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　　US researchers have found traces of an ancient lake on Mars recently, increasing hopes of discovering evidence that billions of years ago the Red planet hosted life．

　　The lake, which dates back some 3.4 billion years, appears to have covered as much as 80 square miles and was up to 1,500 feet deep, said the team from the University of Colorado．

　　“This is the first clear evidence of shorelines on the surface of Mars,”said Boulder’ s research associate, Gaetano Di Achille, in a study published in the latest edition of Geophysical Research Letters．

　　“The identification of the shorelines and accompanying geological evidence allows us to calculate the size and volume of the lake, which appears to have formed about 3.4 billion years ago．”

　　Analysis of the images has shown the water carved out the canyon(溪谷)in which it was found, which then opened out into a valley depositing(使淤积)sediment(沉积)which formed a delta(三角洲)．

　　“Finding shorelines is a great discovery to us,” said assistant professor Brian Hynek, adding it showed the lake existed at a time when Mars was thought to have been cold and dry．

　　Scientists believe the oldest surfaces on Mars formed during the wet and warm era known as the Noachan epoch, about 4.1 billion to 3.7 billion years ago．

　　The newly discovered lake is believed to date from the Hesperian era and postdates the end of the warm and wet period on Mars by 300 million years, according to the study．

　　Scientists believe deltas next to the lake may well hold secrets about past life on Mars as such places on Earth have become the natural deposits of organic carbon and other markers of life．

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　　Social Program：22nd－26th August 2011

　　Monday Evening－Study Centre or Sports Park

　　Study Center：The school will be open from 7.45 pm to 9.35pm．

　　Sports Park：Aerobics, Swimming or Fitness Training(with a Fitness Card)．

　　Tuesday Evening－Cinema

　　Cinema：To get your free ticket, you must write down which film you would like to watch．See the leaflet on the board for this evening’s UCI Cinema program．For more information about the films, visit the UCI website www．uci．co．uk or see the film section in this week’s Time Out magazine．

　　Wednesday Evening－Study Centre of Tennis Coaching

　　Study Center：The school will be open from 7.35 pm to 9.35 pm．

　　Tennis Coaching：With former Junior Wimbledon tennis player Stuart Silvester．

　　Thursday Evening－Chinese Party

　　Chinese Party：Come along and enjoy the hospitality of the Chinese students! You can try delicious Chinese food and learn about Chinese traditions．Please note that you should eat your evening meal at your home-stay, as the food is a taster and not a full meal．Non alcoholic and alcoholic drinks will be served．

　　Friday afternoon－Historical Walking Tour or Sports Parks

　　Historical Walking Tour：This afternoon you will have the opportunity to visit parts of Norwich you may have otherwise missed, with a professional guide．In medieval times Norwich was the second most important city in England and this afternoon you can learn some of the interesting history of our fine city．

　　Sports Park：Badminton, Basketball, Fitness Training(with a Fitness Card), Football, Squash, Swimming or Volleyball．

　　Please sign early if you wish to play any of the sports listed above．

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　　BEIJING－Seven prestigious universities in China announced Sunday that they would begin using the same independent exam－besides the national one－to test students hoping to gain entrance to them in 2011．

　　The seven are Peking University, Beihang University, Beijing Normal University, Nankai University, Fudan University, Xiamen University and Hong Kong University．

　　Students who want to gain entrance to any of the seven universities will only have to sit one independent exam, according to the joint announcement．

　　“This will help lighten tile students’ load, otherwise they must take several exams for different universities,”said the announcement．

　　Passing the exam could result in more than one interview chance, giving the students more opportunities to choose their favorite universities．

　　China’ s college entrance exam system is undergoing reform as universities aim to select students based on independent criteria rather than just using the results of the national exam．

　　In 2003, Peking University and another 21 universities were allowed to pilot(试用)the reform by using their own criteria to independently select five percent of their students．

　　Now nearly 80 universities across the country have the right to select talented students based on their own exams．

　　Education experts regard universities selecting students according to independent examinations as conducive(有助的)to better understanding where the students’ talents lie．

　　Although this may be the case, it has also created problems as students may sit many different exams as they often apply for a number of universities．

　　To relieve students from such pressures, the national education outline(2010－2020)released in July this year encourages high-level universities to group together to use the same exams．

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　　Car crashes are the top killer of American teenagers．Most of the crashes result from distracted driving not paying attention to the road．

