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　　Science can’t explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all round good cheer．

　　Any owner will tell you how much joy a pet brings．For some, an animals provides more comfort than a husband/wife．A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress levels blood pressure in people-half of them pet owners-while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic(算术)or held a hand in ice water．Subjects completed the tasks alone with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet．People with pets did it best．Those tested with their animals friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned most quickly to baseline heart rates．With pets in the room, people also made fewer math mistakes than when doing in front of other companions．It seems people feel more relaxed around pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don’t judge．

　　A study reported last fall．suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits．Researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital spent a year studying 36 fat people and their equally fat dogs on diet-and-exercise programs;a separate group of 56 people without pets were put on a diet program．On average, people lost about 11 pounds, or 5％ of their body weight．Their dogs did even better, losing an overage of 12 pounds, more than 15％ of their body weight．Dog owners didn’t lose any more weight than those without dogs but, say researchers, got more exercise overall-mostly with their dogs-and-found it worth doing．

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　　The Union is a student-run organization with a permanent staff of 20．Typing speed of at least 60wpm．

　　The ability to take shorthand dictation(速记)is required．

　　The basic salary for the position is ＄18 500 per year．

　　Emu airline is now offering a part-time position for a secretary．

　　The position offers at least 20 hours’ work a week, with a view to full-time work in the future．Monthly salary is about ＄1400．

　　Phone 899--3264 for an appointment．

　　We need an operator to work in an office associated with the building industry．

　　Only experienced operators are expected to apply．

　　Starting salary：＄17950 yearly．

　　Apply in writing to：

　　The personnel Officer Hill Morgan Pty Ltd 38 Green Hill Rd．Kensington 2033．

　　We are an expanding clothing company located south of the city．Our products include jeans, skirts, shorts and so on．We are looking for sewing machine operators．

　　The factory works a 38-hour week over 4-5 days．Wages for this are ＄18050 per year．

　　If you are interested, come over and pick up an application form from ripper jeans, 23 North Ave, Beaudesert．

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　　My students often tell me that they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork．

　　My reply is often a brief “You have as much time as the president．” I usually carry on a bit is not an an acceptable explanation of not getting something done．

　　Once in graduate school, I tried to prove to one of my professors by saying that I was working hard．His answer to me was, ”That’s irrelevant(无关的)important is the quality of your work．” Since then I have had time to think carefully about the “hard worker” dodge(决窍), and I have come to some conclusions－all relevant to the problem of how much time we have．

　　If you analyze the matter, you can identify two parts of the problem：There is, of course, the matter of “time”, which we can think of as fixed．Then there is the problem of “work” during that time．But, as my professor suggested, It’s not how hard one works but the quality of the product, that’s important．

　　That led me to a new idea：the quality of the work．That concept is perhaps best explained by a sign I once saw on the wall in someone office：”Donn’t work harder．Work smarter．” Ther is a lot of sense in that idea．

　　If you can’t get more time, and few of us can, the only solution is to improve the quality of the work．That means thinking of ways to get out of the same time than we might otherwise get．That should lead us to an analysis of our work habits．Since “work” for students usually means “homework”, the expression” workhabits” should be read as “study habits．”

　　Then, as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing．If you learn to read better and write better, there are big benefits that pay off in all your students．

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　　You’re in a department store and you see a couple of attractive young women looking at a sweater．You listen to their conversation

　　“I can’t believe it－Lorenzo Bertolla! They are almost impossible to find．Isn’t it beautiful? And it’s a lot cheaper than the one Sara bought in Rome．”

　　They leave and you go over to see this incredible sweater．It’s nice and the price is right．You’ve never heard of Lorenzo Bertolla, but those grils looked really stylish．They must know．So, you buy it．You never realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency．They are actually paid to go from store to store, talking loudly about Lorenzo Bertolla clothes．

　　Every day we notice what people are wearing, driving and eating．If the person looks cool, the product seems cool, too．This is the secret of undercover marketing．Companies from Ford to Nike are starting to use it．

　　Undercover marketing．is important because it reaches people that don’t pay attention to traditional advertising．This is particularly true of the MTV generation---- consumers between the age of 18 and 34．It’s a golden grroup．They have a lot of money to spend, but they don't trust ads．

　　So advertising．agencies hire young actors to “perform” in bars and other places where young adults go．Some people might call this practice misleading, but marketing executive Jonathan Ressler calls it creative．”Look at traditional advertising．Its effectiveness is decreasing．”It is true, because everyone knows an ad is trying to persuade you to buy something．However, you don’t know when a conversation you overhear is just a performance．

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　　Elephants don’t forget-at least, female elephants don’t．Elephant families are matriarchal．

　　And the social knowledge gained by the oldest females is the key to a family group’s survival, according to a study published in April by Karen McComb, a biologist at Sussex University in England．

