Should you break the rule against staring at a stranger on an elevator, you will make the other person exceedingly uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself.

What does the hamburger say about our modern food economy? A lot, actually. Over the past several years Waldo Jaquith intended to make a hamburger from scratch, to no avail. "Further【C1】______revealed that it"s quite impractical—【C2】______impossible—to make a hamburger from scratch," he writes. "Tomatoes are in season in the late summer. Lettuce is in season in spring and fall. Large mammals are【C3】______in early winter. The【C4】______of making such a burger would take nearly a year and would inherently involve omitting some core hamburger【C5】______." That the hamburger—our delicious and comforting everyman food—didn"t【C6】______100 years ago is a greasy, shiny example of all that is both right【C7】______wrong with our modern food economy.【C8】______fertilizers, genetically modified crops, concentrated farming operations and global overnight shipping, much of the world was lifted out of starvation【C9】______it could finally grow【C10】______quantities of food with decreasing labor【C11】______. But these same【C12】______that allow food to be grown out of【C13】______and in all corners of the globe contribute to a whole host of environmental【C14】______. The "industrialization of food," as author Paul Roberts puts it, is an endless cycle driven by very small price【C15】______that force food processors to【C16】______more advanced techniques to produce even more food【C17】______lower prices. This system will only be aggravated as food demand【C18】______. Recently David Tilman and Jason Hill of the University of Minnesota released a study【C19】______that global food demand could double by 2050. It"s【C20】______that our current, impractical food economy can sustain that demand.

Move over, organic, fair trade and free range—the latest in enlightened edibles is here: food with "embedded" positive intentions. While the idea isn"t new—cultures like the Navajo have been doing it for centuries—for-profit companies in the U.S. and Canada are catching on, infusing products with good vibes through meditation, prayer and even music. Since 2006, California company H20mhas sold water infused with wishes for "love," "joy" and "perfect health" via the words, symbols and colors on the label (which "create a specific vibratory frequency," according to co-founder Sandy Fox) and the restorative music played at their bottling warehouse. At Creo Mundi, a Canadian maker of protein powder, employees gather around each shipment and state aloud the benefits they hope to infuse it with for their consumers—increased performance, balance and vitality. Intentional Chocolate, founded in 2007 by chocolatier Jim Walsh, uses a special recording device to capture the electromagnetic brain waves of meditating Tibetan monks; Walsh then exposes his desserts to the recording for five days per batch. We hear your eyes rolling. But some claim there"s actually something to the idea that humans can alter the physical world with their minds, and they offer research to prove it. Dean Radin, a senior scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, Calif., conducted a test in which, he says, subjects who ate Intentional Chocolate improved their mood 67% compared with people who ate regular chocolate. "If the Pope blessed water, everyone wants that water. But does it actually do something?" Radin asks. "The answer is yes, to a small extent." James Fallon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine, is skeptical. "So I take a rutabaga, a round yellow root vegetable with a brown or purple skin, and put it close to my head, and it somehow changes the food and improves the mood of the person who ate it?" he asks. "Nah." Trick or not, in this economy any product that promises a spiritual pick-me-up could be in high demand. Since the recession, says Phil Lempert, editor of health-food site Supermarketguru.com "everyone is ready to jump off a bridge." With the right marketing, he says, embedded foods "could be huge." Still, not everyone is keen on the idea of packaging spirituality. Once the profit motive comes into play, "it"s difficult to keep things pure," says George Churinoff, a monk at Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, Wis., who was involved with Intentional Chocolate in its early stages. "Then the product may not be blessed in any way with motivation except maybe to make money."