　　Ryan Didone was a fifteen-year-old passenger．in a car that hit a tree．He was one of the nation's more than thirty thousand-victims of traffic crashes in 2008．Nearly four thousand．deaths, about twelve percent, involved drivers aged fifteen to twenty．Ryan's father, Thomas Didone, is a police captain in Montgomery County, Maryland．He said, "It was an inexperienced," immature driver who felt that he was invincible(不可战胜的), driving at night with a carload of kids．He was distracted, he was going too fast,　and it ended up causing one death and some upsetting experiences and tragedy for the rest of the community．"

　　Jim Jennings from the Allstate Insurance Company said "The number one cause of distracted-driving accidents is the mobile phone．Talking on the phone or reaching for it is like drinking four beers and driving．If you're texting while driving, you are twenty-three times more likely to get into an accident man somebody who isn't．

　　Reaching for a cell phone when it's going off, you're nine times more likely to get into an accident than normally driving," The insurance industry recently held a safety event　near Washington for teen drivers．

　　At first, nineteen-year-old Kevin．Schumann easily avoided large, inflatable(充气的)dolls thrown in front of the car to represent children．He also avoided orange cones representing the edge of the road．Then, as part of the test,he started texting．He hit several cones and at least one doll．

　　Debbie Pickford from the Allstate Insurance Company said, "Teens are especially at risk from distracted driving－and not just because they lack experience on the roads．What we know from research on teen brain, development, is mat teens don't

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　　Have you read " 'To Kill a Mockingbird’ The only navel by Harper Lee offers moral lessons about racial justice and respect．It tells the story of a young girl named Scout and her father, Atticus Finch, a lawyer．He defends a black man．

　　Tom Robinson wrongfully accused of raping(强奸)a white woman．In the end, an all-white- jury(陪审团)sentences Tom Robinson to death．

　　The book is set in the American, South in the 1930s．

　　But it came out on July11^th, 1960 as the civil rights movement in the United States was gaining strength．

　　Laws and customs in the South, however, still kept blacks and whites mostly separated．

　　A mockingbird is a land of gray songbird．The book gets its, title from something Atticus Finch was told in his childhood when his father gave him a gun．Atticus Finch said, "I remember when my daddy first gave me that gun, he．told me that I should never point at anything in the house, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted, if I could hit them．But remember, it was a sin(罪过)to kill a mockingbird, for they don't hurt anyone, they just make music．"

　　Some people said, " 'To Kill a Mockingbird' treats racism in a way that is simplisite(过分单纯化的), even offensive to blacks, and out of date in today's, America．" Still, it has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold over forty million copies．It is often required reading in high schools．Harper Lee won a Pulitzer Prize in America in 1961 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007．

　　The story takes place in a town that Harper Lee called Maycomb．But she based the characters on real people she knew growing up．Since then her hometown Monroeville has changed a lot．A number of African-Americans serve m the local government．The courthouse, made famous by the book, is now a museum．A small shop and a fast-food restaurant called Mel's Dairy Dream have replaced Harper Lee's childhood home．

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　　The U．S．Institute of Medicine is involved in a study which shows vitamin D affects nearly every area of the body and low levels of vitamin D can have serious consequences．

　　It's vitamin D associated with the sun that we absorb through our skin, and increasingly block out when we use sunblock(防晒霜), to avoid getting skin cancer．Vitamin D is also available in some foods, but as the world gets tatter, Vitamin D gets trapped in body fat．

　　What doctors are now discovering is that many people don't have enough Vitamin D．That's why Dr．Michael Irwig gives lectures on Vitamin D to the staff at the George Washing University Hospital．He said,

　　"Vitamin D has become a very hot topic in medicine now as we are discovering very high levels of vitamin D deficiency in our population, not only in the U．S．, but worldwide．

　　What's very interesting about vitamin D is that it's involved ail throughout the body, and it's involved on a local level, so you can have vitamin D active in the breasts, in the prostate(前列腺), in the colon(大肠), and it's thought that the locally-acting vitamin D is helping to protect the body against these cancers, regulating how cells grow and how cells die．"

　　Vitamin D helps our bodies absorb calcium(钙)and helps form and maintain strong bones Extreme vitamin D deficiency causes, deformities in children and weak bones in adults．

　　Doctors rarely see these conditions．But studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to a number of serious health problems, including heart disease, several types of cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and some autoimmune disorders．Low levels of vitamin D are even associated with high blood pressure．

　　It currently recommends 200 to 600 units of vitamin D daily．But many experts, including Dr．Irwig, recommend adults take 1,000 to 2,000 units a day, an amount only possible to get through supplements(补给品)．

