As a young bond trader, Buttonwood was given two pieces of advice, trading rules of thumb, if you will: that bad economic news is good news for bond markets and that every utterance dropping from the lips of Paul Volcker, the then chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the man who restored the central bank's credibility by stomping on runaway inflation, should be respected than Pope's orders. Today's traders are, of course, a more sophisticated bunch. But the advice still seems good, apart from two slight drawbacks. The first is that the well-chosen utterances from the present chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, is of more than passing difficulty.【F1】 The second is that, of late, good news for the economy has not seemed to upset bond investors all that much. For all the cheer that has crackled down the wires, the yield on ten-year bonds—which you would expect to rise on good economic news—is now, at 4.2%, only two-fifths of a percentage point higher than it was at the start of the year. Pretty much unmoved, in other words. Yet the news from the economic front has been better by far than anyone could have expected. On Tuesday November 25th, revised numbers showed that America's economy grew by an annual 8.2% in the third quarter, a full percentage point more than originally thought, driven by the ever-spendthrift American consumer and, for once, corporate investment.【F2】 Just about every other piece of information coming out from special sources shows the same strength. New houses are still being built at a fair clip. Exports are rising, for all the protectionist crying. Even employment, in what had been mocked as a jobless recovery, increased by 125, 000 or thereabouts in September and October.【F3】 Rising corporate profits, low credit spreads and the biggest-ever rally in the junk-bond market do not, on the face of it, suggest anything other than a deep and long-lasting recovery. Yet Treasury-bond yields have fallen. If the rosy economic backdrop makes this odd, making it doubly odd is an apparent absence of foreign demand Foreign buyers of Treasuries, especially Asian certral banks, who had been swallowing American government debt like there was no tomorrow, seem to have had second thoughts lately.【F4】 In September, according to the latest available figures, foreigners bought only $5-6 billion of Treasuries, compared with $ 25.1 billion the previous month and an average of $38.7 billion in the preceding; four months. 【F5】 In an effort to keep a lid on the yen' s rise, the Japanese central bank is still busy buying dollars and parking the money in government debt. Just about everyboby else seems to have been selling.

You are going to read a text about the tips on preparing a new garden, followed by a list of examples. Choose the best example from the list for each numbered subheading. Whether you recently moved into a new home or you"ve just got the gardening itch, planning a new garden can be a great deal of fun. The opportunity to act as creator can be very appealing. But anyone who has gardened for long has learned the necessity of accommodating nature and has developed a sense of humility in the process. (41) Weather matters The first thing to determine is what will grow in the spot available for your garden. This is where many gardeners make their first mistake. Too often plants are purchased before thought has been given to the conditions under which they will have to grow. One of chief factors determining what will grow in a particular spot is the weather conditions the plants will be subjected to. (42) Lay of the land Next, you will need to determine what type of soil you"ll be working with. The three main constituents of soil are sand, silt and clay. Silt particles are of intermediate size. An ideal garden soil, or loam, would be about 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay. (43) Amend your soil The best way to amend a poor soil, whether sandy, clay or silty, is to add organic matter. Add a combination of topsoil and peat moss or compost will do a great help. (44) Keep a watch on moistture Soil moisture is obviously tied to the climate of the area where you live, but even in a small yard there can be wide variations. If your garden is at the bottom of a hill, the soil may remain wet for long periods of time. In this situation, you can try creating a raised bed, but it is best to stick to plants that enjoy having their feet wet. (45) Don"t fight mother nature While some measures can be taken to make your garden a hospitable place for particular plants, your experience will be much more rewarding if you learn to work with nature. You will save yourself a lot of time, money and grief. The hardest thing to convince new gardeners of is the need for patience. With the first warm day of spring they are eager to begin planting and nothing can stop them. Many of these bursts of enthusiasm yield IH-conceived gardens doomed to failure. The plants wither and the would-be gardeners be come convinced that they lack some secret knowledge or inherent skill. In most of these cases, however, a few hours of planning and preparation would have made all the difference. It is quite easy to dig up a plot and throw some plants in the ground. It is another thing entirely to create a healthy, living garden.A. Azaleas in bloom might look great when the sun"s out, but if they were planted beneath some protection from the glare, they might not be constantly infested with bugs. Of course, you can spray them regularly with insecticide, but now your garden is becoming about as environmentally friendly as an oil refinery.B. A colleague of mine had just bought a new house, and was brimming with excitement about his new garden. He planted a splendid garden, filled with plants unsuitable for our comparatively cold climate, and in a few months, most of his plants had either withered or become diseased. He thought he lacked some secret knowledge, but I knew why!C. My neighbor complained that the earth in his garden was poor and didn"t drain easily. I advised him to do as I had done, and go down to the beach for his solution.D. The water table is very high in my area. At first I tried to fight this in my garden, but eventually I realized that I could use this to my advantage—now I have a beautiful pond full of lilies.E. Unfortunately, my own garden does not have the best of soil. My solution to this problem is to keep all the cuttings when I mow the lawn. Once these have rotted down, I dig them into the soil to make it richer and much better for growing.F. My friend"s garden is very beautiful, but unfortunately, his house looks a little drab. My advice to him was to purchase some climbing plants that he could encourage to grow on trellises fixed to his wall—now his house looks very natural.

