In 1960—1961, Chad(乍得) harvested 98,000 tons of cotton for the first time in its history, and put out the flag a little too soon. The efforts of the authorities to get the peasants "back" to work, as they had slacked off a great deal the previous year during independence celebrations, largely contributed to it. Also, rains were well spaced, and continued through the whole month of October. If the 1961—1962 total is back to the region of 45,000 tons, it is mostly because efforts slackened again and sowing was started too late. The average date of sowing is about July 1st. ff this date is simply moved up fifteen or twenty days, 30,000 to 60,000 tons of cotton are gained, depending on the year. The peasant in Chad sows his millet first, and it is hard to criticize this instinctive priority given to his "daily bread". An essential reason for his lateness with sowing cotton is that at the time when he should leave to prepare the fields he has just barely sold the cotton of the previous season. The work required to sow, in great heat, is psychologically far more difficult if one"s pockets are full of money. The date of cotton sales should therefore be moved forward as much as possible, and purchases of equipment and draught animals encouraged. Peasants should also be encouraged to save money, to help them through the difficult pealed between harvests. If necessary they should be forced to do so, by having the payments for cotton given to them in installments. The last payment would be made after proof that the peasant has planted before the deadline, the date being advanced to the end of June. Those who have done so would receive extra money whereas the last planters would not receive their last payment until later. Only the first steps are hard, because once work has started the peasants continue willingly on their way. Educational campaigns among the peasants will play an essential role in this basic advance, early sowing, on which all the others depend. It is not a matter of controlling the peasants. Each peasant will remain master of his fields. One could, however, suggest the need for the time being of kind but firm rule, which, as long as it cannot be realized "by the people", should at least be "for the people."

Many philosophers have argued that people make decisions about what"s right and wrong based on moral principles and rational thought. But other philosophers—and more recently, some psychologists and neuroscientists—have argued that there"s more to the story. When faced with a moral dilemma, these scholars say, we rely on emotional reactions as well as our powers of reasoning. In a study of brain damage, published today, neuroscientists report evidence that emotions indeed exert a powerful influence on moral judgments. In the new study, Antonio Damasio of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and colleagues examined moral reasoning in six people who had damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex(VMPC), a brain region that regulates emotions. The researchers presented the patients with moral dilemmas that forced them to decide whether it was acceptable to sacrifice one person"s life to save several others. For example, participants had to decide whether to flip a switch that diverts a runaway trolley from a track leading to five workers to a track leading to just one worker. The researchers also gauged the decisions of 12 people without brain damage and 12 patients with damage to brain regions unconnected to emotions. In the trolley scenario, most people in all three groups said it was okay to flip the switch. However, the VMPC patients" decisions diverged when the scenario required inflicting direct personal harm on one person to save several others—such as shoving a large person off a bridge to slow a trolley headed for five people. From a strictly rational point of view, it"s better to save five people instead of one, but the thought of pushing an innocent person to his death is emotionally wrenching. That may explain why only about 20% of people in the control groups said they"d push. The VMPC patients, on the other hand, made the utilitarian choice about twice as often, the researchers report online today in Nature. The findings fit nicely with other evidence that moral judgments often involve a conflict between emotion and reason and that those two competing influences rely on different networks of brain regions, says Joshua Greene, a philosopher and cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard University. But Jordan Grafman, a cognitive neuroscientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, isn"t convinced that extreme moral dilemmas like the trolley problem evoke the same cognitive processes—and involve the same brain regions as moral judgments in the real world involve. Even so, he says, the study "emphasizes that disciplines other than philosophy can contribute to issues related to moral behavior. "

ExtracurricularActivitiesandtheTimeSpentonThemA.Studythefollowingchartscarefullyandwriteanessayof160-200words.B.Youressayshouldcoverthesethreepoints:1)themainextracurricularactivitiesstudentstakepartinandthetimetheyspendonthem2)possiblereasons3)yoursuggestions

