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　　In what they say is a last-ditch attempt to save the country's pork industry, dozens of pig farmers gathered in London on Thursday to record their song “Stand by Your Ham”．

　　The song－which reworks Tammy Wynette's “Stand by Your Man” with a porcine theme－is intended to alert the public to a sector that farmers say is being pushed to extinction by greedy supermarket chains and rising feed prices．

　　“Stand by Your Ham”, runs the chorus．“Sausages, pork and bacon/Help us stay in business/Because our pigs are worth it/Stand by your ham．”

　　With little singing experience but fuelled by enthusiasm and bacon sandwiches, the 20 to 30 farmers hope to rely on affection for traditional pork products from pies to sausages．

　　It will be available for download from the weekend from the website www．pigsareworthit．com．

　　“It's a lighthearted way of drawing attention to a very serious issue,” Yorksire pig farmer Richard Longthorp told reporters by telephone from the recording session．

　　“If this doesn't stop, then as sure as eggs are eggs, the industry is going to disappear．”

　　The farmers say they lose more than 20 pounds a pig after unprecedented rises in feed prices fuelled by soaring global cereal prices due to higher fuel costs, competition from biofuels, and increased demand from Asia and drought in Australia．

　　The National Pig Association says surveys show consumers are willing to pay a little more to help farmers and keep high-quality pig farming－which farmers say puts animal welfares first－in business．They want politicians to put pressure on retailers．

　　According to a recent National Pig Association survey, 95 pc of farmers are considering stopping production if the price they receive does not improve．

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　　Mr．Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water．Mr．Johnson took the only escape route － through the boot(行李箱)．

　　Mr．Johnson's car had finished up in a ditch at Romney Marsin Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank．“Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr．Johnson said．“I couldn't force the doors open because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in．”

Mr．Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot．Then he began his struggle to escape．

　　Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life．It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot．I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came．”

　　It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot．Then Mr．Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock．Fifteen minutes passed by．“It was the only chance I had．Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in．I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up．”

　　His hands and arms cut and bruised(擦伤), Mr．Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer's wife, Mrs．Lucy Bates．Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours．” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night．The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch．

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　　Drawings of human colonies on other planets often picture the entire community under a glass or plastic bubble．The bubble is intended to create an atmosphere with adequate oxygen and other essential elements．But similar bubble-like structures have also been constructed on earth．One of the most famous, and controversial, is a site in the Arizona desert．

　　Biosphere 2, as it is called, was built not far from Tucson in 1984 and is now run by Columbia University．This huge(7,200,000-cubic-foot)glass and steel construction contains several separate ecosystems, including a desert, a rain forest, and a 900,000-gallon “ocean．” The climatic conditions-humidity, temperature, air quality-are regulated by sensors and can be adjusted as needed or desired．For example, a rainstorm can be created to increase the humidity．The adjustable features of Biosphere 2 make it an ideal location to perform experiments to help determine the effects of such climatic changes as global warming．

　　The current conditions at Biosphere 2 are vastly different from those in 1993, when eight people who had moved into the environment with great fanfare two years earlier moved out in failure．Though promising to be self-sufficient(自足的), these “colonists” had so much trouble regulating the environment that they reportedly had food smuggled into them．Oxygen levels became dangerously low; most plants and animals died．In taking over the unsuccessful site, Columbia hopes to erase its notorious past by focusing on small research projects that gradually answer some of Biosphere 1's－that is, Earth's most basic environment questions．

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　　Making an apology is not the same as making amends．Sometimes we apologize just because it's the easiest thing to do．What's actually important is to identify where we go wrong, take full responsibility for our mistakes and , if possible, try to make up for them．

　　A recent case involving Hewlett-Packed, the US computer giant, shows the importance of presenting a sincere apology．The Chinese consumers who had bought notebook computers of certain models, which have been put on Chinese market since 2007, suffered a massive flash screen failures and overheating problems．Through investigation, Chinese AQSIQ(国家质检总局)identified these HP computers had quality problems and HP admitted this．HP made a proposal that they would extend the warranty(保修)period of such computers, but this could not satisfied the consumers．What they needed was a thorough description of the truth．HP has “sincerely” apologized．But the consumers remain angry, and say that only a product recall－as HP has done in the past－will prove that the apology is sincere．

　　Another apology that fell flat on its face was that of Thierry Henry, the famous French footballer．His deliberate handball in November 2009 created the goal which knocked Ireland out of the 2010 World Cup．The incident caused great anger in the football world, and eventually Henry issued an apology．Two days later, he wrote, “I'm not the referee…but if I hurt someone I'm sorry．” Better late than never, perhaps, but even then he passed the blame onto the referee!

