问答题Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the topic of Due Attention Should Be Given To Spelling. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below: 1. 如今不少学生在英语学习中不重视拼写 2. 出现这种情况的原因 3. 为了改变这种状况，我认为… Due Attention Should Be Given To Spelling

From Hobby to Business Having a hobby to keep you busy in your spare time is one thing, but being able to take the activity you love and turn it into your full-time, money-making job is something very different—and entirely possible. Faze tracked down four "happy hobbyists" who turned their hobbies into full-time work—creating successful, money-making businesses out of what they love to do best. Robin Woodward Barbie"s Basement Jewellery is the place to go for funky (时髦的), colourful pop rings, pendants(坠子), chokers, broaches and belt buckles; all inspired by a variety of cult movies and pop icons. Robin Woodward, founder and creative energy behind this new-age pop art, shaped her long-time hobby into a real career when she lost her full- time job and had to find something else to pay the bills. "I realized I wanted to make jewelry when a friend of mine turned to me and asked, "If you could do anything, what would it be?"" Robin confesses. "It was all I wanted to do." So she started to make the rounds at small craft shows and outdoor fairs, showcasing and selling her work. "Starting small is important," she advises, "especially when you lack experience; that"s how you learn." Starting small, but determined to make her business bigger, Robin realized that she had to take a self-employment course to learn more about how to run a real company. "The small business course taught me business basics and gave me a headspace to take myself seriously as a business." In only seven years, Robin and her partner, Ange Beever, have hundreds of products sold in independent stores across Canada, the United States, Hungary and Japan. Christa MacLellan Christa MacLellan, a small-town girl who, as a child, loved to spend her time doing crafts and sewing, graduated from the Fashion Marketing Program at George Brown College in 2004, and was sent to Selengue, Mall as the Canadian representative for Canada World Youth"s Quebec/Mall Community Development Program. Although she loved the adventure, the agricultural work she had to do there didn"t really connect with her. Inspired by the vibrant (鲜明的) colours, customs and styles of the sub-Saharan community, and using her flair for fashion, Christa broke out a sketch pad and began designing African accessories to bring back to North America. In only three months, Christa"s company—Saki by Chata—was born. When Christa returned to Canada, she tried to display her merchandise at the One of a Kind Show, a mega-event for artisans to showcase and sell their work, but found that it was too expensive and intimidating(吓人的) tot a young, up-and-coming(积极进取的) designer. "So I started Fashion on the Rocks—a small show for accessory designers only," Christa explains. "There were a lot of young designers in the same boat, who needed a place to display their work." Fashion on the Rocks got a lot of media attention and sponsors and is still a big yearly event in the accessories industry. It was inspiration and a fancy for accessory-making that started Saki by Chata, but it was Christa"s determined will to get her stuff out there—even if it meant creating her own exhibition show to do it—that made it flourish. "I always believe that you should take advantage of every opportunity that you have," she says, "Just go for it, and figure it out along the way." Jen Kluger and Suzie Orol Jen Kluger and Suzie Orol, the founders and designers for Foxy Originals, hooked up at the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario, with a mission to make highfashion, yet affordable jewelry accessible to young women. Together they designed and sold their creations to friends and acquaintances on campus. "We got great feedback from our customers and realized our jewelry was in demand," says Suzie. Soon after, they took to the road selling their pieces at festivals and concerts. "This was a hobby, and we wanted to prove to ourselves and our peers that we could run a business and be successful doing something we love," says Suzie. News spread quickly about the distinct style of Foxy Originals, and soon the jewelry could be found in boutiques across the country. Today it is sold in over 350 stores across North America, showcased in national magazines, and found on celebrity "must have" lists; Eve, Kim Cattrall, Nelly Furtado and Paris Hilton have all been spotted wearing Foxy"s fun and funky creations. Both Jen and Suzie still rely on the skills and knowledge they gained from university to market and promote Foxy in countries around the world, but Suzie says you"ll need more than a formal education, "Really put your mind to it," she says, "Be persistent, ask lots of questions and you will find a way." Sarah Gold Sarah Gold, a custom crystallization designer and president and founder of NYC Peach, started her successful accessories design company in 2003. She took everyday objects like cell phones, cameras and business card holders, and made them expressions of personal style by painstakingly applying individual Swarovski lead crystals in a variety of unique designs and colours. Originally, Sarah"s idea of designing personal items with coloured crystals was just a hobby and a great gift idea for her friends, but soon A-list celebrities like Mischa Barton, Lindsay Lohan, Sarah Jessica Parker and J. Lo were seen sporting (炫耀) the trendy designs on and off on the red carpet. "My business exploded faster than I could have ever imagined," Sarah declares in disbelief. In order to keep up with the demand, she found herself working really hard and staying up late, night after night, filling requests from new customers. "I don"t have a business background," Sarah explains, "but I have always tried to run my business the way I believe all businesses should: rewarding those people who help you with a little bit extra, cutting back on your own salary to get the best product out there, and making it accessible to everyone by putting it online." Sarah also believes that taking action is the key to turning your hobby into a business. "Your ideas are as good as anyone else"s. If you think you have a good idea, move it on and make it happen," she urges. After all, Sarah points out, "Someone out there is going to make something cool, so it might as well be you."

Protect Your Privacy When Job-hunting Online Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person"s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain. The numbers associated with identity theft are beginning to add up fast these days. A recent General Accounting Office report estimates that as many as 750,000 Americans are victims of identity theft every year. And that number may be low, as many people choose not to report the crime even if they know they have been victimized. Identity theft is "an absolute epidemic," states Robert Ellis Smith, a respected author and advocate of privacy. "It"s certainly picked up in the last four or five years. It"s worldwide. It affects everybody, and there"s very little you can do to prevent it and, worst of all, you can"t detect it until it"s probably too late." Unlike your fingerprints, which are unique to you and cannot be given to someone else for their use, your personal data, especially your social security number, your bank account or credit card number, your telephone calling card number, and other valuable identifying data, can be used, if they fall into the wrong hands, to personally profit at your expense. In the United States and Canada, for example, many people have reported that unauthorized persons have taken funds out of their bank or financial accounts, or, in the worst cases, taken over their identities altogether, running up vast debts and committing crimes while using the victims" names. In many cases, a victim"s losses may include not only out-of-pocket financial losses, but substantial additional financial costs associated with trying to restore his reputation in the community and correcting erroneous information for which the criminal is responsible. According to the FBI, identity theft is the number one fraud committed on the Internet. So how do job seekers protect themselves while continuing to circulate their resumes online? The key to a successful online job search is learning to manage the risks. Here are some tips for staying safe while conducting a job search on the Internet. 1. Check for a privacy policy. If you are considering posting your resume online, make sure the job search site you are considering has a privacy policy, like CareerBuilder. com. The policy should spell out how your information will be used, stored and whether or not it will be shared. You may want to think twice about posting your resume on a site that automatically shares your information with others. You could be opening yourself up to unwanted calls from solicitors (推销员). When reviewing the site"s privacy policy, you"ll be able to delete your resume just as easily as you posted it. You won"t necessarily want your resume to remain out there on the Internet once you land a job. Remember, the longer your resume remains posted on a job board, the more exposure, both positive and not-so-positive, it will receive. 2. Take advantage of site features. Lawful job search sites offer levels of privacy protection. Before posting your resume, carefully consider your job search objectives and the level of risk you are willing to assume. CareerBuilder.com, for example, offers three levels of privacy from which job seekers can choose. The first is standard posting. This option gives job seekers who post their resumes the most visibility to the broadest employer audience possible. The second is anonymous (匿名的) posting. This allows job seekers the same visibility as those in the standard posting category without any of their contact information being displayed. Job seekers who wish to remain anonymous but want to share some other information may choose which pieces of contact information to display. The third is private posting. This option allows a job seeker to post a resume without having it searched by employers. Private posting allows job seekers to quickly and easily apply for jobs that appear on CareerBuilder. corn without retyping their information. 3. Safeguard your identity. Career experts say that one of the ways job seekers can stay safe while using the Internet to search out jobs is to conceal their identities. Replace your name on your resume with a generic (泛指的) identifier, such as "Intranet Developer Candidate," or "Experienced Marketing Representative." You should also consider eliminating the name and location of your current employer. Depending on your title, it may not be all that difficult to determine who you are once the name of your company is provided. Use a general description of the company such as "Major auto manufacturer," or "International packaged goods supplier." If your job title is unique, consider using the generic equivalent instead of the exact title assigned by your employer. 4. Establish an email address for your search. Another way to protect your privacy while seeking employment online is to open up an email account specifically for your online job search. This will safeguard your existing email box in the event someone you don"t know gets hold of your email address and shares it with others. Using an email address specifically for your job search also eliminates the possibility that you will receive unwelcome emails in your primary mailbox. When naming your new email address, be sure that it doesn"t contain references to your name or other information that will give away your identity. The best solution is an email address that is relevant to the job you are seeking such as salesmgr 2004@ provider, com. 5. Protect your references. If your resume contains a section with the names and contact information of your references, take it out. There"s no sense in safeguarding your information while sharing private contact information of your references. 6. Keep confidential(机密的) information confidential. Do not, under any circumstances, share your social security, driver"s license, and bank account numbers or other personal information, such as race or eye color. Honest employers do not need this information with an initial application. Don"t provide this even if they say they need it in order to conduct a background check. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book—don"t fall for it.