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　　Doctors Without Borders, which was set up in 1971 by．doctors and journalists in France, is a humanitarian(人道主义的)organization also known by its French name．Medecins Sans Frontieres, and handles emergencies caused by wars, infectious diseases and natural disasters．Today, the group provides humanitarian medical aid in nearly sixty countries．It has organizations in nineteen countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, France and Germany．

　　Ninety percent of its money comes from private sources．

　　In 1999, the group received the Nobel Peace Prize．

　　“Living in Emergency：Stories of Doctors Without Borders” is a documentary by movie director Mark Hopkins．It tells the story of four doctors and their volunteer work in Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo．

　　Mr．Hopkins and his crew filmed the doctors working under some of the most extreme and dangerous conditions．

　　Doctor Tom Krueger from the United States in the film volunteered in Liberia in 2003, after two civil wars．He said, “It was pretty much of a shock when I got here．You can't describe the smells, the feeling of the heat on your body and the sweat running down your back．The smell of the pus(脓)that hits your nose, and of unwashed bodies in a closed room．"

　　Another doctor ill the film, Australian Chris Brasheer, has been with Doctors Without Borders for nine years．He has served in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spent time in Liberia．Hs said, "No water, no electricity, no food－pretty apocalyptic really．"

　　Doctor Chiara Lepora from Italy also appears in the film．She spent several years working with the group．She said, "I will probably return．There are a lot of doctors who are willing to volunteer ones, but not many doctors who are willing to repeat their experience．"

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　　To cross me English Channel - the stretch of water between England and France-is no mean feat．At its narrowest point, it is 34km wide - a big challenge for a good swimmer, let alone for one with neither legs nor arms．But being a quadruple amputee(四肢瘫痪者)did not prevent 42-year-old Philippe Croizon from doing exactly that．

　　The Frenchman, who had his limbs amputated(截肢)after he suffered an electric shock 16 years ago, completed the crossing in less than 14 hours．He used prosthetic flippers．(假体的游泳脚蹼)to push himself forward and the stumps(残肢)that were left of his arms to stabilise himself on the water．

　　He said："My back hurt, my chest hurt, my shoulders hurt, but at no point am I going to stop achieving my dream of the crossing．I’ve done this for myself, for my family, and for all my fellows in misfortune who have lose their taste for life．”

　　It is not the first time Croizon has made headlines．He became famous in 2007 for parachuting from an parachuting(跳伞)from an aeroplane and wrote a book about his experiences called “I decided to live”．It took him two years of preparation to cross the Channel．He trained for 35 hours a week．

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　　Over 70 percent of the "double single-child couples" in China need help from their parents in taking care of their own kids, according to a recent survey．

　　"Women of China" magazine and a consulting company carried out a survey recently on young couples of the "single-child" generation, the Morning Post reports．The couples surveyed were around 29 and have been married for three years on average, with university education and monthly income of 4.000 yuan(＄531)．Among them, 43.5 percent have kids．

　　Results show that 71.9 percent of the young couples have help from their parents in taking care of their kids．

　　Grown up as the "single-child", the only child in a family since the family planning policy was adopted in 1979, this generation depends much on their parents．

　　The parents of the "single-child" generation focused more on their children's physical well-being rather than their attitudes and values, according to some psychologists．

　　The research also found that the "double single-child couples" follow a rather traditional value system．

　　Survey shows that 27.5 percent of them got married after dating for one to two years, 25.2 percent two to five years, and 20 percent didn't tie the knot until dating for five years．Also, 30 percent of the couples were schoolmates, while 43．8 percent were introduced by someone．

　　Since their marriage are based on enduring relationships, 65.2 percent of the husbands and 62.9 percent of the wives think that compromise(妥协)and tolerance(宽容)are necessary in their marriage．Meanwhile, 21.7 percent of the husbands and 37.1 percent of the wives support the idea that happiness is the key standard for a marriage．

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　　There are different ways in which people try to deal with the problem of energy．One way is the greater production of common energy sources(能源), such as coal, oil and gas．The trouble with these sources, however, is that they are not renewable．

　　Another way is energy conservation(节能), which means using energy more efficiently(有效地)．In some very cold countries people build special houses to save energy．They place materials between the inside and the outside of the walls of the house to keep the cold out and the warmth in．The house is heated by the lights, the body heat of the people and the other equipment in it．

　　Finally, renewable energy sources are used even though they are often expensive to develop．One form of these is geothermal energy．In certain parts of the world the temperature of the earth increases thirty degrees centigrade with each kilometre down．At six kilometres, therefore, it rises to nearly two hundred degrees．To get the heat, water is pumped(压;抽)down into the rocks and back up to the surface．Heat from the earth is already used in certain countries．