McDonald's, Greggs, KFC and Subway are today named as the most littered brands in England as Keep Britain Tidy called on fast-food companies to do more to tackle customers who drop their wrappers and drinks cartons in the streets. Phil Barton, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy,【B1】______its new Dirty Pig campaign, said it was the first time it had investigated which 【B2】______ made up "littered England" and the same names appeared again and again. "We 【B3】______ litterers for dropping this fast food litter 【B4】______ the first place but also believe the result have pertinent messages for the fast food 【B5】______. McDonald's, Greggs, KFC and Subway need to do more to【B6】______littering by their customers." He recognized efforts made by McDonald's, 【B7】______ placing little bins and increasing litter patrols, but its litter remained "all too prevalent". All fast food chains should reduce【B8】______packaging, he added. Companies could also reduce prices 【B9】______ those who stayed to eat food on their premises, offer money-off vouchers or other【B10】______for those who returned packaging and put more bins at【B11】______points in local streets, not just outside their premises. A【B12】______for McDonald's said: "We do our best. Obviously we ask all our customers to dispose of litter responsibly." Trials of more extensive, all-day litter patrols were【B13】______in Manchester and Birmingham. KFC said it took its【B14】______for litter management "very seriously", and would introduce a programme to reduce packaging【B15】______many products. Subway said that it worked hard to【B16】______the impact of litter on communities,【B17】______it was "still down to the【B18】______customer to dispose of their litter responsibly". Greggs said it recognized the "continuing challenge for us all",【B19】______having already taken measures to help【B20】______the issue.

We have to put the meeting off because so many people are absent today.

BPart BDirections: Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following information./B

