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　　It may be one of Britain’s most successful exports – Miss World．This 53-year-old event took place in China last week and attracted over 120 women worldwide with knockout looks in a mad struggle for the crown．

　　Traditional values have long kept the Chinese, especially women, from displaying beauty．But Chinese people have now changed their attitude toward beauty contest, although some men will still be shouting that the winner is no more beautiful than his wife or his former girl friend or even his mother in a sour tone．But such men are not shouting for the right reason．The question to be：Why isn’t there a Mr．World Beauty Contest?

　　And a further question to be asked is：Does taking part in a beauty contest show a woman’s courage, wisdom and liberation or rather the opposite－ forced choice and a revolting act made under conditions of long-term discrimination?

　　Organizers of such beauty contests claim that the contestants are judged on qualities other than just their physical appearance．But still no answer is given to why there isn’t a Mr．Beauty or a Mr．World Contest? Or at least, why isn’t that kind of contest popular? Why is it that only women’s “qualities” need to be recognized but not men’s?

　　Think about who is always standing beside a fancy car on show? Is it a boy or a girl? And this is how “qualities” are judged：if the girl looks good, there is little reason why the car beside her is not of high quality．

　　The beauty contests go on year after year, with winners enjoying fame which quickly disappears．While such events go on and on, what never changes is the routine practice that in every fancy car show, a girl stands beside a fancy car．What never changes is the need to hold a women’s conference every year to appeal for the promotion of respect for and improvement of women．What never changes is the fate of women as a class．So let’s put more time and resources into trying to change all this rather than holding beauty contests．

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　　I like watching TV very much for I think it has many advantages．First of all, watching TV is a good rest．After a day of hard work, we need a good rest．Watching TV can make our mind and body not tired any more because of the pleasant music and TV plays．

　　Besides, watching TV is entertaining．There are many kinds of entertainment, such as sports activities, singing and dancing concerts, plays and films all over the world at every time．It’s not possible for us to go to every place to enjoy all the activities within a short time．We need at least over ten hours to drive from Queens District to Manhattan District．But within just one second, TV can bring us from an NBA game in New York to a fashion show in Paris by changing the channels．

　　Most important, watching TV is educational．Our children can learn every kind of subjects through the educational programs and the special reports on TV, and it’s easy for them to learn Chinese from a Chinese teacher in Beijing and to learn Russian lessons from a Russian teacher in Moscow．Even we can learn how to behave well from the TV plays．Meanwhile, a teacher can teach millions of students without a huge classroom．

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　　There was one thing that I found rather strange on my first day to work at Monk's House．The floors in the house were very thin．The bathroom was directly above the kitchen, and when Mrs．Woolf was having her bath before breakfast, I could hear her talking to herself．On and on she went, talk, talk, talk, asking questions and giving herself the answers．I thought there must have been two or three people up there with her．Later Mr．Woolf explained that Mrs．Woolf always said out loud what she had written during the night．She needed to know if they sounded right and the bath was a good place for trying them out．

　　I was not allowed to make coffee at Monk's House－Mr．and Mrs．Woolf came into the kitchen at eight o'clock every morning to make it．When we carried the breakfast trays to Mrs．Woolf's room I noticed that there were pencils and paper beside her bed so that when she woke up she could work, and sometimes it seemed as though she had had very little sleep．

　　Mrs．Woolf's bedroom was outside the house in the garden．I used to think how inconvenient it must be to have to go out in rain to go to bed．Her bedroom had been added to the back of the house; the door faced the garden and a window opened out onto a field．Because the writing-room was small, Mr．Woolf had had a larger one built for her at the end of the garden against the church wall．

　　I can always remember her coming out of her writing-room only for lunch each day：she used to walk down through the garden smoking one of her favourite cigarettes．She was tall and thin and very graceful, with large, deep-set eyes．She wore long skirts in the fashion of the day, and silk jackets of the same colour, which suited her well．I pressed her clothes and did any sewing that was necessary．

　　Her cigarettes were made from a special tobacco called My Mixture．Mr．Woolf bought it for her in London, and, in the evenings, they used to sit by the fire and make these cigarettes themselves．

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　　About ten men in every hundred suffer from color blindness in some way．Women are luckier; only about one in two hundred is affected in this matter．Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman!

　　There are different forms of color blindness．In some cases a man may not be able to see deep red．He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shadows of green．Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green．In rare cases an unlucky man may see everything in shades of green － a strange world indeed．

　　Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain．In a single eye there are millions of very small things called “cones”．These help us to see in a bright light and to tell difference between colors．There are also millions of “rods”, but these are used for seeing when it is near dark．They show us shape but no color．

　　Some insects have favorite colors．Mosquitoes prefer blue to yellow．A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will．In a similar way human beings also have favorite colors．Yet we are lucky．With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the aid of the rods we can see shapes at night．One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around us．

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　　''Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move," said David Belle, the founder of parkour(跑酷)．

　　Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring．But what if making your morning jog a creative one? Like jumping from Walls and over gaps, and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royaler Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way．It is just because of Bond's wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide．

　　Yes, that's parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body．Parkour is considered ah extreme sport．As its participants dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from rooftop to rooftop．

　　Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds, but its participants see park- our much more than that．

　　Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy(理念)behind parkour．This is the same as life．You must determine your destination, go straight, jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life, to reach the destination successfully．A parkour lover said, "I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything．"

　　Another philosophy we've learnt from parkour is freedom．It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world．It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself that you earn energy and confidence．

