阅读理解 That everyone's too busy these days is a cliche. But one specific complaint is made especially mournfully: There's never any time to read. What makes the problem thornier is that the usual time-management techniques don't seem sufficient. The web's full of articles offering tips on making time to read; "Give up TV" or "Carry a book with you at all times." But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn't work. Sit down to read and the flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning—or else you're so exhausted that a challenging book's the last thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes, "is overwhelmingly inclined toward communication ... It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption." Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can't be obtained merely by becoming more efficient. In fact, "becoming more efficient" is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximised means you approach it instrumentally, judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances progress toward some goal. Immersive reading, by contrast, depends on being willing to risk inefficiency, goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it in as a to-do list item and you'll manage only goal-focused reading—useful, sometimes but not the most fulfilling kind. "The future comes at us like empty bottles along an unstoppable and nearly infinite conveyor belt, " writes Gary Eberle in his book Sacred Time, and "we feel a pressure to fill these different-sized bottles (days, hours, minutes) as they pass, for if they get by without being filled, we will have wasted them." No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book. So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You'd think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behavior helps us "step outside time's flow" into "soul time" . You could limit distractions by reading only physical books, or on single-purpose e-readers. "Carry a book with you at all times" can actually work, too—providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really good day, it no longer feels as if you're "making time to read" , but just reading, and making time for everything else.

阅读理解 Every day 25 million U.S. children ride school buses. The safety record for these buses is much better than for passenger cars; but nevertheless, about 10 children are killed each year riding on large school buses, and nearly four times that number are killed outside buses in the loading zones. By and large, however, the nation's school children are transported to and from school safety. Even though the number of school bus casualties is not large, the safety of children is always of intense public concern. While everyone wants to see children transported safely, people are divided about what needs to be done particularly whether seat belts should be mandatory. Proponents of seat belts on school buses—many of them parents and medical organizations argue that seat belts are necessary not only to reduce fatality and injury, but also to teach children lessons about the importance of using them routinely in any moving vehicle. A side benefit, they point out, is those seats belts help keep children in their seats, away from the bus driver. Opponents of seat belt installation suggest that children are already well protected by the school buses that adhere to the Nation Highway Traffic Safety Administrations (NHTSA) safety requirements set in 1977. They also believe that many children won't wear seat belts anyway and that may damage the belts or use them as weapons to hurt other children. A new Research Council report on school bus safety suggests that there are alternate safety devices and procedures that may be more effective and less expensive. For example, the study committee suggested that raising seat backs four inches may have the same safety effectiveness as seat belts. The report sponsored by the Department of Transportation at the request of Congress, reviews seat belts extensively while taking a broader look at safety in and around school buses.

阅读理解 The way people work has changed. The increasing use of technology presents new and continual challenges to small and large businesses, employees and managers, teachers and students. Everyone, it seems, is being affected by the technological revolution. Store clerks, for example, now use increasingly complex computerized cash registers, while university professors must learn to adapt their teaching skills in order to lead distance learning course. In today's world, training and learning do not stop when we finish school; they must now continue throughout our working lives. The Hong Kong government conducted a survey on the employment concerns, and training needs of its workforce. For many managers and other professionals the biggest challenge, as well as change, in the workplace, was the increased use of computers and computerized machinery or equipment. The need for experienced employees who could use this kind of equipment rose drastically. Many of those in the workplace at this time experienced changes in job requirements and had to attend job-related training or re-training courses. The changing work environment is also affecting education and how we learn. In Finland, a report on strategies for education and training in the information age discussed the changing roles of both teacher and student. With the increased use of technology and the growth of distance learning, the teacher has become more of a tutor who guides a student, rather than a lecturer. In turn, the student has to take more responsibility for his or her learning in the absence of direct teacher contact. The report also stressed that high school and university students should learn computer skills in order to cope with the demands of the future workplace. The Finnish report also highlighted the need for teacher training, and re-training, and suggested that the salaries and job descriptions of teachers be reviewed because of future demands expected in their jobs. Previously university professors may have held lectures between the weekday hours of 9:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. in large halls filled with students. Now, they may spend part of their day lecturing larger groups of students on campus, and then conduct afternoon or evening classes online, with students in five different countries. As technologies grow and develop, ongoing training will continue to be necessary. To be successful in the workplace, people will not stop learning when they leave school—lifelong learning will become a way of life.

