阅读理解

　　Do you know why I am always in support of learning a foreign language? The reasons are as follows：

　　1．Improve your English

　　I know this might not make sense at first but hear me out．As a person who speaks only one

　　language, you have no basis for comparison(比较)；all you know is English．In different languages the same idea is often expressed in different ways．You will find yourself speaking and writing more creative sentences．There is a reason why most great writers and poets are students of many languages．

　　2．________

　　Travelling is one of the great joys of life and also one of the most wonderful experience．Why not get the most out of your experience? If you don't know the native language of the country that you are visiting, you are completely excluded from the culture．The locals(当地人)don't speak to you．Knowing even a few phrases will make a huge difference．You will meet more people and find it much easier to get around．

　　3．Join the global community

　　The majority of the world does not speak English．The truth is that new thoughts and ideas are happening everywhere and they are not being immediately translated．The world is getting smaller and we are coming into contact(接触)with more non-English speakers all the time．Gain an advantage for yourself in business and personal relationships by being able to communicate with people in their language．

　　Now that you know three great reasons for learning a foreign language, do it right now．

阅读理解

　　I fell in love with England because it was quaint(古雅)－all those little houses, looking terribly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls' houses．I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London．I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it's an ugly town now．

　　Things have changed．For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play, and good manners．The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners－people shut doors heavily to your face and politeness is disappearing．

　　I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places．You're forced to live indoors．In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs．To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman．The cafes are not terribly nice．

　　As a woman, I feel unsafe here．I spend a bomb(大量的钱)on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p. m．I used to use it ，but now I’m afraid．

　　The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England．My family is well united and that's typically French．In Middlesex I had a neighbor who is 82 now．His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone．

阅读理解

　　One day a heavy storm hit a village．Nothing was destroyed, but a rock fell from a nearby mountain．The rock rolled down from the mountain and stopped in the middle of the main road in the village．It was very big and shaped more or less like a ball．The village decided to move it since it was blocking(阻塞)the street．Several of the strongest men in the village came to try to lift it out of the road．No matter how hard they tried though, they couldn't move it．

　　All of this time a young boy was watching the men trying to move the rock．“Excuse me,” he said, “but I think I could move the rock．”

　　“You?”they shouted．"What are you talking about? All of us have just tried, and even together we can't move it a bit．" They all laughed at the boy．

　　The next morning some villagers came into the street．To their great surprise, the rock was gone! More people ran out to see for themselves．It was true the rock wasn't in the road any more．

　　The little boy stood in the street, smiling．“I told you I could move it,” he said．“I did it last night．”Then he walked over to where the rock had been and uncovered some dirt with a shovel(铁锹)．“You see,”he said, “I dug a deep hole next to the rock, and the rock rolled down into the hole of itself．Then I covered it with dirt．”

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　　Dogs are social animals and without proper training, they will behave like wild animals．They will soil your house, destroy your belongings, bark excessively, fight other dogs and even bite you．Nearly all behavior problems are perfectly normal dog activities that occur at the wrong time or place or are directed at the wrong thing．The key to preventing or treating behavior problems is learning to teach the dog to redirect its normal behavior to outlets that are acceptable in the domestic setting．

　　One of the best things you can do for your dog and yourself is to train it to obey．Obedience(服从，顺从)training doesn't solve all behavior problems, but it is the foundation for solving just about any problem．Training opens up a line of communication between you and your dog．Effective communication is necessary to instruct your dog about what you want it to do．

　　Training is also an easy way to establish the social rank order．When your dog obeys a simple request of "come here, sit," it is showing obedience and respect for you．It is not necessary to establish yourself as top dog or leader of the dog pack by using extreme measures．You can teach your dog its subordinate(次要的)role by teaching it to show submission(屈从)to you．Most dogs love performing tricks for you to pleasantly accept that you are in charge．

　　Training should be fun and rewarding for you and your dog．It can enrich your relationship and make living together more enjoyable．A well-trained dog is more confident and can more safely be allowed a greater amount of freedom than an untrained animal．

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　　In recent years, especially during the 1960s, there was much discussion about “the brain drain(排干，流失),” which dealt with the problem of students and learned people who left their own countries for other countries that offered better chances for study, research, and employment．For example, according to a report from U．N．, between 1962 and 1966 more than 50 percent of all engineering graduates of Iran and 14 percent of Iranian scientists left their country for work abroad．Over 30 percent of Chilean engineers and 15 percent of Turkish physicians also went to work in other countries．Probably the greatest brain drain occurred among young scientists who had gone abroad to study．Many of them had planned to return to their countries to teach but chose to remain in more industrialized nations where they were able to continue their work and their research in fields in which there were no job possibilities at home．The countries that attracted most of these scientists were the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Canada, and Australia．

　　Recent studies show that the brain drain to the United States may be decreasing．Many foreign scientists are going home again, and in some cases American scientists are leaving the United States for employment in other countries．The main reasons are that good jobs are becoming fewer here, money for national research has been sharply cut, and university fellowships reduced too．However, in the field of medicine the drain to the United States still goes on．Today more than one of every five American doctors is foreign – born, and several thousand foreign doctors immigrate to the United States each year．Over eighty countries have asked the State Department to send students who are skilled in important fields such as medicine back home when their study programs are over．

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　　What’s on TV?