You cannot buy Prada shoes on Prada.com. In fact, there are no working links on the Web site. This is not a technical disorder. Since the late" 9Os, the site has been a single page, with only the name of the Italian fashion house and two photographs. No store locations or help numbers. Nothing. "I love Prada," ponders Nina Dietzel, president of Web-design company 300FeetOut. "But what"s up with their "site"?" Prada claims a new Web site is "under development." But having a mysteriously useless home page, it admits, has an allure. It screams exclusivity: you can see, but you can"t click. It"s a uniquely Prada solution to this riddle: how to make your luxury brand work on the Internet without diminishing its value. In a sense, the Internet is antithetical to the "high touch" luxury experience. There is no indulgence by sales staff, and customers have come to see the Net as a path to cheap prices, not top-dollar goods. There"s no velvet rope: anyone can place an order, or set up shop. That"s why Prada strives to maintain the link between its name and the extravagant experience of shopping at stores like its $40 million New York flagship, designed by Rem Koolhaas. Unlike Prada, most luxury companies can"t afford to ignore the Web: in the United States, ecommerce accounted for $2.5 billion in luxury sales. That figure is expected to grow to $7 billion by 2010, says Forrester Research. It"s still a small fraction of the total market compared to other retail sectors, but five years ago analysts said there was "no way" luxury would sell online. They were betting customers wouldn"t pay that much on the Web, and top brands wouldn"t go slumming in this bargain basement. One of the first high-end luxury retailers, Ashford. com, had many well-publicized struggles, with its stock dropping to near rock bottom in 2001. Companies like Neiman Marcus that have strong catalog sales have made the transition to the Web more easily; online sales are the company"s fastest-growing source of revenue. Swiss watchmakers Breitling and Patek Philippe have taken another tack with Web sites that offer only information, not sales. Breitling director of marketing Ben Balmer says a luxury brand needs to offer "a buying experience" that only a well-run store can provide. However, he notes that since 2002, it has presented 30 percent fewer catalogs in the United States, and seen sales rise more than 35 percent, thanks to exposure on the Internet. Prada may not need a working Web site after all.

This week, many Americans will be buying into the same dream: winning the unprecedentedly large $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot on Wednesday night. Since last week, when the jackpot had accrued to over $500 million, Powerball tickets have been reportedly flying off bodega and convenience-store counters. The odds of winning remain 1 in 292 million—that's why the lottery is sometimes called a "stupidity tax" — but a ticket's $2 price tag does make it a low-risk impulse buy. (Alex Tabarrok, over at Marginal Revolution, suggests that those who participate should buy tickets early in order to enjoy their real value—the pleasure of anticipation—for longer). A reader complains: "The lottery is a scheme acted on the poorest and most gullible." Many people are hoping to acquire this tremendous windfall, but is what they're after something that will actually make them happy? Anecdotes about how winning the lottery can be bad luck abound—a winning ticket has led some "lucky" winners into bankruptcy, or worse. But there's also the possibility that all of the lottery winners who are living comfortably don't make headlines. Researchers have tried to figure out which of these narratives is more accurate by looking into two questions whose answers lottery players assume to be in the affirmative; Does winning the lottery make people rich in the long run? And does an influx of tons of cash make people happier? Their results, though, suggests that these answers aren't so straightforward. In the late 1970s and '80s, the sociologist H. Roy Kaplan performed now-classic research on what became of lottery winners. His most famous study asked lottery winners how happy they had been before and after their big checks arrived. That 1978 study, which had a very small sample size, famously found that lottery winners were not that much happier than the control group—a bunch of people who didn't win the lottery—after their win. (A 2008 Dutch study concluded the same thing.) Kaplan did a bigger study in 1987 on 576 lottery winners, and found that "popular myths and stereotypes about winners were inaccurate"—by which he meant that American lottery winners did not typically quit their jobs and spend lavishly. In the end, while winning can turn out bad, the real bad thing is probably the lottery itself; America, especially its poor households, spends way too much on it, and the odds are worse than at a casino.

You are going to join the World Linguistics Conference held in Singapore. You need to apply for the visa and write it according to: 1. your application for visa to enter Singapore; 2. the reason for the application; 3. the required documents. You should write about 100 words, do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "James" instead. You do not need to write the address.