阅读理解 An article in Scientific America has pointed out that empirical research says that, actually, you think you're more beautiful than you are. We have a deep-seated need to feel good about ourselves and we naturally employ a number of self-enhancing strategies to achieve this. Social psychologists have amassed oceans of research into what they call the "above average effect" or "illusory superiority" , and shown that, for example, 70% of us rate ourselves as above average in leadership, 93% in driving and 85% at getting on well with others—all obviously statistical impossibilities. We rose-tint our memories and put ourselves into self-affirming situations. We become defensive when criticized, and apply negative stereotypes to others to boost our own esteem. We stalk around thinking we're hot stuff. Psychologist and behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley oversaw a key study into self-enhancement and attractiveness. Rather than have people simply rate their beauty compared with others, he asked them to identify an original photograph of themselves from a lineup including versions that had been altered to appear more and less attractive. Visual recognition, reads the study, is "an automatic psychological process, occurring rapidly and intuitively with little or no apparent conscious deliberation." If the subjects quickly chose a falsely flattering image—which most did— they genuinely believed it was really how they looked. Epley found no significant gender difference in responses. Nor was there any evidence that those who self-enhanced the most (that is, the participants who thought the most positively doctored pictures were real) were doing so to make up for profound insecurities. In fact, those who thought that the images higher up the attractiveness scale were real directly corresponded with those who showed other markers for having higher self-esteem. "I don't think the findings that we have are any evidence of personal delusion, " says Epley. "It's a reflection simply of people generally thinking well of themselves." If you are depressed, you won't be self-enhancing. Knowing the results of Epley's study, it makes sense that many people hate photographs of themselves viscerally—on one level, they don't even recognize the person in the picture as themselves. Facebook, therefore, is a self-enhancer's paradise, where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit, style, beauty, intellect and lifestyles. "It's not that people's profiles are dishonest, " says Catalina Toma of Wisconsin-Madison University, "but they portray an idealized version of themselves."

阅读理解 "There is one and only one social responsibility of business," wrote Milton Friedman, a Nobel prize-winning economist, "That is, to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits." But even if you accept Friedman's premise and regard corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies as a waste of shareholders' money, things may not be absolutely clear-cut. New research suggests that CSR may create monetary value for companies—at least when they are prosecuted for corruption. The largest firms in America and Britain together spend more than $15 billion a year on CSR, according to an estimate by EPG, a consulting firm. This could add value to their businesses in three ways. First, consumers may take CSR spending as a "signal" that a company' s products are of high quality. Second, customers may be willing to buy a company' s products as an indirect way to donate to the good causes it helps. And third, through a more diffuse "halo effect," whereby its good deeds earn it greater consideration from consumers and others. Previous studies on CSR have had trouble differentiating these effects because consumers can be affected by all three. A recent study attempts to separate them by looking at bribery prosecutions under America's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). It argues that since prosecutors do not consume a company's products as part of their investigations, they could be influenced only by the halo effect. The study found that, among prosecuted firms, those with the most comprehensive CSR programmes tended to get more lenient penalties. Their analysis ruled out the possibility that it was firms' political influence, rather than their CSR stand, that accounted for the leniency: Companies that contributed more to political campaigns did not receive lower fines. In all, the study concludes that whereas prosecutors should only evaluate a case based on its merits, they do seem to be influenced by a company's record in CSR. "We estimate that either eliminating a substantial labour-rights concern, such as child labour, or increasing corporate giving by about 20% results in fines that generally are 40% lower than the typical punishment for bribing foreign officials," says one researcher. Researchers admit that their study does not answer the question of how much businesses ought to spend on CSR. Nor does it reveal how much companies are banking on the halo effect, rather than the other possible benefits, when they decide their do-gooding policies. But at least they have demonstrated that when companies get into trouble with the law, evidence of good character can win them a less costly punishment.