Weak dollar or no, $ 46,000—the price for a single year of undergraduate instruction amid the red brick of Harvard Yard—is【C1】______. But nowadays cost is【C2】______barrier to entry at many of America"s best universities. Formidable financial-assistance policies have【C3】______fees or slashed them deeply for needy students. And last month Harvard announced a new plan designed to【C4】______the sticker-shock for undergraduates from middle and even upper-income families too. Since then, other rich American universities have unveiled【C5】______initiatives. Yale, Harvard"s bitterest【C6】______, revealed its plans on January 14th. Students whose families make 【C7】______than $60,000 a year will pay nothing at all. Families earning up to $200,000 a year will have to pay an average of 10% of their incomes. The university will【C8】______its financial-assistance budget by 43%, to over $80m. Harvard will have a similar arrangement for families making up to $180,000. That makes the price of going to Harvard or Yale【C9】______ to attending a state-run university for middle-and upper-income students. The universities will also not require any student to take out 【C10】______to pay for their【C11】______, a policy introduced by Princeton in 2001 and by the University of Pennsylvania just after Harvard"s 【C12】______. No applicant who gains admission, officials say, should feel【C13】______ to go elsewhere because he or she can"t afford the fees. None of that is quite as altruistic as it sounds. Harvard and Yale are, after all, now likely to lure more students away from previously【C14】______options, particularly state-run universities, 【C15】______their already impressive admissions figures and reputations. The schemes also provide a【C16】______for structuring university fees in which high prices for rich students help offset modest prices for poorer ones and families are less【C17】______on federal grants and government-backed loans. Less wealthy private colleges whose fees are high will not be able to【C18】______Harvard or Yale easily. But America" s state-run universities, which have traditionally kept their fees low and stable, might well try a differentiated 【C19】______scheme as they raise cash to compete academically with their private【C20】______. Indeed, the University of California system has already started to implement a sliding-fee scale.

An E-mail for Invitation Write an e-mail of about 100 words to a foreign teacher in your college, inviting him/her to be a judge for the upcoming English speech contest. You should include the details you think necessary. Do not sign your own name at the end of the e-mail. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

When asked specifically about the creative process, Dr. Schutz explained that fear is most responsible for blocking the creativity of a person. Fear of not being creative. Some people simply【C1】______their creativity in specific circumstances【C2】______others in more extreme circumstances feel unable to be creative【C3】______. Either way, the creative process【C4】______becomes blocked. If you're worried about being creative, it's almost certain to【C5】______problems. For the best creative results【C6】______fear and let the ideas flow. Fear of lacking rationality. In order to best share ideas with others we need to【C7】______them in a logical and rational way. At times,【C8】______, it's best for the creative process to not worry too much about being logical. Trust your ability to come up with a rational【C9】______when your ideas are put into practice and don't let worrying about logic【C10】______the flow of ideas early on. Fear of humiliation and embarrassment. A fear of feeling inadequate will【C11】______your creativity. When we're【C12】______worried about other's opinions, the creative ideas will be【C13】______by our own anxieties. There is a time to worry about other's【C14】______, but that time is not during the early creative【C15】______. Fear of rejection. People can be very concerned that their idea will be【C16】______completely. Creativity will not【C17】______if a person is worried about a negative outcome. These fears are【C18】______if a person is working outside of what's【C19】______considered practical, feasible or possible. The【C20】______is that this is where some of the best creative ideas come from.