　　Elephants announce their presence by making a deep, long sound, a practice referred to as contact calling．An unfamiliar call may mean that an elephant from outside the family group is nearby．A stranger can cause trouble, interrupting feeding or disturbing the young．So an elephant matriarch signals the family to gather around her; then they all lift their trunks in the air to smell the unfamiliar caller．False alarms can disturb the group and take time and energy away from feeding, so survival may depend in part on getting it right．

　　Working with Cynthia Moss, who founded the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya 30 years ago, McComb tested the social knowledge of 21 Amboseli elephant families with matriarchs 27 to 67 years old．She played recordings of contact calls to each family and found that the oldest matriarchs were much better at picking out unfamiliar calls．In fact, a group with a matriarch in her fifties was several thousand times more likely to form into a group upon hearing an unfamiliar contact call than when hearing a familiar call．However, families with younger matriarchs were less than twice as likely to gather together upon hearing an unfamiliar contact call as compared with a familiar call．And they gathered together a lot．Moreover, the social knowledge of older matriarchs translated into favorable results：Families with older matriarchs produced more baby elephants in each female-reproductive year．

　　This finding shows how difficult it is to protect the oldest members of elephant families．As elephants age, they continue to grow larger, as do their much wanted tusks(象牙)．So the older－and wiser－a matriarch is, the greater the chance she will be killed．About 800,000 elephants have been killed by people in the past 20 years．

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　　Treasure hunts have excited people’s imagination for hundreds of years both in real life and in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island．Kit Williams, a modern writer, had the idea of combining the real excitement of a treasure hunt with clues found in a book when he wrote a children’s story, Masquerade, in 1979．The book was about a hare, and a month before it came out Williams buried a gold hare in a park in Bedfordshire．The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare, but Williams put in a lot of “red herrings”, or false clues, to mislead them．

　　Ken Roberts, the man who found the hare, had been looking for it for nearly two years．Although he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time, he found it by logic, not by luck．His success came from the fact that he had gained an important clue at the start．He had realized that the words：“One of Six to Eight” under the first picture in the book connected the hare in some way to Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII’s six wives．Even here, however, Williams had succeeded in misleading him．Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cam bridgeshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the hare there．He had been digging there for over a year before a new idea occurred to him．He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, and thought that he must have buried the hare in a place he knew well, but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon, until one day he came across two stone crosses in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been built in her honor in 1773．

　　Even then his search had not come to an end．It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that he decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there．Williams encouraged him to continue, and on February 24^th 1982, he found the treasure．It was worth ￡3000 in the beginning, but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable．

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Tales From Animal Hospital

David Grant

　　David Grant has become a familiar face to millions of fans of Animal Hospital．Here Dr Grant tells us the very best of his personal stories about the animals he has treated, including familiar patients such as the dogs Snowy and Duchess, the delightful cat Marigold Serendipity Diamond．He also takes the readers behind the scenes at Harmsworth Memorial Animal Hospital as he describes his day, from ordinary medical check-ups to surgery(外科手术)．Tales From Animal Hospital will delight all fans of the programme and anyone who has a lively interest in their pet, whether it be cat, dog or snake!

　　￡14.99 Hardback 272pp Simon Schuster

　　ISBN 0751304417

　　Isaac Newton：The Last Sorcerer

　　Michael White

　　From the author of Stephen Hawking：A Life in Science, comes this colorful description of the life of the world’s first modern scientist．Interesting yet based on fact, Michael White’s learned yet readable new book offers a true picture of Newton completely different from what people commonly know about him．Newton is shown as a gifted scientist with very human weaknesses who stood at the point in history where magic ended and science began．

　　￡18.99Hardback 320pp Fourth Estate

　　ISBN1857024168

　　Fermat’s Last Theorem

　　Simon Singh

　　In 1963 a schoolboy called Andrew Wiles reading in his school library came across the world ‘s greatest mathematical problem：Fermat’s Last Theorem(定理)．First put forward by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the seventeenth century, the theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a French woman scientist who made a major advance in working out the problem, and who had to dress like a man in order to be able to study at the Ecole Polytechnique．Through unbelievable determination Andrew Wiles finally worked out the problem in 1995．An unusual story of human effort over three centuries, Fermat’s Last Theorem will delight specialists and general readers alike．

　　￡12.99 Hardback 384pp Fourth Estate

　　ISBN 1857025210

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　　It was the summer of 1965．DeLuca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend．Buck asked DeLuca about his plans for the future．“I’m going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” DeLuca recalls saying．“Buck said ‘you should open a sandwich shop．’”

　　That afternoon, they agreed to be partners．And they set a goal：to open 32 stores in ten years．After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for ＄1,000．DeLuca rented a storefront(店面)in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another ＄1,000．

　　But business didn’t go smoothly as they expected．DeLuca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls．” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs．

