During my recent tour to Kunming in Yunnan Province, I encountered a young Australian at Liuzhou railway station . I helped him get on board the train with his luggage, and we got to chatting in English. I learned that he was 21 years old, studying Asian literature and history at Sydney University. What surprised me was that, young as he was, he had travelled a lot, not only in China but also in many other parts of Asia, and he seemed to know so much about the Asian culture and history, and was even familiar with ancient and modern Chinese literature and philosophy masters such as Confucius, Lu Xun, Mao Dun and Guo Moruo. He could speak four languages. He is a college student, but he did not confine himself to classroom reading only. He said if one really wants to know the society and the world, he or she should go to the grassroots to see, hear and find out about real life. Besides, many students like him in Australia woi-k at part-time jobs after class so as to earn a living and save enough for travelling. I am a bit older than he is. Yet I found myself less knowledgeable than he is about many things in the world. Like some of my classmates at college, I often feel conceited for merely being a college student and sometimes I even looked down upon those who failed to enter college. We didn't have to work to earn a living, and took many things for granted.We should not just admire other people's living standard and opportunities. What we should do is to learn their spirit of self-reliance as well as a sense of responsibility for the society they live in. II . Read Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading. 1. It Is Not Profitable to Study world of warcraft power leveling This sounds like alarmist talk, world of warcraft power leveling but the whole nation faces the danger of believing that it is not profitable to study. The following figures will serve as evidence: Between 1980 and 1988, more than 4 million primary and middle school students quit school. In 1988 alone, more than 6, 000 college students and 2, 000 post-graduate students left school. At the same time, a large number of teachers resigned to find better-paying jobs. In some areas, schools had to close because there were no teachers available. Although the country lacks educated people, more than 5, 000 college graduates were turned down by the work units to which they were assigned last year. A study shows that 35 per cent of the country's population above the age of 15 is illiterate or half-literate. The situation could affect social standards and threaten the survival of the nation. An article from the Beijing-based Economics Weekly attributed the dangerous situation in education to insufficient funding. China only allocates 3.7 per cent of its gross national product to education, lower than some 100 other countries of the world. China's per capita spending on education equals one-fourth that of other developing countries. world of warcraft gold, Teachers are poorly paid. world of warcraft gold According to 1988 statistics, teachers generally earn less than factory workers, bank employees and technological personnel. Teachers' housing problems are more serious than those of other employees. Last year, 38 per cent of the teachers at Qinghua University lived in extremely crowded quarters and 4.5 per cent had no apartments, while 600 single teachers lived in rooms shared by three or four. The tradition over thousands of years that scholars should not pursue material goals has changed. Manp teachers have quit their school jobs to do business. Others say they hope that their children will not become teachers like them. To make things worse, the limited funds for education have not always been used in the right way. Between 1985 and 1986, government auditing departments discovered that as much as 500 million yuan was spent on official buildings, cars and business activities, while many students attended classes in rundown classrooms or even outdoors. 2. Education Is about Something More Important Yes, but what is education about? Is it really about facts and figures, learning things by heart-you know, the three "r' s"reading, writing and arithmetic (and that shows somebody can't spell, doesn't it?) No, it gets me really cross.People criticize modern education because some kids don't know their seven times table. Hell, what does that matter in the age of computers and calculators? No, education is about something much more imgortant. It's about teaching people how to live, how to get on with one another, how to form relationships. It's about understanding things, not just knowing them. O.K. seven sevens are forty-nine. But what does that mean? It's not just a formula, you know. I want my kids to understand. 3. People Don't Learn Anything Today I think it's a great shame the way educational standards are declining today. I mean, good heavens, when you think of all the millions of pounds the Government have spent on education-new schools, more teachers, new equipment. And yet still you find people who can't read properly, can't even write their names and don't know what two and two are without a calculator. I think it's downright disgraceful. I remember world of warcraft gold when I was young you went to school to learn. world of warcraft gold You did as you were told and respected your teachers. Nowadays. Huh, nowadays you get long-haireil kids who aren't interested in anything. No wonder they don't learn anything. A bit of discipline, that's what they need. A bit of discipline. 4. Traditional Schools Face Challenge Every Tuesday and Friday, 6-year-old Huang Kan goes to an evening class to learn how to play the piano. He shows little interest in this extra class, but his mother is willing to pay 18 yuan a month for his tuition. He is one of the many only children who in recent years have started attending classes to learn to play musical instruments, or to paint or sing, either on holidays or in the evenings during week-days. world of warcraft power leveling, Such classes are usually run by individuals. world of warcraft power leveling Between ABCs and music, the government can only afford the former. Music and painting are seen as luxury items for Chinese children. But parents are eager to have the talents of their only children developed. They want their children to learn far more than the Chinese and arithmetic offered by the public schools. The people in education and artistic circles are filling this gap between the parents, wishes and public schools, supply. In the past,after-school activity centres were encouraged to provide free classes in dancing, playing the violin and Chinese boxing. But as more and more people become interested and seek to take part, teachers are more difficult to find. So up grew the practice for parents to show their gratitude to the volunteer teachers by offering them gifts, such as cigarettes, meat and fish, clothing and coupons for commodities in short supply. But the gifts never quite matched up to the work involved and so teachers began to charge for their services. A very quick expansion of the charged service followed with classes being started for adults. These classes included hairdressing and cooking for women, calligraphy and qigong for the elderly and child care for parents. Many young people also went to English classes to prepare for tests to qualify them to go abroad. wedding dresses, There are now classes of various kinds in the big cities. wedding dresses In Guangzhou, for example, the third traffic peak hour is from 9 to 10 in the evening when people are leaving night schools. The charge for service was started by individuals, but now many cultural institutes have also entered the market. Over the past two years, they have set up correspondence courses, invited scholars to give lectures and even compiled text-books. It all means that what was once a purely social service has turned into a business. Competition has grown with organizers offering such attractions as the showing of new films and the issuing of diplomas approved by the State's Education Commission. For the institutes, these activities are collective moonlighting. They offer the usually low-paid teachers and science and technology workers the chance of a second pay packet. Students on this market benefit more. Women from Anhui Province applying for baby-sitting jobs can ask for 5 yuan more if they can speak putonghua because parents are concerned that their children would otherwise be affected by local dialects. The skill of typing too can bring extra income. The benefits that both teachers and students gain from this market show just how highly knowledge is evaluated. At a time when the State cannot invest more in education, such a spontaneous market is no doubt a necessary supplement. 5. Education Standards Are Higher Than in the Past Well, there are a lot of different views on this, but I must say I don't think there's very much hard evidence that educational standards are any worse today than in the past. It all depends, of course, on what you measure and how you measure it, but I think it is probably wrong to imagine that there was some golden age in the past when everything was perfect. Of course it may surprise some people that there has not been an obvious and dramatic increase in the standard of education, given the vast amounts of money spent in this area by successive governments in recent years. But unfortunately, most improvements in education are intangible. 6. Give Students Time to Grow With examinations drawing near, the burden on middle school students is becoming heavier and heavier. They have more homework than ever before, and less time for leisure, rest and sleep. Because of the over-load,most students' health suffers and many become nearsighted. An investigation made in a Honghu middle school shows that: compared with 1985, the number of nearsighted students has increased by 25-30 per cent and a larger proportion of students complain of poor health. It is not necessary to keep the students in class all the time. They need to go outside for sports, singing, dancing and other activities. We should create a good environment to let young students grow healthily. 7. Children Must Learn How to Live The realization of China' s modernization relies on the children of today. Childhood is a time of physical and mental development, so efforts must be made to provide an ideal environment for their development. encouraging intellectual, physical and moral training. How should our children be trained to cope wisely in the future? We should provide them with a good material life, but more importantly, a good spiritual life. Patriotism and communism must be spread among children to stimulate lofty ideals and hard work to enliven the Chinese narion. luna gold, China needs talent that has developed morally, luna gold intellectually and physically. The practice of only enabling people who receive an education to develop intellectually could result in a deficiency on the part of a generation of children. We have to put right the tendency of stressing only intelligence and ignoring moral and physical education and necessary physical work. Instead of children only receiving a classroom book-learning education, we should encourage them to mingle with society and nature so that they can be more adaptable in society. 8. People Should Be Made to Love Knowledge and Reading Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about education in the Chinese press. From these reports, and letters from my friends, I know that many students in schools and universities think studying is useless. Some graduate students and even teachers quit study or teaching to become clerks in big hotels, for a clerk in such hotels can get higher pay than a university professor. Government leaders and many scholars have already noticed this and are making great efforts to solve the problem. In the People's Daily I see numerous articles on how to improve education and many reports about government leaders at all levels making various plans. These plans all centre on raising the salaries of teachers and professors. Of course, this is very important to education. However, education has two sides, not just those who teach, but also those who learn. Increasing the salary of teachers is just one way to improve education. It will not work without the co-operation of the other determinants, such as students' love of knowledge and reading. Even if the teachers are devoted, it will make no sense if the students are not willing to learn. How can we make more people love knowledge and reading? First, we all have to realize that knowledge is useful everywhere in society, not just in the classroom. Sec'ond, people will love knowledge and reading when they have free access to books and information. Building more libraries and developing fine library services are important to improving education. I worked for six years in a big public library in China. I saw many people reading book after book. They dreamed of entering universities,not just because higher salaries attract them, but because of their need and love of knowledge. As a dedicated librarian, I wish policy makers of our government could spend more on libraries when they plan to improve education. 9. The Modern Methods Have Gone Wrong Well, if you asked me, it's all these modern methods that's the problem. In the old days you sat in rows at desks and you did as you were told. You knew what you had to do and you did it-and you kept quiet. Nowadays, my god, the noise in most scbools is deafening especially primary schools. The children wander around-do more or less what they want to as far as I can see. The teacher just sits there or wanders around with them, talking to them. Informal teaching they call it. Discovery methods. Sounds more like a recipe for discovering disaster to me. When do'they have time to learn anything? Too busy wandering about to do any work. And when you look at the youngsters coming to work for me, you soon find out they haven't learnt very much at all. Should Students Only Learn from Books?

