According to the United States government, people are classified as homeless if they have no place to stay and no expectation of finding a place for the next thirty days. Although technically accurate, that is an impersonal assessment of an enormous and very human problem. The homeless population represents all of us Americans. It includes men and women, the elderly, children, and infants. Its members are from all ethnic(种族的) groups. What they have in common is poverty. Currently in the U.S., thirty-nine million people live in poverty. When money is really tight, paying the rent or buying food often becomes a choice. Government assistance in the form of food stamps does help but, as one homeless man explains, you can"t pay the rent with food stamps. With no money for rent, the streets and homeless shelters become the alternative. Although men constitute the largest group within the homeless population, homeless women with children are rapidly joining them. In fact, one quarter of the homeless people in the U.S. are teenagers and young children. People may become homeless for numerous reasons. However, there are certain factors that many of these individuals have in common. They include a lack of adequate education and job skills. A majority of the teenagers and adults have not completed high school. The abuse of alcohol and drugs is also a common factor One third of the adult homeless population abuses alcohol, while one quarter of the same group uses drugs. Some members of this population suffer mental health problems. Within the past several years many institutions for the mentally ill have been closed and their patients sent "home". Unfortunately, a number of those people have no home to go to and they are unable to adequately look after themselves. Job loss in today"s economy has also become a real factor in the loss of people"s homes. The breakup of families through abandonment and divorce are also contributing factors, particularly when there are children involved. The parent who is left to care for the kids with inadequate income may be forced to depend on the homeless shelters to put a roof over their heads.

When I was still an architecture student, a teacher told me, "We learn more from buildings that fall down than from buildings that stand up". What he meant was that construction is as much the result of experience as of theory. Although structural design follows established formulas, the actual performance of a building is complicated by the passage of time, the behavior of users, the natural elements—and unnatural events. All are difficult to simulate. Buildings, unlike cars, can"t be crash-tasted. The first important lesson of the World Trade Center collapse is that tall buildings can withstand the impact of a large jetliner. The twin towers were supported by 59 perimeter columns on each side. Although about 30 of these columns, extending from four to six floors, were destroyed in each building by the impact, initially both towers remained standing. Even so, the death toll(代价) was appalling—2,235 people lost their lives. I was once asked how tall buildings should be designed given what we"d learned from the World Trade Center collapse. My answer was, "Lower". The question of when a tall building becomes unsafe is easy to answer. Common aerial fire-fighting ladders in use today are 100 feet high and can reach to about the 10th floor, so fires in buildings up to 10 stories high can be fought from the exterior(外部). Fighting fires and evacuating occupants above that height depend on fire stairs. The taller the building, the longer it will take for firefighters to climb to the scene of the fire. So the simple answer to the safety question is "Lower than 10 stories". Then why don"t cities impose lower height limits? A 60-story office building does not have six times as much rentable space as a 10-story building. However, all things being equal, such a building will produce four times more revenue and four times more in property taxes. So cutting building heights would mean cutting city budgets. The most important lesson of the World Trade Center collapse is not that we should stop building tall buildings but that we have misjudged their cost. We did the same thing when we underestimated the cost of hurtling along a highway in a steel box at 70 miles per hour. It took many years before seat belts, air bags, radial tires, and antilock brakes became commonplace. At first, cars simply were too slow to warrant concern. Later, manufacturers resisted these expensive devices, arguing that consumers would not pay for safety. Now we do willingly.

Nurse: Do you have any designated doctor? Patient: Yes, Dr. Hurt, Cliff Hurt. Nurse: Here is your registration card. Dr. Hurt is at clinic No. ______.

Greg: Hey Merlin. I"d like to ask you a question. Merlin:______ Greg: Well, I"m thinking about going to Sweden. What"s the best time to go?

E-commerce has witnessed a_______growth these years.

A: May I use your phone for a local call? B:______,sir!

I wouldn’t recommend you go mountain-climbing at this time of year because it is ______.

A: Can I get you a cup of tea? B: ______.

The growth of population during the past few centuries is no proof that population will continue to grow straight upward toward infinity and doom. On the contrary, demographic history offers evidence that population growth has not been at all constant. According to paleo-ecologist Edward Deevey, the past million years show three momentous changes. The first, a rapid increase in population around one million B. C., followed the innovations of tool-making and tool-using. But when the new power from the use of tools had been exploited, the rate of world population growth fell and became almost stable. The next rapid jump in population started perhaps 10,000 years ago, when men began to keep herds, plow and plant the earth. Once again when initial productivity gains had been absorbed, the rate of population growth abated. These two episodes suggest that the third great change, the present rapid growth, which began in the West between 250 and 350 years ago, may also slow down when, or if technology begins to yield fewer innovations. Of course, the current knowledge revolution may continue without foreseeable end. Either way contrary to popular belief in constant geometric growth--population can be expected in the long nm to adjust to productivity.

The president of the company ______ why the other members of the committee hadn"t been informed of this important news.

Telephone enquiry Clerk: Lost property department. Can I help you? Phone caller: ______ I left it on the "Margate Mermaid" when we cross from Olsten Yesterday morning.

A: That necklace looks really lovely on you. B: ______.

48: Jim: I have a pair of tickets for an opera Saturday night. Would you like to go?Cindy: I don"t think so. ______.

