She refused to hand over the ear keys to her husband until he had promised to wear his safety belt.

Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes.

Global warming is causing more than 300,000 deaths and about $125 billion in economic losses each year, according to a report by the Global Humanitarian Forum, an organization led by Annan, the former United Nations secretary general. The report, to be released Friday, analyzed data and existing studies of health, disaster, population and economic trends. It found that human-influenced climate change was raising the global death rates from illnesses including malnutrition (营养不良) and heat-related health problems. But even before its release, the report drew criticism from some experts on climate and risk, who questioned its methods and conclusions. Along with the deaths, the report said that the lives of 325 million people, primarily in poor countries, were being seriously affected by climate change. It projected that the number would double by 2030. Roger Pielke Jr. , a political scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who studies disaster trends, said the Forum's report was 'a methodological embarrassment' because there was no way to distinguish deaths or economic losses related to human-driven global warming amid the much larger losses resulting from the growth in populations and economic development in vulnerable (易受伤害的) regions. Dr. Pielke said that—climate change is an important problem requiring our utmost attention. But the report, he said, 'will harm the cause for action on both climate change and disasters because it is so deeply flawed (有瑕疵的).' However, Soren Andreasen, a social scientist at Dalberg Global Development Partners who supervised the writing of the report, defended it, saying that it was clear that the numbers were rough estimates. He said the report was aimed at world leaders, who will meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a new international climate treaty. In a press release describing the report, Mr. Annan stressed the need for the negotiations to focus on increasing the flow of money from rich to poor regions to help reduce their vulnerability to climate hazards while still curbing the emissions of the heat-trapping gases. More than 90% of the human and economic losses from climate change are occurring in poor countries, according to the report.

他们已经十年没见面了。

In my long life I have seen many changes in our habits and customs and conditions in general. I think that you might be interested if I told you some of them. The world I entered at the age of eighteen when I became a medical student was a world that knew nothing of such advanced things as planes, films, radios or telephones. It was a very cheap world. Prices were stable. When I entered St. Thomas' hospital I rent a set of rooms in Vincent Square for which I paid 18 shillings a week. My landlady provided me with a very good breakfast before I went to the hospital and a dinner when I came back at half past six. I only had to pay for the breakfasts and dinners twelve shillings a week. For four-pence I lunched at St. Thomas' on bread and butter and a glass of milk. I could be able to live very well, pay my fees, buy my necessary instruments, clothe myself, and have a lot of fun on fourteen pounds a month. And I could always pawn (当掉) my microscope for three pounds. I spent five years at St. Thomas' hospital. I was a bad student, for my heart, as you might have guessed, was not in it. I wanted, I had always wanted to be a writer, and in the evenings, after my dinner, I wrote and read. Before long, I wrote a novel called 'Liza of Lambeth', which I sent to a publisher and was accepted. It came out during my last year at the hospital and it was successful. It was of course an accident, but I didn't know that. I felt I could afford to give up medicine and make writing my profession; so, three days after I graduated from the school of medicine, I left for Spain to write another book. I did not realize, at that time, that I was taking a great risk.

Packaging is an important form of advertising. A package can sometimes motivate someone to buy a product. For example, a small child might ask for a breakfast food that comes in a box with a picture of a TV character. The child is more interested in the picture than in the breakfast food. Pictures for children to color or cut out, games printed on a package, or small gifts inside a box also motivate many children to buy products or to ask their parents for them. Some packages suggest that a buyer will get something for nothing. Food products sold in reusable containers are examples of this. Although a similar product in a plain container might cost less, people often prefer to buy the product in a reusable glass or dish, because they believe the container is free. However, the cost of the container is added to the cost of the product. The size of a package also motivates a buyer. Maybe the package has 'Economy Size' printed on it. This suggests that the large, size has the most product for the least money. But that is not always true. To find out, a buyer has to know how the product is sold and the price of the basic unit. The information on the package should provide some answers. But the important thing for any buyer to remember is that a package is often an advertisement. The words and pictures do not tell the whole story. Only the product inside can do that.

无论生活多难，我们都不会失去信心。

他的演讲激奋我们比以往任何时候都更加努力工作。

You'd better open a savings account at the bank near the university.

A: But I'm still wondering if you could possibly give me a discount.