After the dotcom boom of the 1990s, the world is about to experience a boom in dots. Over 1,000 new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs) are set to join the 22 existing ones, such as .com and .org, and the 280 country-specific ones, such as .uk, that now grace the end of web addresses. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) , the nonprofit organisation that manages the web's address book, reckons this will boost competition and innovation. It will also increase the cost to businesses of protecting their brands. Some of the new gTLDs, such as .guru and .sexy, will flatter owners' egos. Others, such as .clothing and .photography, will be used by firms to tout their wares. Among the first to go live, on February 4th, was ".web" written in Arabic script. That made history: until now all generic top-level domains have been written in Latin lettering, meaning internet users with Arabic keyboards had to wrestle with ALT, CTRL and the like to type the last few letters of most websites' names. Other gTLDs in scripts such as Chinese and Russian will follow in the coming months. Firms including Apple, Ford and IWC, a watchmaker, have already applied to register their names as gTLDs. That will allow them to ensure they are not used by crooks or cybersquatters. Google, Amazon and others have applied for numerous gTLDs, including .app and .kindle, presumably because they want to use them and think they can make money by selling the right to use "second-level" domains (for example, economist, app), typically for $10—50 a year. Firms may also be keen to buy certain second-level domains to stop them falling into the wrong hands. Donuts, a company that has lodged hundreds of applications for gTLDs, has .wtfand .sucks on its list. But there are costs to owning a gTLD. Firms must pay $185,000 to ICANN when applying for one, plus $25,000 for each year they use it. Deciding which ones to splash out on is tricky. New domains including .biz and .mobi have been added in the past, but have failed to put a dent in the wildly popular .com. The avalanche of new domains may also confuse web users, who often get to their destinations via search engines rather than by typing web addresses into browsers. Greater choice and competition should eventually bring them benefits. But the transition may be .complicated.

Write a letter to a travel agency, asking about the detailed information about a package tour. You should include the details you think necessary. You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

Who hasn"t wanted to master not just two languages but 10? Take Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th-century priest who was said to be【C1】______in as many as 50 languages. Native speakers came from all over the world to test his【C2】______. and many left astonished. In Babel No More, Michael Erard investigates the legend of Mezzofanti and【C3】______linguistic geniuses. 【C4】______on Erard asks what it means to really know a language. Claire Kram-sch tells him the question【C5】______ not be "How many languages do you know?" but rather "In how many languages do you live?" Understanding the【C6】______cultural difference of a language requires extensive and【C7】______contact with its speakers, and for that reason Kramsch【C8】______that anyone could ever live in more than four or five languages. Fair enough, 【C9】______what about the astonishing feats of memory and calculation that people display when they【C10】______a new language, or eight? Erard points out that, for no good reason, this question has been【C11】______by science. After all, we study extraordinary【C12】______in mathematics and music; why not linguistic geniuses? Erard【C13】______down Mezzofanti"s papers, speaks to many language experts and even learns that some bilingual people experience mental illness in one【C14】______but not another. Most interestingly, he【C15】______a group of modern linguistic geniuses. Memory, 【C16】______and practice are all important, they say, but so is a practical strategy. 【C17】______who claimed to speak 11 languages did not much care about 【C18】______like a native. Unlike Mezzofanti, their goal was not to【C19】______but to do—see the world, read the local paper and not get【C20】______ .

A.Studythefollowingpicturecarefullyandwriteanessayinnolessthan160—200words.B.Youressaymustbewrittenclearly.C.Youressayshouldmeettherequirementsbelow:1)Describethefollowingdrawing,2)interpretitsmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