阅读理解 Forget Cyclists, Pedestrians are Real DangerWe are having a debate about this topic. Here are some letters from our readers.- Yes, many cyclists behave dangerously. Many drivers are disrespectful of cyclists. But pedestrians are probably the worse offenders.People of all ages happily walk along the pavement with eyes and hands glued to the mobile phone, quite unaware of what is going on around them. They may even do the same thing while crossing a road at a pedestrian crossing or elsewhere. The rest of us have to evade them or just stand still to wait for the unavoidable collision.The real problem is that some pedestrians seem to be, at least for the moment, in worlds of their own that are, to them, much more important than the welfare of others. —Michael Horan- I love the letter from Bob Brooks about cyclists (Viewpoints, May 29). I am afraid they seem to think they own the roads.I was walking across Altrincham Road one morning when a cyclist went round me and on being asked what he was doing he shouted at me.The government built a cycle lane on the road but it is hardly used.The police do nothing. What a laugh they are!The cyclists should all have to be made to use the cycle lanes and wear helmets, fluorescent jacket and lights at night and in the morning, they should pay some sort of tax and be fined for not wearing them. —Carol Harvey- Cyclists jump on and off pavements (which are meant for pedestrians), ride at speed along the pavements, and think they have a special right to go through traffic lights when they are on red.I was almost knocked down recently by a cyclist riding on the pavement when there was a cycle lane right next to him.Other road users, including horse riders, manage to obey the rules so why not cyclists?It's about time they had to be registered and insured, so when they do hit a pedestrian or a vehicle, or cause an accident, at least they can be treated and there might be an opportunity to claim. —JML Write to Viewpoints of the newspaper.

阅读理解 Children who spend more than two hours a day at a computer or watching television are more likely than others to have mental problems, scientists say. Researchers found that 11-year-olds who spent several hours in front of a screen each day did worse on mental health tests, no matter how much physical exercise they got. The University of Bristol study, published in Pediatrics, involved more than 1,000 children aged about 10. They also had the kids fill out questionnaires designed to gauge the kids' emotional well-being and behavior. The questionnaires contained 20 questions covering five sections—emotional difficulties, conduct problems, hyperactivity or inattention, friendships and peer groups and problems relating to friends and peer groups. The study found no direct evidence that sitting in front of a screen actually causes mental health problems. Instead, it suggests that children with difficulties, such as extreme shyness, are more likely to choose TV or computer games than sociable activities. In the study, children were asked whether they agreed, disagreed or somewhat agree with a list of statements, including, "I generally play alone or keep to myself and, "I am often unhappy or tearful". They were also asked how much exercise they took and how long they spent at a TV or computer screen. According to the study, children who spent more than two hours a day at a screen had a 60% higher risk of mental problems than children who spent fewer viewing hours. The risk was only slightly higher in children who did little or no exercise. "Physical activity is good for health in many ways, but it can't make up for long hours of screen viewing. Parents should consider limiting their children's screen viewing to no more than 2 hours a day," said the study organizer, Angie Page. Previous studies have raised concerns that watching too much television can affect children's behavior in later life. A Canadian study found that those who watched most TV as young children performed worse at school, ate more junk food and had more trouble concentrating.