[A]Nodisciplineshaveseizedonprofessionalismwithasmuchenthusiasmasthehumanities.Youcan,MrMenandpointsout,becamealawyerinthreeyearsandamedicaldoctorinfour.Buttheregulartimeittakestogetadoctoraldegreeinthehumanitiesisnineyears.Notsurprisingly,uptohalfofalldoctoralstudentsinEnglishdropoutbeforegettingtheirdegrees.[B]Hisconcernismainlywiththehumanities:literature,languages,philosophyandsoon.Thesearedisciplinesthataregoingoutofstyle:22%ofAmericancollegegraduatesnowmajorinbusinesscomparedwithonly2%inhistoryand4%inEnglish.However,manyleadingAmericanuniversitieswanttheirundergraduatestohaveagroundinginthebasiccanonofideasthateveryeducatedpersonshouldpossess.Butmostfinditdifficulttoagreeonwhata"generaleducation"shouldlooklike.AtHarvard,MrMenandnotes,"thegreatbooksarereadbecausetheyhavebeenread"—theyformasortofsocialglue.[C]Equallyunsurprisingly,onlyabouthalfendupwithprofessorshipsforwhichtheyenteredgraduateschool.Therearesimplytoofewposts.ThisispartlybecauseuniversitiescontinuetoproduceevermorePhDs.Butfewerstudentswanttostudyhumanitiessubjects:Englishdepartmentsawardedmorebachelor'sdegreesin1970-71thantheydid20yearslater.Fewerstudentsrequirefewerteachers.So,attheendofadecadeoftheses-writing,manyhumanitiesstudentsleavetheprofessiontodosomethingforwhichtheyhavenotbeentrained.[D]OnereasonwhyitishardtodesignandteachsuchcoursesisthattheycancutacrosstheinsistencebytopAmericanuniversitiesthatliberal-artseducationsandprofessionaleducationshouldbekeptseparate,taughtindifferentschools.Manystudentsexperiencebothvarieties.AlthoughmorethanhalfofHarvardundergraduatesendupinlaw,medicineorbusiness,futuredoctorsandlawyersmuststudyanon-specialistliberal-artsdegreebeforeembarkingonaprofessionalqualification.[E]Besidesprofessionalizingtheprofessionsbythisseparation,topAmericanuniversitieshaveprofessionalizedtheprofessor.Thegrowthinpublicmoneyforacademicresearchhasspeededtheprocess:federalresearchgrantsrosefourfoldbetween1960and1990,butfacultyteachinghoursfellbyhalfasresearchtookitstoll.Professionalismhasturnedtheacquisitionofadoctoraldegreeintoaprerequisiteforasuccessfulacademiccareer:aslateas1969athirdofAmericanprofessorsdidnotpossessone.Butthekeyideabehindprofessionalization,arguesMrMenand,isthat"theknowledgeandskillsneededforaparticularspecializationaretransmissiblebutnottransferable."Sodisciplinesacquireamonopolynotjustovertheproductionofknowledge,butalsoovertheproductionoftheproducersofknowledge.[F]Thekeytoreforminghighereducation,concludesMrMenand,istoalterthewayinwhich"theproducersofknowledgeareproduced."Otherwise,academicswillcontinuetothinkdangerouslyalike,increasinglydetachedfromthesocietieswhichtheystudy,investigateandcriticize."Academicinquiry,atleastinsomefields,mayneedtobecomelessexclusionaryandmoreholistic."Yetquitehowthathappens,MrMenanddoesnotsay.[G]ThesubtleandintelligentlittlebookTheMarketplaceofIdeas:ReformandResistanceintheAmericanUniversityshouldbereadbyeverystudentthinkingofapplyingtotakeadoctoraldegree.Theymaythendecidetogoelsewhere.ForsomethingcurioushasbeenhappeninginAmericanUniversities,andLouisMenand,aprofessorofEnglishatHarvardUniversity,captureditskillfully.Order:

Consequently, most of the world' s fridges are to be found, not in the tropics where they might prove useful, but in the wealthy countries with mild temperatures where they are climatically almost unnecessary.