Today we had an American family, the Robinsons, for Sunday dinner. The man is in China on a joint project with the department where Mum works. They work in the same office and as Mum knows a little English she often interpretes for him too, so they got to know each other very well. He had often expressed his wish of meeting her family, but Mum hardly dared to invite him to our old slum of a place. Now that.we've moved to our new apartment we have a more or less presentable place to entertain him and his family. Granny was the only one who had any misgivings about having "highnosed foreigners" in our house. They came about twelve - Mr. & Mrs. Robinson and their two young daughters about Xiao Hong's age. Mrs. Robinson gave Mum a bunch of fresh flowers, bringing colour, freshness and their good will. Mum did the introduction and it was left to ourselves to get to know each other. As was natural Xiao Hong soon got on very well with the two girls Judy and Annie. They all had a common love for Xiao Hong's little kitten and they had endless fun with it. Mrs. Robinson was much younger than her husband, but she was friendly and kindly and knows a little Chinese. There was a moment of embarrassment when Granny asked her age. Mum was about to apologize when Mrs. Robinson laughed and said it was quite all right, that she had been here long enough to know it was the Chinese custom. She quite blandly told us that she was thirty-two, almost twenty years her husband's junior. When they learned that Mum was almost ten years her senior, they were genuinely surprised, for Mum does look quite young. "No wonder you are so good and experienced at your work. I had thought you were fresh from . college! " Mr. Robinson said, perhaps a little flatteringly. And of course they thoroughly enjoyed the dinner. Iike a perfect Chinese hostess Mum and especially Granny kept stuffing them with food and urging them to eat and to drink, apologizing all the time that "it's-all very meager and coarse fare. " The Robinsons, on the other hand, were loud in their praises and protestations. "We used to hear about Chinese hospitality and now we know what it's really like. How can you describe such a lavish meal as meager and coarse? Any hostess in the West would be proud of such a feast instead of apologizing for it," Mrs. Robinson said to Mum. "And another thing we don't do in the West is to urge the guests to eat and drink," Mr. Robinson added. "With so much good things before me I certainly don't need any urging. The problem is rather how to prevent myself from over-eating! But back at home I often had to ask for a second helping and my hostess would feel flattered that I should want more of her stuff. Here you don't even give me a chance to ask for,more!" We all burst out laughing at that. When they rose to leave they thanked us profusely not only for'the excellent dinner, but for giving them such a nice time. "Living in Friendship.Hotel isn't really living in China. Today we feel we are really in China. We' ve learnt much more about the Chinese people and Chinese way of life today than half a year in the Friendship Hotel. You must all come to visit us one day. Or better still, come and see us in the States on day. " dog clothes, Judy and Annie were reluctant to go. dog clothes They made Xiao Hong promise to visit them at Friendship Hotel, telling her not to forget bringing the kitten with her! They insisted on giving everyone of us a hug and a kiss, which quite embarrassed me. I think Granny was really touched when they kissed her. All her misgivings had been dispelled. It' s surprising how a little good will on both sides can break language and cultural barriers. II. Read Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading. l. The Tourist Trade Contributes Absolutely Nothing to Increasing Understanding between Nations The tourist trade is booming. With all this ceming and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the "grand tour", reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp. The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travellers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other? Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and.sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see orily what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own ~ and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonisation. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitair are temporarily re-established on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveller goes not to eat'paella, but fish and chips. The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, naive. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the people just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. maple story mesos, So when you set out on your, maple story mesos travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, "Anglo-Saxons are hypocriies" or that "Latin peoples shout a lot", You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you? Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalisations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic facthow. trite it soundsl -that all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique. 　 2. Leaving with a Love of China Very soon I will be leaving China. I am well aware that three and a half years is not enough time to "understand" China. But I want to express my appreciation for what has been a marvellous experience, made even richer because I worked for the Coal Industry Ministry at Shandong Mining College, first at Jinan, and for the past 2 1/2 years at Tai'an. Living on campus in the small city of Tai'an,at the foot of Taishan, was a privilege. It gave me a view of China which can never be afforded to those who live in Beijing or Shanghai or any large city. After all, Beijing is not China, any more than New York City is the United States. Of course there have been hardships, frustrations and difficulties. But that,s life, anywhere. The courtesy, consideration and friendliness which have been extended to me, daily, are precious and lasting. I have traveled over much of China. Most of all, more than all the antiquities, battlefields, scenery, coal mines, factories, temples, operas, and the rest, it is the Chinese people who captured my heart - sincere, warm, incredibly industrious, unsophisticated, and capable of deeper, truer friendship than most Westerners can even imagine. wow gold, I have been welcomed into the homes of many Chinese. wow gold I have friends from 3 to 83, peasants, workers, professors, doctors, cooks, drivers. I have known people as they suffer and struggle and laugh and weep and argue and have fun - like all human beings. I have always tried not to "look through American eyes", but to see Chinese as people. I suggest to those shallow elitists who.can't live without their golf "exercise", that they come to Tai'an and carry 100 pounds of cement on a shoulder pole up the 7, 000 steps of Taishan. Wonderful exercise, and you can earn 2 yuan a day. Those who complain about Yransportation difficulties of any kind can watch the lao taitai-the old ladies with bound feet - who walk from their villages and make the arduous ascent of Taishan, cheerful and spry. Or ride a bus in any Chinese city at the rush hour, as the Chinese must do every day. (Or any American city; or deal with a Manhattan cabbie. ) And those who complain of the bureaucracy should try going to the Social Security Administration in the US when you are one of the poor and powerless. I hope to come back to China some day. But. no matter what, I will never lose what I,ve been given here. My thanks to all Chinese for showing me a new, higher standard of strength of character and kindness. And my thanks particularly to the people of Shandong Mining College for their unlimited, unstinted loving care. 3. Yunnan Makes Efforts to Boost Tourism Starting from scratch, tourism in Yunnan Province has made progress by leaps and bounds in the last decade. Only 1, 284 foreign tourists went there in 1978, the year when the provincial tourism bureau was established. The figure rose to 121, 300 in 1988 - an average annual increase of 25. 4 per cent, said deputy bureau chief Miao Kuihe in an interview . world of warcraft gold In the provincial capital of Kunming alone, world of warcraft gold there are 11 posh hotels, with accommodations chiefly for foreign tourists, and nine travel agencies that provide services for them. There are also 10 arts and crafts stores in Kunming with a variety of articles with exotic flavours, including national costumes of the minorities. In such a short time, tourism has asserted its role in the socio-economic development of the province. In Kunming, tourism has provided jobs for 12, 000 people. In the whole province 25, 000 people work in tourist departments. Tourism has helped to promote the catering trade, transportation service and commerce of Kunming. It has helped to accelerate the city construction and its embellishment. Moreover, contact with tourists from afar has widened the horizons of the locals, deputy director of the municipal tourism bureau Peng Shaoxi said. It has become a consensus of local authorities that tourism is a vanguard ndustry in opening the province to the outside world;it is of trategic importance in economic development, and it represents the orientation of urban construction. In 1988, the provincial government listed tourism as the sixth industry in.importance in economic development, said deputy bureau chief Miao. Now, 29 of Yunnan's municipalities and counties are made open to foreigners, a fact favourable to tourism. Because of Yunnan' s abundant tourist resources, Miao envisions still brighter prospects for the tourism of the province. It is estimated that by 1995, Yunnan will receive about 200, 000 tourists annually and by 2000, their number will rise to 320, 000. Hotels by then should have accommodation for 10,000 people. To meet the needs of tourism, appropriate measures are being taken in various aspects, Miao said. In April 1988, a centre was set up providing short-term professional training for three to five months for employees in tourist departments. All th'e big hotels have their own training section, aiming at improved service. Seven young employees have been sent to the United States to learn management expertise. Dozens of chefs are in Hong Kong to learn various styles of cuisine. And some young employees are sent to college to learn foreign languages as well as professional skills in tourism, Miao said. 4. Advantages of Yunnan to Develop Tourism According to the publicity chief of the provincial tourism bureau, Chen Keqin, on the strength of its distinctive geographic and ethnic features, Yunnan has the following advantages for the development of tourism : A good number of scenic wonders. They are roughly located in three areas. First, those in the area centring around Kunming, of which the Stone Forest is one. The spectacular, jagged rocky formations that rear their heads to the skies are winning world fame. There are also karst caves in this area. world of warcraft power leveling, Second, world of warcraft power leveling those in west Yunnan with the two ancient cities Dali and I.ijiang. The Tiger-leaping Gorge of the Jinsha River deserves a mention. It is 16 kilome;res long. The narrowest section of it is about 30 metres wide, which, legend claims, tigers once leapt across. Form the surface of the river to the top of the precipitous mountains on the two sides, the height is 3,900 metres. Within the 16-kilometre length of the gorge, there are 18 risky rapids and in so short a distance, the drop of the water is 210 metres, averaging 14 metres for each kilometre.The gorge resounds with the roaring and dashing of huge waves of the racing water. Third, Xishuangbanna Prefecture in south Yunnan. With its lush tropical forests, the area has many fascinating features, in both natural scenery and cultural life. Genial climate, with all the year mild and springlike. The average annual temperature is 19.3 degrees Centigrade. As a result, the province is a "kingdom of fauna and flora", with a variety of rare animals and birds, such as elephants, snub-nosed monkeys and peacocks, and tens of thousands of varieties of plants. Rich local or special products. They include fine tobacco, tea, ham, medicinal herbs, marble handicraft articles and the Yunnan baiyao, a medicine for haemorrhaging and wounds. Folk customs. Inhabited by 24 minorities, Yunnan has many national folk customs, festivals, traditions, dances, costumes and houses that are of great interest. For instance, the water splashing festival in April, with dragon boat regatta, of the Dai people in Xishuangbanna and the torch festival in July, of a few minorities including the Yis, Bais and Sanis, are two of the most famous annual celebrations. With such a variety of things to see in Yunnan, tourist parties with special. purposes have been organized. For instance, there are parties to see the azalea looms of all types in various places: mountain climbing; the folk customs of the norities; or walking tours through scenic routes. However, according to the deputy director of Kunming tourism bureau, Peng Shaoxi, there are hindrances to Yunnan's tqurism. Woefully inadequate transportation facilities. Foreign tourists often find it hard to get into Yunnan, while those who are leaving are often stranded at Kunming's airport for lack of flights.It often takes 10 days to finish a trip in Xishuangbanna, too long for most tourists. 　 5. Good Impression about China Editor: Last May, my wife and I visited Beijing, the capital of your beautiful country, and attended the Fourth World Conference on Continuing Engineering Education. We received a warm welcome everywhere we went. Combining business and pleasure, we visited many areas of the city and met quite a few citizens. from all walks of life. From our visit, we know that China is a great country; we know that the Chinese people are warm and friendly; we know that Beijing is much safer than most American cities. We have told all our friends about our wonderful experiences. In a few years, we hope to return to China and teach for a semester. rs gold, Unfortunately, rs gold< the American people do not see your country as we did. Our television media does not convey the warm hospitality of the people. Our newspapers do not report the steady modernization of the past 10 years, nor do they mention the continuing increase in the standard of living. Sad to say, the American public thinks of China as it was 40 years ago. The solution to my country,s mistaken impressions about China is simple, but it will take time: continue our open door relations; continue our economic trade; most especially, encourage Americans to visit China and experience her friendship and charm! Christopher J.Smith Westville USA 6. Fond Memories of a Trip to India At least twice I thought about giving up my trip to attend a conference on counseling in India last month. The first time was when it seemed I could never, ever get my visa to India. The second time was after I had the visa and went fo buy my plane ticket. There I learned the ticket I had booked was not available because of a computer error. But I persevered and I am glad, because the trip turned out to be nice although it was too short for me to see much of lndia. From the moment we landed at Bombay airport, we three women from Beijing were surrounded by the differences in language, people, food, scenes and even traffic-one drives on the right side of the road in China but on the left side in India. It was a completely strange place, but I felt easy and safe. The Indians we met were so friendly that when each of the participants to the conference was invited to say one thing about the meeting, I said, "I am glad to have this chance to know you beautiful Indian women and hand'some Indian men." I would not forget the guard at the exit of the international airport in Bombay who kindly insisted that we wait in seats usually reserved for the guards because the people who were supposed to meet us failed to show up as expected. And when I wanted to make a phone call to get somebody to pick us up and could get no coins anywhere, another guard took me to a phone reserved for airport staff . It could be a very frustrating experience to miss one's flight and arrive at the destination eight hours later than planried, which is what happened to us after the conference. But it turned out somehow not as frustrating as it might have been. We were at the Coimbatore airport on our way back to Bombay after the conference, and we were to leave for home from Bombay the next evening. We were told that we could not take the 10 a. m. flight as we had planned because our tickets had not been confirmed properly and there were no seats available. But we were told that we could be in Bombay that evening if we took a flight to a nearby airport in Bangalore and go from there to Bombay. We were killing time by measuring the airport's modest waiting room when an airport officer stopped in front of us, introduced himself as the officer on duty at the airport, and assured us that there would be no problem, that things would be straightened out for us, and everything would be all right. In, half an hour we had our new tickets in our hands. Yet, before long, we were called to the ticket counter and informed that we would not be able to catch our connection flight at the Bangalore airport because the flight from Coimbatore would be one hoor late. And we would have to take the next flight leaving Bangalore and arriving in Bombay at 8 p.m. One hour later, wben I was thinking how unlucky we were that day, we were lining up for the security check. A young woman in airport uniform approached us and said, "We are so sorry that we failed to arrange your morning flight. We did try, but..." You don't hear such words very often when you are upset by travel problems in China, even when you are the victims of the travel service's mistakes. Her words swept away my bitter feelings at having to spenci. the whole day at airports while we might have been exploring Bombay for the afternoon. And that was one of the several moments when I could not help but fall in love with the Indian people. I fell in love with them earlier when a taxi driver, a quiet old man, followed me and gave me his drinking water to wash my mouth when I got sick halfway to the conference place. I fell in love with them when the children at the school close to the conference building passed by and greeted us with "hello" and "morning" with smiles and a little shyness. I fell in love with them when the college students in Bombay, sitting on steps at the gate, waved to us cheerfully across the street. Yes, I would love to visit India again. I want to see the protected forests and the flowers blooming everywhere and the eharming, elegant women in colourful Saris again, and of course, the India Airlines staff members, too. 　 And I want to see no beggars along the streets, no slums alongside the beautiful beach in Bombay, no school-age boys serving at the tables in restaurants, to hear no new stories about young wives who are burnt to death because the dowry from their parents failed to satisfy the husbands' families. And I hope India will see more Chinese visitors in the near future and China see more Indian visitors, too. Is It Necessary to Develop Tourism?