A：难学，不过很有趣。

Most cities and/or states in the U.S. collect a sales tax on almost everything you buy. You must ask when you move into a new community how much the local sales tax is, and what items are and are not taxable. Both taxable items and the amount of tax vary considerably from place to place, from one or two percent in some places up to eight or ten in others. The New York City sales tax, for example, is currently 8%, so if you buy a pair of $40 shoes you will actually have to pay $43.20. This makes paying and getting correct change much more difficult (not to mention making everything more expensive). Another thing that makes money changes more complicated is tipping. The Chinese people have happily put an end to tipping, but Westerners are still plagued (遭受折磨) with this indignity. Waiters and waitresses, cab drivers, hotel bellboys, barbers and hairdressers and all sorts of other people must be tipped. Their employers give them low wages because it is expected that you, the customer, will make up the difference. If you don't, the service person can't earn a living. Tipping also varies from place to place, generally in the area of 15% of your bill (before taxes), but again you should ask local residents whom to tip and how much. There is another kind of tipping as well. You are generally expected to give something (either cash or a bottle of whisky) to the mailman at Christmas time. You should discuss this also with neighbors and friends.

Pressure Cooker (高压锅) Safety When you are cooking with a pressure cooker, you should learn a few common sense (常识) rules. 1. Never leave the cooker unwatched when it is in use. 2. Add never past the recommended fill point. Overfilling the cooker may block the vent pipe (排气孔) and cause the cooker to explode. 3. Set the cooker time. Too much time may overcook the food or too much pressure may build up in the cooker. Too little time will lead to undercooked food. 4. If you are new to pressure cooking, follow the cooking instructions carefully. Heat and time can either result in a great meal or a ruined one. 5. Never try to force a pressure cooker cover open. Allow the cooker to cool or run it under cool water before trying to open the cover. 6. Clean the cooker after each use. Mild detergent (洗涤剂) and hot water work the best. Do not use stove ash or sand for they may damage the cooker. The gasket (密封圈) is best cleaned in warm soapy water and then dried. Store the gasket in the bottom of the pot.

There was a time when, if a lady got into a crowded bus or train, a gentleman would immediately stand up and offer his seat. But now, things are different. Today a gentleman will probably look out of the window or if he feels a bit shy, hide behind his newspaper. Either way, the lady will have to stand until someone else gets off. You can't entirely blame men for this change in manners, though. Gone are the days when women could be referred to as weakers without causing trouble. A whole generation of women has grown up demanding equality with men, not just equality in jobs or education, but in social life. Hold a door open for some women and you are likely to get an angry lecture on treating women as weakers unable to open doors for themselves. Take a girl out for meal and she'll probably insist on paying her share of the bill. On second thoughts, that is perhaps not a bad idea. On one hand, it's no wonder then, that men have given up some ways of politeness and consideration which they used to show towards women. On the other hand, the man's active politeness is perhaps slowly being replaced by true consideration for the needs and feelings of women, so that men can see women as equal human beings, rather than as weakers or something that can be used to please men.

As I viewed these once familiar surroundings, images of myself as a child there came to my mind．

The old Volkswagen Beetle—'The Bug'—is making a comeback. People who own them are planning to keep them forever. People who don't own them are paying high prices when they can find one for sale. It's more remarkable when you realize that VW doesn't even make them anymore! A spokesman for Volkswagen of America says there were about five million 'Bugs' on American roads in 1977. That was the last year they were shipped to America. VW estimates that about four million of them are still running. Used car dealers say they can't keep 'Bugs' on their lots these days. They feel it's because these cars have a history of reliable, inexpensive transportation. The cars average about 30 miles per gallon of gas. But all hasn't been smooth going for the 'Bugs'. The heating system is poor. And since it travels very close to the ground, larger cars tend to splash it with winter's snow and mud. Some in the safety field consider the Beetle as defenseless against heavier cars. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has nothing that shows any problem with them at all.

B: The price is quite reasonable, Madam.

Congratulations on your success in the National College Entrance Examination.

'Family' is of course an elastic word. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of 'family' in its narrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together alone in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family—hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life. For both the man and the woman, marriage means leaving one's parents and starting one's own life. The man's first duty will then be to his wife, and the wife's to her husband. He will be entirely responsible for her financial support, and she for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and theirs alone. Neither the wife's parents nor the husband's, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them—they are their own masters. Readers of novels like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times marriage among wealthy families were arranged by the girl's parents, that is, it was the parents duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and by skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her. Until that time, the girl was protected and maintained in the parents home, and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry. It is very different today. Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before their marriage. This has had two results. A girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry.

选择题The more he looked at the picture,_________.