The costs associated with natural disasters are increasing rapidly. As a result, officials in government and industry have focused more attention on disasters and their effects. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has estimated that disasters cost the country, about 1 billion per week. Hurricane Andrew, the Midwest flood of 1993, and the Hanshin earthquake have shown that individual disasters can cost tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars. This increasing cost has resulted in greater funding from government and industry for the development of technologies related to disaster prediction, and has led to more research into the effective use of predictive information. The insurance industry has long been aware of the dangers of natural disasters; the 1906 earth-quake in San Francisco, California, bankrupted scores of insurance companies. But the industry has focused particular attention on disaster prediction in recent years, as spiraling costs revealed that many companies had underestimated their financial exposure. For instance, prior to Hurricane An-drew in 1992, many insurance experts thought that the worst hurricane possible would do no more than 8 billion in damages Io the industry. The damages caused by Hurricane Andrew, estimated at about 17 billion, shattered these beliefs. Today, estimates of worst-case disaster scenarios approach 100 billion. The insurance industry has therefore increased its support for research into disaster prediction. One such effort involves a number of companies that have joined together to support the Bermuda-based Risk Prediction Initiative, which funds disaster research. The expectation is that the resulting information will place the industry on a more solid foundation to make decisions about the risk of future disasters. The industry has also lobbied for the government to bear some of the financial burden of disaster insurance. Such a program already exists for flood insurance, set up in the late 1960s by the federal government to insure flood-prone areas. These types of programs, effectively implemented, could be increasingly necessary in the future to make insurance available in areas prone to disasters. Because the stakes are so high, the science of disaster prediction has a bright future. The various projects and programs illustrate that disaster prediction is a topic of concern to scientists and policy-makers alike. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes all show that the effective use of disaster predictions not only requires advanced technology but also requires that society consider the entire process of prediction—forecasts, communication, and use of information. Because they cannot predict the future with certainty, and because much remains to be learned, scientists warn that society must understand the limits of scientific predictions and be prepared to employ alternatives. Wisely used, however, disaster prediction has the potential to reduce society"s vulnerability to natural disasters.

Over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors— habits—among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks or wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues. "There are fundamental public health problems, like dirty hands instead of a soap habit, that remain killers only because we can" t figure out how to change people" s habits," said Dr. Curtis, the director of Hygiene Center at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. "We wanted to learn from private industry how to create new behaviors that happen automatically." The companies that Dr. Curtis turned to—Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever—had invested hundreds of millions of dollars finding the subtle cues in consumers" lives that corporations could use to introduce new routines. If you look hard enough, you" 11 find that many of the products we use every day—chewing gums, skin moisturizers, disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, water purifiers, health snacks, teeth whiteners, fabric softeners, vitamins—are results of manufactured habits. A century ago, few people regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day. Today, because of shrewd advertising and public health campaigns, many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day, often with Colgate, Crest or one of the other brands. A few decades ago, many people didn"t drink water outside of a meal. Then beverage companies start-ed bottling the production of far-off springs, and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water all day long. Chewing gum, once bought primarily by adolescent boys, is now featured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal. Skin moisturizers are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals, slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup. "Our products succeed when they become part of daily or weekly patterns," said Carol Berning, a consumer psychologist who recently retired from Procter & Gamble, the company that sold $76 billion of Tide, Crest and other products last year. "Creating positive habits is a huge part of improving our consumers " lives, and it" s essential to making new products commercially viable." Through experiments and observation, social scientists like Dr. Berning have learned that there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through ruthless advertising. As this new science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods.

BPart ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D./B

You are planning to ask your friend to join an outing. Express your idea clearly as follows: 1) details about what you are going to do; 2) when and where you will go out. You should write no less than 100 words and do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. You do not need to write the address.