In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、D、E、F、G……) to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are several extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. (10 points) As more and more material from other cultures became available, European scholars came to recognize even greater complexity in mythological traditions. Especially valuable was the evidence provided by ancient Indian and Iranian texts such as the Bhagavad-Gita and the Zend-A-vesta. From these sources it became apparent that the character of myths varied widely, not only by geographical region but also by historical period. (41)______. He argued that the relatively simple Greek myth of Persephone reflects the concerns of a basic agricultural community, whereas the more involved and complex myths found later in Homer are the product of a more developed society. Scholars also attempted to tie various myths of the world together in some way. From the late 18th century through the early 19th century, the comparative study of languages had led to the reconstruction of a hypothetical parent language to account for striking similarities among the various languages of Europe and the Near East. These languages, scholars concluded, belonged to an Indo-European language family. Experts on mythology likewise searched for a parent mythology that presumably stood behind the mythologies of all the European peoples. (42)______. For example, an expression like "maiden dawn" for "sunrise" resulted first in personification of the dawn, and then in myths about her. Later in the 19th century the theory of evolution put forward by English naturalist Charles Darwin heavily influenced the study of mythology. Scholars researched on the history of mythology, much as they would dig fossil-bearing geological formations, for remains from the distant past. (43)______. Similarly, British anthropologist Sir James George Frazer proposed a three-stage evolutionary scheme in The Golden Bough. According to Frazer"s scheme, human beings first attributed natural phenomena to arbitrary supernatural forces (magic), later explaining them as the will of the gods (religion), and finally subjecting them to rational investigation (science). The research of British scholar William Robertson Smith, published in Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (1889), also influenced Frazer. Through Smith"s work, Frazer came to believe that many myths had their origin in the ritual practices of ancient agricultural peoples, for whom the annual cycles of vegetation were of central importance. (44)______. This approach reached its most extreme form in the so called functionalism of British anthropologist A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, who held that every myth implies a ritual, and every ritual implies a myth.Most analyses of myths in the 18th and 19th centuries showed a tendency to reduce myths to some essential core—whether the seasonal cycles o5 nature, historical circumstances, or ritual. That core supposedly remained once the fanciful elements of the narratives had been stripped away. In the 20th century, investigators began to pay closer attention to the content of the narratives themselves. (45)______.A. German-born British scholar Max Muller concluded that the Rig-Veda of ancient India—the oldest preserved body of literature written in an Indo-European language—reflected the earliest stages of an Indo-European mythology. Muiler attributed all later myths to misunderstandings that arose from the picturesque terms in which early peoples described natural phenomena.B. The myth and ritual theory, as this approach came to be called, was developed most fully by British scholar Jane Ellen Harrison. Using insight gained from the work of French sociologist Emile Durkheim, Harrison argued that all myths have their origin in collective rituals of a society.C. Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud held that myths—like dreams—condense the material of experience and represent it in symbols.D. This approach can be seen in the work of British anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor. In Primitive Culture (1871), Tylor organized the religious and philosophical development of humanity into separate and distinct evolutionary stages.E. The studies made in this period were consolidated in the work of German scholar Christian Gottlob Heyne, who was the first scholar to use the Latin term myths (instead of fabula, meaning "fable") to refer to the tales of heroes and gods.F. German scholar Karl Otfried Mailer, followed this line of inquiry in his Prolegomena to a Scientific Mythology, t825.

The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For Questions 41-45, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-G. Some of the paragraphs have been placed for you. (10 points)A. Dr Daniel Stanley, an oceanographer, has found volcanic shards in Egypt that he believes are linked to the explosion. Computer simulations by Mike Rampino, a climate modeler from New York University, show that the resulting ash cloud could have plunged the area into darkness, as well as generating lightning and hail, two of the 10 plagues.B. The cloud could have also reduced the rainfall, causing a drought. If the Nile had then been poisoned by the effects of the eruption, pollution could have turned it red, as happened in a recent environmental disaster in America. The same pollution could have driven millions of frogs on to the land, the second plague. On land the frogs would die, removing the only obstacle to an explosion of flies and lice—the third and fourth plagues. The flies could have transmitted fatal diseases to cattle (the fifth plague) and boils and blisters to humans(the sixth plague).C. Moses, which will be broadcast in December 2002, will suggest that much of the Bible story can be explained by a single natural disaster, a huge volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Santorini in the 16th century B.C.D. The hour-long documentary argues that even the story of the parting of the Red Sea, which allowed Moses to lead the Hebrews to safety while the pursuing Egyptian army was drowned, may have its origins in the eruption. It repeats the theory that "Red Sea" is a mistranslation of the Sea of Reeds, a much shallower swamp.E. The programme tells the story of how Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt after a series of plagues had devastated the country. But it also uses new scientific research to argue that many of the events surrounding the exodus could have been triggered by the eruption, which would have been a thousand times more powerful than a nuclear bomb.F. Computer simulations show that the Santorini eruption could have triggered a 600ft-high tidal wave, traveling at about 400 miles an hour, which would have been 6ft high and a hundred miles long when it reached the Egyptian delta. Such an event would have been remembered for generations, and may have provided the inspiration for the story.G. Fresh evidence that the Biblical plagues and the parting of the Red Sea were natural events rather than myths or miracles is to be presented in a new BBC documentary.Order: First paragraph is G and the last paragraph is F.