Old people are always saying that the young are not what they were. The same comment is made from generation to generation and it is always true. It has never been truer than it is today. The young are better educated. They have a lot more money to spend and enjoy more freedom. They grow up more quickly and are not so dependent on their parents. They think more for themselves and do not blindly accept the ideals of their elders. Events which the older generation remembers vividly are nothing more than past history. This is as it should be. Every new generation is different from the one that preceded it. Today the difference is very marked indeed. The old always assume that they know best far the simple reason that they have lieen around a bit longer. They don't like to feel that their values are being questioned or threatened. And this is precisely what the young are doing. They are questioning the assumptions of their elders and disturbing their complacency. They take leave to doubt that the older generation has created the best of all possible worlds. What they reject more than anything is conformity. Office hours, for instance, are nothing more than enforced slavery. Wouldn't people work best if they were given complete freedom and responsibility? And what about clothing? Who said that all the men in the world should wear drab grey suits and convict haircuts? If we turn our minds to more serious matters, who said that human differences can best be solved through conventional polities or by violent means? Why have the older generation so often used violence to solve their problems? Why are they so unhappy and guilt-ridden in their personal lives, so obsessed with mean ambitions and the desire to amass more and more material possessions? Can anything be right with the ratrace? Haven't the old lost touch with all that is important in life? These are not questions the older generation can shrug off lightly. Their record over the past forty years or so hasn' t been exactly spotless. Traditionally, the young have turned to their elders for guidance. Today, the situation might be reversed. The old - if they are prepared to admit it-coutd learn a thing or two from their children. One of the biggest lessons they could learn is that enjoyment is not "sinful". 　 wow power leveling Enjoyment is a principle one could apply to all aspects of life. wow power leveling It is surely not wrong to enjoy your work and enjoy your leisure; to shed restricting inhibitions. It is surely not wrong to live in the present rather than in the past or future. This emphasis orr the present is only to be expected because the young have grown up under the shadow of the bomb: the constant threat of complete annihilation. This is their glorious heritage. Can we be surprised that they should so often question the sanity of t.he generaiion that bequeathed it? Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading. Problems of the Young More than 20 Chinese and American experts discovered that young people of both countries are facing the same probiems of economic and social pressures and lack of confidence. Wayne Meisel, director of the Campus Outreach Opportunity League of Minnesota University, said that under economic pressure American young people have to work hard and most students have to take part-time work in order to support themselves. "Young people today, ?he said, "are stereotyped as apathetic, selfcentred, and concerned only with making money and getting ahead." In these circumstances, he said, young people lack confidence,whicb was not the case in the 1960s when young Americans thought themselves capable of doing anything. In spite of the different conditions in China, Li Xuequan, director of the, higher education section of the All-China Youth Federation, said Chinese young people are alsc facing economic pressure and are worried about iriflation and corruption. Trading has appeared in many Chinese universities as students with something to sell try to make money on campus. Wow gold, Moreover, Wow gold Li said, college students have begun to doubt whether what they are learning in class will help them find work,as many businesses totally ignore students of pure theory. So people describe students as "a lost generation tired of study", regardless of the causes in society that are shaking their confidence. In order to resolve these problems, the Chinese and American experts agreed that youth organizations should call on the whole of society to create favourable conditions for the healthy growth of young people, as well as to enconrage them to meet the urgent needs of society and to challenge the assumption that young people are apathetic and uncaring. Meisel said that since last year he has sent letters of . "challenge to youth" to many young people, urging them to commit themselves to addressing such needs as feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, educating the illiterate, consoling the lonely and sick, serving the elderly,and preserving the environment. The letter says: "Through service, we touch the lives of others and enrich our own. " Students' Mental Health According to a study conducted in Tianjin, out of 50, 000 college students, 16 per cent have suffered from anxiety, nervousness, depression or problems due to the early onset of sexual awareness. Of students from elementary school to high school age in shanghai, 27 per cent have some kind of emotional disorder,are tired of study, have premature love affairs, smoke or run away from home. In addition, most of them are bothered by impulsiveness, envy, worry or melancholy. Not a small number of students show a sense of inferiority, squeamishness, aggression or strong self-will. Bad psychological health causes serious repercussions in a teenager's individual development. In tliree main high s.chools in the southwest of China, of students leaving school, 74 per cent left due to bad health and 42.2 per cent of those suffered from emotional problems and stress. During puberty, teenagers go through a period of "changing times? During this time, most teenagers' bodies and sexoal desires develop. They are beginning to mature both physically and mentally. But most of them can not become mature in both these areas at the same time. Some teenagers' emotions remain childish, dependent and impetuous. hf we do not resolve the problems that face t.eenagers, they not only will suffer from them, but they will also probably go astray. Worries Induce Emotional Problems world of warcraft gold, More than 16 per cent of Chinese college and middle school students have emotional problems caused by concern over exams, world of warcraft gold poor relationships with their teachers and a lack. of enthusiasm for their studies. Some students feel depressed, fearing they fall short of their parents' expectations. An unhappy family Tife can also lead to depression. These conclusions are the result of research into emotional problems among college and middle school students. According to a study of 2, 961 urban,and rural college and middle school students,. problems arise most frequently in two groups: students in their first and second year of junior middle schools and those in their last year at senior middle school . or the first year in higher-learning institutions. The survey also revealed that emotional problems increase as students get older. The percentage of students with emotional problems in junior middle schools is around 13 per cent, while the figures for students in senior middle school and higher-learning institutions are 19 and 25 per cent respectively. maple story mesos, Xiao Lin, maple story mesos a third year junior high school student from Beijing, packed his books and clothes and left home, with tears in his eyes. He felt his divorced parents never loved him. He felt lonely, but he did not know where to go. He thought of 440779, a phone number to reach the so-called "Intimate Elder Sisters". That day was a day to remember in'his whole life. One of the sisters came to see him, and to his utter enjoyment, spent .the day playing with him . 　 wow power leveling, "She told me 'The world is not as cold as you think it is. wow power leveling There is so much love here. I love you. Your friends love you.'" Xiao Lin stayed at home, trying to fill it with the love he got from his Intimate Elder Sister. Actually, the Intimate Elder Sisters are Wu Ruomei, I.u Qin, Ge Shujuan and Huang Xiaopo, editors o# the China Chiidren's News. Since they opened the hot line in March 1988, they have received mor.e than 10,000 calls from children across the country. "We hope to ease their troub(es through heart-to-heart chats," said Wu Ruomei. Many of the children they talked to were disturbed by secrets they felt obliged to keep from both their parents and their teachers. Children reach the Elder Sisters every day by phone with a wide range of funny or astonishing questions. "I' m growing into a fatty, sister, and I don't want that," and, "What do children on other planets look like?" The questions are not always small and easy to solve. Yet, " Even if we just listen to these children' s sobbing, we' re helping them out of their loneliness," Wu said. When Iittle Yanni called her Elder Sister in Beijing from Wuhan, she was weeping. "Mama is dying from cancer," she said. "I don't want her to leave me." After comforting little Yanni, her Sisters informed children in other parts of the country, who sent Yanni and her mother letters and gifts, encouraging them to fight the disease courageously. dog carriers, A Beijing boy refused to be identified on the phone. dog carriers But he told his Elder Sister his cousin had accidentally injured another child and had to pay all the medical fees. Afraid of informing.his parents, he had stolen 110 yuan from a classmate's home and was discovered later. He was in great distress, but did not know what to do. Wu said to him, "The boy's actions are forgiveable. Once he clears up the situation, he'll.win the trust of others.?Her sense told her that the boy was talking about himself. After the call, Wu wrote to the boy's father, asking them to help the boy. A few days later, a boy appeared before the editors. It was he who had taken the money. Now, a good student in No 20. Middle School of Beijing, he often visits with his Elder Sisters. During the past year, Wu and her colleagues also opened the hot line for a short period in eight other cities in the country. In Nanning, capital of South China' s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, they received 509 calls in three days. Does the Younger Generation Know Best?