Six Ways To Die Faster "Our lifestyle choices are a disaster," according to Dr. Laurence Sperling, chief of preventive cardiology at Emory School of Medicine. He said that we"ve compiled a list of some of the most offensive lifestyle choices you could make, and he hoped that we all chose not to do them... or at least some of them. 1. Overeating Scientifically, overeating means eating an amount that is "inappropriately large for a given energy expenditure." Realistically, overeating is something that many Americans do as a hobby—at their favorite restaurant, on their favorite holiday, with their favorite snack food, or just because they"re with friends. It doesn"t really matter when; we just do it. If you only overeat once or twice a year, chances are you"ll be OK, but do it compulsively and you"re headed down the road to obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and depression. 2. Smoking This one is obvious yet ironic because, according to the American Heart Association, of the estimated 48 million Americans who smoke cigarettes, most are either actively trying to quit or want to quit. Most people are familiar with the related health effects of emphysema, cancer and heart disease, but smoking can also have negative effects on the eyes, the throat, the urinary tract, the digestive organs, the bones and joints, and the skin. 3. Drinking and Driving Another obvious one, yet, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, in 2002 about 1.5 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (or narcotics). And, in 2003, 17,013 people in the United States died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 40 percent of all traffic related deaths. If there"s going to be drinking, decide on a designated driver beforehand; this one is really that simple 4. Living on fast food Going hand-in-hand with overeating, living on a junk food diet is another surefire way to end up overweight and suffering from a myriad of health problems ranging from clogged arteries to depression. One only needs to turn on Morgan Spurlock"s documentary "Super Size Me" to find out exactly what the body goes through after consuming nothing but fast food for 30 straight days. "I start to get tired, I start to get headaches; my liver basically starts to fill up with fat because there"s so much fat and sugar in this food. My blood sugar skyrockets, my cholesterol goes up off the charts, my blood pressure becomes completely unmanageable. The doctors were like, "You have to stop," "Spurlock said. Still, according to Eric Schlosser"s Fast Food Nation, the average American eats three hamburgers and four orders of fries—every week. 5. No exercising Given all the great things that we know exercise is good for, including: Boosting HDL (good) cholesterol Improving the circulatory system Lowering blood pressure and blood fats Reducing the risk for heart disease, heart attack and stroke Strengthening muscles Increasing flexibility Building stronger bones and fighting osteoporosis Relieving stress and anxiety It is curious that we"re not all doing it. Imagine a pill that came out with those types of real benefits—it"d be flying off the shelves. To not exercise, then, is akin to turning down all of those excellent health potentials. 6. Stress We all have stress, but if you don"t do something to relieve it, sooner or later it will take its toll on you. Stress is linked to everything from heart disease and a decrease in immune function to depression and digestive problems. The good news is that stress can be relieved... you just need to find a method that works for you. Here are some tips to try : Meditation Yoga Prayer Gardening Reading Journaling Soaking in a bath Hiking, biking or swimming

In the 1900"s, American townspeople usually washed and brushed their teeth and combed their hair in the kitchen. Or they kept a water pitcher(大水罐) and a wash basin in their rooms and took care of these things there. The bathtub was a wash tub (澡盆)filled with water from the stove. If you were small enough, you could sit down by drawing your knees to your chest. Otherwise, you washed yourself standing up. Often all the women and girls in the family bathed together. Then the men and boys did. In most families, this was Saturday night because Sundays they went church. A small number of families did have running water. But that depended on whether there was a water system where they lived and on whether they could afford the plumbing (水管设施). Some people had bathtubs in their homes as early as 1895, but many others did not have their first bath in a bathtub until 1910 or later when they were fifteen or sixteen years old.

From childhood to old age, all of us have to use language as a means of broadening our knowledge of ourselves and the world around us. When humans first 1 , they were like newborn children, unable to use this 2 tool. Yet once language developed, the possibilities for human kind"s future 3 and cultural growth increased. Many linguists believe that evolution is 4 for our ability to produce and use languages. They 5 that our highly evolved brain provides us 6 an innate language ability not found in lower 7 . Proponents (支持者) of this innateness theory say that our 8 tor language is inborn, but that language itself develops gradually, 9 a function of the growth of the brain during childhood. Therefore there are critical 10 times tot language development. Current 11 of innateness theory are mixed, however, evidence supporting the existence of some innate abilities is undeniable. 12 , more and more schools are discovering that foreign languages are best taught in 13 grades. Young children often can learn several languages by being 14 to them, while adults have a much harder time learning another language once the 15 of their first language have become firmly fixed. 16 some aspects of language are undeniably innate, language does not develop automatically in a vacuum. Children who have been 17 from other human beings do not possess languages. This demonstrates that 18 with other human beings is necessary for proper language development. Some linguists believe that this is even more basic to human language 19 than any innate capacities. These theorists view language as imitative, learned behavior. 20 , children learn language from their parents by imitating them. Parents gradually shape their children"s language skills by positively reinforcing precise imitations and negatively reinforcing imprecise ones.

Five Strange New Facts about Twins "The fascination with twins is as old as time," says Susan Kohl in her book Twin Stories. "Twins share a strong and powerful bond that neither time nor distance seems to shake." Because of their unique relationship, twins are often the focus of research. Here"s a look at five recent studies that shine new light on these linked individuals, and what they can teach the rest of us. 1. Mothers of twins live longer Twins have been greeted as everything from an unwanted burden to "a sign of their father"s superior virility," says The Economist. But a new study from the University of Utah shows that twins "have more to do with their mother"s sturdy constitution than their father"s sexual power." Looking at the birth records for 59,000 women between 1800 and 1970, researchers found that women who give birth to twins live longer, have healthier kids, and " appear to be healthier" themselves, says lead author Ken R. Smith. That"s probably because sturdier women have twins, not because having twins is good for you, the study notes. 2. But they get divorced more often It seems that twins can help unravel a marriage, say Dr. Anupam Jena and his colleagues at Boston"s Massachusetts General Hospital. When a couple"s only children are twins, parents are only about 1 percent more likely to get divorced than parents of singletons(单生子女). But add in more kids(or less income) , and the risk of divorce shoots up. The reason isprobably the added stress, both financial and emotional. 3. Twin fetuses(双胎儿) start playing at 14 weeks Examining 3D ultrasound images of five pairs of in-utero twins, a team at the University of Padova, Italy, found that fetuses started deliberately interacting at 14 weeks, reaching out and touching each other through the uterine wall. By 18 weeks, they spent more time stroking each other than themselves, and were equally careful when touching their co-twin"s sensitive eye areas. The results are "astonishing," says Jean-Philippe Riviere at Doctissimo. At 14 weeks, "they were already socializing with their sibling in the womb." 4. If you separate identical twins, they still end up similar Surveying decades of twin research, George Mason University economist Bryan Caplan found the "most prominent conclusion" to be that "practically everything— health, intelligence, happiness, success, personality, values, interests—is partly genetic." We may latch on to the parenting-centric ideas of "Tiger Morn" Amy Chua, says Helen Rumbelow in The Australian. But the dozens of rigorous studies on separated-at-birth twins is much more persuasive than " Chua"s sample of one": As adults, even separated twins are "very similar on almost every count." 5. But identical twins can get sick very differently In 1983, two identical twin infant boys were given a blood transfusion contaminated by HIV; decades later, one has an almost-normal immune system while the other is faring much worse. Brigham Young University researchers recently tried to explain the different reactions. What they found, says Amanda Carpenter at Virology, is that once identical twins leave the womb and are " exposed to different pathogens (病原体), bacteria, and microbes(微生物)," their immune systems are not identical at all.