You are going to read a text about the tips for developing self-esteem quotient, followed by a list of evidences. Choose the best evidence from the list A~G for each numbered subheading(1~5). There are two extra examples which you do not need to use. So, how do you raise your self-esteem? Here are several tips for developing your self-esteem quotient: 【C1】Be open-minded- hear critique and criticism, but only hear them as half-truths. Everyone has their own side to a story, as do you and other people who know you. " 【C2】Start praising and stop critiquing. By accepting others and their weaknesses, you start to accept yourself. 【C3】See successes take appropriate credit for your successes. Chalk them up to dedication, hard work and your positive thinking. 【C4】Provide Self-care pay attention to the needs of your heart, mind and body. Follow their lead and learn from yourself. When you learn to listen to your needs and wants and take action to meet them, you elevate your self-worth. You become important. How you treat yourself is how others learn to treat you. 【C5】Have goals be the person you are and become the person you want to be. In other words, participate in the act of living your life. Make choices. Be proactive. Give yourself one month for practicing the above tips and you will see a major difference in the growth of your healthy self-esteem. [A]When you stop finding fault in others, you learn to let up on yourself. This includes, stop criticizing yourself! Learn to view your failures and weaknesses as milestones to guide you on your way. Often you learn the most under pressure and from our hardest times. [B]This means accept compliments from others regardless of your belief behind their motivations. Look the complimenter in the eyes and say, " thank you. " They are immediately rewarded and acknowledged for their compliment and you are establishing patterns for more compliments in the future. Compliments definitely help in dire times and become a way of receiving instant, external confirmation and validation. [C]View your failures and weaknesses as temporary statements about your existence. By no means are they permanent, unless you perseverate about them. " Ask yourself what your ideal person with healthy self-esteem would do to move forward. Conjure up the answer and focus on the solution. Think present, not past! [D]Your road to a healthy self-esteem is paved by your choices in the present. Change(he way you evaluate your experiences and you can change the way you feel about yourself. Low self-esteem continues out of practice of bad habits. You can change a habit after thirty days of instilling a new behavior. [E]If you feel badly about some critique you received, do not stew on it instead ask another you respect what their take is. Do remember, that one"s negative talk about another is often just a projection of one"s own internal conflicts and fears. They dump these fears instead of owning them. [F]Try something new or give yourself permission to do something you have always wanted to do. Be gentle with your imperfections and shortcomings, and do not allow them to become roadblocks. Let go of perfection and focus on direction. [G]Do not believe in luck and chance. Instead, know that you magnetized your successes to you through an extension of your energy and efforts. Accept responsibility. Praise the successes in others. Know that their successes open the door to yours.

The California Public Employees" Retirement System(CalPERS) has positioned itself as the premier champion of investor rights, regularly singling out bad managers at some of the nation"s largest companies in its annual corporate-governance focus lists. And with $153 billion under management, Wall Street tends to listen when CalPERS speaks out. But the country"s largest pension fund has never taken on as big a fish as it did Dec. 16, when it filed a class action against the New York Stock Exchange and seven of its member firms. CalPERS" suit charges the NYSE and specialist firms with fraud, alleging that the exchange skirted its regulatory duties and allowed its members to trade stocks at the expense of investors. The move is a major slap in the face for the NYSE"s recently appointed interim Chairman John Reed. The former Citibank chairman and CEO came on board in September after the exchange"s longtime head, Richard Grasso, resigned under pressure over public outrage about his excessive compensation. Reed has been widely criticized by CalPERS and other institutional investors for not including representatives of investors on the exchange"s newly constituted board and not clearly separating the exchange"s regulatory function from its day-to-day operations. The CalPERS lawsuit is evidence that the investment communities" dissatisfaction hasn"t ebbed. "Our hopes were dashed when Mr. Reed didn"t perform," says Harrigan. The suit alleges that seven specialist firms profited by abusing and overusing a series of trading tactics. The tactics, which are not currently illegal, include "penny jumping", where a firm positions itself between two orders to capture a piece of the price differential, "front running", which involves trading in advance of customers based on confidential information obtained by their orders, and "freezing" the firm"s order book so that the firm can make trades on its own account first. Many of the suit"s allegations are based on a previously disclosed investigation of the exchange conducted by the Securities & Exchange Commission. According to the suit, the October SEC report found "serious deficiencies in the NYSE"s surveillance and investigative procedures, including a habit of ignoring repeat violations by specialist firms". The suit highlights the growing frustration that institutional investors have expressed with what they perceive as a system that needs to be revamped—if not eliminated. According to California State Comptroller Steve Westley, a CalPERS board member who participated in the Dec. 16 press conference, he has repeatedly called on the NYSE to end its use of specialist firms to facilitate trades and move to a system of openly matching of buyers and sellers. BLIND EYE? "There"s no reason not to move to a fully automated exchange," Westley says. "Every exchange in the world is using such a system. The time is now for the NYSE to move into the 21st century and remove the cloud that there"s self-dealing working against investors."