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　　Most American students go to traditional public schools．There are about 88, 000 public schools, all over the US．Some students attend about 3000 independent public schools called charter schools．

　　Charter schools are; self-governing．Private companies operate some charter schools．They are similar in some ways to traditional public schools．They receive tax money just as other public schools do．Charter schools must prove to local or state governments that their students are learning．These governments provide the schools with the agreement called a charter that permits them to operate．

　　Charter schools are different because they do not have to obey most laws governing traditional public schools．Local, state, or federal governments cannot tell them what to teach．Each school can choose its own goals and decide the ways it wants to reach them．Glass size is usually smaller than in traditional public schools．

　　The Bush Administration strongly supports charter schools as：a way to; re-organize public schools that are failing to educate students．But some education agencies and unions oppose charter schools．One teachers', union has just made public the results of the first national study comparing the progress of students in traditional schools and charter schools．

　　The American Federation of Teachers criticized the government's delay in releasing the results of the study, which is called the National Assessment of Educational Progress．Union education experts say the study shows that charter school students performed worse on math and reading tests than students in regular public schools．

　　Some experts say the study is not a fair look at charter schools because students in those schools have more problems than students in traditional schools．Other education experts say the study results should make charter school officials demand improved student progress．

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　　From a very early age, some children exhibit better self-control than others．Now, a new study that began with about 1,000 children in New Zealand has tracked how a child's low self-control can predict poor health, money troubles and even a criminal record in their adult years．

　　Researchers have been studying this group of children for decades now．They observed the level of self-control the youngsters displayed．Parents, teachers, even the kids themselves, scored the youngsters on measures like "acting before thinking" and "Persistence in reaching goals．"

　　The study led by Moffitt of Duke University and colleagues followed 1, 000 children from birth to age 32 in Dunedin, New Zealand．

　　"The children who had the lowest self-control when they were age three to ten, later on had the most health problems in their 30s," Moffitt said, "and they had the worst financial situation．They were more likely to have a criminal record and to be raising a child as a single parent on a very low income．" Moffitt explained that self-control problems were widely observed, and weren't just a feature of a small group of misbehaving kids．

　　Moffitt said it's still unclear why some children have better self-control than others, though she said other researchers have found that it's mostly a learned- behavior, with relatively little genetic influence．But good self-control can be set to run in families because children with good self-control are more likely to grow up to be healthy and prosperous parents．But the good news, Moffitt said, is that self-control can be taught by parents, and through school curricula that have been shown to be effective．

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　　For centuries, the body's blood has been linked closely with the emotions．People who show no human emotions or feelings, are said to be cold-blooded killer．For example, the police are searching for a cold-blooded killer．He seems to kill for no reason, and no emotion, as if taking someone's life as nothing．

　　Cold can affect other parts of the body．The expression "get cold feet" has nothing to do with cold or your feet．The expression means being afraid to do something you have decided to do．For example, you agree to be president of an organization．But then you learn that all the other officers have resigned, and all the work of the organizations will be your responsibility．You are likely to get cold feet about being president when you understand the situation．

　　The expression "give someone the cold shoulder" probably comes from the physical act of turning your back toward someone, instead of speaking to him face to face．You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has not kept a promise he made to you．Or, to someone who has lied about you to others．

　　A cold fish is not a fish．It is a person．But it is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth．A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone．Someone who is a cold fish could be cold-hearted．Now a cold-hearted person is someone who has no sympathy．Several popular songs in recent years were about cold-hearted men or cold-hearted women who, without feelings, broke the hearts of their lovers．

　　"Out in the cold" means not getting something that everybody else got．A person might say that everybody but him got a pay raise梙e was left out in the cold．And it is not a pleasant place to be．

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The Diet Zone：A Dangerous Place

　　Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, on-fat diet, vegetable diet…We are surrounded by the word“diet”everywhere we look and listen．We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us．We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically(身体上)．

　　Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically．On one level, we are not allowing our brains to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods．Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and so straight for the scale(秤)instead．All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word“diet”in food labels．

　　On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects．Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results．Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle．

　　The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause．Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients(营养成分), Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products．Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous．

　　Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously thnk about buying them．Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals．Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them．

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　　Poorer children would be offered the chance to attend lessons on Saturday to help catch up with their middle class peers(同龄人)，the shadow schools secretary, Michael Gove, said today, The Conservatives would give English state schools the freedom to choose to have longer teaching hours and extra classes at the weekend, he told the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’annual conference．

　　Gove said the move would help to close the achievement gap with richer children whose parents could afford extras such as tutoring and music lessons．

　　He told delegates(代表)in Manchester：“For children who come from homes where parents don’t have the resources to provide additional stretch and cultural experiences, there are benefits in having those children in the learning environment, in school, for longer．”

　　“Parents would love to have schools starting earlier in some circumstances, and certainly going on later in the afternoon, given the reality of their working lives, ”he said．He held up the example of Kipp(Knowledge is Power Program)schools in the US, which are often based in the poorest communities and open from 7∶30 am to 5pm on weekdays, plus Saturdays．

　　But it would be up to schools to decide to offer longer hours, Gove added．

　　Parents said Saturday classes could become a“badge of dishonor”if pupils were forced to go, while teachers raised concerns about their workload．

　　Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Outloud, said：“I think the suggestion the government made about one-to-one teaching for these kids would be a more preferable way of improving these children’s performance．I’m just not sure whether taking away a child at weekends is actually going to make them cleverer in the week．”

　　The ATL’s general secretary, Mary Bousted, said：“If we want Saturday schools, then we need more teachers doing the extra hours, not the same teachers working longer．”