"AMZN" is a four-letter word to many booksellers. The online retailer has been【C1】______of killing the bookselling industry. It certainly has【C2】______high street chains. But physical bookstore booksellers may【C3】______from Amazon"s latest announcement. On January 7th the company【C4】______the option of free delivery—which it calls "Super Saver"—for book orders under ￡10 in Britain. This follows a【C5】______of the free-delivery option in July 2013, and【C6】______a similar scheme the retailer has introduced in America Amazon"s aim is to push customers towards its Prime service, which costs ￡49 a year for next-day delivery on orders of any price and also includes its locker service. This preferential treatment has proven【C7】______And they seem to buy more【C8】______than non-Prime customers. But the【C9】______carries a risk. Amazon may【C10】______casual book buyers, for whom a Prime subscription would be【C11】______from shopping online—and send them back to physical shops. Such buyers may【C12】______away from delivery charges that will now【C13】______25% or more of an order"s total【C14】______when buying a single book from Amazon. Readers could simply【C15】______their online buying habits, for instance by keeping a reading list and buying several books at a time. And the higher delivery【C16】______will make many books on Amazon as【C17】______as in high-street shops. Yet Amazon, which had a【C18】______Christmas season, selling 426 items each second, may not care if buyers give up physical books.【C19】______surveys show that people prefer the【C20】______of a newly printed book and the ability to crack the spine of a page-turner.

Two models have spoken out about the pressures they faced to stay skinny, shining a light on the continued body image issues faced by the fashion industry. Erin Heatherton, a former Victoria's Secret model, has revealed that she was pressurised to lose weight by the fashion house. Model Rosie Nelson, who had a similar experience to Heatherton, adds that the issue is made more problematic by the disconnect between what the public think modelling involves and the reality of it. " People think it's really glamorous and luxurious, with loads of freebies and getting paid millions. That' s not the case. There's an underlying pressure to stay thin and the thought that you will be rejected if your hips are too big." She said the industry sees models as "interchangable coat hangers" , writing that the key to success is the ability to stay a size 0-2 throughout your career. "Young models learn about it the hard way," she wrote. "If an agency catches the smallest weight gain, you are measured, told to lose weight immediately and reprimanded." Caryn Franklin, former co-editor of ID magazine and currently professor of Diversity at Kingston University, says that there is a culture of denial around the issue meaning that the fashion industry does not see what effect it is having in the wider world. "Women are made to self-objectify because they see objectification in fashion," she says. "Young women who have been engaging with fashion since they were seven or eight years old have been taught to see themselves as an exterior." Franklin adds that 30 years ago, models were shorter and bodies were more realistically proportioned. "Now the industry standard height is 5ft 11 in but the measurements that designers make to their samples haven't changed. The taller model therefore is under pressure to reduce her body accordingly." The testimony of Heatherton and Nelson comes days after a bill in California, aimed at reducing eating disorders among models, cleared its first legal hurdle. The bill, which requires the state to develop health standards for models in the state, passed the Assembly Labour and Employment Committee. "The goal of the bill is not only to protect the health of the workers themselves, but also to help young people to emulate the models," said Democratic politician Marc Levine, who authored it. Last December, France banned excessively thin models, partly as a response to the death of Isabelle Caro, a 28-year-old model who died of an eating disorder (anorexia). In 2012, Israel passed a law banning underweight models, and Italy and Spain have taken similar measures. Nelson is hopeful that through a new generation of designers such as Nasir Mazhir, who streetcasts his models, there will be a change.