Alice Trillin was 38 and thought she was in excellent health. Then "this completely crazy thing" happened. "I coughed and a tiny, tiny blood clot took me to get a chest X-ray. Ten days later I had my lung removed." Trillin had lung cancer, the kind smokers get. But she had never smoked a cigarette. The cause of her cancer remained a mystery until a doctor friend asked if her parents.had smoked. They had. wow power leveling "Nobody had ever said anything about passive smoking. wow power leveling I hadn't worried about the question much," she says. Most scientists hadn't worried about it much either, until studies in recent years showed that passive smoking was causing 3, 000 to 5, 000 lung cancer deaths a year among Ainerican non-smokers. Now a study estimates that the toll from passive smoking, including deaths from heart disease and other cancers, may be 10 times that. Tobacco smoke in the home and workplace could be killing 46, 000 non-smokers each year in the United States, the study concludes. That's 3, 000 lung cancer deaths, 11, 000 from other cancers and 32, 000 heart disease deaths. That would make passive smoking the leading preventable cause of death in the United States after alcohol and smoking itself, said Dr. Ronald M. Davis, director of the US Office on Smoking and Health. Smoking kills 390,000; alcohol, 120, 000. "No longer are we talking about runny nose or watery eyes or headache or nausea, but a fatal disease," Davis said. wow power leveling, Passive smoking has become the principal battleground for the tobacco industry and its opponents in the 1980s. wow power leveling It is no longer merely a health issue, but political and environmental. Cigarette pollution is fouling the air. "We know that the indoor environment is far more polluted than the outdoor environment, " said James Repace of the Environmental Protection Agency indoor air programme. "We've seen that again and again wherever we've looked all over the United States." Many people believe smokers have the right to smoke. But they also believe that others shouldn' t have to pay a price. "When you talk about an involuntary risk, the society becomes much more cautious, " said University of California-San Francisco biomedical engineer Stanton Glantz, an environmentalist and anti-smoking activist. The new estimate of non-smoker deaths is controversial. Researchers agree it is preliminary and needs to be confirmed. A tobacco industry consultant said the emphasis on passive smoking was misplaced. Many public health officials disagree. The risk of tobacco smoke " is greater than the risk of radon gas is to non-smokers", Repace said. "We're talking maybe 40 per cent greater. And if you're talking ahout all the carcinogenic air pollutants that EPA regulates, it,s l00 times greater." II . ReadWorld of Warcraft power leveling, Read the foltowing passages. World of Warcraft power leveling Underline the important viewpoints while reading. l. Benefits of Smoking Sir, The. essential fact about smoking, which most commentators of recent years seem to have ignored is that cigarettes give a vast number of people a good deal of pleasure a lot of the time. That is way the world smoked almost 5, 000, 000, 000, 000 of them last year; approximately 1, 200 for every man., woman. and child on earth. It is not high pressure advertising that makes the Chinese smoke heavily-any more than it was wicked merchants who.persuaded ihe seventeenth century Persians to smoke, despise the Shah's ingenious punishment of pouring molten lead down their throats when they were caught. There is considerable evidence, surprisingly little publicized. by cigarette manufacturers, that smoking produces certai'n beneficial effects in human beings. Frankenhauser showed that smoking counteracts the decrease in efficiency that typically occurs in boring, monotonou's situations, and that smokers impro-ved their performance in complex choace situations while smoking. There is a growing body of evidence that nicotine can produce a tranquilizing effect during high emotional and shock situations, whil'e on the other hand stimulating con:cen.tration in tedious situations. None of which proves that smoking may not cause cancer or other illnesses. But, as the late Compton Maekenzie wrote, "If cigarettes vanished from. ihe earth today, I believe the world would go to war again within a comparatively short time." An extravaga.nt exaggeration, perhaps. But certainly tempers would be shorter, nastier and more brufiah. Yours faithfully, Winston fletcher 2.Is Smoking a Bad Habit? wow gold, 1, a casual smokery always wonder if smoking is really a bad habit. wow gold If it is, why does our country produce such a large riumber of cigarettes every year? (As you know, Chi.na is the largsst cigarette producing country in the world. ) If it is,. why do so many girls adrnire handsome boys with a cigarette on their lip? My friends tell me, "Smoking is a waste of money, a cause of disease..." Admittedly, these reasons frighten some people into giving up smoking, but can you ensure that non-smokers will live long without dying in an epidemic or getting killed by a drunken driver? Can you say it is not a waste of money for most non-smokers habitually to spend a lot of money on snacks? In my opinion, smoking is only an amusement, like playing cards, reading, etc. Many years ago, when an adult handed me a cigarette and lit it for me, I felt grown up. When I am with friends and have nothing to say, we smoke, consequently we no longer feel embarrassed. Sometimes, I light a cigarette, watching my loneliness, suffering and nervousness vanishing with the smoke, I can't help saying inwardly: Hello, cigarette, my old friend, I' m coming to meet you again. 3. Smokers of the World, Unite It can scarcely have escaped the notice of thinking men, I think, being a thinking man myself, that the forces of darkness opposed to those of us who like a quiet smoke are gathering momentum daily and starting to throw their weight about more somewhat. Every morning I read in the papers a long article by another of those doctors who are the spearhead of the movement. Tobacco, they say, plugs up the arteries and lowers the temperature of the body extremities, and if you reply that you like your arteries plugged up and are all for having the temperature of your body extremities lowered, especially during the summer months, they bring up that cat again. The cat to which I allude is the one that has two drops of nicotine placed on its tongue and instantly passes beyond the veil. "Iook," they say. "I place two drops of nicotine on the cat's tongue. Now watch it wilt." I can't see the argument. Cats, as Charles Stuart Calverley said, may have their goose cooked by tobacco juice, but are we to deprive ourselves of all our modest pleasures just because indulgence in them would be harmful to some cat which is probably a perfect stranger? Take a simple instance such as occors every Saturday on the Rugby football field. The ball is heeled out, the scrum half gathers it, and instantaneously two fourteen- stone forwards fling themselves on this person, grinding him into the mud. Must we abolish Twickenham and Murrayfield because some sorry reasoner insists that if the scrum half had been a cat he would have been squashed flatter than a Dover sole? And no use, of course, to try to drive into these morons' heads that scrum halves are not cats. Really, one feels inclined at times to give it all up and turn one's face to the wall. World of Warcraft gold, It is pitiful to think that that is how these men spend iheir lives, World of Warcraft gold putting drops of nicotine on the tongues of cats day after day. Slavas to a habit, is the way I look at it. But if you tell them that and urge them to pull themselves together and throw off the shackles, they just look at you with fishy eyes and mumble something about it can't be done. Of course it can be done. All it requires is will power. If they were to say to themselves, "I will not start putting nicotine on cats' tongue till after lunch" it would be a simple step to knocking off during the afternoon, and by degrees they would find that they could abstain altogether. The first cat of the cats is the hard one to give up. Conquer the impulse for the after-breakfast cat, and the battle is half won. 4. Common Sense about Smoking It is often said, "I know all about the risk to my health, but I think that the risk is worth it." When this statement is true it should be accepted. Everyone has the right to choose what risks they take, however great they may be. However, often the statement really means, "I have a nasty feeling that smoking is bad for my health, but I would rather not think about it." With some of these people the bluff can be called and they can be asked to explain what they think the risk to their own health is. When this is done few get very far in personal terms. The bare fact that. 23, 000 people died of lung cancer last year in Great Britain often fails to impress an individual. When it is explained that this is the eq.uivalent of one every twenty- five minutes or is four times as many as those killed on the roads, the significance is more apparent. The one-ineight risk of dying of lung cancer for, the man who smokes twenty-five or more cigarettes a day may be better appreciated if an analogy is, used If, when you boarded a plane, the girl at the top of the steps were to welcome you aboard with the greeting, "I am pleased that you are coming with us-only one in eight of our planes crashes." how many wouid think again, and make other arrangements? Alternatively, the analogy of Russian Roulette may appeal. The man smoking twenty-five or more a day runs the same risk between the ages of thirty and sixty as another who buys a revolver with 250 chambers and inserts one live bullet and on each, of his birthdays spins the chamber, points the revolver at his head, and pulls the trigger. One of the difficulties in impressing these facts on pgople is that, despite the current epidemic of lung cancer, because it is a disease which kills relatively quickly, there are many who have as yet no gxperience of it among their family or friends. 5. On Smoking -Its History and Harm Tobacco smoking is believed to have started in Central and South America. Nearly 500 years ago explorers who went there with Columbus brought back to Europe the habit of pipe smoking, which they had Learned from the New World Indians. It was introduced into China from Luson during the Ming dynasty. Until the 1900's tobacco was used mainly for cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco and snuff. Cigarettes may first have been made by the Aztecs of Mexico. They smoked shredded tobacco rolled in corn husk covering. Cigarette smoking gained some popularity in Europe during the 1800's. It increased sharply after World War I and again after World War II. For centuries the smoking of tobacco in cigarettes, cigars and pipes has produced controversy over possible health hazards. Scientific investiBations of smoking and health gained impetus after the beginning of the 20th century, when an increase in lung cancer was noted. But only since the 1950's has sufficient scientific evidence accumulated to make possible a thorough evaluation of the health risk. Although some gaps in knowledge still exist, the information now available is sufficient to permit making sound judgements. Since cigarettes have steadily become more popular than cigars and pipes, investigators have directed their principal consideration to cigarette smoking. As we now know, tobacco contains an organic compound-nicotine. It is the rincipal alkaloid of tobacco, occurring throughout the plant. Nicotine, one of the many substances pharmacologically active in tobacco smoke, exerts an effect on the heart and nervous system in particular. The effect on the nervous system is predominantly tranquilizing and relaxing. There is little doubt that the physiological effects strengthen the habit. So for centuries, some people obstinately believed tobacco smoking possessed medicinal properties. It reduced tension and was pleasurable. But in reality, it has turned out to be tragedy. When you smoke, you're breathing in close to a gram of dirty brown tar a day. Even the smoking of only a few cigarettes a day causes many dangerous ailments. An American scientist estimated that smokers who average a package a day for 20 years will lose about eight years of their lives. Along with the increase in cigarette smoking, many scientific investigations have been undertaken. Overwhelming evidence proves the danger and harm of smoking. Experimental, clinical-pathological, and epidemiological evidence indicates that cigarette smoking is the main cause of lung cancer.The risk of developing lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the duration of the smoking habit, and it diminishes with the cessation of smoking. Cigarette smoking was also found to be connected with other types of cancer. It is considered a major factor in causing cancer of the larynx and is associated with cancer of the esophagus. Smoking is a significant factor in the development of oral cancer, and pipe smoking alone or with other tobacco use, is causally related to lip cancer. Cigarette smoking is the greatest cause of chronic bronchitis. A person suffering from chronic bronchitis may have the disease and the cough connected with it, for many years, perhaps for the rest of his life. Cigarette smoking has also been found to be connected with pulmonary emphysema, a disabling disease of the lungs. The smoking of cigarettes increases the risk of dying from chronic bronchitis and from pulmonary emphysema. Smoking is associated with coronary heart disease. Nowadays this disease accounts for a high percentage of deaths annually. Cigarette smokers are much more likely to die from a heart attack than nonsmokers. Smoking injures blood vessels, speeds up hardening of the arteries and increases the work of the heart. It is one of the factors contributing to high blood pressure. What little we've mentioned above is sufficient to show that smoking is extremely harmful to health. Most peple throughout the.world have come to realize the danger. Nowadays some governments are taking practical measures against smoking. We sincerely advise those who have formed the smoking habit to stop and those who haven,t yet started not to. It is both for your own sake and for the sake of the next generation. A recent survey report says that children exposed to parental cigarette smoke may be put at a higher risk of developing lung disease later in fheir lives. Passive exposure to smoke may. also interfere with normal lung growth in young children. There is a strong association between parental smoking and children' s pulmonary function. Children who recorded the weakest lung function were found to be smokers themselves and to have parents or brothers and sisters who smoked. So let us join together to launch a mass movement to break this harmful smoking habit, and build ourselves up, healthy and strong, to work hard for the four modernizations. 