People are talking about the “new economy”．It's very different from the “old economy”．

　　In the old economy, people travel to work．They buy things in stores．They use the post office, the fax and the telephone to send information．They see people face to face at their jobs or in stores．People get information from newspapers, radio, television, books and libraries．

　　In the new economy, people do business through the “Net”, which is a connection of millions of computers everywhere in the world．In the new economy, workers often work at home．They can get information on line．They can communicate with employers and co-workers by e-mail．Businesses have “virtual (虚拟的) stores”．They are web sites on which customers can see the products．Businesses can sell to customers anywhere in the world．

　　In the new economy, people live a fast-paced, convenient and colorful life．The whole world develops more quickly than before．But the new economy is a double edge sword(双刃剑)．Its disadvantage is also obvious．For example, the Internet has led to a huge increase in credit card(信用卡)cheating．Some illegal websites offer some cheap or banned(禁止的)goods or services．On-line shoppers who enter their credit card information may never receive the goods they want to buy and their card information could even be for sale in an illegal website．So people in the new economy should be smarter and more knowledgeable．

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阅读理解

　　In the old days, children were familiar with birth and death as part of life．Now this is perhaps the first generation of American youngsters who have never been close by during of the birth a baby and have never experienced the death of a family member．

　　Nowadays when people grow old, we often send them to nursing homes．When they get sick, we send them to a hospital, where children are forbidden to visit terminally(晚期的)in patients-even when those patients are their parents．This deprives(剥夺)the dying patient of family members during the last few days of his life and it deprives the children of an experience of death, which is an important learning experience．

　　Some of my colleagues and I once interviewed and followed about 500 terminally in order to find out what they could teach us and how we could be of more benefit, not just to them but to the members of their families as well．We were most impressed by the fact that even those patients who were not told of their serious illness were quite aware of its potential(潜在的)outcome．

　　It is important for family members, and doctors and nurses to understand these patients'communication in order to truly understand their needs, fears and fantasies(幻想)．Most of our patients welcomed another human being with whom they could talk openly, honestly, and frankly about their trouble．Many of them shared with us their great need to be informed, to be kept up-to-date on their medical condition and to be told when the end was near．We found out that patients who had been dealt with openly and frankly were better able to cope with the coming of detach and finally to reach a true stage of acceptance before death．

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