CanIBuyInsuranceforMyMarriage?Writeanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,andthen3)giveyourcomments.

SetanExamplefortheChildrenWriteanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

Shortly after September 11th, President Bushes father observed that just as Pearl Harbor awakened this country from the notion that we could somehow avoid the call of duty to defend freedom in Europe and Asia in World War Two, so, too, should this most recent surprise attack erase the concept in some quarters that America can somehow go it alone in the fight against terrorism or in anything else for that matter. But America"s allies have begun to wonder whether that is the lesson that has been learned—or whether the Afghanistan campaign"s apparent success shows that unilateralism works just fine. The United States, that argument goes, is so dominant that it can largely afford to go it alone. It is true that no nation since Rome has loomed so large above the others, but even Rome eventually collapsed. Only a decade ago, the conventional wisdom lamented an America in decline. Bestseller lists featured books that described America"s fall. Japan would soon become "Number One". That view was wrong at the time, and when I wrote "Bound to Lead" in 1989, I, like others, predicted the continuing rise of American power. But the new conventional wisdom that America is invincible is equally dangerous if it leads to a foreign policy that combines unilateralism, arrogance and parochialism. A number of advocates of "realist" international-relations theory have also expressed concern about America"s staying power. Throughout history, coalitions of countries have arisen to balance dominant powers, and the search for traditional shifts in the balance of power and new state challengers is well under way. Some see China as the new enemy; others envisage a Russia-China-India coalition as the threat. But even if China maintains high growth rates of 6% while the United States achieves only 20%, it will not equal the United States in income per head until the last half of the century. Still others see a uniting Europe as a potential federation that will challenge the United States for primacy. But this forecast depends on a high degree of European political unity, and a low state of transatlantic relations. Although realists raise an important point about the leveling of power in the international arena, their quest for new cold-war-style challengers is largely barking up the wrong tree. They are ignoring deeper changes in the distribution and nature of power in the contemporary world. The paradox of American power in the 21st century is that the largest power since Rome cannot achieve its objectives unilaterally in a global information age.

Of all forms of energy, electricity is the most widely used.

In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、D、E、F、G……) to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are several extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. (10 points) The temperature of the Sun is over 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface, but it rises to perhaps more than 16 million degrees at the center. The Sun is so much hotter than the Earth that matter can exist only as a gas, except at the core. In the core of the Sun, the pressures are so great against the gases that, despite the high temperature, there may be a small solid core. (41)______. Solar astronomers do know that the Sun is divided into five layers or zones. Starting at the outside and going down into the Sun, the zones are the corona, chromosphere, photosphere, convection zone, and finally the core. (42)______. But since the Sun has no solid surface, it is hard to tell where the atmosphere ends and the main body of the Sun begins. (43)______. This is the only part of the Sun that can be seen during an eclipse such as the one in February 1979. At any other time, the corona can be seen only when special instruments are used on cameras and telescopes to shut out the glare of the Sun"s rays. (44)______. Its beautiful rays are a sensational sight during an eclipse. The corona"s rays flash out in a brilliant fan that has wispy spike like rays near the Sun"s north and south poles. The corona is thickest at the Sun"s equator. The corona rays are made up of gases streaming outward at tremendous speeds and reaching a temperature of more than 2 million degrees Fahrenheit. The rays of gas thin out as they reach the space around the planets. (45)______.A. By the time the Sun"s corona rays reach the Earth, they are weak and invisible.B. The Sun"s outermost layer beings about 10,000 miles above the visible surface and goes outward for millions of miles.C. If a person were to stand on the sun"s corona they wouldn"t burn, they would freeze in the near vacuum of the corona.D. The corona is a brilliant, pearly white, filmy light, about as bright as the full Moon.E. The first three zones are regarded as the Sun"s atmosphere.F. However, no one really knows, since the center of the Sun can never be directly observed.G. You can probably guess that the Sun is very hot, compared with familiar things on the Earth.