6. Call to Stop Offering Cigarettes! To the Chinese, who claim to have invented rules of etiquette, offering igarettes is a way of being hospitable to guests. When somebody calls, first of all, the host would offer him a cigarette and a cup of tea. In the countryside, hospitable, old men often allow visiting guests to share the long-stemmed Chinese pipe which they themselves are smoking. At wedding ceremonies, brides would offer cigarettes to all guests who came to eXpress their congratulations and light the cigarettes for.each of them one after another. All these were originally aimed.. at displaying the Chinese hospitality and respect towards the guests. But in recent years, the oId tradition has been used as a means to nurse good relations. Even those who never smoke have brand-name cigarettes in their pockets. Whenever they have to seek somebody's favour, they first offer him a cigarette, If the other party turns it down, he is being impolite. If he accepts it he has to do something, for courtesy demands a favour in return. Tobacco contains harmful substances. So offering cigarettes to somebody is equal to doing harm to him, gut neither people who offer cigarettes nor those who take them fully realize it. It is even more unhealthy for the host to pass the long-stemmed Chinese pipe or water pipe to the visitor after smoking it beforehand. Once I paid a visit to a relative who had just returned from abroad. He was smoking but did not produce one for me. Instead, he placed the cigarette packet on the table and told me: "Cigarettes produce carbon monoxide and nicotine. But if you don't mind this, take it yourself.? RuneScape Gold, His way of offering cigarettes was unique but worth learning.RuneScape Gold Many people throughout the world are attempting to quit smoking. But to give up the practice, firstly I think, we had better cl7ange the tradetional method of entertaining guests. Not to offer cigarettes does not mean one is inhospitable. The cigarette packet is on the table. If you cannot check your craving for one at the risk of your health, you may. But you will have to bear the consequences yourself. You had better also bear in mind that while you are smoking and harming yourself, you are also polluting the air and hurting others. 7. Smoking Is a Bad Habit Smoking is a bad habit. Firstly, it ruins people's health. Health experts have warned us for years that smoking can lead to heart disease, lung cancer and various respiratory ailments. The World Health Organization says diseases linked to smoking kill at least 2, 500, 000 people each year. Research conducted in many countries also indicates that pregnant women who smoke run the risk of having deformed babies. Besides, it has been proven beyond doubt that when a person smokes, he subjects the people around him not only to great discomfort but also to physical harm. Secondly, smoking is extravagant. Smokers, either wage-earners or those who live off their parents, spend a large sum of money on cigarettes, which cost them at least 10% of their expenses each month. What's more, sensible women try to avoid marrying heavy smokers, even though some of them appreciate the image of a handsome young man with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. A friend of mine, a heavy smoker, has been seeking an ideal wife who will tolerate his extravagant "hobby? but up to now he hasn't found one. Thirdly, smoking has a bad impact on the psyche of the smokers. After realizing the bad effects of smoking, many people try to give up smoking. but no matter how hard they try ,some of them just can't resist the temptation to smoke again. Gradually, they lose confidence in themselves and get used to making excuses. Should Smoking Be Prohibited?

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful young woman and a handsome young man . They were very poor, but a's they were deeply in love, they wanted to get married. The young people's parents shook their heads. "You can' t get married yet," they said. "Wait till you get a good job with good prospects."So the young. people waited until they found good jobs with good prospects and they were able to get married. They were still poor,of course. They didn't have a house to live in or any furniture, but that didn't matter. The young man had a good job with good prospects, so large arganizations lent him the money he needed to buy a house, some furniture, all the latest electrical appliances and a car. The couple lived happily ever after paying off debts for the rest of their lives. And so.ends another modern romantic fable. We live in a materialistic society and are trained from our earliest years to be acquisitive. Our possessions, "mine"and "yours", are clearly labelled from early childhood. When we grow old enough to earn a living, it does not surprise us to discover that success is measured in terms of the money you earn. We spend the whole of our lives keepig up with our neigbbours, the Joneses. If we buy a new television set, Jones is bound to buy a bigger and better one. If we buy a new car, we Can be sure that Jones will go one better and get two new cars: one for his wife and one for himself . The most amusing thing about this game is that the Joneses and all the neighbours who are struggling frantically to keep up with them are spending borrowed money kindly provided, at a suitable rate of interest, of course, by friendly banks, insurance companies, etc. wow gold, It is not only in affluent societies that people are obsessed with the idea of making more money. wow gold Consumer goods are desirable everywhere and modern industry deliberately sets out to create new markets. Gone are the days when industrial goods were made to last forever. The wheels of industry must be kept turning. "Built-in obsolescence" provides the means: goods are made to be discarded.Cars get tinnier and tinnier. You no sooner acquire this year's model than you are thinking about its replacement. This materialistic outlook has seriously influenced education. Fewer and fewer young people these days acquire knowledge only for its own sake . Every course of studies must lead somewhere: i. e. to a bigger wage packet. The demand for skilled personnel far exceeds the supply and big eompanies compete with each other to recruit students before they have completed their studies. Tempting salaries and "fringe benefits" are offered to them. Recruiting tactics of this kind have led to the "brain drain",the process by which highly skilled people offer their services to the highest bidder. The wealthier nations deprive their poorer neighbours of their most able citizens. While Mammon is worshipped as never before, the rich get richer and the poor, poorer. 　 II . Readwow power leveling, Read the following passages. wow power leveling Underline the important viewpoints while reading. 1. Wealth Led to Disaster In all American history, there is no story stranger than that of John A. Sutter. We have read about the early history of San Francisco. When the independence of California was declared in 1846, San Francisco was a small town of some 800 inhabitants. Then, in 1848, gold was discovered on land not far away. This land was owned by John A. Sutter. Immediately, there was a vast movement of people, not only from the United States but from other parts of the world, toward San Francisco and.the gold fields. This was the famous Gold Rush of 1849. San Francisco grew to three times its size in just a few weeks. Within a year it had a population of over 25,000 people. Previously a quiet, pleasant town, San Francisco was changed almost overnight into a rough and crowded city, full of all kinds of adventurers and other strange characters. The same factors that operated to change San Francisce also changed the life of John A. Sutter in an equatly extreme form. John A. Sutter was a citizen of Switzerland. He had come, penniless, in the spirit of adventure to the United States. He lived and worked for a time in Pennsylvania and finally settled in California in 1839, when still a young man of thirty-six. He obtained the rights from the Mexican government to a large track of land in the present area of Sacramento, some seventy miles north of San Francisco on the Sacramento River. Here Sutter established his own private colony. This colony he named New Helvetia. Sutter was an intelligent, well-educated man. He built a fort, inside which he established a large trading post. He planted great numbers of fruit trees along the banks of the Sacramento River, as well as hundreds of acres of wheat. He became a very rich man by providing most of the ships that .came to the harbour of San Francisco with supplies both for their own use a.nd for export. Sutter had thousands of cattle and horses on his many acres. Five hundred men, mostly Mexica.ns and Indians., worked regulaily for him. He wrote wrote to his wife and three sons, whom he had left in Switzerland, asking them to come and live with him and enjoy his great success. wow gold, Then in 1848, wow gold gold was discovered on Sutter's land:-He was building a saw mill, some distance from his fort. Here, in a stream leading from the mill, one of Sutter's workmen found some pieces of gold. At first, Sutter tried to keep the news quiet. He had dreams of becoming even richer than he already was, perhaps the richest man in the whole world. But, within a few weeks, the news about the gold leaked out. Men descended upon Sutter's land from all directions. Soon they were coming from all over the United States and even from more distant places. These people moved into the area like a great herd of animals. They killed all of Sutter's cattle, stole his farm produce and tools, and tore down his buildings to obtain wood to build homes for themselves. The city of Sacramento sprang up where Sutter's fort stood. On the site of his saw mill grew up the present city of Coloma. Far from becoming the richest man in the world, as he had dreamed, Sutter was reduced to poverty. He finally moved away from the area to a distant part of his land. Here his family arrived to live with him. He began to farm and, with his sons, planted more fruit trees and new fields of wheat. Again he was fairly successful. In 1855 Sutter brought a suit in the Californian courts against the l, 700 settlers, who now occupied the lands he had previously owned. He demanded $ 25 million from the state for the roads, canals, and .bridges that he himsel'f had built but which the state had .taken over. He also asked for a percentage of all the gold mined an his property. This suit was decided by the Californian courts in Sutter' s favour. Briefly, Sutter was agai.n a rich and important man. His dream of a private empire, with himself as king and ruler, returned. But then the storm broke again. When the judge's decision was made public, 1.0, 000 people, w,ho were now established in the area and thought they might lose their homes, descended upon the court. They burned the courthouse and tried to hang the judge. They destroyed more of Sutter's property. Later, Sutter's home was set on fire and burned to the g.round. Sutter' s oldest son killed himself; his second son was murdered. Sutter was never able to recover from these last and final blows. He went back east and, in the courts of Washington, again brought a suit to recover what he claimed had been stolen from him, He spent the last fifteen years of his life in this sad manner. Tirelessly, he went from senator to congressman, from one government office to another. Friends tried to heip him, ahd he received various honpurs in recognition of his early work in C.alifornia. But delay followed delay, hoth in Congress and in the government courts. The "General" as he came to be called, died alone in a small Washington hotel room, a broken and bitter man. 2. What Did Qi Gong Do with His Money? wedding dresses, Everyone knows how important money is in the world today. wedding dresses But what did Qi Gong do with his hard- earned one and a half million yuan? Mr Qi Gong, aged 79, is a well-known calligrapher in China. He became famous the hard way. Born in a poor family, he did not have much schooling until his talent attracted the attention of Professor Chen Yuan, the president of Furen University. For years Professor Chen took him under his personal care and taught him'literature and calligraphy. Professor Chen thought highly of Qi Gong and helped him to find jobs of teaching at several institutions. Years of hard work made Qi Gong an excellent teacher and outstanding calligrapher and painter. In memory of his teacher Professor Chen Yuan, Qi Gong decided in 1991 to set up a foundation to give awards to both teachers and students who excel in their work. Qi Gong worked day after day at his desk and produced more than 100 works of calligraphy, which he sold for 1, 630, 000 yuan. All this money went into the foundation which was namled after his teacher. He did not leave a penny for himself! What do you think money means to Qi Gong? 3. Pop Stars I,ive Like the Royalty Pop stars today enjoy a style of living which was once the prerogative only of Royalty. Wherever they go, people turn out in their thousands to greet them. The crowds go wild trying to catch a brief glimpse of,their smiling, colourfully-dressed idols. The stars are transported in their chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces, private helicopters or executive aeroplanes. They are surrounded by a permanent entourage of managers, press-agents and bodyguards. Photographs of them appear regularly in the press and all their comings and goings are reported, for, like Royalty, pop stars are news. If they enjoy many of the privileges of Royalty, they certainly share many of the inconveniences as weil. It is dangerous for them to make unscheduled appearances in public. T hey must be constantly shielded from the adoring crowds which idolise them. Tbey are no longer private individuals, but public property. The financial rewards they receive for this sacrifice cannot be calculated; for their rates of pay are astronomical. And why not? Society has always rewarded its top entertainers lavishly. The great days of Hollywood have become legendary: famous stars enjoyed fame, wealth and adulation on an unprecedented scale. By today's standards, the excesses of Hollywood do not seem quite so spectacular. A single gramophone record nowadays may earn much more in royalties than the films of the past ever did. The competition for the title "Top of the Pops" is fierce, but the rewards are truly colossal. 