and 21 million new babies every year．Selling educatioinal toys should be easy．

　　While China may be the world's biggest toy maker, many of the best are exported(出口)．Department stores here do not have enough high quality toys．It is said that the demand for educational toys is low．

　　A US company, BabyCare, is trying to change that with a new way to sell toys in China．

　　BabyCare works basically together with doctors in Beijing hospitals．People who join the company's“mother club”can get lectures and newsletters on baby and child development at no extra cost, if they agree to spend 18 dollars a month on the company's educational toys and child care books．

　　“We want to build a seven year relationship with those people,”said Matthew J．Estes, BabyCare's president．“It starts during pregnancy(孕期), when the anxiety and needs are highest．”BabyCare works on a one to one basis．Doctors, nurses, and teachers paid by BabyCare advise parents, explain toys that are designed for children at each stage(阶段)of development to age six．

　　BabyCare opened its first store in China last June in a shopping center in central Beijing and another near Beijing Zoo．It plans to have 80 stores in China within six years．

　　It is a new model for China and develops a market in young children's education and health that no other companies are in．

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　　Education is not an end, but a means to an end．In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them．Our purpose is to fit them for life．

　　In some modem countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all－one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation．But we can already see that free education for all is not enough; we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degree; they refuse to do what they think“low”work; and, in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries．But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor; we can live without education, but we die if we have no food．If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns…

　　In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability and, secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that is very bad to be ashamed of one's work．Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society．

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　　Many people believe the glare(炫目的光)from snow causes snow-blindness．Yet, with dark glasses or not, they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snow-blindness ,when exposed to several hours of“snow light”．

　　The United States army has now determined that glare from snow does not cause snow-blindness in troops in a snow-covered country．Rather ,a man's eyes frequently find nothing to focus on(聚集)in a broad space of snow-covered without-grass land．So his gaze continually moves and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at．Finding something, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and the eyeballs become tired and the eye muscles ache．Nature makes up for this discomfort by producing more and more fluid(流体)which covers the eyeball．The fluid covers the eyeball in increasing quantity until it makes eyes difficult to see dearly, and the result is total, even though for a short time, snow-blindness．

　　Experiments led the Army to a simple method of overcoming this problem．Scouts(侦察兵)ahead of the troops are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes, creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow-covered landscape．Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark-colored objects ahead on which they can focus too．The men following can then see something．Their gaze is arrested．Their eyes focus on a bush and having found something to see, stop searching the snow-blanketed landscape．By focusing their attention on one object at a time．the men can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snow-blind or lost．In this way the problem of crossing a continuous white land is overcome．

阅读理解

　　James Cleveland Owens was the son of a farmer and the grandson of black slaves．His family moved to Cleveland when he was 9．There, a school teacher asked the youth his name．

　　“J．C．,”he replied．

　　She thought he had said“Jesse”, and he had a new name．

　　Owens ran his first race at age 13．After high school, he went to Ohio State University．He had to work part time so as to pay for his education．As a second year student, in the Big Ten games in 1935, he set even more records than he would in the Olympic Games a year later．

　　A week before the Big Ten meet, Owens accidentally fell down a flight of stairs．His back hurt so much that he could not exercise all week, and he had to be helped in and out of the car that drove him to the meet．He refused to listen to the suggestions that he give up and said he would try, event by event．He did try, and the results are in the record book．

　　The stage was set for Owens victory at the Olympic Games in Berlin the next year, and his success would come to be regarded as not only athletic but also political．Hitler did not congratulate any of the African American winners．

　　“It was all right with me,”he said years later．“I didn't go to Berlin to shake hands with him, anyway．”

　　Having returned from Berlin, he received no telephone calls from the president of his own country, either．In fact, he was not honored by the United States until 1976, four years before his death．

　　Owens Olympic victories made little difference to him．He earned his living by looking after a school playground, and accepted money to race against cars, trucks, motorcycles and dogs．

　　“Sure, it bothered me,”he said later．“But at least it was an honest living．I had to eat．”

　　In time, however, his gold medals changed his life．“They have kept me alive over the years,”he once said．“Time has stood still for me．That golden moment dies hard．”