Four Surprising Facts about the Color Red A new study says that humans react more powerfully when they see red. Scientists say red, more than other colors, provokes clearly identifiable reactions in human beings. Here are four recent findings that may change the way you look at crimson: 1. Red intensifies our physical reactions Seeing red causes people to react faster and more forcefully, according to a new study published in the journal Emotion. Our bodies react to red, a culturally ingrained signal of danger, as if we"ve seen a threat, says study author Andrew Elliot of the University of Rochester, as quoted by MSNBC. The reaction doesn"t last long, and people aren"t even aware of it, but, according to UPI, the findings "may have applications for sporting and other activities in which a brief burst of strength and speed is needed, such as weightlifting." 2. Red makes men more desirable to women Men in red are "more attractive, more powerful and more sexually desirable to women," according to another study by Elliot, cited by CBS News. The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, asked women to rate pictures of men framed by or wearing a variety of colors. The women rated men in red "higher in status and more likely to earn a better living." That perception, which may stem from the fact that red pigmentation indicates male dominance in a number of animal species, leads to the attraction. Earlier research found that men also find women in red more attractive because the color suggests "sexual receptivity." 3. Red is the color of winner The color red can be intimidating--just ask Tiger Woods, who famously wears red on the final day of golf tournaments (and, until recently, tended to triumph). A 2005 study by British scientists found that athletes wearing red "have an advantage over blue- suited competitors," according to MSNBC. "We find that wearing red is consistently associated with a higher probability of winning," the researchers wrote in the journal Nature. The effect is subtle, though, so it may only factor in(将……列入重要因素) when evenly matched competitors face off. 4. Red can cause failure on exams Seeing "even a hint of red" on an exam can affect a test-taker"s performance "to a significant degree," researchers reported in 2007. Perhaps because instructors often use red ink to mark errors, people associate the color "with mistakes and failures," and, "in turn, they do poorly on" the exam in front of them.

For ebook devotees, reading is a whole new experience David J. Loehr, a playwright who lives in southern Indiana, was taking his car to the dealership when a stray on the radio caught his attention. A short science piece about "an obscure subject" gave him an idea for a new play. Ordinarily, Loehr would have had to make do with(设法应付) jotting down some notes or trying to remember his inspiration. But since he had his iPad with him, he bought a few books on the subject and downloaded them as soon as he got to the dealership. He started his research for the play right there, while his car was being serviced. "I can have all that research on a single tablet instead of carrying around 40 books," Loehr said. Welcome to the future of books, where your entire library is as portable(便于携带的) as a cellphone. A recent study by the Pew Research Center"s Internet and American Life Project reported that ownership of e-reader devices—like the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader and Kobo eReader Touch—doubled between November 2010 and May 2011. Now 12 percent of adults over age 18 own one, while 8 percent own a tablet computer like the iPad. So what does the increasing popularity of these devices mean for the experience of reading? Do we read differently when we can get (almost) any book ever published, whenever we want? Reading the future For their devotees, ebooks have transformed the experience of reading. Michelle Jones, who writes the Consuming Louisville blog, has a Kindle reader and also uses the Kindle app on her Android phone. "Even when I"m walking the dog, I"m always going to have my phone on me," she said. "I"m not always going to have my book bag. It makes it possible for me to read places I never would have before." For Jones, the tact that her Kindle syncs with her phone—so her book always knows where she left off—makes reading the same book on different devices effortless. Jones describes herself as an early adopter. But e-readers also have won over some book lovers who aren"t ordinarily enticed(引诱) by gadgetry, like Madelyn Anetrella, a nonprofit development manager for the American Lung Association. "I don"t know how to use my iPod," she said, by way of establishing her Luddite bona fides. But she does read on a Kindle and on the Kindle app on her phone. "I"m always with a book of some sort, whether in hard copy on my Kindle or on the phone," she said. And although the gadgets haven"t replaced her physical books, she does find that they come in handy. "Amazon has a lot of the classics for free, so I"ll read a few pages when I"m online." Brian Leung, novelist and professor of English at the University of Louisville, said that having your entire library with you wherever you go was pretty extraordinary. "It"s having all your books in your pocket, and having all your magazine subscriptions in your pocket." Although Leung has a strong preference for physical books, he has started to think about buying ebook versions of things he"s likely to only read once. He recently read Tina Fey"s memoir(回忆录), "Bossypants," and cited it as an example. "It"s something that I wouldn"t go back to," Leung said. Like Leung, some readers who would never give up physical books have started to opt for ebook versions of one-time reads. James Bickers, the morning host for WFPK, is one. "It"s largely a clutter thing," Bickers said. "I don"t let a book into my house if I don"t think I"m going to read it more than once." Being able to purchase an ebook and start reading it right away without leaving the house—or the doctor"s waiting room—also increases the convenience of the impulse buy. Jen Woods, founder and president of the local small press Typecast Publishing, said she often buys books she"s not sure about in the ebook version for her Nook. "For those books, I find that I purchase a lot more of them because I don"t have to store them anywhere. If it is only a peripheral (非主要的，外围的) interest and I don"t read the whole book, it"s OK." Just being able to carry around lots of books, however, doesn"t mean you"re going to read them. Bickers said that one of the things that attracted him to e-readers was the ability to download public-domain classics for free. "It"s all stuff that you were meant to read anyway. Now I have these electronic versions of Dickens that I cannot read electronically," he said. "It makes me feel good to know I have Dickens even though I know I"m probably never going to get through it." Some things never change As we spend more time online, and increasingly turn to social networks for reading recommendations, writers and publishers are adjusting to fit the expectations of new media. Woods of Typecast Publishing said she"s a fan of the way electronic media allow her authors to connect with readers—even though her books are mostly printed on letterpress, an old-fashioned and time-consuming physical process. "I really feel like the digital revolution in reading is only one more tool in our belt that we can use to put content out to readers," she said. "We do most of our work very much in the world of printed object, but one reason why we succeed in that is because of the digital revolution." Writers, too, have been modifying their work to suit the online marketplace. Rick Moody and John Wray are two novelists who have experimented with Twitter fiction. Paul Griner, a novelist and professor of English at the University of Louisville, said that he tends to write more flash fiction—very short short stories—because they"re easier for grazing online readers to digest. "The available technology often dictates what form writing takes, rather than the other way around," Griner said, citing the examples of Chekhov and Guy de Maupassant, who wrote their short stories to fit the specifications of the newspapers that published them. Online-only literary journals like elimae (elimae.com), Five Chapters (fivechapters.com), Fifty-Two Stories (fiftytwostories.com) and Guernica (guernicamag.com) cater to the audience of readers at their desks with short blasts of fiction. At the same time, some things won"t change. Reading is still a quiet, solitary(独自的) engagement between you and the text, whether that text is printed on dead trees or in e-ink on a screen. The experience of getting sucked into a great story doesn"t differ, according to e-reader owners. If anything, the growing popularity of ebooks shows that readers are still willing to pay for good writing, despite the profusion (大量) of free content available online. In that sense, it"s a reaffirmation of the old publishing business model. Petrosino doesn"t think the prevalence of electronic media would affect the way she writes poetry, either. "Poetry is one of the forms that defies (反抗，蔑视) the short attention span. Poetry is a way of paying attention." And although ebooks continue to increase their share of the market, readers will still buy physical books. "I think I"m 50-50 with reading actual books and reading on my Kindle," said Anetrella of the American Lung Association. "If I"m at a bookstore and I see a book that I want, I"ll buy it."