阅读理解 The brain is truly a marvel. A seemingly endless library, whose shelves house our most precious memories as well as our lifetime's knowledge. But is there a point where it reaches capacity? In other words, can the brain be "full" ? The answer is a resounding no, because, well, brains are more sophisticated than that. A study published in Nature Neuroscience earlier this year shows that instead of just crowding in, old information is sometimes pushed out of the brain for new memories to form. Previous behavioral studies have shown that learning new information can lead to forgetting. But in this study, researchers used new neuroimaging techniques to demonstrate for the first time how this effect occurs in the brain. The paper's authors set out to investigate what happens in the brain when we try to remember information that's very similar to what we already know. This is important because similar information is more likely to interfere with existing knowledge, and it's the stuff that crowds without being useful. To do this, they examined how brain activity changes when we try to remember a "target" memory, that is, when we try to recall something very specific, at the same time as trying to remember something similar (a "competing" memory). Participants were taught to associate a single word (say, the word sand) with two different images—such as one of Marilyn Monroe and the other of a hat. They found that as the target memory was recalled more often, brain activity for it increased. Meanwhile, brain activity for the competing memory simultaneously weakened. This change was most prominent in regions near the front of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, rather than key memory structures in the middle of the brain, such as the hippocampus, which is traditionally associated with memory loss. The prefrontal cortex is involved in a range of complex cognitive processes, such as planning, decision making, and selective retrieval of memory. Extensive research shows this part of the brain works in combination with the hippocampus to retrieve specific memories. If the hippocampus is the search engine, the prefrontal cortex is the filter determining which memory is the most relevant. This suggests that storing information alone is not enough for a good memory. The brain also needs to be able to access the relevant information without being distracted by similar competing pieces of information. In daily life, forgetting actually has clear advantages. Imagine, for instance, that you lost your bank card. The new card you receive will come with a new personal identification number (PIN). Research in this field suggests that each time you remember the new PIN, you gradually forget the old one. This process improves access to relevant information, without old memories interfering. When we acquire new information, the brain automatically tries to incorporate it within existing information by forming associations. And when we retrieve information, both the desired and associated but irrelevant information is recalled. The majority of previous research has focused on how we learn and remember new information. But current studies are beginning to place greater emphasis on the conditions under which we forget, as its importance begins to be more appreciated.

阅读理解 Laziness is a sin, everyone knows that. We have probably all had lectures pointing out that laziness is immoral, that it is wasteful, and that lazy people will never amount to anything in life. But laziness can be more harmful than that, and it is often caused by more complex reasons than simple wish to avoid work. Some people who appear to be lazy are suffering from much more serious problems. They may be so distrustful of their fellow workers that they are unable to join in any group task for fear of ridicule or fear of having their ideas stolen. These people who seem lazy may be paralyzed by a fear of failure that prevents fruitful work. Or other sorts of fantasies may prevent work; some people are so busy planning, sometimes planning great deals or fantastic achievements that they are unable to deal with whatever "lesser" work is on hand. Still other people are not avoiding work; strictly speaking, they are merely procrastinating—rescheduling their day. Laziness can actually be helpful. Like procrastinators, some people may look lazy when they are really thinking, planning, contemplating, researching. We should all remember that great scientific discoveries occurred by chance. Newton wasn't working in the orchard when the apple hit him and he devised the theory of gravity. All of us would like to have someone "lazy" were caused by the worker's taking time to check each step of his work and to do his job right. And sometimes, being lazy that is, taking time off for a rest is good for the overworked students or executive. Taking a rest can be particularly helpful to the athlete who is trying too hard or the doctor who's simply working himself overtime too many evenings at the clinic. So be careful when you're tempted to call someone lazy. That person may be thinking, resting, and planning his or her next book.

阅读理解 Two friends have an argument that breaks up their friendship forever, even though neither one can remember how the whole thing got started. Such sad events happen over and over in high schools across the country. In fact, according to an official report on youth violence, "In our country today, the greatest threat to the lives of children and adolescents is not disease or starvation or abandonment, but the terrible reality of violence". Given that this is the case, why aren't students taught to manage conflict the way they are taught to solve math problems, drive cars, or stay physically fit? First of all, students need to realize that conflict is unavoidable. A report on violence among middle school and high school students indicates that most violent incidents between students begin with a relatively minor insult. For example, a fight could start over the fact that one student eats a peanut butter sandwich each lunchtime. Laughter over the sandwich can lead to insults, which in turn can lead to violence. The problem isn't in the sandwich, but in the way students deal with the conflict. Once students recognize that conflict is unavoidable, they can practice the golden rule of conflict resolution: stay calm. Once the student feels calmer, he or she should choose words that will calm the other person down as well. Rude words, name-calling, and accusation only add fuel to the emotional fire. On the other hand, soft words spoken at a normal sound level can put out the fire before it explodes out of control. After both sides have calmed down, they can use another key strategy for conflict resolution: listening. Listening allows the two sides to understand each other. One person should describe his or her side, and the other person should listen without interrupting. Afterward, the listener can ask non-threatening questions to clarify the speaker's position. Then the two people should change roles. Finally, students need to consider what they are hearing. This doesn't mean trying to figure out what's wrong with the other person. It means understanding what the real issue is and what both sides are trying to accomplish. For example, a shouting match over a peanut butter sandwich might happen because one person thinks the other person is unwilling to try new things. Students need to ask themselves questions such as these: How did this start? What do I really want? What am I afraid of? As the issue becomes clearer, the conflict often simply becomes smaller. Even if it doesn't, careful thought helps both sides figure out a mutual solution. There will always be conflict in schools, but that doesn't mean there needs to be violence. After students in Atlanta started a conflict resolution program, according to Educators for Social Responsibility, "64% of the teachers reported less physical violence in the classroom; 75% of the teachers reported an increase in student cooperation; and 92% of the students felt better about themselves". Learning to resolve conflicts can help students deal with friends, teachers, parents, bosses, and coworkers. In that way, conflict resolution is a basic life skill that should be taught in schools across the country.