BSection III Writing/B

Suppose your name is Wudong, write a letter to your local English-language newspaper giving your views on a discussion inspired by an article they published entitled "Why do We Need English?" Your letter must be written in at least 200 words, excluding the addresses, etc. You should write dearly.

Half of the world's population will be speaking or learning English by 2015, researchers say. Two billion people are expected to start learning English within a decade and three billion will speak it, says a British Council estimate. Other languages, such as French, risk becoming the casualties of this "linguistic globalization".【F1】 But the boom will be over by 2050 and the English language teaching industry will have become a victim of its own success, says David Graddol, author of the report, The Future of English. Mr. Graddol's research was based on a computer model developed to estimate demand for English language teaching around the world.【F2】 The lecturer, who has worked in education and language studies at the Open University for the past 25 years, said the model charted likely student numbers through to 2050. It was compiled by looking at various estimates from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)on education provision, demographic projections, government education policies and international student mobility figures.【F3】 The impact of educational innovations and other developments affecting the world population including the Chinese government's policy of one baby per family were also factored in. Based on its findings, Mr. Graddol has predicted that the world is about to be hit by a tidal wave of English. "Many governments, especially in countries which have relatively recently gained independence, are introducing the teaching of English under a utilitarian banner." "But English predominates in the business world, and for such countries to be able to compete for work, including profitable outsourcing contracts, English is being pushed heavily from kindergarten on." Even maths and science are being taught in English at secondary schools in Malaysia.【F4】 But demand for English teaching would drop as children progress through academia, and more universities across the world choose to teach in the language. Mr. Graddol also estimated that the boom would be over by 2050."English-language students will be down from two billion to 500 million then," he said, "Increasingly, as English spread across the globe, more people will become bilingual, even multi-lingual and such skills are highly prized in business. But Britain has not got the best reputation for learning other languages." 【F5】 The report also showed that English was not the only language spreading, and the world, far from being dominated by English, was to become more multi-lingual. Mr. Graddol said, "Chinese, Arabic and Spanish are all popular, and likely to be languages of the future."

Despite the scandals over leaked e-mails, the scientific evidence for global warming remains strong. The question, then, is to what extent have the controversies【C1】______the public"s trust in climate science or, worse, in the scientists themselves. There has【C2】______been some decline.【C3】______, a closer look at the data across multiple polls shows that,broadly speaking, the public trusts scientists, believes in global warming and wants governments to do something about it. The public seems to have done what the mainstream media could not: it has kept the scandals in【C4】______. The harsh verbal attacks on climate science and scientists are【C5】______coming from a relative 【C6】______of critics, and they do not reflect a【C7】______revival of skepticism. Yet few climate scientists are likely to take【C8】______in this news. For them, the real【C9】______of public trust is the level of political【C10】______on global warming: if people truly believe the science, then why have so few of them【C11】______action of their governments. The problem is that people assess information from any number of 【C12】______, not just scientists. And people make decisions on the basis of【C13】______and their own hopes, fears and values, which will not necessarily【C14】______what many researchers deem self-evident. The scientific community must【C15】______that the issues surrounding climate change can produce responses in the public and politicians on many different levels.【C16】______do matter. Scientists must continue to【C17】______the public in plain language,【C18】______out the evidence for climate change in a clear and compelling way. And they must provide policy-makers with accurate, credible and timely information. Scientists will be only as persuasive【C19】______they are trusted, which means that【C20】______the public"s trust must be the scientific community" s top priority.