4. "Pop Stars Certainly Earn Their Money" maple story mesos, It is only right that the stars should be paid in this way. maple story mesos Don't the top men in industry earn enormous salaries for the services they perform to their companies and their countries'? Pop stars. earn vast sums in foreign currency-often more than large industrial concerns-and the taxman can only be grateful for their massive annual contributions to the exchequer. So who would begrudge them their rewards? It's all very well for people in humdrum jobs to moan about the successes and rewards of others. People who make envious remarks should remember that the most famous stars represent only the tip of the iceberg. For every famous star, there are hundreds of others struggling to earn. a living. A man working in a steady job and looking forward to a pension at the end of it has no right to expect very high rewards. He has chosen security and peace of mind, so there will always be a limit to what he can earn. But a man who attempts to become a star is taking enormous risks. He knows at the outset that only a handful of competitors ever get to the very top. He knows that years of concentrated effort may be rewarded with complete failure. But he knows, too, that tlte rewards for success are very high.indeed: they are the recompense for the huge risks involved and if he achieves them, he has certainly earned them. That's the essence of private enterprise. 5. Decent Beggars in Shanghai It was getting dark when the plane landed at Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai. A woman stepped out into a driving rain. "Madam, you must be from Beijing," a voice behind her said. Taking luggage from the woman' s hand, the man said, "The weather in the south is unpleasant, and it rains all the time. The rainy season is coming." He accompanied her out of the airport. flyff penya, The woman thought she was lucky to meet such a warm-hearted. flyff penya young man. At the bus stop, she thanked him. "It's very. kind of you. I would be drenched through without your help." She said quite a lot to express her gratitude. However, to her surprise, the man stood there smiling and showing no intention of leaving. Glancing around, the woman noticed some passengers getting off the same plane with her were tipping the peopte who helped them. She got the hint, took out a five-yuan note and gave it to the man. Saying "Thanks a lot", he went away. The young man is just one of the estimated 500 "decent beggars", a name Shanghai residents have given these people. Often times, they will appear in groups in the railway station, airport, hospitals, scenic spots. Most of them are fashionably dressed, behave decently, and speak in a gentle way. They carefully observe their "customers", and from their expression, they try to figure out what their "customers" are thinking about. They will show sympathy for a patient sent to the hospital, with tears in their eyes. Tey will flatter the "customer" until he or she is deeply moved and gives them money in gratitude. On May 1, a family went to a park. Just as they entered, a young couple with smiles on their faces came up. The man talked first. "Look1 What a pleasant dayl It is very nice for the whole family to spend the holiday in the park," he said. The woman added, "We Shanghai people are often kept indoors by the rain. It is too bad for children in particular. On this fine day, it is quite good for your health to walk in the open." Then they began to flatter the.children, saying they were so beautiful and would be promising in the future. They predicated that the parents would enjoy a very happy life with wealthy and devoted sons and daughters. They did not stop talking until the mother gave them a 10yuan note. The mother did not feel sorry for giving the money. She said that she had bought good fortune with the money. Some people say it is this psychology that the "decent beggars" cater to in making money. 6. Nobel Prizes Once a year, at a special ceremony a few dist.inguished people are awarded Nobel Prizes. The founder of these prizes was Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896), a Swedish scientist. Nobel discovered the explosive called dynamite. This was much safer to use than earlier explosives. He made a large fortune from this and other di.scoveries and inventions. However, it saddened him that his explosives were so widely used for warfare. Nobel left mosi of his money. to establish five prizes. They are warded for services to physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. It is considered a very great honour to win one of these prizes. Is Money the Most Important Thing in Life?

1. Tokyo I don't live in Tokyo. I don't even know whether I would like to live there. I love it and hate it-it is one of those places that you can love and hate at the same time. The first "fact" about Tokyo, for me, is that there are too many people. I don't mean the fact that more than twelve million people live there. A number like 12,000,000 doesn't mean anything to me. world of warcraft power leveling, In Tokyo there are always too many people in the places where I want to be. world of warcraft power leveling That is the important fact for me. Of course there are too many cars. The Japanese drive very fast when they can, but in Tokyo they often spend a long time in traffic jams. Tokyo is not different from London, Paris and New York in.that. It is different .when-one wants to. walk. At certain times of the day there are a lot of people on foot in London's Oxford Street or near the big shops and stores in other great cities. But the streets near the Ginza in Tokyo always have a lot of people on foot, and sometimes it is really difficult to walk. People are very polite; there are just too many of them. The worst time to be in the street is at 11.30 at night. That is when the night-clubs are closing and everybody wants to go home. There are 35, 000 night-clubs in Tokyo, and you do not often see one that is empty. Between ll and 12 everybcdy is looking for a taxi. Usually the taxis are shared by four or five people who live in the same part of the city. During the day, people use the trains. Perhaps the first thing you notice in Tokyo is the number of trains. Most people travel to and from work by train, and there is a station at almost every street corner. Tokyo people buy six mi1lion train tickets every day. One station--Shinjuku-has two million passengers each day. At most stations, trains arrive every two or three minutes, but at certain hours there do not seem eo he enough trains. At 8 o,clock in the morning you can see students pushing passeng.ers into the trains. Usually the trains are nearly full when they arrive at the station, so the students have to push very hard. Sometimes the pushers are also pushed in by mistake, and they have to get out at the next station. Some people who are pushed into the train lose their shoes. They, too, get out at the next station, and go back to look for them. Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good. They always leave and arrive on time. On a I.ondon train you would see everybody reading a newspaper. In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep. Some Japanese make a irain journey of two hours to go to work, so they do their sleeping on the train. But if a train journey lasis only five minutes, and if they have a seat, thcy will also go to sleep. They always wake when they arrive at their station. The last time I went to Tokyo, I went there from Osaka in great comfort. The blue-and-white trains which run evcrv?half-hour between the two cities are not only very fast but very comfortable. There are no pushers; only those who have reserved seats can travel on the train. It was not possible to run more trains on the old lines, so the Japanese built a special linc for the new fast trains. It is a very good line indeed. You can eat and drink without difficulty at 220 kilometres an hour-you know the speed because there is a speedometer inside the carriage. world of warcraft gold, In Tokyo, world of warcraft gold I stood outside the station for five minutes. Three fireengines-the very latest kind with every moclern fitting -raced past on the way to one of the many fires that Tokyo has every day. The peopie who passed on foot included some of the loveliest girls in the world in the latest European dresses or the finest Japanese kimonos. Businessmen passed in big new cars, and. among them, in a small Honda, there was a geisha in the clothes and hair arrangement of hundreds of years ago. Tokyo has so many surprises that none of them can really surprise me now. Instead, I am surprised at myself: I must go there next week on business, and I know that I shall hate the city and its twelve million people. But I feel like a man who is returning to his long-lost love. 2. What Kind of City Should Beijing Be? The C. P. C. Central Committee Secretariat has proposed that Beijing should become: (1) a model in public security, social order and moral standards for the whole country and one of the best in the world; (2) a first-rate modern city with a fine environment, high standards of cleanliness and good sanitation; (3) the nation's most developed city in culture, science and technology, with the highest educational standard in the country; and (4) a city with a thriving economy, providing its residents wit.h stability in life and all kinds of conveniences. World of warcraft gold, 3. Duo Duo Bar, World of warcraft gold Where Many Meet A small coffee shop on Xidan Street, barely wider than a hallway, has become a haunt for many young people in downtown Beijing. The Duo Duo Coffee Bar has a charm of its own. Its red walls adorned with reed and bamboo hats and a spider web hanging from its dark ceiling remind one of the sunsets, perhaps at lakeside in a light drizzle. This is the atmosphere in which people sip a cup of coffee, tea or wine while chatting with their friends. Duo Duo (Chinese for many) is owned by two yotrng men, Zhang Keyu, a technician, and Lu Wei, an artist. aion kina, "We started this coffee bar not only for making money," aion kina said Zhang, 27, in a soft voice. "We want to offer our young friends a place for social contact. If what we earn is enough for paying the tax, we are satisfied. "Before opening this bar, we often heId weekend parties at home in which we chatted, sang and danced. Then an idea occurred ta us to open a coffee shop so that we could know more people and more about the society. "Without wasting any time, Lu Wei and I took out all our savings to refurnish this room. Our friends did what they could to help us. Lu Wei did the decoration himseif, using a lot of reed, which is what his name means. Within a month, this mini-coffee room opened its door to the public." The atmosphere appealed mostly to young people. A university graduate, for instance, needed a place to hold a farewll party. The young owners offered the bar to him free of charge and suspended their business for the night. The young man invited 20 friends. And the party was a great success. "Making friends is more important than making money," Zhang observed. Being a full-time technician, Zhang has to work in his company by day and work in his coffee bar by night. He hires no employees. His friends volunteer to serve in this shop. A fashion designer whose nickname is also Duo Duo came in one day. "I'm glad my name is the same as this lovely bar's. I wish I had as many friends as it has,?she said. Pierre was a French student on a study tour in Beijing. He enjoyed himself in the bar so much that he could not heip dancing like Charlie Chaplain and blowing on the suona, a Chinese wind instrument. "Business has been good since the bar opened last year, but there were minor troubles when two or three rascals said they could not pay for their drinks. All we could do was ask them to write down their names on our credit list. Sometimes a rude fellow would drop in and talk too loudly. But the quiet atmosphere here would soon make him feel out of place and he would leave. I wish I could write a novel about society based on what I've seen and heard in this bar," Zhang said. It was already midnight. Xidan Street was asleep and empty. But the lights in Duo Duo still beckoned lonely walkers. Inside the room,customers were still chatting or humming. 　 4. Night Life Thrives 2moons dil, in northern China people are asieep by midnight, 2moons dil but in Guangzhou most of the city's residents are still awake at that hour, living it up. Television and radio blast and blare away until two in the morning. Cinemas are multi-purpose. Besides showing films, they present video shows, dances and they have a bar. "I love the rich and coloarful night life in this southern city," a young Beijinger said when he came to Guangzhou for a business trip. "Sometimes when I come to the city, ,I visit the night bazaars.there." "I usually go shopping in the evening because I work during tbe day," a middle-aged woman said. "Furthermore, after supper,I like visiting the night bazaars. It's a.knid of entertainment." As most people in Guangzhou don't go to bed until far into the night, they usually eat a midnight snack. After shopping or leaving a concert, people often get a snack on the way home. "I would like to spend 5 yuan ( $1.35) to sit down and relax and eat something in the evening," Xiao Zheng, a taxi driver said. "Meanwhile, I might .spend another five yuan to have my car washed, ?he added. In Guangzhou, there are car washing services near some of the big bazaars which are popular with the drivers. A lot of Guangzhou residenis take a second job at night to earn extra money. College teachers have part-time jobs lecturing at night schools. Engineers sometimes work on a project for another corporation. College students act as tutors. Problems also exist in the South China city. Prostitution is a bigger problem in Guangzhou than elsewhere in the country. And smuggling has increased recently. 