It's easy to scare people about what's in their food, but the danger is almost never real. And the【C1】______itself kills. Take the panic【C2】______genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Ninety percent of all corn grown in America is genetically modified now. That means it grew from a seed that scientists【C3】______by playing with its genes. The new genes may make corn grow faster, or they may make it less【C4】______to bugs so farmers can use【C5】______pest-killing chemicals. This【C6】______some people. GMOs are "unnatural," they say. A【C7】______from the movie "Seeds of Death" warns that eating GMOs "causes multiple organ system【C8】______." Michael Hansen of Consumer Reports sounds almost as【C9】______when he talks about GMOs. He says, "You can't control【C10】______you're inserting that genetic information; it can have different effects【C11】______on the location." Jon Entine of Genetic Literacy Project responds: "We've eaten about 7 trillion meals in the 18 years 【C12】______GMOs first came on the market. There's not one documented instance of someone getting so【C13】______as a cough." Given all the fear from【C14】______and activists, you might be surprised to learn that most serious scientists【C15】______with him. "There have been about 2,000 studies," says Entine, and "there is no【C16】______of human harm in a major peer-reviewed journal." That might be enough to reassure people if they knew how widespread and familiar GMOs really are—but【C17】______they think of GMOs as something strange and new, they think more tests are needed. 【C18】______people don't worry about crops bred in【C19】______varieties for centuries without farmers having any idea exactly what genetic changes【C20】______.

Every individual possesses a unique quality that differentiates him or her from other people. Whether it is a charming personality, brilliant intellect or any number of differing traits, each person is a contributing component to the world in which we live. We are all pieces of a grand puzzle, each piece vital to the completion and creativity of a vivid masterpiece. Intertwined in the cycle of life, we all strive to be the best, persistent upon being noticed or recognized amidst vast diversity. In doing so, some forget the influences that helped to mold them into the person that they became and fall centered in a world of their own. Others grow so self-involved that they are no longer conscious of their surroundings and are unaware that evolution is shared and not isolated to one" s self. Hence, the narcissist is born. With influences from the news and other media, we are constantly steered in the direction of those who are most glamorous and famous. It"s not often we see a tycoon that publicly worries about his image. Why would he? The thought is that once you"ve reached a certain stature, nothing else matters. Our children arc striving for this "liquid" status. "It won"t matter what anyone thinks if I"m rich and famous. " This growing trend of narcissism is decaying our humanity. We are raised to accept ourselves, but some take this self-acceptance to over indulgent lengths, placing self atop pedestals above everyone else. The narcissist becomes desensitized to the feelings of other people, treating them as if they were but another obstacle. This type of person is intolerant of the flaws and sometimes, the very existence of other people. Sadly, the narcissist is often consumed by anger and hatred and breeds such hatred throughout the world. As with a virus, this anger and impatience is spread from person to person, a contagious domino effect of negativity. Our society will surely fall to its demise if this wicked mentality is not changed. If one only thinks of self, there will no longer be charity or good will. Misfortunate children will go hungry and unclothed. Our elders will not be cared for and communities will not be able to rebuild if stricken by tragedy. It seems that over time, many have forgotten humility and the ability to be bumble. It has become a "dog-eat-dog" world, every man for himself. This kind of mentality must be changed if we intend for our children to lead productive lives. It is the unity of mankind that will improve the world and make it a better place for our future generations.