　　Such high-profile cases, which attract a lot of publicity often under the spotlight, but similar incidents occur in our everyday lives．Stress caused by schoolwork and tiredness can sometimes result in outbursts of anger against friends and family．Have you ever lost your temper for minor reasons?After calming down, most people are quick to realize their mistake and apologize．But it's just as important to identify what caused the error in the first place and take action to ensure it doesn't happen again．

　　No one should hold a negative attitude to making a sincere apology．Empty words are easy to say, but they are as useless as they sound．A real show of remorse(痛悔;自责)demands hard work and commitment to put error right．

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　　The idea about the phoenix goes back to Ancient Egypt, where we find the phoenix described as a handsome, eagle-like bird, with part-golden, part-red plumage, that spent most of its life in the Arabian deserts．It was rarely seen and according to one version of the story, only appeared in Egypt once every five hundred years, when it flew to Heliopolis, “city of the sun”, and deliberately burnt itself to ashes by settling on the altar(祭坛)flame there!However, it seems it did not really die because from those same ashes a young, fully formed phoenix was born and flew away, apparently back to Arabia．

　　It is pretty obvious that no one has ever seen or will see a living phoenix．The interesting thing is that we can find certain clues which may explain one aspect of the Egyptians' idea．It may sound unbelievable, but some birds are apparently quite charmed by flames and small fires, especially members of the crow family．One zoologist actually proved this by setting fire to some straw near to a tame(驯养的)rook, a large black bird like a crow．Far from becoming nervous and backing away, the bird deliberately stood over the flames, with raised and vibrating wings．It didn't get burnt, but the image it presented by its strange behavior was almost exactly like that shown in illustrations of the mythical phoenix!

　　Why birds should occasionally behave in this strange way is not clear．One idea is that they carefully use the heat of the flames to relieve the annoyance caused by their feather mites(虱)which all birds have．Whatever the reason, it is quite possible that the Ancient Egyptians saw birds behaving in this way, from time to time, and used it as the basis of their phoenix myth, adding fanciful details which closely linked it to their worship of the sun and their belief in resurrection．

　　Nowadays, the phoenix is much less important to us than it was to the Egyptians．But the logo of modern fire insurance companies, which employ the phoenix as one of their symbols, refers that in one sense the idea of it remains．

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　　It's easy to observe an athlete like Tiger Woods and feel like he's from another planet．He has won 14 major tournament(锦标赛)titles and about ＄122 million in prize money and ads．He also has a happy family．It seems that he is too perfect to be one of us．But Woods has more in common with you than you might think．

　　Woods' parents－particularly his father－set high expectations for him when he was a child．Before Earl Woods' death in 2006, he told Golf magazine, “My purpose in raising Tiger was not to raise a golfer．I wanted to raise a good person．”

　　By age two, Woods was already swinging(挥舞)a golf clud．But once he entered school, Woods' father was careful to send the message that school work came first．Woods wasn't allowed to practice until his homework was done．

　　When Woods finally reached the professional tour, his father continued to expect a lot of him．“Tiger will do more than any other man in history to change the course of human．The world is just getting a taste of his power,” he said in 1996．Clearly, Earl Woods had great expectations of his son．

　　In this way, Tiger Woods is actually like a lot of us．Many of us feel a similar pressure to make our parents proud．When this happens, it's easy to let that pressure overwhelm(压倒)us．

　　In a perfect world, we would all grow up to be Tiger Woods-like successes in our own fields．But that isn't possible．There are many things that we can't control in this life, despite our best efforts．

　　There is, however, one thing that we can do：we can try to be a “good person”, as Earl Woods asked his son to do．

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　　Mr．Lang worked in a factory．As a driver, he was busy but he was paid much．His wife was an able woman and did all the housework．When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home．So he had enough time when he had a holiday．A few friends of his liked gambling(赌博)and he learned it soon．So he was interested in it and hardly forgot anything except gambling．He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on．His wife told him not to do it but he didn't listen to her．She had to tell the police．He and his friends were punished for it．And he was hardly sent away．After he came out of lockup(拘留所), he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him．