5. Problem for Beijingers cd keys, Improving public toilets has long been a .cd keys erious problem in Beijing, as well as the rest of China. There is a wry saying among Chinese people, "Follow the smell if vou want to find a toilet." "About 80 per cent of Beijing's public toilets fit the saying," admitted Xue Baoyi, an official from Beiiing Sanita tion Bureau in 1989. But at the we:tern gate of the chinese History Museum near Tian'anmen. Square, there is an unusual "luxury" toilet of ahout 300 square metrea, in wltich there are rockeries, fountains, fresh flowers, a sofa and piped music. The standard of cleanliness is extremely high. But visitors have to pay 0.3 yuan. Some say the clean toilet is worth the price, but others complain that they can not afford it. In Beijing there are now 40 such toilets at tourist sites. On the opposite side of the museum, by the southern gate of Zhongshan Park, is situated another fairly clean pay toilet. Since last March, Liu Zhaomin, a retired sanitation worker from the West City District Cleaning Team, and his wife have contracted to keep the facility clean, and the once dirty and foul-smelling toilet has become one of the cleanest in Beijing. The old couple charge 0.03 yuan per person, but disabled people and students are admitted free. Outside the toilet they also provide water and help people take care of their belongings-all for free. Their service not only earns the old couple about 800 yuan monthly, but it also saves the government money. The toilet fees pay for maintenance There are no public toitets in some areas of the city. About 200 WCs in downtown area have to have soil carried away manually, mostly by old workers who are near retirement, and it is now very difficult to recruit young people to do this job. Because of a shortage of manpower, tools and disinfectant, it's very hard to keep those public toilets clean. aion power leveling, "WC service in Beijing has four key problems," aion power leveling said Xue. "There are no places and money for building public toilets. And most of them are in a very poor condition, and are badly managed." Xue also said that the users should take care of public toilets. Many newly- painted walls in WCs are already dirty. 　 6. The Countryside in Spring We need never feel dull in the country. No matter how often we walk down the same road, over the same fields, or through the same woodland paths, there is always something new, somthing fresh to see.It may be a little plant that has come up since last we visited the place: a hedge that was just a lot of brown sticks may now be covered with flowers. We may find a bird's nest deep in a bush, and, if we are careful not to frighten the birds, as the days pass, see first the little eggs, and then the baby birds. We never know what we may see, or find, when we start out for a country walk. But we must learn to use our eyes, keep them wide open, or we shall pass by many a pretty or interesting plant, or miss the sight of some little wild animal, who sees us well enough, and will keep perfectly still and quiet so that we should not notice him, until we are quite out of sight. The wild children of the woods and fields are easily frightened, and if we want to get to know them, we must do as they do, and learn to be quiet and keep very still when watching them at work or play. All the year round, from the first warm breath of Spring till the last icy wind of Winter, we shall always find something to please and interest us in the country. Is it Good to Live in a Large Modern City?

Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading. 1. Encouraging Atmosphere for Housing Reform The current atmosphere in respect of reform in housing is still encouraging, the experts and economists said. Despite some areas and departments having resorted. to the attitude of "wait-and-see" and even called a halt to housing reform, attributable to the April-June social unrest, 2G out of the country's 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions are still maintaining their endeavours adhering to the scheduled restructure. wow power leveling, Out in the main metropolises, wow power leveling Beijing and Tianjin are experimenting with a reform scenario of "multiple directions", such as raising rents for public residential housing, encouraging urban residents to buy more State-built housing, arranging funds to build commercial high-rises, setting up housing deposit banks and the like. Shanghai, the largest city in China, is also drafting its blueprint to quicken the pace of its housing reform in keeping up with their housing requirements. In Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong, an overall housing reform plan is beginning this month. The municipal government plan stipulates that all residents living in non-privately-owned houses, including those owned by the city's real estate administration departments and by State and collective units, will have to purchase their dwellings or rent them at a rate set by the government. The housing reform characterized by selling of housing and raising rents will be enormously conducive to the healthy development of China's economy in all sectors, some economists maintain. 　 2. Why Is Housing Reform Necessary? world of warcraft power leveling, During the past few years, world of warcraft power leveling the State has spent 30 billion yuan a year on building and maintaining houses and subsidizing rents. But as the investment produces little financial return and funds are tight, housing shortages still persist. According to calculations by the Leading Group of Housing Reform under the State Council, if only one half of the State-built houses nationwide are sold to urban residents, up to 200 billion yuan will be recouped, which can be further used as investments.to construct more residential dwellings or help the development of other industries. In this way, the abnormal circle of more house construction and heavier burdens for the State to shoulder will be resolved. Successful housing reform will have other beneficial effects on the society. People buying their own houses will restrain the swelling of consuming funds and tighten the State,s grip on any panic buying. flyff money, And last but not least, flyff money commercialization of housing would stop the practice adopted by some officials of abusing their position to obtain extra or larger houses. However, the nationwide situation of housing reform is still rather critical. Last year, the government forecast of 80 cities mapping out their scenarios of housing reform was not reached. 3. Tianjin Folks Can Buy Their Own Houses flyff power leveling, A double blessing descended upon Wang Jianpo, flyff power leveling a worker at the Tianjin Machine Tool Plant, last month. He married a beautiful young girl and bought a two-room flat--a thing considered by many Chinese young men even harder than finding a wife. At the wedding ceremony, which took place in the new flat recently, Wang and his wife presented some wedding candies to the city leaders to express their gratitude for the government's efforts to build more housing for sale for local residents. The young couple is one of the 20, 000 households who moved into new houses built at their own expense last month. The State covered the expenses for infrastructures such as roads linking all the apartment blocks, waterworks and sewers. Nearby industrial enterprises financed construction of grain shops, groceries and parks. Construction costs were shared by the local government, would-be buyers and most local enterprises. "The method is a good way to speed up urban housing construction and tallies with the current consumption level of Chinese urbanites,"said a local government official. There is no doubt that money collected from house sales will greatly relieve the shortage of funds for new construction, the official added. 　 4. Housing Reform in Tianjin flyff gold, For a long time, flyff gold China practised. a housing system under which work units were held responsible for housing their employees, who paid a nominal rent. Therefore, houses were regarded as State-funded welfare facilities rather than commodities. Tianjin is one of the 1? pilot cities chosen by the State Council to try out the practice of selling government-built apartments to individuals as part of the country's housing reform. The aim is to recover part of the construction cost for reinvestment in housing construction. The city I;as built houses for sale with a total floor space of 20 million square metres over the past decade. This has helped raise the per capita living space of urban residents in the city to 6.4 square metres, double that of a decade ago. This year the city has built dwellings for sale totalling 500,000 square metres. Local residents raised 100 million yuan, the government invested 25 million yuan and local enterprises provided 75 million yuan to cover the cost of construction. The cost of every square metre averaged 300 yuan. The buyers pay 200 yuan for each square metre and the State covers the rest. aion kina, Many Tianjin resi.aion kina dents are saving money and waiting for their turn to purchase new houses instead of spending more money on consumer durables, such as colour TV sets, refrigerators and video-recorders, as in the past. Many experts, officials and local residents have called for an extension of the "tripartite cooperation" in housing construction- financing by means of individual- raised funds with the help of the government and enterprises. This is because wholesale commercialization of housing won't work yet, as only a few people can afford to buy houses. The housing cooperatives have turned out to be a feasible way to get over the impasse. People are more keen to.invest in their own houses and the State has less of a financial burden. Is Housing Reform Necessary?

Since 1987, reform of the Chinese labour system has stepped out of the laboratory and into the real world of employment. For many, the " iron rice bowl " no longer exlsts. The " iron rice bowls " - a Chinese euphemism for government-assigned secure jobs that had been cherished for more than 30 years - were shattered. No accurate figure was available on how many workers have been laid off so far. But scattered reports offer a glimpse of the scope of unemployment. World of Warcraft power leveling, In 1987, World of Warcraft power leveling State-owned enterprises in Hubei Province laid off 14, 000 workers. Last summer, 30, 000 people in Shanghai were receiving unemployment pensions. The inauguration of a labour market at the Shenyang Steel Pipes Factory in Liaoning Province went unheraldedno firecrackers, no marching band, no bursts of applause. Instead of gaiety, weeping was heard at the perimeter of a small crowd of about 50 people witnessing the event. archlord money, Except for a few officials sitting at tables on the platform, archlord money everyone at the meeting had been laid off at the end of a work.optimization programme. They included labourers, cadres, technicians, Communist Party members, and even university graduates. The saddest were the eight ex-cadres who lost their executive jobs. Zhao yusheng, 46, was Party secretary of the No 2 workshop of the factory before he was laid off. He found another job on the labour market, loading and unloading trucks. He once served in the army and participated in battles. But this turn of events made him cry. aoc power leveling, "For more than 20 years I had been doing what the Party asked me to do, aoc power leveling " he said. "Now on the labour market I find I do not have any skills. I can only become a truck loader." For more than 30 years, unemployment in China has been regarded as an evil which labour planners have tried to avoid at all costs, The planners were once quite complacent about the solution--the "iron rice bowl". They were confident that a policy of "low salaries and broad employment" would end unemployment in China forever. aoc power leveling, But the " iron rice bowl " system was a dead-end. aoc power leveling Reluctantly,the planners.looked for another way.And even though it would cause pain and difficulties,they recommended a system that would permit laying off incompetent staff. That, they felt, would increase efficiency and give ailing enterprises a new lease on life. For workers affected, lay-off is a bitter pill which some simply cannot swallow. For more than 30 years, Chinese people have felt totally secure in their jobs. Now they are facing the possibility of losing their jobs, and many have reacted with panic and horror. last chaos gold, Fu Gangzhan, last chaos gold director of the Economic Development Research Institute of the East China University of Chemistry, has studied China's labour problems for many years. Two summers ago Fu and his colleagues conducted a survey of several thousand workers and entrepreneurs in Shanghai. Their purpose was to unveil the reality of unemployment in China. During the same period, economics professor Tao Zhaipu of the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou was also studying the employment actualities in China. 2moons gold, They came to the same conclusion almost at the same time: 2moons gold unemployment exists and has always existed in China. They found that there was a core of unemployed numbering between 15 million to 25 million people in the country. This range is almost the same as the entire populations of Australia and Canada. Ulike unemployment in developed countries, unemployment in China is generally hidden from view. The State spends 50 to 60 billion yuan ( $16.5 to $ 18.9 billion ) each year in the form of salaries, bonuses and other benefits supporting "iron rice bowl" workers who never actually earn a penny for their employers. This expenditure accounts for about 50 per cent of the profits handed over to the State by all the enterprises in the country. Is It Necessary to Keep the "Iron Rice Bowl"?