An Asian engineer is assigned to a U.S. laboratory and almost suffers a nervous breakdown. A U.S. executive tells his staff he"s going to treat them fairly—and creates dissension. A Japanese manager is promoted by his American president, but within six months asks for a transfer. Each of these real-life cases involved people who were regarded as superior employees, but were ill-equipped to cope with the complexities and dangers of intercultural management. "Multinational companies have studied everything else, now they’re finally looking at culture", says Clifford Clarke, founder and president of the California-based IRI International Inc. "Never show the shoe to an Arab, never arrive in time for a party in Brazil, and in Japan, don"t think "yes" means "yes"," advise U.S. consultants Lennie Copland and Lewis Brown Griggs, who have produced a series of films and a book to help managers improve their international business skills. But simply learning the social "dos" and "don"ts" is not the answer, according to the new culture specialists. The penalties for ignoring different thinking patterns, they point out, can be disastrous. For example, the American manager who promised to be fair thought he was telling his Japanese staff that their hard work would be rewarded, but when some workers received higher salary increases than others, there were complaints. "You told us you"d be fair, and you lied to us," accused one salesman. "It took me a year and a half", sighed the American, "to realize that "fair", to my staff, meant being treated equally." The Asian engineer who suffered in America was the victim of another mistaken expectation. "He was accustomed to the warm group environment so typical in Japan," said his U.S. manager. "But in our company, we"re all expected to be self-starters, who thrive on working alone. For him, it was emotional starvation. He"s made the adjustment now, but he"d be humiliated if I told you his name, that"s another cultural difference." The Japanese manager who failed to respond to his promotion couldn"t bring himself to use the more direct language needed to communicate with his Boston-based superiors. "I used to think all this talk about cultural communication was a log of baloney," says Eugene J. Flath, president of Intel Japan Ltd., a subsidiary of the American semiconductor maker. "Now, I can see it"s a real problem. Miscommunication has slowed our ability to coordinate action with our home office." That"s why Intel, with the help of consultant Clarke, began an intercultural training program this spring which Flath expects will dramatically reduce decision-making time now lost in making sure the Americans and the Japanese understand each other.

"AMZN" is a four-letter word to many booksellers. The online retailer has been【C1】______of killing the bookselling industry. It certainly has【C2】______high street chains. But physical bookstore booksellers may【C3】______from Amazon"s latest announcement. On January 7th the company【C4】______the option of free delivery—which it calls "Super Saver"—for book orders under ￡10 in Britain. This follows a【C5】______of the free-delivery option in July 2013, and【C6】______a similar scheme the retailer has introduced in America. Amazon"s aim is to push customers towards its Prime service, which costs ￡49 a year for next-day delivery on orders of any price and also includes its locker service. This preferential treatment has proven【C7】______ And they seem to buy more【C8】______than non-Prime customers. But the【C9】______carries a risk. Amazon may【C10】______casual book buyers, for whom a Prime subscription would be【C11】______, from shopping online—and send them back to physical shops. Such buyers may【C12】______away from delivery charges that will now【C13】______25% or more of an order"s total【C14】______when buying a single book from Amazon. Readers could simply【C15】______their online buying habits, for instance by keeping a reading list and buying several books at a time. And the higher delivery【C16】______will make many books on Amazon as【C17】______as in high-street shops. Yet Amazon, which had a【C18】______Christmas season, selling 426 items each second, may not care if buyers give up physical books.【C19】______, surveys show that people prefer the【C20】______of a newly printed book and the ability to crack the spine of a page-turner.

You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important in the【C1】______of your reading. I want to persuade you to "write between the lines".【C2】______you do, you are not likely to do the most【C3】______kind of reading. I【C4】______, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of mutilation but of love. There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the【C5】______right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture.【C6】______this act of purchase is only the【C7】______to possession. Full ownership comes【C8】______you have made it a part of yourself, and the best【C9】______to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. A(n)【C10】______may make the point clear. You buy a beefsteak and【C11】______it from the butcher's icebox to your own. But you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you【C12】______it and get it into your bloodstream. I am arguing that books, too, must be【C13】______in your bloodstream to do you【C14】______. There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the standard【C15】______and bestsellers—unread, untouched. The second has【C16】______books—a few of them read through, most of them【C17】______, but all of them as clean and shiny as the day they【C18】______. The third has a few books or many—every one of them dogeared and dilapidated, shaken and【C19】______by continual use, marked and【C20】______in from front to back. This man owns books.