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　　The Internet has opened up a whole new on-line world for us to meet, chat and go where we've never been before．

　　But just as in face-to-face communication, there are some basic rules of behavior that should be followed when online．The basic rule is simple：treat others in the same way you would want to be treated．Imagine how you'd feel if you were in the other person's shoes．

　　For anything you're about to send：ask yourself, "Would I say this to the person's face?" If the answer is no, rewrite and reread．Repeat the process till you feel sure that you'd feel comfortable saying the words to the person's face．

　　If someone in the chat room is rude to you, your instinct is to fire back in the same manner．But try not to do so．You should either ignore the person, or use your chat software to block their messages．If it was caused by a disagreement with another member, try to fix the situation by politely discussing it．Remember to respect the beliefs and opinions of others in the chat room．

　　Everyone was new to the network once．Offer advice when asked by newcomers, as they may not be sure what to do or how to communicate．When someone makes a mistake whether it's a stupid question or an unnecessarily long answer be kind about it．If it's a small mistake, you may not need to say anything．Even if you feel strongly about it, think twice before saying anything．Having good manners yourself doesn't give you license to correct everyone else．

　　If you do decide to tell someone about a mistake, point it out politely．At the same time, if you find you are wrong, be sure to correct yourself and apologize to those that you have offended．

　　It is not polite to ask others personal questions such as their age, sex, and marital status．Unless you know the person very well, and you are both comfortable with sharing personal information, don't ask such questions．

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　　For the second time in three years, Norway's Robert Sorlie delivered a brave performance to win sled-dog racing's toughest contest－the Iditarod．The 47-year-old firefighter crossed the finish line in Nome, Alaska, at 8∶39 a.m．local time Wednesday morning．

　　"It feels good to be here," he declared, after passing the finish line．"I'm ready for breakfast．"

　　Frosty temperatures, rough land, and exhaustion couldn't break the musher(赶狗拉雪撬的人), who completed the race in 9 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds．Runner-up Ed Iten finished 34 minutes later, and defending champ Mitch Seavey finished third．

　　Sorlie took his first lead at the 365-mile mark, but fell into second place halfway through the race．With 500 miles to go, he regained the lead for good．

　　Iditarod officials rewarded Sorlie with a generous prize of ＄72,066 and a new truck．But even more exciting for the winner was the historic nature of his ride．By winning this year's race, Sorlie joins a best group of mushers, becoming only the sixth person to win the Iditarod more than once．

　　After winning several major long-distance races in Europe, Sorlie made his Iditarod first appearance in 2002, finishing in ninth place．A year later, he returned to take on the Alaskan wilderness once again, and won．

　　Iditarod：A Quick History

　　Since 1973, the world's top competitors have gathered in Alaska to undertake the Iditarod's 1,150-mile trail, which stretches from Anchorage to Nome．

　　The race commemorates(纪念)a group of courageous mushers and dogs．In 1925, they traveled across part of the Idit trail to deliver serum(血清)to save sick children in Nome．

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　　2007 will have a handful of final installments in movie trilogies(三部曲)

　　that will blow us out of our seats．This is the complete list：

　　May 4, 2007

　　Starring：Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst

　　An alien from the moon gives Spider-man new powers and a black

　　suit．Peter Parker confronts(对抗，面对)his darker side when his red

　　suit suddenly turns jet black and fuels his powers．

　　May 18, 2007

　　Voice：Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake

　　When Fiona’s dad dies, Shrek is supposed to take the crown(王冠)

　　but Shrek doesn’t want the responsibility．So Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and

　　Puss look for a new King．So far King Arthur is the best they have．

　　May 25, 2007

　　Starring：Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Chow Yun-Fat

　　Captain Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann must sail off the

　　edge of the map, make their way through tricks and betrayal．They will

　　make their final alliances(联盟)for one last decisive battle．

　　August 10, 2007

　　Starring：Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker

　　While in Paris, Hong Kong police officer Lee and American

　　colleague Carter get inadvertently(不注意时)mixed up with a

　　Chinese triad(三人的)crew．The movie’s humor draws on cultural

　　differences between the two constables．

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　　There's an old saying that laughter is the best medicine．No matter whether it's caused by a good joke, a cute child or pet, or a pie in the face of a comedian, the simple act of laughing offers medical benefits．Laughter has been shown to reduce stress and help people lose weight．It's a special tonic(滋补品)for older people, who are prone to loneliness and sad thoughts．

　　In fact, in more than 1,000 American communities, and a couple thousand more around the world, entire clubs have been formed so that people can get together and laugh! U．S．clubs have names like "Laugh-a-holics," "the Ha-Ha Spa," "Granite State Giggles(傻笑)," and "Judy's Joyful Laughter Club．"