阅读理解 The mythology of a culture can provide some vital insights into the beliefs and values of that culture. By using fantastic and sometimes incredible stories to create an oral tradition by which to explain the wonders of the natural world and teach lessons to younger generations, a society exposes those ideas and concepts held most important. Just as important as the final lesson to be gathered from the stories, however, are the characters and the roles they play in conveying that message. Perhaps the epitome of mythology and its use as a tool to pass on cultural values can be found in Aesop' s Fables, told and retold during the era of the Greek Empire. Aesop, a slave who won the favor of the court through his imaginative and descriptive tales, almost exclusively used animals to fill the roles in his short stories. Humans, when at all present, almost always played the part of bumbling fools struggling to learn the lesson being presented. This choice of characterization allows us to see that the Greeks placed wisdom on a level slightly beyond humans, implying that deep wisdom and understanding is a universal quality sought by, rather than stealing from, human beings. Aesop's fables illustrated the central themes of humility and self-reliance, reflecting the importance of those traits in early Greek society. The folly of humans was used to contrast against the ultimate goal of attaining a higher level of understanding and awareness of truths about nature and humanity. For example, one notable fable features a fox repeatedly trying to reach a bunch of grapes on a very high vine. After failing at several attempts, the fox gives up, making up its mind that the grapes were probably sour anyway. The fable' s lesson, that we often play down that which we can't achieve so as to make ourselves feel better, teaches the reader or listener in an entertaining way about one of the weaknesses of the human psyche. The mythology of other cultures and societies reveal the underlying traits of their respective cultures just as Aesop's fables did. The stories of Roman gods, Aztec ghosts and European elves all served to train ancient generations those lessons considered most important to their community, and today they offer a powerful looking glass by which to evaluate and consider the contextual environment in which those culture existed.

阅读理解 Frenchmen attach great importance to education. They regard the cultivation of children as a social obligation. French education mixes warm romantic humor into its careful and severe education. I have ever heard such a story: It took place in an ordinary French family. One day, when the boy was playing basketball, the ball hit a vase off the shelf with its mouth knocked off a large piece. The vase was an antique handed down through generations from Bourbon Dynasty. To cover the great trouble, the boy glued the pieces together and put the vase back to its place panic-stricken. That evening his mother noticed the change on it. At dinnertime, she asked her boy if he had broken the vase. Being scared of punishment, the boy said by a sudden inspiration that a cat jumped in from the window and knocked the vase off the shelf. His mother was quite clear that her son was lying, for all the windows were closed before her leaving. However, she just said that it seemed it was her carelessness not to have the window tightly closed. Before going to bed, the boy found a note on his bed, on which he was asked to go to the study. The boy had thought he had gotten by under false pretences, but then felt he couldn't dodge the misfortune. Now that he had already lied, he made up his mind no matter what his mother said, he would disavow to the end. On seeing her son enter in fear, his mother took out a chocolate box and gave one piece of the chocolates to her son. "Baker, this chocolate is a reward for you, for you created a cat with your special imagination." Then, she put another chocolate in his hand. "This chocolate is a reward for your ability to restore. But the glue you used is for restoring paper materials; to restore a vase needs higher special technique. Tomorrow, let's bring the vase to the artists to see how they make a craftwork intact as it was." With that, she took the third chocolate, "The last chocolate stands for my apology. I shouldn't have laid a vase in a place where it could so easily fall down. I wish you hadn't been scared, my little sweetheart." "But, Mom, I..." The boy tried to make something clear, but he awkwardly uttered nothing but some words. "Our talk is over. Good night, Baker!" She gave a soft kiss on his forehead and walked out of the study. The following days were the same as before. The only change was that the boy had never told a lie since then. No scolding. It looks unimaginably queer. In fact, the three chocolates are the alarm in the boy's heart all the time. Sometimes, no punishment itself is a kind of punishment.