Thefollowingparagraphsaregiveninawrongorder.ForQuestions1~5.youarerequiredtoreorganizetheseparagraphsintoacoherentarticlebychoosingfromthelistA~Gtofillineachnumberedbox.ThefirstandthelastparagraphshavebeenplacedforyouinBoxes.[A]SohowdidthisplayitselfoutwhenIhadtorenderBob"redundant?"Itookmyboss"ssuggestionandsearchedthefirmforajobBobcouldhandle,andfoundone.Hisproblemwasnotalackoftalent,afterall,buthewassimplystretchedtoothin.[B]I"vehadtofireothersinmy40-yearcareerasamanager,Ialwaysfoundthebehaviorproblemseasiertodealwith,butfiringsomeoneforpoorperformance,evenafterreviews,warnings,anddiscussions,wasnevereasy.ButasfarasIcantell,itnevercameasasurprise,either.Ifyoucannotbringyourselftofiresomebodywhocan"torwon"tperform,thensupervisionisnotforyoubecauseitgoeswiththeterritory.[C]SinceIwasnotoneofthosecallouspeoplewhocanhandlesuchchoreseasily,Ipsychedmyselfupforthemeeting,summoningmycourageandplanningmymoves,(somewhatasifitweremyjobontheline).IstartedbydiscussingBob"sperformancewithhim,thengavehimsixmonthstomeetourstandards,whichIexplicitlylaidout,andconcludedbysayingthatifhecouldn"tmakeit,I"dfireortransferhim.[D]I"mretirednow.soIdon"tneedtolookhard-workingunderlingsintheeyeandsay,"Joe,you"rejustnotcapableofdoingthisjob.I"velookedforotherjobsinthecompany,andtherearenone.SoI"llhavetoletyougo."[E]Whenthesixmonthsnearlyexpired,justasIwasgettingreadytotakeaction.Bobcameintomyoffice,ofhisownaccord,andaskedforthetransfer.Itwasnotjustawaytosaveface,butalsoawayforitsbothtoavoidanastyconfrontation,andmadeclearhistacitacknowledgmentthathewoulddobetterintheless-demandingjob.[F]It"sdifficulttofireanyoneforincompetence,particularlyifthepersonishardworking,cooperative,andhastriedtoimprove.Toooften,thiskindofterminationispostponeduntilitcanbecamouflagedbehindageneralcutbackorreorganization.Thisiseasier,psychologicallyspeaking,but1don"tthinkitmakessense.Incompetenceshouldbeacteduponwhentheincompetenceisdetermined;itshouldnotbestalled,inthewordsofRobert"sRulesofOrder,"tosometimeindefinite."[G]IwasagainactingonSteve"ssuggestionthatnobodyshouldbeshockedatbeingfired:"Ifanybodyissurprisedtoreceiveapinkslip,thenthesupervisorisn"tdoinghisjob,andshouldbefiredforincompetencetoo."Steve"spointwasthatpeopleshouldbegivenachancetoimprove,betoldexactlywhatwasexpected,andbetreatedfairly.Order:

How does your reading proceed? Clearly you try to comprehend, in the sense of identifying meanings for individual words and working out relationships between them, drawing on your implicit knowledge of English grammar.【C1】______You begin to infer a context for the text, for instance, by making decisions about what kind of speech event is involved. Who is making the utterance, to whom, when and where. The ways of reading indicated here are without doubt kinds of comprehension. But they show comprehension to consist not just of passive assimilation but of active engagement in inference and problem-solving. You infer information you feel the writer has invited you to grasp by presenting you with specific evidence and clues.【C2】______ Conceived in this way, comprehension will not follow exactly the same track for each reader. What is in question is not the retrieval of an absolute, fixed or "true" meaning that can be read off and checked for accuracy, or some timeless relation of the text to the world.【C3】______ Such background material inevitably reflects who we are.【C4】______This doesn't, however, make interpretation merely relative or even pointless. Precisely because readers from different historical periods, places and social experiences produce different but overlapping readings of the same words on the page—including for texts that engage with fundamental human concerns—debates about texts can play an important role in social discussion of beliefs and values. How we read a given text also depends to some extent on our particular interest in reading it. 【C5】______Such dimensions of reading suggest—as others introduced later in the book will also do—that we bring an implicit(often unacknowledged)agenda to any act of reading. It doesn 't then necessarily follow that one kind of reading is fuller, more advanced or more worthwhile than another. Ideally, different kinds of reading inform each other, and act as useful reference points for and counterbalances to one another. Together, they make up the reading component of your overall literacy, or relationship to your surrounding textual environment. [A]Are we studying that text and trying to respond in a way that fulfils the requirement of a given course? Reading it simply for pleasure? Skimming it for information? Ways of reading on a train or in bed are likely to differ considerably from reading in a seminar room. [B]Factors such as the place and period in which we are reading, our gender, ethnicity, age and social class will encourage us towards certain interpretations but at the same time obscure or even close off others. [C]If you are unfamiliar with words or idioms, you guess at their meaning, using clues presented in the context. On the assumption that they will become relevant later, you make a mental note of discourse entities as well as possible links between them. [D]In effect, you try to reconstruct the likely meanings or effects that any given sentence, image or reference might have had: These might be the ones the author intended. [E]You make further inferences, for instance, about how the text may be significant to you, or about its validity—inferences that form the basis of a personal response for which the author will inevitably be far less responsible. [F]In plays, novels and narrative poems, characters speak as constructs created by the author, not necessarily as mouthpieces for the author' s own thoughts. [G]Rather, we ascribe meanings to texts on the basis of interaction between what we might call textual and contextual material: between kinds of organization or patterning we perceive in a text's formal structures(so especially its language structures)and various kinds of background, social knowledge, belief and attitude that we bring to the text.

Venture capitalists have found it difficult to make investments in wind power for the fact that most wind power demands quite large-scale wind farms to produce electricity. New technology could change that. Earlier this month, Southwest Windpower(SWWP)raised $8 million to launch a small generator that could bring wind power to individual homes and businesses. "It will unlock an extraordinary market" says Hap Ellis, a general partner at RockPort Capital Partners, which led the round. It"s easy to see why Mr. Ellis is excited. Global wind markets grew 47 percent to $11.8 billion in 2005, and are expected to reach $48.5 billion in 2015, according to Clean Edge, a market research firm. With this deal, RockPort and its partner companies may have found a way to harness a wind storm that was once the sole domain of big utilities. While SWWP already makes small wind turbines for "off-grid" customers—that is, customers too isolated to be connected to the electric network—it has only sold some 95,000 in the last seven years. The grid-connected market is potentially far larger, as Mr. Greco estimates 13 million homes could use the grid-connected technology in the United States alone. But wind power hasn"t been widely used in grid-connected homes and businesses because the technology requires a number of inverters and controllers, and installation is complicated, he says. SWWP"s new turbine is much easier to use. It includes all the inverters, controllers, and other parts needed to connect to the grid. They are all contained within the body of the generator, lowering the production and installation costs, says Mr. Greco, who expects a retail price of around $5,500. At that price, the average cost per kilowatt hour would be $0.08—not including subsidies available in many states, he says. That means wind can beat the cost of regular electricity, which in the U.S. averages $0.09 per kilowatt hour, he says. The turbine also produces electricity at lower wind speeds and the blades top out at only 300 rotations per minute to reduce noise, he says. SWWP estimates the potential grid-connected market is worth about $1 billion. The company made revenues of "just under" $10 million in 2005, and expects a 70 percent growth rate this year because of the new product, Mr. Greco says. "We will be extremely profitable this year," he says. Let"s hope that Mr. Greco"s prediction turns out to be more than just a lot of wind.

Studythefollowingdrawingcarefullyandwriteanessayinwhichyoushould1)describethedrawing,2)analyzethepurposeofthepainterand3)stateyourposition.Youshouldwriteabout160—200wordsneatly.