Teacher Grades: Pass or Be Fired Emily Strzelecki, a first-year science teacher here, was about as eager for a classroom visit by one of the city"s roving teacher evaluators as she would be to get a tooth drilled(钻孔). "It really stressed me out because, oh my gosh, I could lose my job," Ms. Strzelecki said. Her fears were not unfounded: 165 Washington teachers were fired last year based on a pioneering evaluation system that places significant emphasis on classroom observations; next month, 200 to 600 of the city"s 4,200 educators are expected to get similar bad news, in the nation"s highest rate of dismissal for poor performance. The evaluation system, known as Impact, is disliked by many unionized teachers but has become a model for many educators. Spurred (激励) by President Obama and his $5 billion Race to the Top grant competition, some 20 states, including New York, and thousands of school districts are overhauling (改革) the way they grade teachers, and many have sent people to study Impact. Its admirers say the system, a centerpiece of the tempestuous (动乱的，狂暴的) three-year tenure of Washington"s former schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee, has brought clear teaching standards to a district that lacked them and is setting a new standard by establishing dismissal as a consequence of ineffective teaching. But some educators say it is better at sorting and firing teachers than at helping struggling ones; they note that the system does not consider socioeconomic factors in most cases and that last year 35 percent of the teachers in the city"s wealthiest area, Ward 3, were rated highly effective, compared with 5 percent in Ward 8, the poorest. "Teachers have to be parents, priests, lawyers, clothes washers, babysitters and a bunch of other things" if they work with low-income children, said Nathan Saunders, president of the Washington Teachers Union. "Impact takes none of those roles into account, so it can penalize you just for teaching in a high-needs school." Jason Kamras, the architect of the system, said "it"s too early to answer" whether Impact makes it easier for teachers in well-off neighborhoods to do well, but pointed out that Washington"s compensation system offers bigger bonuses ($25,000 versus $12,500) and salary enhancements in high-poverty schools. "We take very seriously the distribution of high-quality teachers across the system," he said. The evaluation system leans heavily on student test scores to judge about 500 math and reading teachers in grades fore to eight. Ratings for the rest of the city"s 3,600 teachers are determined mostly by five classroom observations annually, three by their principal and two by so-called master educators, most recruited from outside Washington. For classroom observations, nine criteria—"explain content clearly," "maximize instructional time" and "check for student understanding," for example—are used to rate the lesson as highly effective, effective, minimally effective or ineffective. These five observations combine to form 75 percent of these teachers" overall ratings; the rest is based on achievement data and the teachers" commitment to their school communities. Ineffective teachers face dismissal. Minimally effective ones get a year to improve. Impact costs the city $7 million a year, including pay for 41 master educators, who earn about $ 90,000 a year and conduct about 170 observations each. The program also asks more of principals. Carolyne Albert-Garvey, the principal of Maury Elementary School on Capitol Hill, has 22 teachers—she must conduct 66 observations, about one every three school days. "I"ve really gotten to know my staff, and I"m giving teachers more specific feedback," Ms. Albert-Garvey said. "It"s empowered me to have the difficult conversations, and that gives everyone the opportunity to improve." Several teachers, however, said they considered their ratings unfair. A veteran teacher who said he did not want to criticize the school system openly, said that a month after he inherited a chaotic world history class from a long-term substitute, the visiting evaluator cut him no slack (绝不放过他) for taking on the assignment and penalized him because a student was texting during the lesson. Another teacher who expects to lose her job next month because of low ratings said at a public hearing that evaluators picked apart her seventh-grade geography lessons, making criticisms she considered trivial (微不足道的). During the most recent observation, her evaluator subtracted points because she had failed to notice a girl eating during class, the teacher said. "I"m 25 years in the system, and before, I always got outstanding ratings," she said. "How can you go overnight from outstanding to minimally effective?" A report issued by the Aspen Institute in March said one of Impact"s accomplishments was to align teacher performance with student performance, noting that previously 95 percent of Washington"s teachers were highly rated but fewer than half of its students were demonstrating proficiency on tests. Still, the report quoted teachers who complained of cold-eyed evaluators more interested in identifying losers than in developing winners. "After my first conversation with my master educator, I felt it was going to be worthwhile—she offered me some good resources," the report quoted one teacher. "My second master educator was kind of a robot, not generous in offering assistance, a much tougher grader." This month, Mary Gloster, who taught science in three states before she was recruited to Impact in 2009, was at Ballou High, one of the city"s lowest-performing schools, to share the results of some classroom visits. She met with Mahmood Dorosti, a physics teacher who won a $5,000 award this spring. "Don"t even think about it—you"re highly effective," she told him. Next was Ms. Strzelecki, 23, who came to Ballou through Teach tor America. The two sat at adjoining desks, with Ms. Strzelecki looking a bit like a doe in the headlights. But Ms. Gloster, who had watched her teach a ninth-grade biology lesson the week before, offered compliments, along with suggestions about how Ms. Strzelecki might provide differentiated teaching for advanced and struggling students. "You did a really good job, kiddo," the evaluator ruled, grading her as effective, the equivalent of a B (the same rating she got on previous observations). "What I liked about Mary was that I felt she was on my side," Ms. Strzelecki said later. "Some teachers feel the master educators are out to get them." That is a common perception, said Mark Simon, an education analyst for the Economic Policy Institute, which receives teachers" union financing. Ms. Rhee developed the system, he noted, during tough contract negotiations and did not consult with the teachers" union in its design. "That was a missed opportunity," Mr. Simon said, "and it"s created a lot of resentment."

Be Sure Exercise Is All You Get at the Gym When you go to the gym, do you wash your hands before and after using the equipment? Bring your own regularly cleaned mat tor floor exercises? Shower with antibacterial(抗菌的) soap and put on clean clothes immediately after your workout? Use only your own towels, razors, bar soap, water bottles? If you answered "no" to any of the above, you could wind up with one of the many skin infections that can spread like wildfire in athletic settings. In June, the National Athletic Trainers" Association, known as NATA, issued a position paper on the causes, prevention and treatment of skin diseases in athletes that could just as well apply to anyone who works out in a communal setting, be it a school or commercial gym. The authors pointed out that "skin infections in athletes are extremely common" and account for more than half the outbreaks of infectious diseases that occur among participants in competitive sports. And if you think skin problems are minor, consider what happened to Kyle Frey, a 21-year-old junior and competitive wrestler at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Mr. Frey noticed a pimple (丘疹) on his arm last winter but thought little of it. He competed in a match on a Saturday, but by the next morning the pimple had grown to the size of his biceps and had become very painful. His athletic trainer sent him straight to the emergency room, where the lesion (损伤) was lanced(切开) and cultured. Two days later, he learned he had MRSA, the potentially deadly staphylococcus infection that is resistant to most antibiotics. Mr. Frey spent five days in the hospital, where the lesion was surgically cleaned and stitched and treated with antibiotics that cleared the infection. He said in an interview that he does not know how he acquired MRSA: "The wrestling mat might have been contaminated, or I wrestled with someone who had the infection." If it could happen to Mr. Frey, who said he has always been health-conscious in the gym and careful about not sharing his belongings, it could happen to you. The Risks Recreational athletes as well as participants in organized sports are prone to fungal (真菌的), viral and bacterial skin infections. Sweat, abrasion and direct or indirect contact with the lesions and secretions (分泌物) of others combine to make every athlete"s skin vulnerable to a host of problems. While MRSA may be the most serious skin infection, athlete"s foot, jock itch, boils, impetigo, herpes simplex and ringworm, among others, are not exactly fun or attractive. Athletes who are infected should be kept from competing in matches for a week or more until treatment renders them noninfectious. The authors of the trainers" study warned against simply covering infections like herpes and active bacterial lesions in order to return to competition. Likewise, people like you and me who work out at a facility or swim in a public pool should stay away until cleared by a doctor who is well versed in skin diseases. Steven M. Zinder, a trainer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chief author of the new paper, said in an interview that these recommendations are not esoteric (深奥的，秘密的). "It"s what we all learned—or should have learned—in sixth-grade health class," he said. "It"s all common sense. You need to keep yourself and your equipment clean. You never know who last used the equipment in a gym. It can be a great breeding ground for these bugs, some of which are pretty nasty." The report, published in the August issue of The Journal of Athletic Training, stated, "Athletes must shower after every practice and game with an antibacterial soap and water over the entire body." Dr. Zinder noted that after a workout, women tend not to shower at the facility, while men, who are more likely to shower, often fail to cleanse their entire bodies, including their feet. Well-equipped facilities should provide antibacterial liquid soap. "You should be showering at the gym and putting on clean clothes that are kept separate from the dirty ones," he said. In fact, he added, it"s best to have two bags, one only for clean clothes, and to wash the dirty-clothes bag now and then. Assume Exposure Jack Foley, athletic trainer and director of sports medicine at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and co-author of the report, said athletes should always assume they are exposed to skin infections. At any given time, he said in an interview, one person in three in the United States suffers from a skin disease that can be spread to others, even while in the incubation (潜伏) stage. The report noted that there had been "an alarming increase in the prevalence of MRSA" in the noses of both healthy children and adults. Thus, sneezing into one"s hand or blowing one"s nose without washing with an antibacterial cleanser afterward may spread these dangerous bacteria to others. While hand hygiene is most important over all, avoiding fungal infections requires a daily change of athletic socks and underwear; carefully drying the armpits and groin and between toes (perhaps blow-drying the feet on low heat); and using foot powder. Shower shoes can help prevent infection as long as they don"t keep you from soaping your feet. A viral infection called molluscum contagiosum may not be on the popular tongue, but it is commonly seen in young children, spreads through skin-to-skin contact, and is not uncommon among athletes, including swimmers, cross-country runners and wrestlers, the report stated. Prevention of this highly contagious infection requires "meticulous hygiene" after contact with secretions from other athletes through benches, towels and mats. If you plan to work out in a gym or use a locker room, Mr. Foley suggested that before choosing a facility, you quiz the management about the cleaning agents used (they should be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency) and daily cleaning schedule for all surfaces and equipment. If exercise mats are not cleaned between classes, he suggested bringing your own. Antibacterial wipes or spray bottles should be provided and used by everyone to clean equipment after a workout.