When 43-year-old Wang Longzhu stepped out of a beauty parlour in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province in East China, she felt all the people around were staring at her with admiration. She said, "Years ago, it would be unusual for a middle-aged woman like me to make up because Chinese women who have married and raised children usually do not care much about their appearance. "When I came home and looked in the mirror, I found myself younger and I felt relaxed and confident," she added. wow power leveling, Wang, an official of a pharmaceutical factory in Nanjing, wow power leveling believes a good appearance may leave people with a better impression in social contacts. She goes to the Nanjing Dongfang beauty parlour centre to have face massotherapy once a week. Founded three months ago, the centre has helped more than 100 middie-aged and older people to improve their appearance. Zhang Yahui, director of the centre, said, "Everyone gets old. But we can keep our youthful appearance longer through daily care." Middle-aged and older people in China are now breaking with the conventional idea and paying more attention to keeping fit and caring about their appearance. According to a shop assistant of the Taiping Department Store, who looks after a counter selling clothes specially for rniddle-aged and older people, more and more of her senior customers like to buy fashionable and bright-coloured clothes. The dark and grey uniforms which used to be popular among old people are now unsellable. He Minsheng, director of a city committee looking after affairs concerning the aged, said that when people are getting old, they often begin to feel useless and lose interest in life. The purpose of the committee is to help them overcome these iroubles. wow gold, He said the city has set up more than 400 recreational and sports organizations to promote various activities for older people. Early in the morning, wow gold old people can be found performing disco, qigong(a system of deep breathing exercises) and other exercises in gardens and parks. However, not all middle-aged and older people in China openly express their views about their wish to remain in good physical condition. A reporter from a local weekly aimed at senior citizens complained that about 1, 000 people signed for a recent healthcare exercise training course, but few of them are willing to be interviewed. The reporter said, "Maybe these people are still afraid of being laughed at. II. Read Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading. "New Fashions in Clothing Are Created Solely for the Commercial Exploitation of Women aoc gold, Whenever you see an old film, aoc gold even one made as little as ten years ago, you cannot help being struck by the appearance of the women taking part. Their hair- styles and make-up look dated: their skirts look either too long or too short: their general appearance is, in fact, slightly ludicrous. The men taking part in the film, on the other hand, are clearly recognizable. There is nothing about their appearance to suggest that they belong to an entirely different age. This illusion is created by changing fashions. Over the years, the great majority of men have successfully resisted all attempts to make them change their style of dress. The same cannot be said for women. Each year a few so-ca lled "top designers" in Paris or London lay down the law and women the whole world over rush to obey. The decrees of the designers are unpredictable and dictatorial. This year, they decide in their arbitrary fashion, skirts will be short and waists will be high; zips are in and buttons are out . Next year the law is reversed and far from taking exception, no one is even mildly surprised. If women are mercilessly exploited year after year, they have only themselves to blame. Because they shudder at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion, they are annually blackmailed by the designers and the big stores. Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be discarded because of the dictates of fashion. When you come to think of it, only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe packed full of clothes and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear. Changing fashions are nothing more than the deliberate creation of waste. Many women squander vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn. Women who cannot afford to discard clothing in this way, waste hours of their time altering the dresses they have. Hem-lines are taken up or let down; waist-lines are taken in or let out; neck-lines are lowered or raised, and so on. No one can claim that the fashion industry contributes anything really important to society. Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital things like warmth, comfort and durability. They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact that women will put up with any amount of discomfort, providing they look right. There can hardIy be a man who hasn,t at some time in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shivering in a flimsy dress on a wintry day, or delicately picking her way through deep snow in dainty shoes. archlord gold, When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion, archlord gold the conclusions to be drawn are obvious. Do the constantly changing fashions of women's clothes, one wonders, reflect basic qualities of fickleness and instability? Men are too sensible to let themselves be bullied by fashion clesigners. Do their unchanging styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability? That is for you to decide. 　 For Fashion-mad Youth Money Is No Object Young women in Beijing are showing a new look in fashions this year. They are wearing elegant long trouser-like skirts and loose pantalets with a connected top, both made of colourful satin, silk and polyester As a popular saying among young people in the capital nowadays goes - "Fashion for women and labels for men." Fashion had been lang neglected in Beijing. During the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), the city was filled with people clad in blue, grey, black and green. Army uniforms were the norm. Green caps, suits and coats were in vogue. But no longer. The drab look is no more. last chaos gold, Wherever there are shops, last chaos gold there are some that sell the latest fashions in garments a,nd shoes. Street pedlars and private clothing store owners have been trying to collect new designs from all over the country and to put them on display in ihe markets as soon as possible. Prominent Beijing garment companies such as Blue Sky, Leimeng and Zaocun have been replaced in popularity by Smart Garments Lrd, Wacoal Co. I.td. and De-Carty, all of which are joint ventures. Although their clothes are much more expensive than those in ordinary shops, they are selling very well. In the bus:tling night market of Xidan, one of the busiest shopping centres in Beijing, a young woman was heard commenting on a dress marked at 319 yuan. "It would cost three months of my salary, but it's really beautiful," she said. "It's very difficult for people like me who are living on fixed salaries to find som.ething satisfactory. What we like is extremely expensive, and what we can afford we dislike." A young woman shop assistant said she was attracted to a beautiful skirt one day, but gave up buying it because one of her colleagues had one just like it. "I want to be different," she said. Nike, Adidas and other world-famous sportswear and shoes have become fashionable among young men who are eager to be with the incrowd. A pair of shoes can set them back 160 yuan, more than a month's salary. "Young peop(e nowadays spend money like they had a hole in their pocket," said an elderly shop assistant. "They buy whatever they like regardless of the price. "I'm not against dressing well, but you have to survive." cd keys, On the fourth floor of the Wangfujing Department Store, cd keys a young man chose a 398-yuan dress for his girlfriend. "Since I run a beauty salon, I have no problem affording a coat like this," the man said casually. "Nowadays people like to start new things to distinguish themselves," a sociologist commented. "It is a psychological breakthrough. People try to preserve their own value and their personality." Make up, Dress up, Warm up, Brighten'up

Mckay: I think you're right. In fact, I'm sure that you are. 2. The Oldest People in the World Thousands of people in the world are a hundred years old--or more. There are about two thousand centenarians in Britain alone, and certain parts of the world are famous for the long lives of their inhabitants: Georgia in the Soviet Union, the Vilacamba Valley in Ecuador, and the home of the Hunzas in the Himalayas. But the oldest person in the world is Japanese. In 1983 Mr. wow power leveling, Shigechiyo Izumi, wow power leveling aged 118, held first place in The Guinness Book of Records . He was born on June 29th, 1865 and beat the previous record on his 114th birthday. Before Mr. Izumi broke the record, the longest life was that of an American woman, Mrs. Eveline Filkins. She lived for 113 years, 214 days, from 1815 to 1928. During her lifetime she saw the invention of the first camera, the first telephone, the first car, the first aeroplane and the first television. There are official papers to prove the date of birth of Mr. Izumi and Mrs. Filkins, but many other people claim to be as old or older. archlord gold, 3. The Secret of a Long Life Why do so many people live to a healthy old age in certain parts of the world? archlord gold What is the secret of their long lives? Three things seem to be very important: fresh air, fresh food and a simple way of life. People work near their homes in the clean, mount.ain air instead of travelling long distances to work by bus, car or train. They do not sit all day in busy offices or factories, but work hard outdoors in the fields. They take more exercise and eat less food than people in the cities of the West. For years the Hunzas of the Himalayas did not need policemen, lawyers or doctors. There was no crime, no divorce and not much illness in thier society. They were a happy, peaceful people, famous all over India for their long, healthy lives. 4. How Long Will You Live? Do you want to live to be a hundred? Here are some rules for success. First, choose your parents and grandparents carefully. If they lived to a good old age, so will you. Secondly, live in the right place. If you were not born in Georgia or Ecuador, there are other healthy places in the world, like East Anglia in Britain. Thirdly, c.hoose the right kind of job. Doctors, dentists and bus-drivers die young. Farmers, priests and orchestral conductors live much longer. If you are in the wrong kind of job, you can still improve your way of life. flyff gold, An old man in the Caucasus was talking about his past life. flyff gold "I was young then," he said, as he described his 87th year. His secret and his advice was: "Think young and stay young.?An old woman from Missouri, USA, gives this advice . "Drink a little whisky and some warm beer every day." An English lady centenarian just said, "Take a cold bath every morning." On her 102nd birthday Miss Julia Thompson 2xplained the secret of her long and happy life. "Never have anything to do with men," she said. The shortest, simplest piece of advice came from Mr.Jim Chapman, aged 103. "Just keep breathing," he told reporters. What about Mr. Izumi? "I watch TV," he said, "and I never worry." But do you really want to be a hundred? What's wrong with the old saying, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die."? last chaos money, 　 5. Colleges for Old People Blooming China has set up 916 colleges for senior citizens, last chaos money educating about 200,000 people in the pastfive years. The colleges offer more than 60 courses ranging from calligraphy, painting and gardening to qigong, massage and foreign languages. The students are mainly retired government functionaries but, according to an official from the Association of Colleges for the Elderly, the colleges are trying to serve senior citizens from the whole of society. Knight Gold, Some institutions are already giving courses in gardening, Knight Gold crop planting and animal husbandry to old people from the countryside. According to a poll conducted by the Harbin senior citizens college in China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang, of its first 200 graduates, 71 per cent had recovered from chronic diseases since their registration, and 85 per cent were "very confident" that they will live longer. Many of the students are again working for the society instead of being just consumers. During each semester, about 60 per cent of the students of the college serve society while studying. aion power leveling, 　 6. The Fulfilment of One's Dreams It's only natural to look forward to something better. aion power leveling We do it all our lives. Things may never really improve, but at least we always hope they will. It is one of life's great ironies that the longer we live, the less there is to look forward to. Retirement may bring with it the fulfilment of a lifetime's dreams. At last there will be time to do all the things we never had time for. From then on, the dream fades. Unless circumstances are exceptional, the prospect of growing really old is horrifying. Who wants to live long enough to become a doddering wreck? Who wants to revert to that most dreaded of all human conditions, a second childhood? Is the Prospect of Growing Old a Bleak One?