For years pediatricians didn"t worry much about treating hypertension in their patients. After all, kids grow so fast, it"s hard keeping up with their shoes size, let alone their blood pressure. Sure, hypertension in adults places them at greater risk of heart attack and stroke. But nobody likes the idea of starting youngsters on blood-pressure medicine they could wind up taking the rest of their lives. Who knows what previously unheard-of side effects could crop up after five or six decades of daily use? The rationale has been: kids grow out of so many things; maybe they"ll grow out of this too. 41. Now, though, comes word that high blood pressure can be destructive even in childhood. 42. Who is most at risk? Boys are more than girls, especially boys who are overweight. Their heart works so hard to force blood through extra layers of fat that its walls grow denser. Then, after decades of straining, it grows too big to pump blood very well. 43. How can you tell if yours are like the 670,000 American children aged 10 to 18 with high blood pressure? It"s not the sort of thing you can catch by putting your child"s arm in a cuff at the free monitoring station in your local grocery. You should have a test done by a doctor, who will consult special tables that indicate the normal range of blood pressure for a particular child"s age, height and sex. 44. About half the cases of hypertension stem directly from kids being overweight. 45. How can you do? You can keep your children from joining their ranks by clearing the junk food from your pantry and hooking your kids — the earlier the better — on healthy, attractive snacks like fruits (try freezing some grapes /or carrot sticks with salsa). Not only will they lower your children"s blood pressure: These foods will also boost their immune system and unclog their plumbing.[A] And the problem is likely to grow. Over the past 30 years the proportion of children in the U. S. who are overweight has doubled, from 5% to 11% or 4. 7 million kids.[B] According to a recent report in the journal Circulation, 19 of 30 children with high blood pressure developed a dangerous thickening of the heart muscle that, in adults at least, has been linked to heart failure. "No one knows if this pattern holds true for younger patients as well, " says Dr. Stephen Daniels, a pediatric cardiologist who led the study at Children"s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. "But it"s worrisome. "[C] Feed your children nutritious foods three times a day to keep his immune system healthy. Make sure the meals include all the food groups to ensure they are getting plenty of vitamins.[D] Fortunately the abnormal thickening can be spotted by ultrasound. And in most cases, getting that blood pressure under control — through weight loss and exercise or, as a last resort, drug treatment — allows the overworked muscle to shrink to normal size.[E] If the doctor finds an abnormal result he will repeat the test over a period of months to make sure the reading isn"t a fake. He"ll also check, whether other conditions, like kidney disease, could be the source of the trouble, because hypertension is hard to be detected. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends annual blood-pressure checks for every child over age 3.[F] High blood pressure isn"t just an issue for adults; keeping kids" blood pressure levels in a healthy range is also important. In a new study reported in Hypertension, researchers found that increased exercise duration among kids leads to lower blood pressure levels, however, the same cannot be said for increased intensity.[G] Meanwhile, make sure your kids spend more time on the playground than with their PlayStation. Even if they don"t shed a pound, vigorous exercise will help keep their blood vessels nice and wide, lowering their blood pressure. And of course, they"ll be more likely to eat light and exercise if you set a good example.

"We will safeguard Britain's credit rating with a credible plan to eliminate the bulk of the structural deficit over a parliament," read the 2010 Conservative manifesto. Well, so much for that. The decision by Moody's, one of the three big rating agencies, to downgrade Britain from Aaa to Aal on February 22nd was a colossal embarrassment. Moody's now ranks Britain's credit lower than that of Luxembourg or the Isle of Man. Will the downgrade harm the economy? In the past countries with lower credit ratings have had to pay higher borrowing costs. But neither America, which was downgraded in 2011, or France, which suffered a similar fate last year, has suffered much. It is hard to spot an immediate impact in Britain, either. Investors had expected the ratings agencies to act after last year's autumn statement revealed that the government was struggling to reduce its deficit on schedule. The two other big ratings agencies—Fitch and Standard figures released on February 27th showed that GDP had shrunk by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2012 and is still 3% smaller than it was in the first quarter of 2008. Growth forecasts for the next few years were lowered in the autumn statement.