阅读理解 Paper money is used every day but people do not often think of money as just paper. This is because people agree that it has value, and paper money is supported by the government. People have used paper money for only a few hundred years, but what did people do before printed money was invented? In Medieval England, a stick was the official representation of money. The common system that was used involved counting debt on a piece of wood called a "tally stick". The tally stick was marked with a knife. Each mark, or tally, indicated an amount of money. The tally stick acted as a contract. No one really knows who invented the tally stick, but King Henry I of England is credited as the first to use the stick in a widespread fashion. In England, the tally stick was used from 1100-1826. Marks were made on a tally stick to represent the amount of service or goods that were exchanged. The tally stick was cut in half lengthwise into two parts, and one stick was longer than the other. The person giving services or goods received the longer end of the stick, called the "stock", and the person paying for the service or goods received the shorter end. Once the stick was cut, it could not be altered. When put together, the two halves fit perfectly together. Medieval England was not the only country to use the tally stick system. In 1960, Belgian scientist Jean de Heinzelin de Braucourt discovered an extremely old tally stick made of baboon bone in Africa. At first, he determined the stick to be between about 8,000 to 10,000 years old. This surprised many people because it proved that the tally stick system had been in use for much longer than everyone had previously thought. Further research has shown that this stick is actually much older: now, scientists believe it is 20,000 years old. The tally stick system may no longer be in use today, but its influence is still apparent. People still make contracts and people still borrow and lend money. People still trust that "things"— whether they are sticks, paper, or coins—have value. The next time paper money is used, just remember: it is only paper!

阅读理解 Homework has never been terribly popular with students and even many parents, but in recently years it has been particularly scorned. School districts across the country, most recently Los Angeles Unified, are revising their thinking on this educational ritual. Unfortunately, L.A. Unified has produced an inflexible policy which mandates that with the exception of some advanced courses, homework may no longer count for more than 10% of a student' s academic grade. This rule is meant to address the difficulty that students from impoverished or chaotic homes might have in completing their homework. But the policy is unclear and contradictory. Certainly, no homework should be assigned that students cannot complete on their own or that they cannot do without expensive equipment. But if the district is essentially giving a pass to students who do not do their homework because of complicated family lives, it is going riskily close to the implication that standards need to be lowered for poor children. District administrators say that homework will still be a part of schooling; teachers are allowed to assign as much of it as they want. But with homework counting for no more than 10% of their grades, students can easily skip half their homework and see very little difference on their report cards. Some students might do well on state tests without completing their homework, but what about the students who performed well on the tests and did their homework? It is quite possible that the homework helped. Yet rather than empowering teachers to find what works best for their students, the policy imposes a flat, across-the-board rule. At the same time, the policy addresses none of the truly thorny questions about homework. If the district finds homework to be unimportant to its students' academic achievement, it should move to reduce or eliminate the assignments, not make them count for almost nothing. Conversely, if homework matters, it should account for a significant portion of the grade. Meanwhile, this policy does nothing to ensure that the homework students receive is meaningful or appropriate to their age and the subject, or that teachers are not assigning more than they are willing to review and correct. The homework rules should be put on hold while the school board, which is responsible for setting educational policy, looks into the matter and conducts public hearings. It is not too late for L.A. Unified to do homework right.