Internet Hacking Two years ago, a fifteen-year-old boy logged onto the Internet under the alias (别名) "Comrade". To some of us, our idea of hacking might include breaking into an email account or viewing confidential(机密的) company information. However, no one expected that "Comrade" would cause a three-week shutdown at NASA, steal government email passwords, intercept over 3000 emails and download close to $ 2 million worth of software used to operate the international space station. If that was not shocking enough, he had twice gained access to the computers used by the Pentagon to monitor threats of nuclear and biological warfare. Computer hacking has been around for as long as we can remember—certainly as long as we have had a World Wide Web. Occasionally, the news speaks of silly pranks which imply nothing more than a temporary shutdown of a website, although "Comrade" hack forced a three-week shutdown for repairs and cost the U.S. government $ 41,000. Recently, the case of the hackers tampering with(损害，影响) the CIA"s website, changing the title to "Central Stupidity Agency" and filling it with obscenities was merely a nuisance for the agency. It posed no real threat because the CIA"s files are inaccessible via that Interact site. Undoubtedly, there are some who see humour in this—a civilian, probably not even a professional, outwitting an elite US agency. No Laughing Matter There are more serious crimes, which are no laughing matter. In one case of corporate espionage(间谍活动), two "heavy manufacturing" firms were bidding on a $ 900 million contract ; one outbid the other by a fraction of a percent. This was no co-incidence as the losing company later discovered that someone had broken into the company"s computer network and accessed files that contained bidding strategy information. In another case, authorities are chasing an individual who regularly hires U.S. teens to access confidential documents. One young hacker was paid $1,000-and promised $10,000 more—for stealing design documents for kitchen appliances from U.S. firms. Beyond selling the trade secrets to a company"s competition, some hackers resort to extortion(敲) of the company. In Sweden, a 15 and 17 year old tried to extort $ 2 million from a cellular company to destroy information they had illegally downloaded. Like most eases of extortion, the criminal"s identity is especially difficult to trace and is magnified because of the nature of the Net. When the Internet was gaining immense popularity, businesses were scrambling(争抢) to secure domain names and using the technology to expand their market. Seeing e-commerce as an untapped goldmine, many were eagerly diving headfirst into a slew of (许多) problems, including security breaches. Companies like eBay, Buy.com, Yahoo, Amazon and Excite were not prepared when "Mafiaboy" decided to strike. The 16-year-old Montreal teen crippled their sites last year when he bombarded them with thousands of simultaneous messages, preventing legitimate users from gaining access. His five-day tirade(长篇大论) caused an estimated $1.7 billion in damages. These malicious and insidious(隐伏的) attacks threaten security and cost companies and organizations billions of dollars. A survey of the Fortune 1000 companies in 1999 estimates a loss of $ 45 billion from information theft. Counter Strategies Many organizations are taking extra security measures, including the usage of firewalls (a security mechanism that allows limited access to sites from the Internet). Still, hackers will gain access. If a fifteen-year-old can shutdown NASA, what hope is there? Recently, Ernst the proverbial David struggling against a corporate Goliath. In many of these crimes, people do them to defy corporations or the government; money is not always the motive. However, it is an act that is still unacceptable that victimizes all who use the Internet. Viruses, shutdowns, crashes and email hacking will be the burden of the user, a company"s money lost to theft will be the burden of its customers and a government"s money spent on security will be the burden of its citizens. Is there anyone not affected by Internet crime? Nope.