　　6∶00

　　Channel 3

　　Let’s Talk! Guest：Animal expert Jim Porter

　　Channel 5

　　Cartoons

　　Channel 8

　　News

　　Channel 9

　　News

　　7∶00

　　Channel 3

　　Cooking with Cathy Tonight：Chicken with mushrooms

　　Channel 5

　　Movie A laugh a Minute(1955)James Rayburn

　　Channel 8

　　Spin(旋转)for Dollars!

　　Channel 9

　　Farm Report

　　7∶30

　　Channel 3

　　Double Trouble(comedy)The twins disrupt the high school dance

　　Channel 9

　　Wall Street Today．Stock Market Report

　　8∶00

　　Channel 3

　　NBA Basketball．Teams to be announced

　　Channel 8 Movie At Day’s End(1981)Michael Collier, Julie Romer．Drama set in World War II

　　Channel 9

　　News Special “Saving Our Waterways：Pollution in the Mississippi”

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　　While I was waiting outside my wife’s office building for her to get out of work, I saw a beggar coming my way from across the parking lot．

　　“I hope he doesn’t ask me for any money,” I thought．

　　He didn’t．

　　He came and sat in front of the bus stop, but he didn’t look like he could have enough money to ride the bus．After a few minutes he spoke．“That’s a pretty car,” he said, pointing to my car．He was ragged(衣衫褴褛), but he had an air of dignity about himself．

　　I gave him a smile and continued cleaning my car．

　　He sat there quietly as I worked．The expected asking for money never came．As the silence between us widened, it seemed that a voice inside me said, “Ask him if he needs any help．” I was sure that he would say “yes”, but I listened to the inner voice．

　　“Do you need any help?” I asked．

　　He answered in three simple but meaningful words that I shall never forget．We often look for wisdom in great men and women, and we expect it from those of higher learning and achievements．I expected nothing but a dirty hand from him, but he said three words that shook me．

　　“Don’t we all?” he said．

　　I was feeling high, successful and important above a beggar in the street, until those three words hit me like a shot．

　　Don’t we all?

　　I needed help．Maybe not for a bus fare or for a place to sleep, but I needed help．I reached in my wallet and gave him not only for a bus fare, but enough to get a warm meal and shelter for the day．Those three little words still ring true．No matter how much you have, no matter how much you have achieved, you need help, too．No matter how little you have, no matter how loaded you are with problems, even without money or a place to sleep, you can give help．

阅读理解

　　True to their reputation as leisure-loving gourmets(美食家), the French spend more time sleeping and eating than anyone else among the world's wealthy nations, according to a study published on Monday．

　　The average French person sleeps almost nine hours every night, more than an hour longer than Japanese and Korean, who sleep the least in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD)．

　　Despite their siesta habit, Spaniards rank only third in the poll after Americans, who sleep more than 8.5 hours．

　　And while more and more French people grab a bite at fast-food chains these days or wolf down a sandwich at their desk, they still spend more than two hours a day eating．

　　That means their meals are twice as long as those of the average Mexican, who dedicates just over an hour a day to food, the OECD's "Society at a Glance" report on work, health and leisure in Asia, Europe and North and South America found．

　　The Japanese, scrimping(吝啬)on sleep and burdened with long commutes and working hours, still manage to spend close to two hours a day eating and drinking, placing them third behind New Zealanders．

　　Despite the moderate amount of time Americans spend eating each day--about an hour and a quarter－U．S．obesity(肥胖)rates are the highest in the 30 members of OECD．

　　The Japanese like to spend what remains of their scarce free time watching television or listening to the radio．This takes up 47 percent of leisure time in Japan．

　　Norwegians spend the most time at leisure, just over a quarter of their day, while at the low end, Mexicans spend just 16 percent of their time having fun．

　　The OECD has 30 members．The survey covers only the countries for which appropriate figures were available．

阅读理解

　　Increasingly, Americans are becoming their own doctors, by going online to diagnose their symptoms, order home health tests or medical devices, or even self-treat their illnesses with drugs from Internet pharmacies(药店)．Some avoid doctors because of the high cost of medical care, especially if they lack health insurance．Or they may stay because they find it embarrassing to discuss their weight, alcohol consumption or couch potato habits．Patients may a1so fear what they might learn about their health, or they distrust physicians because of negative experiences in the past．But p1aying doctor can also be a deadly game．

　　Every day, more than six million Americans turn to the Internet for medical answers -most of them aren't nearly skeptical enough of What they find．A 2002 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 72 percent of those surveyed believe all or most of what they read on health websites．They shouldn't．Look up “headache”, and the chances of finding reliable and complete information, free from a motivation for commercial gain, are only one in ten, reports an April 2005 Brown Medical School study．Of the l69 websites the researchers rated, only l6 scored as “high quality”．Recent studies found faulty facts about all sorts of other disorders, causing one research team to warn that a large amount of incomplete, inaccurate and even dangerous information exists on the Internet．

　　The problem is that most people don't know the safe way to surf the Web．“They use a search engine 1ike Google, get l8 trillion choices and start clicking．But that's risky, because almost anybody can put up a site that looks authoritative(权威的), so it's hard to know Whether What you're reading is reasonable or not, ” says Dr．Sarah Bass from the National Cancer Institute．

阅读理解

　　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．