　　The idea started in India, where laughing is an oral yoga(瑜珈)exercise using discipline, mind power and a good belly laugh．Laughter is certainly contagious(传染性的)．Only a determined grouch(脾气坏的人)could avoid at least smiling when others around him are laughing till it hurts．That's why members of laughing clubs don't just get together to howl with laughter themselves．They meet on street corners, in train stations, and other public places, laugh their fool heads off, and invite everyone around them to join in．

　　Laughing clubs have become so popular that one can even get training as a "certified laughing leader．" And the key qualification? You have to be really good at these, chortling, chuckling, howling, snickering, cackling, tittering, giggling and sniggling．

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　　Mary Masterman hasn't decided where she will attend college, but when she does, she'll have plenty of money to pay for it．The 17-year-old took home a ＄100,000 scholarship Tuesday as the top winner of the 2007 Intel Science Talent Search．

　　"It was a complete surprise," said the senior at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma．"I wasn't expecting it．" Masterman earned first place at this year's competition by building a low-budget spectrograph(摄谱仪)－ an instrument that identifies the unique characteristics, or "fingerprints," of different molecules．Spectrographs are used in a variety of fields, including astronomy, medicine, and law enforcement．They can sense the presence of explosives or drugs, and they can also help determine the age of a piece of artwork．

　　Normally, the cost of a spectrograph can run as high as ＄100,000．Mary, however, built her device－which she crafted from lenses, a laser, aluminum(铝)tubing, and a camera－for just ＄300．"I wanted to build one that was lower-costing so it would be more available to anyone interested in spectrography," she said．

　　Sticking to a budget was only half the battle．Getting the machine to work was another challenge．"I had to keep coming up with creative ways to adjust or change something," Mary admitted．"It took three months to build and another three months before it actually functioned properly．"

　　Mary competed with more than 1,700 other high school seniors in this year's science challenge．Forty finalists were invited to Washington, D．C．, where they presented their projects at the National Institute of Science．In all, 10 students took home awards for their innovative projects．

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　　Which credit card do you find the best, as a woman? As a sports lover, which credit card serves you best? Questions like these threw up the first credit cards ranking by top Chinese credit card doorway 51credit．com and Shanghai-based poll firm 51poll．com as they released the result of a three-month survey via Internet and telephone．

　　The ranking came from the survey of 20,000 cardholders in more than 100 cities, according to Tu Zhiyun, CEO and founder of 51credit．com．China Merchants Bank(CMB), one of the best performing commercial banks and the largest card issuer in China, was rated the best in the general group for its popular dual-currency(双币)credit card．Shanghai-based Pudong Development Bank was crowned the best in the platinum(白金)card for successfully targeting high-end customers, thanks to its close cooperation with Citibank(花旗银行)．The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, topped the ranking in the co-branded(联名的)group for its card issued in association with China National Petroleum Corporation, China's largest oil company．

　　Several others got the top honors as the best credit card for women, travel, sports and best design．The total number of credit cards in China is around 30 million, compared with 500 million in the United States．The growing wealth of the Chinese people has added attraction to the credit card business．The number of credit cards issued is expected to double in 2007．

　　However, most banks are losing money in their credit card businesses as a large portion of the cards have apparently never been used since they were issued．CMB is currently the only commercial bank to have made a profit in the section．The bank said the circulation of its dual-currency credit card reached 10 million by the end of 2006, a jump of 100 percent from 2005, and accounted for 35 percent of the credit card market in China．

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　　Attention all Chinese challengers to the Indian with the world's longest ear hair(4 inches)or the Americans who smooched(拥抱)their way to the world's longest kiss(30 hours, 59 minutes, 27 seconds)－your day has come．And this time it's official．

　　The Guinness Book of World Records landed in China on Thursday, bestowing 10 awards on record-breaking people and places and for the first time permitting a local firm to look for more．

　　The London-based institution has a law case against a Shanghai company which borrowed the Guinness label, said Stewart Newport, the Keeper of the Records．

　　"It's unfortunate that some people may have been misled, but hopefully this will correct it," he said．

　　Guinness has signed an agreement with the Liaoning Education Press, based in the northeastern city of Shenyang, to publish the Chinese-language edition of its record book and review applicants for future editions, Newport said．

　　Guinness first published its record book in 1955．The reference now claims to be world's best selling copyrighted book with sales of more than 94 million copies in 37 languages－only the Bible, not exclusively copy written, has sold more．