Facebook Facebook is the world"s largest social network with 750 million users worldwide as of July 2011. Its policies, more than those of any other company, are helping to define standards for privacy in the Internet age. The company, founded in 2004 by a Harvard sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg, began life catering first to Harvard students and then to all high school and college students. It has since evolved into a broadly popular online destination used by both teenagers and adults of all ages. In country after country, Facebook has cemented(巩固) itself as the leader, often displacing other social networks. But it has also come to be seen as one of the new titans of the Internet, challenging even Google with a vision of a Web tied together through personal relationships and recommendations, rather than by search algorithms(算法). In a major expansion, Facebook has spread itself across other Web sites by offering members the chance to "Like" something—share it with their network—without leaving the Web page they"re on. In July 2011, hoping to give its users a more intimate, real-time way to stay in touch, the company introduced video chat in a partnership with Skype, the Internet calling service. Facebook"s foray(突袭) into video chatting came a week after Google introduced Google +, its latest and most serious challenge yet in social networking. That service includes video chatting for up to 10 people in an area of the site called Hangouts. The alliance with Skype expanded an existing partnership between the two companies. Their cooperation started in 2010 when Skype let its users connect with their Facebook friends from Skype and get news feeds. Facebook is also working on developing features that would make the sharing of users" favorite music, television shows and other media as much a part of its site as playing games or posting vacation photos. An Internet Titan Facebook has increasingly been seen as the only company to pose a threat to Google, which has used its dominant position in search and online ad placement to expand into most comers of the Web. But as a closed network, Facebook"s oceans of content are out of the reach of Google"s search engines, and some analysts think the personal recommendations made through Facebook networks could become a rival to the algorithm-based results pioneered by Google. In one sign of how much Facebook regards Google as a competitor, The Daily Beast reported that in May 2011 Facebook had hired a public relations firm to persuade reporters and privacy advocates to write stories critical of a new Google service, Social Circles. Privacy is a sore subject for Facebook, which has made a series of stumbles on the subject. With the potential for legal and regulatory clashes growing along with its influence, the company has layered its executive, legal, policy and communications ranks with high-powered politicos (整治活动家) from both parties, beefing up (加强) its firepower for future battles in Washington and beyond. Disputed Origins The company"s rise has been marked by strings of controversies. Three other Harvard students maintain that they came up with the original idea and that Mr. Zuckerberg, whom they had hired to write code for the site, stole the idea to create Facebook. The company has denied the allegations. Another Harvard classmate, Aaron Greenspan, claims that he created the underlying architecture for Facebook and ConnectU, but has declined to, enter in a legal battle. "The Social Network," a movie released in 2010 about Facebook"s tumultuous origins, offered up what A. O. Scott called "a creation story for the digital age and something of a morality tale, one driven by desire, marked by triumph, tainted by betrayal(出卖) and inspired by the new gospel(真理): the geek shall inherit the earth." Facebook has strenuously (强烈地), and Mr. Zuckerberg more quietly, asserted that the portrayal of the company"s founding is fiction. And Mr. Zuckerberg disputed the characterization of him in the film, though in a New Yorker magazine profile, he acknowledged having indulged in a bit of sophomoric arrogance. Privacy Concerns Like other social networks, Facebook allows its users to create a profile page and forge online links with friends and acquaintances. It has distinguished itself from rivals, partly by imposing a spartan design ethos (道义，风气) and limiting how users can change the appearance of their profile pages. That has cut down on visual clutter and threats like spam, which plague rivals. It has decisively outstripped other networks that preceded it, like MySpace and Friendster, becoming what many analysts see as the "default platform" of a new age of information organized around personal relationships. The back and forth between Facebook and its users over privacy is gaining importance as the company"s growth continues unabated (不减弱的). Facebook"s policies, more than those of any other company, are helping to define standards for privacy in the Internet age. Bowing to pressure over privacy concerns, the company in May 2010 unveiled a set of controls that he said would help people understand what they were sharing online, and with whom. Facebook"s biggest mistake, Mr. Zuekerman said, had been in failing to notice that as Facebook added new features and its privacy controls grew increasingly complicated, those controls became effectively unusable for many people. In October 2010, Facebook acknowledged that some applications on its site, including the popular game FarmVille, had improperly shared identifying information about users, and in some cases their friends, with advertisers and Web tracking companies. The company said it was talking to application developers about how they handled personal information, and was looking at ways to prevent this from happening again. The Goldman Deal In January 2011, Facebook raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a transaction that values the company at $50 billion. As part of the deal with Facebook, the bank could raise as much as $1.5 billion from investors for Facebook. The new money will give the company more firepower to steal away valuable employees, develop new products and possibly pursue acquisitions—all without being a publicly traded company. The investment may also allow earlier shareholders, including Facebook employees, to cash out at least some of their stakes. The new investment came as the Securities and Exchange Commission began an inquiry into the increasingly hot private market for shares in Internet companies, including Facebook, Twitter, the gaming site Zynga and LinkedIn, an online professional networking site. Some experts suggest the inquiry is focused on whether certain companies are improperly using the private market to get around public disclosure requirements. Also in January, catching many off guard, Goldman said that it would limit its Facebook offering to foreign investors, excluding clients in the United States because of worries that the deal could run afoul of (与……冲突) securities. The offering to high-net-worth clients was supposed to have been a triumph for the firm, not the serious embarrassment it became. Goldman has been trying to move past run-ins with regulators, including a $550 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010 over a complex mortgage investment. The Facebook plan will likely raise new questions about whether Goldman tried to push regulatory boundaries once again. Mr. Zuckerberg had sought to keep close control over the company, spurning (拒绝接受) a $1 billion offer from Yahoo in 2006 and playing down the idea of a stock offering. But in the wake of the Goldman investment, Facebook said that it will begin reporting its financial results by April 2012, setting the stage for a likely IPO (initial public offerings).

Acing an Interview Pre-Interview You"ve got a great resume—so why aren"t you getting any interviews? Often we spend so much time on the resume, so we neglect the other important details. As a classic example, if your answering machine has any of the following, change it immediately: ● It sounds like a dating service ● Music to accompany your message ● Multiple voices Another twist on this is email. It is very hard to take someone seriously with an email address of freakyman @ ub. ca. Take out a free email account with a more appropriate address. If you don"t have an answering machine, invest in one. Now let the machine work for you. Have the machine answer the phone. Why? It puts you in more of an advantageous position. You have some time to think of what you are going to say and to ask questions. When you call back, find out who is interviewing you. Depending on the company it may be someone different than the person calling. It may also be a panel (more than one interviewer) and you want to know who they are and their position. Ask if the job you applied for has a job description that you could pick up. Always do your own leg work—don"t ask them to send it to you. If they tell you they don"t mind, don"t argue, thank them and move on. You"ve got an interview The first thing you do is enlist(争取) your friends. Their first job is the handshake. Don"t ask your parents about this one, if you have a weak handshake, chances are they do too. Work on this. It is the only point of contact in an interview and you need to project confidence and enthusiasm. Second, ask them what your pet word is. Mine is "like". Other common ones are "you know", "urn", "well" and the worst "urn, well, like, you know". We all have one, and for 30-45 minutes you need to minimize the use of this word. Have your friends test you for endurance, and see how long you can go without saying the pet word. At the interview When you get to the interview, early, take time to read any brochures they may have in the office on their company. Ensure you are not chewing gum, it sounds stupid, but it happens all the time. If the receptionists asks you if you would like water or coffee decline. You will be nervous enough and shaking hands with a glass in your hand is very difficult. Once you are in the interview room, pay attention to what is going on. Your interviewer will direct you to a seat. If you are given a choice of seating, avoid sitting facing a window. Two reasons, first you will get distracted; second the interviewer will be in shadow if it"s a bright day. Hands down the most common mistake everyone makes is not listening to the question. The easiest way to pay attention is to bring a note pad. The interviewer will be taking notes you should too. Taking notes gives you a moment to reflect on the question and prepare your thoughts. If the question is "Give us a time when...". You answer should not start "If I..." or "I would...", the interviewer is looking for what you have done. Your past behaviour is the best predictors of what you will do in the future. HR is also very fond of situational questions. If you can"t think of what to do in a controlled environment then chances are you won"t be able to respond in the field. After the interviewers ask you their questions, you will have an opportunity to ask them questions. Don"t ask about money! Acceptable questions include shifts, uniforms or dress code, number of co-workers, and when you can expect to hear from them. Follow up It is entirely up to you if you choose to send a note to thank the interviewer. E-mail is great because it is easily read and you know the interviewer got it. The message should be brief and is not an opportunity to provide all those great answers you wish you had said in the interview. Do not call to follow up. The interviewer may have interviewed 20 people in 3 days and will have difficulty placing you. Parting words Be yourself. If you try to be what you think they want, you"ll most likely be miserable at the job. So if they ask if you prefer to work with data or people, and you hate data. Tell them. You might not get the job, but that might be the best thing for you.

Dollars and cents are the basic units of American money. The back of all dollar bills are green (hence "greenbacks"). The commonly used coins are: one cent (penny), five cents (nickel), 10 cents (dime), and 25 cents (quarter). 50 pieces (half dollar) and silver dollars (not really silver anymore) are gaining in usage, while there has been talk of phasing out the penny that"s inflation for you. "Always carry plenty of quarters when travelling. Very useful for phones, soda machines, laundry machines, etc." There is generally no problem in using US dollars in Canada, but this is never possible in reverse. It"s useful always to carry small change for things like exact fare buses, but do not carry large sums of cash. Instead keep the bulk of your money in travellers" cheques which can be purchased both in the US and abroad and should be in dollar denominations. The best known cheques are those of American Express, so you will have the least difficulty cashing these, even in out of the way places. Thomas Cook travellers" cheques are also acceptable, especially as lost ones can be reclaimed at some car rental companies. Dollar denomination cheques can be used like regular money. There"s no need to cash them at a bank: use them instead to pay for meals, supermarket purchases or whatever. Ten or twenty dollar cheques are accepted like this almost always and you"ll be given change just as though you"d presented the cashier with dollar bills. Be prepared to show I. D. when you cash your cheques. Credit cards can be even more valuable than travellers" cheques, as they are often used to guarantee room reservations over the phone and are accepted in lieu of deposit when renting a car—indeed without a credit card you may be considered so untrustworthy that not only a deposit but your passport will be held as security too. The major credit cards are VISA, Master Charge and Access, Diners Club and American Express. If you hold a bank card, it could well be worthwhile to increase your credit limit for travel purposes—you should ask your bank manager.

