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　　Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling．Recycling in the home is very important of course．However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need．We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place．

　　The total amount of packaging has increased by 12％ between 1999 and 2005．It now makes up a third of a typical household's waste in the UK．In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard．

　　Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment．The UK, for example, is running out of it for burying this unnecessary waste．If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect．Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy．The solution is not to produce such items in the first place．Food waste is a serious problem, too．Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need．However, few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example．

　　But this is not just about supermarkets．It is about all of us．We have learned to associate packaging with quality．We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality．This is especially true of food．But it is also applied to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary．

　　There are signs of hope．As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realize just how much unnecessary materials are collected．We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb．

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　　The central part of the United States suffered its own economic crisis(危机)in the nineteen eighties．Unemployment reduced the population．The Spencer public library worked to help people in the town of Spencer, Iowa, to find jobs．It created a list of jobs and offered books on job skills and training．

　　One cold January morning in nineteen eighty-eight, library workers found a small, almost frozen kitten(小猫)in the book drop．A book drop is the small metal door in the wall of the building where people can return books when the library is closed．No one knows who put the kitten there or why．But it turned out to be lucky for both the kitten and the town．

　　The library held a contest to name the cat．The winning name was Dewey Readmore Books．Library officials agreed to permit him to live in the building．Dewey loved to keep people company while they chose books or used the library computer．Soon, Dewey’s presence began attracting families and school groups to the library．

　　The local newspaper wrote about the new library cat．His story spread across the nation．Dewey began receiving letters from people in other countries．And a film crew from Japan arrived to include him in a movie about cats．

　　Head librarian Vicki Myron was Dewey's main caretaker．Last year, she published the best-selling book “Dewey：The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World．” Here she gives readers an idea of how much the cat meant to her town．

　　READER：

　　“How much of an effect can an animal have? How many lives can one cat touch? How is it possible for an abandoned kitten to transform a small library into a meeting place and tourist attraction, inspire a classic American town, bring together an entire region and eventually become famous around the world? You can't even begin to answer those questions until you hear the story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa．”

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　　A good friend of mine was complaining about her son the other day．“Did you notice,” she started, “how he didn't wait for me to get my salad before he dived into his?”

　　True enough, the boy attacked his plate faster than a cat in the wild．Without manners, we're no more than animals．Actually, that's not true, I've been watching and feeding a group of wild cats, and they show unusual politeness toward each other．Even when food is scarce, they take turns, leaving at least a small part for the next in line．

　　My mother educated her three children to have good manners all the time．We were made to feel very uncomfortable as if we were sitting on pins and needles until we got used to saying please, thank you ,pardon me, and I'm sorry．And I have to say, while it was a painful learning experience, it was one of the most valuable．

　　I can't tell you how often I sat with my friends, eating at their dinner tables, and their parents thought highly of my good manners．While it was a little embarrassing, I knew even then that my mother's teachings were paying off．

　　Many years later, when I was attending seminars across the country, my manners were quite useful．

　　While I regret that I haven't been a perfect example, I'm still working on it．I suppose, in this regard, my mother lives on through me, I didn't have her beautiful singing voice or her green eyes, but she did make sure I received one of her finest characteristics．

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　　My dad is very unique because of his personality and lifestyle．For instance, put his watch on his left hand, even though he's a lefty, and parking his car only in the garage is just his thing and doesn't change．

　　My father only wears suits during the week because it's something very professional and formal．He loves to teach what he knows, from teaching my mother, aunt, and sisters driving skills to teaching his kids vocabulary．Also, whenever he is asked to do something at work, whatever it is, he will always complete the task on time．

　　My mother buys most of his clothes, as he hates big crowds．In his house, children watch TV only after finishing all homework, which he believes is the best, because the child does his homework and still stays happy．

　　One of my father's main focuses in life is making sure his children grow up the right way, like he did．He grew up with one sister in Chicago．As he got older, he got married to my mother who is three years younger than him．

　　My dad is an individual with numerous qualities．His personality is just very wonderful to live with．The manners he shows are so refined and probably much better than most people．I admire my father and want to be just like him when I grow up．

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　　Something in chocolate could be used to stop coughs and lead to more effective medicines, say UK researchers．

　　Their study found that theobromine,(可可碱)found in cocoa, was nearly a third more effective in stopping coughs than codeine, which was considered the best cough medicine at present．

　　The Imperial College London researchers who published their results online said the discovery could lead to more effective cough treatment．“While coughing is not necessarily harmful it can have a major effect on the quality of life, and this discovery could be a huge step forward in treating this problem,” said Professor Peter Barnes．

　　Ten healthy volunteers were given theobromine, codeine(可待因)or placebo(安慰剂), a pill that contains no medicine, during the experiment．Neither the volunteers nor the researchers knew who received which pill．The researchers then measured levels of capsaicin, which is used in research to cause coughing and as a sign of how well the medicine are stopping coughs．

　　The team found that, when the volunteers were given theobromine, the capsaicin need to produce a cough was around a third higher than in the placebo group．When they were given codeine they need only slightly higher levers of capsaicin(辣椒素)to cause a cough compared with the placebo．

　　The researchers said that theobromine worked by keeping down a verve activity(神经活动), which cause coughing．They also found that unlike some standard cough treatments, theobromine caused no side effects such as sleepiness．