Once upon a time, innovation at Procter & Gamble flowed one way: from the United States outward. While the large Cincinnati-based corporation was no stranger to foreign markets, it usually sold them products that were already familiar to most Americans. Many Japanese families, for instance, swaddle their babies in Pampers diapers, and lots of Venezuelans brush their teeth with Crest. And of course (company executives assumed) Americans at home wanted these same familiar, red-white and blue brands. We might buy foreign-made cars, or chocolates, or cameras but household cleaners and detergents? Recently, however, P&G broke with this long-standing tradition. Ariel, a P&G laundry detergent, was born overseas, and is a familiar sight on store shelves in Europe and Latin America. Now bilingual packages of Ariel Ultra, a super-concentrated cleaner, are appearing on supermarket shelves in Los Angeles. Ariel"s appearance in the United States reflects demographic changes making Hispanics the nation"s fastest-growing ethnic group. Ariel is a hit with this population. In fact, many Mexican immigrants living in Southern California have been "importing" Ariel from Tijuana, Mexico. "Hispanics knew this product and wanted it", says P&G spokeswoman Marie Salvado. "We realized that we couldn"t convince them to buy (our) other laundry detergents". P&G hopes that non-Hispanic consumers will give Ariel a try too. Ariel"s already strong presence in Europe may provide a springboard for the company to expand into other markets as well. Recently P&G bought Rakona, Czechoslovakia"s top detergent maker. Ariel, currently a top seller in Germany, is likely to be one of the first new brands to appear in Czech supermarkets. And Ariel is not the only foreign idea that the company hopes to transplant back to its home territory. Cinch, an all-purpose spray cleaner similar to popular European products, is currently being test-marketed in California and Arizona. Traditionally Americans have used separate cleaners for different types of surfaces, but market research shows that American preferences are becoming more like those in other countries. Insiders note that this new reverse flow of innovation reflects more sweeping changes at Procter & Gamble. The firm has hired many new Japanese, German, and Mexican managers who view P&G"s business not as a one-way flow of American ideas, but a two-way exchange with other markets. Says Bonita Austin of the investment firm Wertheim-Schroeder, "When you met with P&G"s top managers years ago, you wouldn"t have seen a single foreign face". Today, "they could even be in the majority". As Procter & Gamble has found, the United States is no longer an isolated market. Americans are more open than ever before to buying foreign-made products and to selling U.S.-made products overseas.

Developing countries are unusually vulnerable to cigarette advertising. Until recently, some of them sold tobacco only through government monopolies, with little or no attempt at persuasion. And because most of these countries don"t have effective anti-smoking campaigns, many of their people are surprisingly innocent of the link between tobacco and disease. In Manila, we even found cigarettes sold at a snack bar operated by the local Boy Scouts. Many governments, moreover, are reluctant to wage anti-smoking wars because they"re addicted to tobacco taxes. Argentina gets 22. 5 percent of all tax revenue from tobacco; Malawi, 16.7 percent. Into this climate of naivety and neglect, American tobacco companies have unleashed not only the marketing wizardry (魔术) that most of us take for granted, but other tactics they wouldn"t dare use here. Tobacco spokesmen insist that cigarette advertising draws only people who already smoke. But an ad executive, who worked until recently of the Philip Morris account, speaking on condition of anonymity, disagrees. "You don"t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out what"s going on. Just look at the ads. It"s ludicrous (荒唐的) for them to deny that a cartoon character like Joe Camel isn"t attractive to kids. "

Experts predict that China"s healthcare market will have an annual growth of 6 to 8 per cent in the next few years, making it one of the potentially most prosperous. In Shanghai, annual medical expenditure is estimated to be 16 billion yuan (U. S. 93 billion). With an increasingly【31】population, the growing consumption power and longer life【32】of local residents, the medical market bas great opportunities. However, limited medical resources cannot meet people"s needs【33】financial deficits in State-owned hospitals.【34】, there is room for a range of different medical organizations. As is the case with many State-owned enterprises, public hospitals in the past half century have learned a lot of bad habits:【35】management, over-staffing and bureaucratic operating procedures. Being a member of World Trade Organization (WTO), China has to【36】its promise to open the health industry to foreign capital in coming years. By then, public hospitals will be facing fierce competition from Western giants they have never prepared for. So it"s quite urgent【37】them to learn how to operate as an enterprise and how to survive in the competitive market economy of the future. As a【38】, the healthcare sector was first opened to domestic private investors. Since the first private hospital opened in 1999, private investors from Shenzhen, Sichuan and Zhejiang provinces have been scrambling to enter Shanghai.【39】show that about 20 private hospitals have been set up in the city, although this number,【40】with more than 500 public hospitals, is still quite low.

Mr. Jack ______ volleyball in the afternoon, but now his leg wounded, ______ in the evening.

Why are mobiles so popular? Because people love to talk to each other. And it is easier with a mobile phone. In countries like Russia and China, people use the mobile phone in places where there is no ordinary telephone. Business people, use mobiles when they"re traveling. In some countries, like Japan, many people use their mobile phones to send email message and access the Internet. They use a new kind of mobile phone called "i mode". You can even use a mobile phone to listen to music. Mobile phones are very fashionable with teenagers. Parents buy mobile phones for their children. They can call borne if they are in trouble and need help. So they feel safer. But teenagers mostly use them to keep in touch with their friends or play simple computer games. It"s cool to be the owner of a small expensive mobile. Research shows that teenage owners of mobile phones smoke less. Parents and schools are happy that teenagers are safer and smoke less. But many people dislike them. They hate it when the businessman opposite them on the train has a loud conversation on his phone. Or when the mobile phone rings in a cafe or restaurant. But there is a much more serious problem. It"s possible that the mobile phone can heat up the brain because we hold the phone so close to our head. Scientists fear that mobiles can perhaps be bad for your memory and even give you cancer.

Son: Why do you always tell me what to do? To be flank, I don"t like it. Mother: I know. ______