　　It was New Year's Day．Mr．Lang didn't go to work．He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again．He called his friends and they came soon．But they were afraid the police would come．He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside．They waited for a long time and didn't think the police would come and began to gamble．Suddenly opened the door and in came a few policemen．

　　“I saw there weren't any policemen outside, daddy,” said the boy, “so I went to the crossing and asked some to come．”

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　　The American book Who Moved My Cheese has been a bestseller all over the world．It teaches people how to face changes in their lives．Now its author Spence Johnson has written a book just for teens．The book tells us that when facing change in our lives, like a new school or new friends, don't be afraid．Instead, use this change to make a better life．The book gives an example of a change at school．A school is changing from having two terms to three terms because there are too many students．

　　Several teens are talking about this．Most of them are unhappy and worried．But Chris is not．He laughs and tells a story about two mice, two “little people” and some cheese．The four are in a maze looking for the cheese．Here, cheese means something important in life, like moving to a new class or getting into college．But they find the cheese is gone．The mice realize that they can't change what has happened and have to find more cheese．This means finding different dreams．The little people, however, can't do this．They are afraid of change so they find no cheese．

　　After Chris finishes the story, the friends understand one thing：to get more cheese, move in a new direction quickly．His friends understand how this can be used in the changes all teens face, such as doing well at school or having good relationships or just feeling good about yourself．

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　　The zebra belongs to the horse family．One of nature's great mysteries is why the zebra has stripes(条纹)．One theory is that the stripes help the zebra cool down．On hot days the black stripes get a lot hotter than the white area of the zebra and under the black stripes there are special layers of fat for protection．Hot air then rises off the black stripes, forcing colder air down around the white areas, cooling the zebra down．This, however, is just a kind of theory．The stripes can also confuse predators(食肉动物，掠夺者)when zebras stay with other animals in great numbers．

　　Zebras have excellent hearing and eyesight and can run at speeds of up to 56 kilometers per hour．They also have a powerful kick that can cause serious injury to a predator, like a lion, or an African wild dog．Usually the lead male of the herd stays at the back of the group to defend against predators if necessary, while the females and youngsters escape danger．

　　Zebras are herbivores that feed only on plants and live mostly by eating grasses, although they also might eat a bit on the leaves and stems(茎)of bushes．They eat grasses for many hours each day, using their strong teeth．Spending so much time chewing wears the zebras' teeth down, so their teeth keep growing all their lives．As the dry season arrives and the grasses die back, zebra herds travel to find more food and water holes for drinking．Most zebras have no specific territories．They travel from place to place, never staying in one area very long．

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　　Attitude is an internal(内在的)state that influences the choices of personal action made by the individual(个人)．Some researchers consider that attitudes come from differences between beliefs and ideas; others believe that attitudes come from emotional states．Here, we focus on the effects of attitudes upon behavior, that is, upon the choices of action made by the individual．

　　The kinds of actions taken by human beings are obviously influenced greatly by attitudes．Whether one listens to classical music or rock, whether one obeys the speed limit while driving, whether one encourages one's husband or wife to express his or her own ideas－all are influenced by attitudes．These internal states are acquired(获得)throughout life from situations one is faced with in the home, in the streets, and in the school．

　　Of course, the course of action chosen by an individual in any situation will be largely determined by the particulars of that situation．An individual who has a strong attitude of obeying laws may drive too fast when he is in a hurry and no police cars in sight．A child who has a strong attitude of honesty may steal a penny when she thinks no one will notice, But the internal state which remains unchanged over a period of time, and which makes the individual behave regularly in a variety of situations, is what is meant by an attitude．

　　Attitudes are learned in a variety of ways．They can result from single incidents, as when an attitude toward snakes is acquired by an experience in childhood at the sudden movement of a snake．They can result from the individual's experiences of success and pleasure, as when someone acquires a positive attitude toward doing crossword puzzles by being able to complete some of them, And frequently, they are learned by copying other people's behavior, as when a child learns how to behave toward foreigners by observing the actions of his parents．Regardless of these differences, there is something in common in the learning and modification(修正)of attitudes．