　　DeLuca was managing the store and going to the University of Bridgeport at the same time．Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York．They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running．“We convinced ourselves to open a second store．We figured we could tell the public．‘We are so successful, we are opening a second store．’” And they did –in the spring of 1966．Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error．

　　But the partners’ learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength．Every Friday, DeLuca would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers．“It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn’t necessary, but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out．” DeLuca says．

　　And having a goal was also important．“There are so many problems that can get you down．You just have to keep working toward your goal．” DeLuca adds．

　　DeLuca ended up founding Subway sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain．

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　　The battle for the leadership of Britain’s Labour Party ended on September 25．Five candidates competed for the top job, but it turned out to be a tale of two brothers．Victory went to Ed Miliband, 40, with his elder brother David, 45, coming a close second．Ed’s Miliband’s job will now be to try to lead his party back into power and oppose Prime Minister David Cameron．

　　The two Milibands were both ministers in the Gordon Brown government．David Miliband, as Foreign Secretary, held the third most important post in UK politics．US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described him as “vibrant and attractive”．Ed, who had a lesser role in government as Minister of Climate Change, was valued for his contribution to policy discussions and for his performance at the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change last December．

　　The Miliband brothers were born to political parents．Their father, Ralph, was a Marxist scholar．He came to Britain from Belgium in 1940, fleeing the Nazis．Ralph Miliband was buried beside Karl Marx in London’s Highgate Cemetery(公墓)．His wife Marion, the brothers’ mother, remains an active party member at 76．

　　The two brothers represent different wings of the Labour Party．David supported former Prime Minister Tony Blair; Ed was a follower of Blair’s great rival Gordon Brown, the last Labour PM．

　　“We’re determined to make sure that family comes before politics, and I don’t think there’s any chance that politics is going to get in the way,” David Miliband said before the vote．

　　After the result, the two embraced(拥抱)in front of the cameras．

　　In his acceptance speech, Ed Miliband said to his brother：“David, I love you so much as a brother．And I have such extraordinary respect for the campaign that you ran．”

　　But some feel their warm words were for the media and for the sake of party unity．There had been reports of anger on David’s part when his younger brother chose to stand against him．David may feel that the leadership was stolen from him-and by his own brother．Ed himself was reported to be concerned that he might have hurt David．According to the Guardian, after the result, Ed’s first reaction was：“what have I done to David?”

　　Ed suggested that he was prepared to make his brother shadow chancellor(影子大臣)．But David has decided it is time to move on．He will not have a role in the Shadow Cabinet in the future．

　　In effect, he has fallen on his sword for the Party．David Miliband said the priority(优先考虑的事)was to allow his brother to make a success of leading Labour：“I believe this will be harder if there is constant comparison with my comments and position as a member of the shadow cabinet(影子内阁)．”

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　　A woman from Japan was telling a friend about her trip to the United States．The woman had visited major businesses and investment companies in New York City and Chicago．

　　“I studied English before I left home,” she said．“But I still was not sure that people were speaking English．”

　　Her problem is easy to understand．Americans in business are like people who are in business anywhere．They have a language of their own．Some of the words and expressions deal with the special areas of their work．Other expressions are borrowed from different kinds of work such as the theater and movie industry．

　　One such saying is “get your act together”．

　　When things go wrong in a business, an employer may get angry．He may shout, “Stop making mistakes．Get your act together．”

　　Or, if the employer is calmer, he may say, “Let us get our act together．”

　　Either way, the meaning is the same．Getting your act together is getting organized．In business, it usually means to develop a calm and orderly plan of action．

　　It is difficult to tell exactly where the saying began．But, it is probable that it was in the theater or movie industry．Perhaps one of the actors was nervous and made a lot of mistakes．The director may have said, “Calm down, now．Get your act together．”

　　Word expert James Rogers says the expression was common by the late 1970s．Mister Rogers says the Manchester Guardian newspaper used it in 1978．The newspaper said a reform policy required that the British government get its act together．

　　Now, this expression is heard often when officials of a company meet．One company even called its yearly report, “Getting Our Act Together．”

　　The Japanese visitor was confused by another expression used by American business people．It is cut to the chase．

　　She heard that expression when she attended an important meeting of one company．One official was giving a very long report．It was not very interesting．In fact, some people at the meeting were falling asleep．

　　Finally, the president of the company said, “Cut to the chase．”

　　Cut to the chase means to stop spending so much time on details or unimportant material．Hurry and get to the good part．

　　Naturally, this saying was started by people who make movies．Hollywood movie producers believe that most Americans want to see action movies．Many of their movies show scenes in which the actors chase each other in cars, or in airplanes or on foot．

　　Cut is the director’s word for stop．The director means to stop filming, leave out some material, and get to the chase scene now．

　　So, if your employer tells you to cut to the chase, be sure to get to the main point of your story quickly．