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　　Young men often give flowers to young women when they are in love．This tradition may have come from Turkey．

　　In the 1700s in Turkey, it was quite popular for people in love to send each other baskets full of strange things．The baskets were delivered secretly to the person who was receiving it．Usually，an old woman who sold flowers or fruit on the street left the basket beside the person's door．

　　These baskets included a variety of “gifts”：flowers, stones, feathers, wax, and even charcoal．Each thing in the basket had a special meaning．By figuring out the secret message contained in each item, the person who received the basket began to understand little by little the true feeling of the person who sent it．

　　This idea of sending gifts of love with secret meanings quickly spread to Germany, France, and England．However, as time passed, only sending flowers remained popular．

　　An innocent bunch of flowers told young ladies about the feeling in the hearts of young men．Each different flower held a different meaning．For example, the flowers from an orange tree meant, “You are beautiful and pure．” Pink carnations meant, “My love for you is strong and great．” Yellow roses, on the other hand, meant, “I saw you with someone else．”

　　Many flower dictionaries were made to help young people in love understand the meaning of the flowers they received．Not all of the dictionaries agreed, however, on the meaning of each flower, so a person had to be careful about the flowers they chose to send．

　　By the 1880s, using flowers to send messages had fallen out of fashion, and the more direct way of sending love letters began．Today, flowers are still considered a lovely gift, but the meaning for each kind of flower had been lost．

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　　Children become more generous as they get older, learning the principles of equality by the age of eight, That may not be too surprising to anyone who has kids．

　　Humans are born with a sense of fairness that most other animals seem not to share, but it's not been clear exactly when this concept starts to develop．

　　Dr．Alva Zhao and her colleagues conducted a series of tests to measure just how much children care about equality at different ages, In three different versions of a game, children were asked to choose between two ways of sharing a number of sweets with themselves and an unfamiliar partner, They could choose, for example, between one for me and one for you, or just having one for themselves．

　　At the age of three, children were “almost completely selfish”, says Zhao, They refused to give sweets away even if it made no difference to themselves, But by the age of eight, children generally preferred the fair option, sharing a prize equally rather than keeping it all to themselves,

　　Several other factors influenced how fair the children were, The team found that children without brothers or sisters were 28％ more likely to share than children with brothers or sisters, On the other hand, the youngest children in a family were 17％ less willing to share than children who had only younger brother or sister．

　　In addition, if children knew that their partner was from the same playgroup or school, they were more concerned about being fair, This suggests that being nice to people you know is something that develops a sense of equality．

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　　Hey, all you Muggles, witches, and wizards－are you ready for the grand finale of the Harry Potter series? J．K．Rowling announced on Thursday the title for book seven－Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows．Book seven in the Harry Potter series will pick up where book six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, left off．With the last chapter of book seven, the magical adventures of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and friends will come to an end．

　　“I am alternately delighted and worried,” says Rowling on her official Web site．She made the announcement of the book title on the Web site．Rowling is currently busy putting the finishing touches on the book．

　　“I'm now writing scenes that have been planned, in some cases, for a dozen years or even more,” says Rowling．Rowling adds that she has been working very hard on this final installment in the series．With the title now set, she assured fans that she will indeed finish this book．

　　“I both want, and don't want, to finish this book,” Rowling says．

　　It's not too late to catch up on the rest of the series．You can also reread your favorite books while waiting for the last one．The publication date for book seven has not been set．To make the waiting a little easier, there's always the next Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is scheduled for release in July 2007．

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　　A "blogger" is a person who writes on an Internet computer Web site called a "blog"．The word "blog" is a short way of saying Web log, or personal Web site．Anyone can start a blog, and they can write about anything they like．

　　There are millions of blogs on the Internet today．They provide news, information and ideas and many people read them．They contain links to other Web sites．And they provide a place for people to write about their ideas and react to the ideas of others．

　　A research company called Perscus has studied more than 300 Web logs．It says that blogs are most popular with teenage girls．They use them to let their friends know what is happening in their lives．The study also says that more than 100,000 bloggers stopped taking part in the activity after a year．

　　However, some people develop serious blogs to present political and other ideas．For example, the Republican and Democratic parties in the southern state of Kentucky recently started their own blogs．And American companies are beginning to use blogs to advertise their products．

　　At the same time, some long-standing blogs have ended last week, blogging leader Dave Winer closed his free blog service "weblogs．com"．He says the site became too costly to continue．He started the blog four years ago．And thousands of people had written on it．They are now upset because they did not know that the site was closing．

　　One blog that is still going strong is called Rebecca's Pocket．Rebecca Blood created the Web-site in 1999．She wrote about the history of blogs on the site．That article led to a book called "The Weblog Handbook"．It has been translated into four languages so far．

　　Ms．Blood says Rebecea's Pocket gets about 30,000 visitors a month．She writes about anything and everything--politics, culture and movies．She recently provided medical advice．And she wrote about how to prevent people from stealing money from on -line bank accounts．

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King's College Summer School

　　King's College Summer School is an annual(每年的)training program for high school students at all levels who want to improve their English．Courses are given by the teachers of King' s College and other colleges in New York．Trips to museums and culture centers are also organized．This year's summer school will be from July 25 to August 15．

　　More information is as follows：

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