阅读理解 Do who choose to go on exotic, far-flung holidays deserve free health advice before they travel? And even if they pay, who ensures that they get good, up-to-date information? Who, for that matter, should collect that information in the first place? For a variety of reasons, travel medicine in Britain is a responsibility nobody wants. As a result, many travellers go abroad prepared to avoid serious disease. Why is travel medicine so unloved? Partly there's an identity problem. Because it takes an interest in anything that impinges on the health of travellers, this emerging medical specialism invariably cuts across the traditional disciplines. It delves into everything from seasickness, jet lag and the hazards of camels to malaria and plague. But travel medicine has a more serious obstacle to overcome. Travel clinics are meant to tell people how to avoid ending up dead or in a hospital when they come home, but it is notoriously difficult to get anybody pay out money for keeping people healthy. Travel medicine has also been colonized by commercial interests; the vast majority of travel clinics in Britain are run by airlines or travel companies. And while travel concerns are happy to sell profitable injections, they may be less keen to spread bad news about travellers' diarrhea in Turkey, or to take time to spell out preventive measures travellers could take. "The NHS finds it difficult to define travellers' health, " says Ron Behrens, "the only NHS consultant in travel and director of the travel clinic of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London." Should it come within the NHS or should it be paid for? "It's Gary area, and opinion is spilt. No one seems to have any responsibility for defining its role, " he says. To compound its low status in the medical hierarchy, travel medicine has to rely on statistics that are patchy at best. In most cases we just don't know how many Britons contract diseases when abroad. And even if a disease linked to travel there is rarely any information about where those afflicted went, what they are, how they behaved, or which vaccinations they had. This shortage of hard facts and figures makes it difficult to give detailed advice to people, information that might even save their lives. A recent leader in British Medical Journal argued. "Travel medicine will emerge as credible disciplines only if the risks encountered by travellers and the relative benefits of public health interventions are well defined in terms of their relative occurrence, distribution and control." Exactly how much money is wasted by poor travel advice. The real figure is anybody's guess, but it could easily run into millions. Behrens gives one example. Britain spends more than ￡1 million each year just on cholera vaccines that often don't work and so give people a false sense of security. "Information on the prevention and treatment of all forms of diarrhea would be a better priority, " he says.

阅读理解 Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son, mentally and physically disabled, were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much. The boy looked around and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the final inning. Shay struggled over to the team's bench and put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the final inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously joyful just to be in the game and on the field. In the bottom of the final inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. Would they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was almost impossible. The first pitch came and Shay missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to throw the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The pitcher could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman and Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, beyond the reach of all teammates. The audience and the players from both teams started screaming, "Shay, run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far but made it to first base, wide-eyed and shocked. Everyone shouted, "Run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time, could have thrown the ball to the second baseman, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head. All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the way Shay." Shay reached third base when one opposing player ran to help him and shouted, "Shay, run to third." As Shay rounded third, all were on their feet, crying, "Shay, run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the home base and was cheered as the hero who won the game for his team. That day, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world. Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully hug her little hero of the day!

阅读理解 The mythology of a culture can provide some vital insights into the beliefs and values of that culture. By using fantastic and sometimes incredible stories to create an oral tradition by which to explain the wonders of the natural world and teach lessons to younger generations, a society exposes those ideas and concepts held most important. Just as important as the final lesson to be gathered from the stories, however, are the characters and the roles they play in conveying that message. Perhaps the epitome of mythology and its use as a tool to pass on cultural values can be found in Aesop's Fables, told and retold during the era of the Greek Empire. Aesop, a slave who won the favor of the court through his imaginative and descriptive tales, almost exclusively used animals to fill the roles in his short stories. Humans, when at all present, almost always played the part of bumbling fools struggling to learn the lesson being presented. This choice of characterization allows us to see that the Greeks placed wisdom on a level slightly beyond humans, implying that deep wisdom and understanding is a universal quality sought by, rather than stealing from, human beings. Aesop's fables illustrated the central themes of humility and self-reliance, reflecting the importance of those traits in early Greek society. The folly of humans was used to contrast against the ultimate goal of attaining a higher level of understanding and awareness of truths about nature and humanity. For example, one notable fable features a fox repeatedly trying to reach a bunch of grapes on a very high vine. After failing at several attempts, the fox gives up, making up its mind that the grapes were probably sour anyway. The fable's lesson, that we often play down that which we can't achieve so as to make ourselves feel better, teaches the reader or listener in an entertaining way about one of the weaknesses of the human psyche. The mythology of other cultures and societies reveal the underlying traits of their respective cultures just as Aesop's fables did. The stories of Roman gods, Aztec ghosts and European elves all served to train ancient generations those lessons considered most important to their community, and today they offer a powerful looking glass by which to evaluate and consider the contextual environment in which those culture existed.