How strange is the lot of us (1)_____! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper (2)_____ one knows from daily life that one exists for other people—first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly (3)_____, and then for the many unknown (4)_____ us, (5)_____ destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself (6)_____ my inner and outer life (7)_____ the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure (8)_____ I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an undue (9)_____ of the labor of my fellow-men. I regard class distinctions as unjustified and in the last resort, based on force. I also believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, physically and (10)_____. I do not at all (11)_____ human freedom in the philosophical sense. Everybody acts not only under (12)_____ compulsion but also (13)_____ inner necessity. Schopenhauer"s saying "A man can do what he wants; (14)_____ not want what he wants," has been a very real inspiration to me (15)_____ my youth; it has been a continual consolation (16)_____ life"s hardships, my own and (17)_____, and an unfailing well-spring of tolerance. This realization mercifully mitigates the easily paralyzing sense of responsibility and prevents us from (18)_____ ourselves and other people (19)_____ seriously; it is (20)_____ a view of life which, in particular, gives humor its due.

The U.S, Supreme Court"s decision Monday to let stand a ruling in an online defamation case will make it more difficult to determine correct legal jurisdictions in other Internet cases, legal experts said. By opting not to take the case, the high court effectively endorsed a lower court"s decision that a Colorado company that posts ratings of health plans on the Internet could be sued for defamation in a Washington court. The lower court ruling is one of several that makes it easier for plaintiffs to sue Web site operators in their own jurisdictions, rather than where the operators maintain a physical presence. The case involved a defamation suit filed by Chehalis, Wash.-based Northwest Healthcare Alliance against Lakewood, Colo.-based Healthgrades.com. The Alliance sued in Washington federal, court after Healthgrades.com posted a negative ranking of Northwest Healthcare"s home health services on the Internet. Healthgrades.com argued that it should not be subject to the jurisdiction of a court in Washington because its publishing operation is in Colorado. Observers said the fact that the Supreme Court opted not to hear the case only clouds the legal situation for Web site operators. Geoff Stewart, a partner at Jones Day in Washington, D.C., said that the Supreme Court eventually must act on the issue, as Internet sites that rate everything from automobile dealerships to credit offers could scale back their offerings to avoid lawsuits originating numerous jurisdictions. Online publishers also might have to worry about being dragged into lawsuits in foreign courts, said Dow Lohnes & Albertson attorney Jon Hart, who has represented the Online News Association. "The much more difficult problems for U.S. media companies arise when claims are brought in foreign countries over content published in the United States", Hart said. Hart cited a recent case in which an Australian court ruled that Dow Jones must appear in a Victoria, Australia court to defend its publication of all article on the U.S.-based Wall Street Journal Web site. According to Hart, the potential chilling effect of those sorts of jurisdictional decisions is substantial. "I have not yet seen publishers holding back on what they otherwise publish because they"re afraid they"re going to get sued in another country, but that doesn"t mean it won"t happen if we see a rash of U.S. libel cases against U.S. media companies being brought in foreign countries", he said. Until the high court decides to weigh in directly on this issue, Web site operators that offer information and services to users located outside of their home states must deal with a thorny legal landscape, said John Morgan, a partner at Perkins Cole LLP and an expert in Internet law.

Supposing the weather was bad, where would you go?