Seven Ways to Improve Your Conversation Skills I believe that one of the best ways to connect with people and build quality relationships is through making conversation. Although most people can hold a conversation, only a few are smooth and charismatic(具备超凡魅力的) when they talk. Working as a communication coach, I have explored and tested many techniques for improving conversation skills. I have discovered 7 simple and effective ways to be a smooth talker. Here they are: 1. Talk slowly Typically, good talkers don"t rush into a conversation. They take their time when they reflect on something and when they say it out loud. They act as if they have all the time in the world. This makes them come off as centered and collected. Model this way of talking and you will create the same effect. 2. Hold more eye contact Most people keep eye contact about 2/3 of the time or less when they talk. In my experience, it"s a very good idea to hold eye contact just a bit more than that. This will convey confidence and interest in interacting with them. 3. Notice the details People with good conversation skills tend to notice the kind of things that the average person doesn"t notice, and to bring such details into the conversation. They may notice and point out an interesting ring on the other person"s hand, a certain foreign accent, or a certain voice tone they use when saying a name. Thus, such individuals impress people in a very elegant manner. 4. Give unique compliments Anybody can pay a generic compliment to try and get another person"s appreciation. Charismatic people on the other hand are able to really pay attention to others, to look beyond the facade and thus, pay unique compliments. Do the same and besides wooing others, you may even help them find out things about themselves they didn"t know. 5. Express your emotions It"s very rare to meet a person who is comfortable talking about their emotions and how certain things make them feel, especially with strangers. Yet this way of talking is a real virtue. Don"t just present the facts, you"re not a newspaper. Express your feelings about those facts. Keep in mind that it is at the emotional level that people connect best. 6. Offer interesting insights Anybody can talk about the news or express basic opinions. But good talkers can frequently tell you things you didn"t know and that you"ll find fascinating. This is why it"s good to have knowledge into fields such as psychology or sociology, and bring such knowledge out at the right moments in a conversation. 7. Use the best words The ability to talk smoothly has a lot to do with choosing the precise words to convey your precise feelings or thoughts. Constantly develop your vocabulary and practice communicating as accurately as possible. It will help you develop a way with words and allow you to express yourself more easily. Conversational skills don"t improve just like that. It takes time, practice and the ability to learn at a rapid rate from your own experiences. On top of this, they have virtually no limit to how far they can be developed.

Universities Branch Out As never before in their long story, universities have become instruments of national competition as well as instruments of peace. They are the place of the scientific discoveries that move economies forward, and the primary means of educating the talent required to obtain and maintain competitive advantages. But at the same time, the opening of national borders to the flow of goods, services, information and especially people has made universities a powerful force for global integration, mutual understanding and geopolitical stability. In response to the same forces that have driven the world economy, universities have become more sell-consciously global: seeking students from around the world who represent the entire range of cultures and values, sending their own students abroad to prepare them for global careers, offering courses of study that address the challenges of an interconnected world and collaborative (合作的) research programs to advance science for the benefit of all humanity. Of the forces shaping higher education none is more sweeping than the movement across borders. Over the past three decades the number of students leaving home each year to study abroad has grown at an annual rate of 3.9 percent, from 800,000 in 1975 to 2.5 million in 2004. Most travel from one developed nation to another, but the flow from developing to developed countries is growing rapidly. The reverse flow, from developed to developing countries, is on the rise, too. Today foreign students earn 30 percent of the doctoral degrees awarded in the United States and 38 percent of those in the United Kingdom. And the number crossing borders for undergraduate study is growing as well, to 8 percent of the undergraduates at America"s best institutions and 10 percent of all undergraduates in the U. K. In the United States, 20 percent of the newly hired professors in science and engineering are foreign-born, and in China many newly hired faculty members at the top research universities received their graduate education abroad. Universities are also encouraging students to spend some of their undergraduate years in another country. In Europe, more than 140,000 students participate in the Erasmus program each year, taking courses for credit in one of 2,200 participating institutions across the continent. And in the United States, institutions are helping place students in summer internships (实习) abroad to prepare them for global careers. Yale and Harvard have led the way, offering every undergraduate at least one international study or internship opportunity—and providing the financial resources to make it possible. Globalization is also reshaping the way research is done. One new trend involves sourcing portions of a research program to another country. Yale professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Tian Xu directs a research center focused on the genetics of human disease at Shanghai"s Fudan University, in collaboration with faculty colleagues from both schools. The Shanghai center has 95 employees and graduate students working in a 4,300-square-meter laboratory facility. Yale faculty, postdoctors and graduate students visit regularly and attend videoconference seminars with scientists from both campuses. The arrangement benefits both countries; Xu"s Yale lab is more productive, thanks to the lower costs of conducting research in China and Chinese graduate students, postdoctors and faculty get on-the-job training from a word-class scientist and his U.S. team. As a result of its strength in science, the United States has consistently led the world in the commercialization of major new technologies, from the mainframe computer and integrated circuit of the 1960s to the Internet infrastructure (基础设) and applications software of the 1990s. The link between university-based science and industrial application is often indirect but sometimes highly visible: Silicon Valley was intentionally created by Stanford University, and Route 128 outside Boston has long housed companies spun off from MIT and Harvard. Around the world, governments have encouraged copying of this model, perhaps most successfully in Cambridge, England, where Microsoft and scores of other leading software and biotechnology companies have set up shop around the university. For all its success, the United States remains deeply hesitant about sustaining the research-university model. Most politicians recognize the link between investment in science and national economic strength, but support for research funding has been unsteady. The budget of the National Institutes of Health doubled between 1998 and 2003, but has risen more slowly than inflation since then. Support for the physical sciences and engineering barely kept pace with inflation during that same period. The attempt to make up lost ground is welcome, but the nation would be better served by steady, predictable increases in science funding at the rate of long-term GDP growth, which is on the order of inflation plus 3 percent per year. American politicians have great difficulty recognizing that admitting more foreign students can greatly promote the national interest by increasing international understanding. Adjusted for inflation, public funding for international exchanges and foreign-language study is well below the levels of 40 years ago. In the wake of September 11, changes in the visa process caused a dramatic decline in the number of foreign students seeking admission to U.S. universities, and a corresponding surge in enrollments in Australia, Singapore and the U. K. Objections from Americans university and business leaders led to improvements in the process and a reversal of the decline, but the United States is still seen by many as unwelcoming to international students. Most Americans recognize that universities contribute to the nation"s well-being through their scientific research, but many fear that foreign students threaten American competitiveness by taking their knowledge and skills back home. They fail to grasp that welcoming foreign students to the United States has two important positive effects: first, the very best of them stay in the States and—like immigrants throughout history—strengthen the nation; and second, foreign students who study in the United States become ambassadors for many of its most cherished (珍视) values when they return home. Or at least they understand them better. In America as elsewhere, few instruments of foreign policy are as effective in promoting peace and stability as welcoming international university students.

