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　　With alarming regularity, we read about oil tankers having accidents near land and the terrible consequences of the oil spills(泄露)on people, nature, and the environment．

　　Millions of dollars have been used in developing special chemicals to help dismiss the spills and to clean up the animals, beaches, and land spoiled by the oil．Unfortunately, when many of these chemicals are used, more damage is caused to the environment, especially to lives in the sea．

　　Of all today's environmental disasters, an oil spill may actually be one of the least serious．Although oil is poisonous, it is a natural material．In the end, it breaks down naturally．There are, of course, long-term effects, but it is usually more serious in the short term．

　　Nature by itself works better than chemical materials, but when there is a spill, we demand that governments act immediately with as much hi-tech knowledge as possible．In 1967 the tanker Torrey Canyon sank off the Scilly Isles n ear the coast of England and spilled 120,000 tons of oil into the ocean．If you go there today, you will find it hard to see any sign that it ever happened．

　　Governments seem to accept the risk of transporting millions of tons of oil by ship every day so that we can fill up our cars and drive around and cause even more environmental damage．Interestingly, the biggest companies in the world produce cars, and the next biggest supply the gasoline to make them run．

　　We should be thinking more about reducing our dependency on oil．Governments should be encouraging research into new technologies, such as cars run by solar power, electricity, hydrogen, and so on．Much of this research has, in the past, been held back by the oil, gas, and coal．

　　If the world's millions of cars were 10％ more efficient－and the industry could easily produce cars at least twice as efficient, we would need many fewer tankers crossing the oceans each year．If this happened, the risks of oil spills would be reduced, and the air we breathe would be cleaner and fresher, too．

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　　Being able to multitask－doing several things at the same time－is considered a welcome skill by most people．But if we consider the situation of the young people aged from eight to eighteen, we should think again．

　　What we often see nowadays is that young people juggle an ever larger number of electronic devices as they study．While working, they also surf on the Internet, send out emails, answer the telephone and listen to music on their iPods．In a sense, they are spending a significant amount of time in fruitless efforts as they multitask．

　　Multitasking is even changing the relationship between family members．As young people give so much attention to their own worlds, they seem to have no time to spend with the other people around them．They can no longer greet family members when they enter the house, nor can they eat at the family table．

　　Multitasking also affects young people's performance at university and in the workplace．When asked about their opinion of the effect of modern gadgets on their performance of tasks, many young people gave a positive response．However, the response from the worlds of education and business was not quite as positive．

　　Educators feel that multitasking by children has a serious effect on later development of study skills．They believe that many college students now need help to improve their study skills．Similarly, employers feel that young people entering the job market need to be taught all over again, as modern gadgets have made it unnecessary for them to learn special skills to do their work．

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　　A“blogger”is a person who writes on an Internet computer Web site called a“blog”．The word“blog”is a short way of saying web log, or personal Web site．Anyone can start a blog, and they can write about anything they like．

　　There are millions of blogs on the Internet today．They provide news, information and ideas to many people who read them．They contain links to other Web sites．And they provide a place for people to write their ideas and react to the ideas of others．

　　A research company called Perseus has studied more than 3,000 Web logs．It says that blogs are most popular with teenage girls．They use them to let their friends know what is happening in their lives．The study also says that more than 100,000 bloggers stopped taking part in the activity after a year．

　　However, some people develop serious blogs to present political and other ideas．For example, the Republican and Democratic parties in the southern state of Kentucky recently started their own blogs．And American companies are beginning to use blogs to advertise their products．

　　At the same time, some long-standing blogs have ended．Last week, blogging leader Dave Winer closed his free blog service, weblogs.com．He says the site became too costly to continue．He started the blog four years ago, and thousands of people had written on it．

　　One blog that is still going strong is called Rebecca's Pocket．It involves much useful information for readers．Rebecca Blood created the Web site in 1999．She wrote about the history of blogs on the site．That article led to a book called“The Weblog Handbook”．It has been translated into four languages so far．

　　Ms Blood says Rebecca's Pocket gets about 30,000 visitors a month．She writes about anything and everything－politics, culture and movies．She recently provided medical advice．And she wrote about how to prevent people from stealing money from online bank accounts．

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　　Almost everyone likes dogs, and almost everyone likes reading stories about dogs．I have a friend．The friend has a large police dog．Its name is Jack．Police dogs are often very clever．Every Sunday afternoon my friend takes Jack for a long walk in the park．Jack likes these long walks very much．

　　One Sunday afternoon a young man came to visit my friend．He stayed a long time．He talked and talked．Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for his walk．But the visitor still stayed．Jack became very worried．He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of the visitor and looked at him．But the visitor paid no attention．He continued talking．Finally Jack couldn't stand it．He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later．He sat down again in front of the visitor but this time he held the visitor's hat in his mouth and ran out of the room．

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　　Many students in China are learning English．Some of these students are small children．Others are teenagers．Many are adults．Some learn at school, others study by themselves．A few learn English language over the radio, on television, or in films．One must work hard to learn another language．

　　Why do all these people want to learn English?It is difficult to answer that question．Many boys and girls learn English at school because it is one of their subjects．They study their own language and maths and English…Some people learn English because it is useful for their work．Many people often learn English for their higher studies, because at college or university some of their books are in English．Other people learn English because they want to read newspaper and magazines in English．

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　　Once there was a man who had two children, a boy and a girl．The boy was good-looking but the girl was not．

　　One day they found a mirror for the first time and they saw what they looked like．The boy was very pleased and he said to his sister,“How handsome I am!I look much nicer than you!”