　　Most of China's new record-holders were long overdue．

　　They include athletes like diver Fu Mingxia, who became the world's youngest sporting champion at the tender age of 12 in 1991 and is unlikely ever to be beaten．

　　And since July, 1980, a movie house has been screening the classic "Love on Lushan Mountain" four times a day, everyday, to tourists in the picturesque Jiangxi province setting which gave the film its name．Guinness researchers took more than two months to determine to their satisfaction that no other theater had continuously shown the same film as long．

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　　Just as the English language has changed quickly in the previous century, so has the use of it．

　　After the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC)was founded in 1927, the particular style of speech of the BBC announcers was recognized as standard English or Received Pronunciation(RP)English．Now, most people still consider that the pronunciation and delivery of BBC announcers is the clearest and most understandable spoken English．

　　English has had a strong relationship with classes and social positions．However, since the Second World War there has been a clear change of attitude towards speech snobbery(自我优越感), and marks of class distinction(区别)such as styles of speech have been gradually diminishing, especially in the younger generation．

　　By the end of the 1960s, it had become clear that it was not necessary to speak standard English or even correct grammar to become popular, successful and rich．The fashionable speech of the day was no longer the special right of a special class but rather a defiant(反抗的)expression of classlessness．

　　The greatest single influence of the shaping of the English language in modern times is the American English．Over the last 25 years the English used by many people, particularly by those in the media, advertising and show business, has become more and more mid-Atlantic in style, delivery and accent．

　　In the 1970s, fashion favored careless pronunciation and a language full of jargon, slang and “in” words, a great quantity of which couldn’t be understood by the outside world．What is considered modern and fashionable in Britain today is often not the kind of English taught in schools and colleges．

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　　Far from the land of Antarctica(南极洲), a huge shelf of ice meets the ocean．At the underside of the shelf there lives a small fish, the Antarctic cod．

　　For forty years scientists have been curious about that fish．How does it live where most fish would freeze to death? It must have some secret．The Antarctic is not a comfortable place to work and research has been slow．Now it seems we have an answer．

　　Research was begun by cutting holes in the ice and catching the fish．Scientists studied the fish’s blood and measured its freezing point．

　　The fish were taken from seawater that had a temperature of －1.88℃ and many tiny pieces of ice floating in it．The blood of the fish did not begin to freeze until its temperature was lowered to －2.05℃．That small difference is enough for the fish to live at the freezing temperature of the ice-salt mixture．

　　The scientists’ next research job was clear：Find out what in the fish’s blood kept it from freezing．Their search led to some really strange thing made up of a protein(蛋白质)never before seen in the blood of a fish．When it was removed, the blood froze at seawater temperature．When it was put back, the blood again had its antifreeze quality and a lowered freezing point．

　　Study showed that it is an unusual kind of protein．It has many small sugar molecules(分子)held in special positions within each big protein molecule．Because of its sugar content, it is called a glycoprotein．So it has come to be called the antifreeze fish glycoprotein．Or AFGP．

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　　At a time of low academic achievement by children in the United States, many Americans are turning to Japan, a country of high academic achievement and economic success, for possible answers．However, the answers provided by Japanese preschools(育幼园)are not the ones Americans expected to find．In most Japanese preschools, surprisingly, little emphasis is put on academic instruction．In one investigation, 300 Japanese and 210 American preschool teachers, child development specialists, and parents were asked about various aspects of early childhood education．Only 2 percent of the Japanese respondents(调查对象)listed “to give children a good start academically” as one of their top three reasons for a society to have preschools．In contrast, over half the American respondents chose this as one of their top three choices．To prepare children for successful careers in the first grade and beyond, Japanese schools do not teach reading, writing, and math, but rather skills such as persistence,(毅力),concentration, and the ability to function as a member of a group．The majority of young Japanese children are taught to read at home by their parents．

　　In the recent comparison of Japanese and American preschool education, 91 percent of Japanese respondents chose providing children with a group experience as one of their top three reasons for a society to have preschools．Sixty-two percent of the more individually oriented(导向的)Americans listed group experience as one of their top three choices．Emphasis on the importance of the group seen in Japanese early childhood education continues into elementary school education．

　　Like in America, there is diversity(多样性)in Japanese early childhood education．Some Japanese kindergartens have specific aims, such as early musical training or potential development．In large cities, some kindergartens are attached to universities that have elementary and secondary schools．

　　Some Japanese parents believe that if their young children attend a university-based program, it will increase the children’s chances of eventually being admitted to top-rated schools and universities．Several more progressive programs have introduced free play as a way out for the heavy intellectualizing in some Japanese kindergartens．