阅读理解 Americans don't like to lose wars. Of course, a lot depends on how you define just what a war is. There are shooting wars—the kind that test patriotism and courage—and those are the kind at which the U.S. excels. But other struggles test those qualities too. What else was the Great Depression or the space race or the construction of the railroads? If American indulge in a bit of flag—when the job is done, they earned it. Now there is a similar challenge—global warming. The steady deterioration of the very climate of this very planet is becoming a war of the first order, and by any measure, the U.S. is losing. Indeed, if America is fighting at all, it's fighting on the wrong side. The U.S. produces nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases each year and has stubbornly made it clear that it doesn't intend to do a whole lot about it. Although 174 nations approved the admittedly flawed Kyoto accords to reduce carbon levels, the U.S. walked away from them. There are vague promises of manufacturing fuel from herbs or powering cars with hydrogen. But for a country that tightly cites patriotism as one of its core values, the U.S. is taking a pass on what might be the most patriotic struggle of all. It's hard to imagine a bigger fight than one for the survival of a country's coasts and farms, the health of its people and stability of its economy. The rub is, if the vast majority of people increasingly agree that climate change is a global emergency, there's far less agreement on how to fix it. Industry offers its plans, which too often would fix little. Environmentalists offer theirs, which too often amount to native wish lists that could weaken America's growth. But let's assume that those interested parties and others will always bent the table and will always demand that their voices be heard and that their needs be addressed. What would an aggressive, ambitious, effective plan look like—one that would leave the U.S. both environmentally safe and economically sound? Halting climate change will be far harder. One of the more conservative plans for addressing the problem calls for a reduction of 25 billion tons of carbon emissions over the next 52 years. And yet by devising a consistent strategy that mixes short-time profit with long-range objective and blends pragmatism with ambition, the U.S. can, without major damage to the economy, help halt the worst effects of climate change and ensure the survival of its way of life for future generations. Money will do some of the work, but what's needed most is will. "I'm not saying the challenge isn't almost overwhelming, " says Fred Krupp. "But this is America, and America has risen to these challenges before."

阅读理解 Teaching children to read well from the start is the most important task of elementary schools. But relying on educators to approach this task correctly can be a great mistake. Many schools continue to employ instructional methods that have been proven ineffective. The staying power of the "look-say" or "whole-word" method of teaching beginning reading is perhaps the most flagrant example of this failure to instruct effectively. The whole-word approach to reading stresses the meaning of words over the meaning of letters, thinking over decoding, developing a sight vocabulary of familiar words over developing the ability to unlock the pronunciation of unfamiliar words. It fits in with the self-directed, "learning how to learn" activities recommended by advocates of "open" classrooms and with the concept that children have to be developmentally ready to begin reading. Before 1963, no major publisher put out anything but these "Run-Spot-Run" readers. However, in 1955, Rudolf Flesch touched off what has been called "the great debate" in beginning reading. In his best-seller Why Johnny Can't Read, Flesch indicted the nation's public schools for miseducating students by using the look-say method. He said—and more scholarly studies by Jeane Chall and Rovert Dykstra later confirmed—that another approach to beginning reading, founded on phonics, is far superior. Systematic phonics first teaches children to associate letters and letter combinations with sounds; it then teaches them how to blend these sounds together to make words. Rather than building up a relatively limited vocabulary of memorized words, it imparts a code by which the pronunciations of the vast majority of the most common words in the English language can be learned. Phonics does not devalue the importance of thinking about the meaning of words and sentences; it simply recognizes that decoding is the logical and necessary first step.

阅读理解 The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is plague that flesh receives. The most widespread fallacy of all is that colds caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes. During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches, cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds. In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp, naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds. At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in Experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose. If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? Despite the most pains-taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on. No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors such as aspirin, but all they do is relieve the symptoms.