　　The girl did not like what her brother said and gave him a hard push．“Go away!”she said．

　　Their father saw what was happening．He went up to them and said to the boy,“You must always BE good as well as LOOK good．”

　　Then to the girl he said,“My dear, if you help everyone and do your best to please him, everyone will love you．It does not matter that you are not as good-looking as your brother．”

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　　This is a story from 28 years ago．My dad was a used car salesman．Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA for an auction．Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it at the auction．

　　One day, I was riding with my dad when he noticed a hitch-hiker with a backpack．Without hesitation, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride．Dad asked him his name, and proceeded to talk to him about all sorts of things．Dad asked him where he was going．The hitch-hiker told him he was heading for the west．I can't recall why but he told Dad a lot of things that had occurred to him and that persuaded him to make that decision．He talked about the tragic events that occurred to him several years before．He was low in spirits, but I could see that the hitch-hiker's attitude was changing as someone was really listening to him．

　　We drove 45 minutes before the hitch-hiker got off．We pulled over and Dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon．He reached into his pocket and handed the hitch-hiker a twenty-dollar bill．The guy smiled．He nearly lit up right there on the cold, dark highway．

　　We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing．I was still completely amazed by what I had just witnessed．I was always told by everyone never to pick up a hitch-hiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one．While reflecting upon that story I came to understand that just one single kind act could change someone's life, and I am sure that my father's deed made that poor man's day．

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　　The Wife-carrying World Championship has been celebrated in a small town in central Finland since 1992．in 1992, the people of the town decided that it was time to restart some long-forgotten traditions．Back in the late 1800s, there was a robber called Rosvo-Ronkainen in that area．He was said to only accept men as members of his gang who proved their worth in challenges．At that time, it was also a common practice to steal women from neighboring villages．

　　The Wife-carrying World Championship is becoming increasingly popular．A large number of competitors, people, and journalists from Finland to Canada attend the Wife-carrying World championship every year．

　　The event is well-known for its warm and humorous atmosphere．The Wife-carrying World Championship is held on a 253.5 meters long official track．The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle, about a meter deep．

　　There are a few basic rules and the winning team is the couple who complete the course in the shortest time．The wife to be carried may be your own, or your neighbor's．the minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49kg．if she is less than 49kg, the wife will be given a heavy bag to carry．Each time a competitor drops his wife, that couple will be fined 15 seconds．

　　Along with the Wife-carrying World Championship, there is also a team competition．The distance is the same but three men in the team carry the wife in turns．At the exchange point the carrier has to drink the official“wife-carrying drink”before continuing the race．A special prize is awarded to the team with the best costumes．

　　Alongside with the Wife-carrying World Championship, there are bands playing music, a wife-carrying dance and other forms of entertainment．

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　　Dogs have an understanding of fair play and become angry if they feel that another dog is getting a better deal, a new study has found．

　　The study looked at how dogs react when a companion is rewarded for the same trick in an unequal way．Friederike Range, a researcher at the University of Vienna in Austria, and her colleagues did a series of experiments with dogs who knew how to respond to the command“give the paw”．The dogs were normally happy to repeatedly give the paw, whether they got a reward or not．But that changed if they saw that another dog was being rewarded with a piece of food, while they received nothing．

　　“We found that the dogs hesitated significantly longer when obeying the command to give the paw,”the researchers write．The unrewarded dogs eventually stopped cooperating．

　　Scientists have long known that humans pay close attention to inequity．But researchers always assumed that animals didn't share the trait．“The argument was that this is a uniquely human phenomenon,”says Frans de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University in Atlanta．

　　That changed in 2003 when he and a colleague did a study on monkeys．The monkeys had to hand a small rock to researchers to get a piece of cucumber in return．They were happy to do this．But if they saw that another monkey was getting a more delicious reward, a grape, for doing the same job, they would throw away the food and rock, and at some point just stopped performing．

　　In that experiment, the monkeys considered the fairness of two different types of payment．But when Range and her colleagues did a similar study with their trained dogs, testing to see if dogs would become upset if they only got dark bread when other dogs received sausage, they found that as long as the dogs got some kind of food payment, even if it wasn't the most delicious kind, the animals would play along．