Six Secrets of High-Energy People There"s an energy crisis in America, and it has nothing to do with fossil fuels. Millions of us get up each morning already weary over the day holds. "I just can"t get started," people say. But it"s not physical energy that most of us lack. Sure, we could all use extra sleep and a better diet. But in truth, people are healthier today than at any time in history. I can almost guarantee that if you long for more energy, the problem is not with your body. What you"re seeking is not physical energy. It"s emotional energy. Yet, sad to say, life sometimes seems designed to exhaust our supply. We work too hard. We have family obligations. We encounter emergencies and personal crises. No wonder so many of us suffer from emotional fatigue, a kind of utter exhaustion of the spirit. And yet we all know people who are filled with joy, despite the unpleasant circumstances of their lives. Even as a child, I observed people who were poor or disabled, or ill, but who nonetheless faced life with optimism and vigor. Consider Laura Hillenbrand, who, despite an extremely weak body, wrote the best-seller Seabiscuit . Hillenbrand barely had enough physical energy to drag herself out of bed to write. But she was fueled by having a story she wanted to share. It was emotional energy that helped her succeed. Unlike physical energy, which is finite and diminishes with age, emotional energy is unlimited and has nothing to do with genes or upbringing. So how do you get it? You can"t simply tell yourself to he positive. You must take action. Here are six practical strategies that work. 1. Do something new. Very little that"s new occurs in our lives. The impact of this sameness on our emotional energy is gradual, hut huge: It"s like a tire with a slow leak. You don"t notice it at first, but eventually you"ll get a flat. It"s up to you to plug the leak—even though there are always a dozen reasons to stay stuck in your dull routines of life. That"s where Maura, 36, a waitress, found herself a year ago. Fortunately, Maura had a lifeline—a group of women friends who meet regularly to discuss their lives. Their lively discussions spurred Maura to make small but nevertheless life-altering changes. She joined a gym in the next town. She changed her look with a short haircut and new black T-shirts. Eventually, Maura gathered the courage to quit her job and start her own business. Here"s a challenge: If it"s something you wouldn"t ordinarily do, do it. Try a dish you"ve never eaten. Listen to music you"d ordinarily tune out. You"ll discover these small things add to your emotional energy. 2. Reclaim life"s meaning. So many of my patients tell me that their lives used to have meaning, but that somewhere along the line things went stale. The first step in solving this meaning shortage is to figure out what you really care about, and then do something about it. A ease in point is Ivy, 57, a pioneer in investment banking. "I mistakenly believed that all the money I made would mean something," she says. "But I feel lost, like a 22-year-old wondering what to do with her life." Ivy"s solution? She started a program that shows Wall Streeters how to donate time and money to poor children. In the process, Ivy filled her life with meaning. 3. Put yourself in the fun zone. Most of us grown-ups are seriously fun-deprived. High-energy people have the same day-to-day work as the rest of us, but they manage to find something enjoyable in every situation. A real-estate broker I know keeps herself amused on the job by mentally redecorating the houses she shows to clients. "I love imagining what even the most run-down house could look like with a little tender loving care," she says. "It"s a challenge—and the least desirable properties are usually the most fun." We all define fun differently, of course, but I can guarantee this: If you put just a bit of it into your day, your energy will increase quickly. 4. Bid farewell to guilt and regret. Everyone"s past is filled with regrets that still cause pain. But from an emotional energy point of view, they are dead weights that keep us from moving forward. While they can"t merely be willed away, I do recommend you remind yourself that whatever happened is in the past, and nothing can change that. Holding on to the memory only allows the damage to continue into the present. 5. Make up your mind. Say you"ve been thinking about cutting your hair short. Will it look stylish—or too extreme? You endlessly think it over. Having the decision hanging over your head is a huge energy drain. Every time you can"t decide, you burden yourself with alternatives. Quit thinking that you have to make the right decision; instead, make a choice and don"t look back. 6. Give to get. Emotional energy has a kind of magical quality: the more you give, the more you get back. This is the difference between emotional and physical energy. With the latter, you have to get it to be able to give it. With the former, however, you get it by giving it. Start by asking everyone you meet, "How are you?" as if you really want to know, then listen to the reply. Be the one who hears. Most of us also need to smile more often. If you don"t smile at the person you love first thing in the morning, you"re sucking energy out of your relationship. Finally, help another person—and make the help real, concrete. Give a massage (按摩) to someone you love, or cook her dinner. Then, expand the circle to work. Try asking yourself what you"d do if your goal were to be helpful rather than efficient. After all, if it"s true that what goes around comes around, why not make sure that what"s circulating around you is the good stuff?

Highways Early in the 20th century, most of the streets and roads in the U.S. were made of dirt, brick, and cedar wood blocks. Built for horse, carriage, and foot traffic, they were usually poorly cared for and too narrow to accommodate (容纳) automobiles. With the increase in auto production, private turnpike (收费公路) companies under local authorities began to spring up, and by 1921 there were 387,000 miles of paved roads. Many were built using specifications of 19th century Scottish engineers Thomas Telford and John Mac Adam (for whom the macadam surface is named), whose specifications stressed the importance of adequate drainage. Beyond that, there were no national standards for size, weight restrictions, or commercial signs. During World War I, roads throughout the country were nearly destroyed by the weight of trucks. When General Eisenhower returned from Germany in 1919, after serving in the U.S. Army"s first transcontinental motor convoy (车队), he noted, "The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany"s Autobahn or motorway had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land." It would take another war before the federal government would act on a national highway system. During World War Ⅱ, a tremendous increase in trucks and new roads were required. The war demonstrated how critical highways were to the defense effort. Thirteen percent of defense plants received all their supplies by truck and almost all other plants shipped more than half of their products by vehicle. The war also revealed that local control of highways had led to a confusing variety of design standards. Even federal and state highways did not follow basic standards. Some states allowed trucks up to 36,000 pounds, while others restricted anything over 7,000 pounds. A government study recommended a national highway system of 33,920 miles, and Congress soon passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, which called for strict, centrally controlled design criteria. The interstate highway system was finally launched in 1956 and has been hailed as one of the greatest public work projects of the century. To build its 44,000-mile web of highways, bridges, and tunnels, hundreds of unique engineering designs and solutions had to be worked out. Consider the many geographic features of the country: mountains, steep grades, wetlands, rivers, desserts, and plains. Variables included the slope of the land, the ability of the pavement to support the load, the intensity of road use, and the nature of the underlying soil. Urban areas were another problem. Innovative designs of roadways, tunnels, bridges, overpasses, and interchanges that could run through or bypass urban areas soon began to weave their way across the country, forever altering the face of America. Long-span, segmented-concrete, cable-stayed bridges such as Hale Boggs in Louisiana and the Sunshine Skyway in Florida, and remarkable tunnels like Fort McHenry in Maryland and Mt, Baker in Washington, met many of the nation"s physical challenges. Traffic control systems and methods of construction developed under the interstate program soon influenced highway construction around the world, and were invaluable in improving the condition of urban streets and traffic patterns. Today, the interstate system links every major city in the U.S. and the U.S. with Canada and Mexico. Built with safety in mind, the highways have wide lanes and shoulders, dividing medians or barriers, long entry and exit lanes, curves engineered for sate turns, and limited access. The death rate on highways is half that of all other U. S. roads (0.86 deaths per 100 million passenger miles compared to 1.99 deaths per 100 million on all other roads). By opening the North American continent, highways have enabled consumer goods and services to reach people in remote and rural areas of the country, spurred the growth of suburbs, and provided people with greater options in terms of jobs, access to cultural programs, health care, and other benefits. Above all, the interstate system provides individuals with what they cherish most: personal freedom of mobility. The interstate system has been an essential element of the nation"s economic growth in terms of shipping and job creation: more than 75 percent of the nation"s freight deliveries arrive by truck; and most products that arrive by rail or air use interstates for the last leg of the journey by vehicle. Not only has the highway system affected the American economy by providing shipping routes, it has led to the growth of spin-off industries like service stations, motels, restaurants, and shopping centers. It has allowed the relocation of manufacturing plants and other industries from urban areas to rural. By the end of the century there was an immense network of paved roads, residential streets, expressways, and freeways built to support millions of vehicles. The highway system was officially renamed for Eisenhower to honor his vision and leadership. The year construction began he said: "Together, the united forces of our communication and transportation systems are dynamic elements in the very name we bear—United States. Without them, we would be a mere alliance of many separate parts."

The BBC was founded in 1922, including radio and television services. It is based at Broadcasting House in London. The BBC is controlled by some governors chosen by the government, hut these people have freedom and the government can"t interfere (干扰). That is, the BBC is supposed not to be the mouthpiece(发言人) of the government. It has to be as fair as possible in giving radio and television time to, for example, political parties and religlous(宗教的) groups. There is a kind of interesting service in British—rental service. Many people prefer to rent their television sets instead of buying them. The rent for a black and white set is about 80 pence a week (1980). The rent of a color set is more than twice that of a black and white set. If the sets go wrong, people can have them repaired free of charge or replaced immediately. Everyone has to buy a yearly license, since there is no advertising on BBC radio or television. It is from the sale of licenses that the BBC gets most of its money. A license for a black and white set costs 8 pounds, and for a color set 18 pounds a year. There are four specialized radio channels, which broadcast different kinds of programs. Radio 1 is mainly pop music, Radio 2 deals with light music, sports and other programs. Radio 3 broadcasts serious music, talks on serious subjects etc.. News broadcasts are mainly given by Radio 4. There are special programs for Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and certain parts of England. It also broadcasts programs about Britain—in many different languages as well as in English to all parts of the world.