Today, some 30% of small business owners don"t have a Web presence at all, while the vast majority who do are watching their sites sit stale, waiting and wanting for business. Where did things go wrong? There are common principles followed by those whose dreams of online success have become reality. (1)Build your site around your customer: Thinking of your site as your online storefront, built around delivering the highest-quality customer experience from the moment your customer steps through the "door". (2)Just because you built it doesn" t mean they" 11 come: If you aren "t seeing a large volume of targeted traffic to your site, it" s time to up the ante. (3)Integrate customer loyalty programs and promotions: Methods contain discounts, news, or friendly service reminders. Use discount promotional offers to stay in touch with past visitors to your site. (4)Justify your monthly spending through product bundling: While pay-per-click Internet advertising is much more cost-effective than traditional media channels, bundling products together will not only increase your sales revenue, but also enable you to get more out of your per-click ad rates. (5)Measure your progress: Your site may be live, but how is it performing? Armed with these simple lessons, vow to make your business realize the true promise of the Internet. [A]A manufacturing company selling $50 items was having trouble justifying the cost of online keyword ads. By bundling products to create packages of $100 or more and advertising to wholesale customers looking to buy in bulk, the manufacturer dropped its sales representative agencies and focused on large-volume buyers, such as Wal-Mart and Target. Needless to say, the company had no trouble exceeding its yearly sales quota. [B]One of my past clients had a well-designed physical storefront, solid prices, and quality offerings. However, he wasn"t able to drive enough store traffic despite targeted advertising efforts in print publications and other offline venues. We decided to shift those ad dollars to an online pay-per-click campaign—in which the advertiser pays whenever someone clicks on its entry posted during the course of a site search based on keywords relevant to his business. The immediate impact was staggering. Online revenue soared tenfold to $1 million from $100,000 within only a few months. [C]With today"s technology, your return can be easily measured. If you rely on your Web site as a sales tool, you can"t afford not to invest in site analytics. Make sure your Web solution includes an easy-to-use reporting tool that presents this information in a clear, concise format. After all, while metrics are a critical part of the Web equation, you don"t have the time to spend hours digging through reams of data. [D]Years ago, I worked with a woman who sold purses online through a home-built site that lacked critical e -commerce components. After a simple redesign including product descriptions, comprehensive navigation, and a secure, user-friendly ordering system, her revenue increased fivefold. And she began receiving rave reviews from customers impressed with the ease and convenience of the online shopping experience. [E]Online success demands more than simple presence. Your Internet investment should pay for itself with new customers and increased sales. Find a trusted partner who can help you navigate today" s(and tomorrow" s)technology and who understands the bottom-line realities of your business. [F]One villa rental company had a Web site that generated very few calls and online bookings. I helped the company set up a "last minute deals" distribution list. By subscribing, site visitors would receive weekly e-mails offering 11th-hour discounts on villa rentals. As a result, the company captured contact information for thousands of possible customers, reduced its unused inventory to almost zero, and increased revenue significantly.

Now that the economy is at last growing again, the burning issue in Britain is the cost of living. Prices have exceeded wages for the past six years. But the thing that is really out of control is the cost of housing. In the past year wages have risen by 1%; property prices are up by 8.4%. This is merely the latest in a long surge. If since 1971 the price of groceries had risen as steeply as the cost of housing, a chicken would cost ￡51 ($83). By subsidising mortgages, and thus boosting demand, the government is aggravating the problem. But that is not the main reason for rising prices. Driven by a baby-boom, immigration and longer lives, Britain's population is growing by around 0.8% per year, faster than in most rich countries. Foreign wealth, in the meantime, is pouring into London. If supply were rising fast too, increasing demand would not matter; but it is not. Though some 221,000 additional households are formed in England annually, just 108,000 homes were built in the year to September 2013. The lack of housing is an economic drag. About three-quarters of English job growth last year was in London and its inland, but high prices make it hard for people to move there from less favoured spots. It also damages lives. New British homes are smaller than those anywhere else in Europe, household size is rising in London and slums are spreading as immigrants squash into shared houses (and, sometimes, garden sheds). Inequality is growing, because the higher property prices are, the greater the advantage that belongs to those whose parents own their homes. This is all the result of deliberate policymaking. Since the 1940s house-building in Britain has been regulated by a system designed to prevent urban sprawl, something it has achieved well. It is almost impossible to construct any new building anywhere without permission from the local council. In the places where people most want to live—suburbs at the edge of big cities—councils tend not to give it.

