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　　Maps and statistics can tell us a lot about where a country is headed．Take the US Census Bureau's latest findings on American cities．They show that for the first time since 1900, Detroit is not on the list of the Top 10 most populous US cities．In its place is San Jose, California．

　　Detroit has been the long-time centre of the US auto industry, but in the past few years the "Big Three" US automakers－General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler － have closed plants and laid off workers．With the factory closings and huge job losses, Detroit cannot collect enough tax revenue to pay its bills, forcing it to close schools and lay off city workers．Cutbacks then cause others to flee the city．

　　"It's part of a pattern for the heavily industrialized cities," says Dana Johnson, an economist in Detroit．"There's been an ongoing dynamic(变化)here of people fleeing the city looking for better schools, better lifestyles, better services．"

　　Detroit is hardly alone．After World War II, the US was the world's leading manufacturer．Cars, televisions, toys, and clothing made in America were exported around the world．As a result, the well-paid factory workers formed the backbone of a rising middle class．In the last three decades, the US economy has changed．Companies have moved factories overseas to take advantage of lower wages in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe．

　　Where are people who leave the northeast and midwest going?They are moving south and west, another broad trend．In general, people are moving to where it's warmer, less expensive and less crowded, or where jobs are more plentiful in growing service industries like health care, in the technology sector, or in factories that moved from the northeast or midwest．

　　In a sense, the computer chips of San Jose, the new 10th largest city, in the heart of what is known as Silicon Valley, have replaced the sheet metal and molten steel of Detroit as the symbol of American economic power．

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　　Tony Morrison has won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature．Tony Morrison is sixty-two years old．She was born in Lorain, Ohio．She is the daughter of farmers who moved to Ohio from the southern state of Alabama．She studied at Harvard University in Washington D．C．and Cornell University in Ithaca, New York．

　　Her first success came in 1970 with the book called The Bluest Eye．It tells the story of a young black girl in a society where golden hair and blue eyes are considered beautiful．Her next book was called Sulla．It tells the story of two black girls and pain in their lives as they grow up in a small town in Ohio．Her book The Song of Solomon is about a black man who tries to forget his past as a slave and begin a new life．And Tar Baby explores the relationship of a black man and a black woman．In the story the writer argues that black men and women can not get along with each other until they join together to fight racial hatred(种族仇视)．

　　Miss Morrison won America’s highest prize for literature, the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her book Beloved．It is a powerful story of a slave woman who kills her baby daughter so she will not grow up to be a slave, too．Her latest book Jazz was published last year．It tells about the sad stories in the lives of a black man and woman who moved from a small town in the south to New York City．It took place in the 1920s, a time when Jazz music became popular in America．

　　Tony Morrison is a professor in literature at Princeton University in New Jersey．She says the most wonderful thing about winning the Nobel Prize is that it has finally been awarded to an African American writer．The prize is valued at more than 800 000 dollars．It will be awarded on Dec．10 in Stockholm in Sweden．