(46) But behind the deal is another Hewlett-Packard ambition: to extend the reach of its dominant printing and imaging division, which registered $ 20 billion in sales this year, 43 percent of the company"s revenue. In the last two decades, Hewlett-Packard built itself into the world"s largest vendor of desktop printers. It had done so under th6 command of Richard A. Hackbom, now a Hewlett-Packard board member and a leading advocate of the merger. (47) Today, the company tests so many printers, inks and papers that if one could stack up all the test sheets printed during an average month, the pile would reach 6,000 feet. (48) The printer division is widely regarded as the company"s crown jewel, but how Hewlett car best exploit it is a matter of dispute. Walter Hewlett, the oldest son of the company"s co-founder, and other critics of the Compaq acquisition argue that the deal will dilute the printing business by burying it in an even larger, slower-moving computer company. The division"s, $2 billion in operating profits this year propped up Hewlett-Packard"s sagging computer business, which lost $450 million. (49) Some analysts have advocated that instead of merging to become a larger company, Hewlett-Packard should sell off its other businesses and focus on selling more printers and imaging devices like digital cameras and scanners, which increase sales of ink cartridges and paper. The company, however, says it has no intention of narrowing its scope. Instead, proponents of the merger say the acquisition will fix Hewlett"s computing business, freeing up more research and development money for the printing division to tackle new markets, like the $400-billion-a-year commercial printing business. Hewlett-Packard wants to drive this transition to digital publishing, much as IBM, through a combination of products and services, helped businesses push into online sales in the late 1990"s. (50) If the strategy is successful, it would result in a surge in digital files that would stimulate sales of the powerful computing systems needed to create, store and move the files. To do that, Hewlett-Packard argues, it must become larger and stronger. The bigger it is, the more influence it will have on corporate technology managers.

Familiar as it may seem, gravity remains a mystery to modern physics. Despite several decades of trying, scientists have failed to fit Einstein"s general theory of relativity, which describes how gravity holds big objects together, with the quantum mechanics (an extension of statistical mechanics based on quantum theory) he pioneered, which describes the tiny fundamental particles of whichmatter consists and the forces by which they interact.Recent discoveries have highlighted further problems. Many physicists are therefore entertaining the idea that Einstein"s ideas about gravity must be wrong or at least incomplete. Showing exactly how and where the great man erred is the task of the scientists who gathered at the "Rethinking Gravity" conference at the University of Arizona in Tucson this week. One way to test general relativity is to examine ever more closely the assumptions on which it rests, such as the equivalence principle: that gravity accelerates all objects at the same rate, regardless of their mass or composition. This principle was famously demonstrated by Galileo Galilei some 400 years ago when he simultaneously dropped cannon and musket balls, and balls made of gold, silver and wood, from the Tower of Pisa. Each appeared to hit the ground at the same time. A more precise test requires a taller tower. In effect, researchers are sending balls all the way to the moon and back. Tom Murphy, of the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues fire laser beams from the deserts of New Mexico at reflectors placed on the moon by American and Russian spacecraft in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They use a telescope to capture the small fraction of the light that returns. Because the speed of light is known, they can calculate the distance between the Earth and the moon from the time taken for light to pass through it. According to general relativity, because the Earth and the moon orbit the sun, they should "fall" towards it at the same rate, in the same way as Galileo"s balls fell to the ground. By repeatedly measuring the distance between them, scientists can calculate the orbits of the Earth and the moon around the sun relative to each other. If the equivalence principle were violated, the moon"s orbit around the Earth would not appear straight, either towards or away from the sun So far, Dr Murphy told the conference, these experiments have merely confirmed the equivalence principle to one part in 10 trillion. Dr Murphy and his colleagues hope that even more precise measurements could ultimately show general relativity to be only approximately correct. This would usher in a new revolution in physics.