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　　Sabine Island, Greenland, was first discovered by the British geographer Sir Edward Sabine in 1823, but an 1869 map showed it was actually a quarter of a mile farther west than its discoverer had mapped．This interested Alfred Wagener, a young geographer working in Greenland in 1910．He thought the error was too great to be explained．

　　Wagener himself took measurements and found that since 1869 the island had moved another five－eighths of a mile．After checking the position of other Arctic landmasses, he concluded that all of them were drifting western at different speeds．

　　From this finding, Wagener developed his floating continent theory．He imagined an original super－continent making up the infant earth, finally the mass broke up into several pieces－the present continents．The continents do seem to fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and what's more, some of the mountain ranges of different continents line up rather well, as if the landmasses were at one time connected．However, believable as Wagener's argument appeared, many geographers refused to accept it．Exactly how the continents were formed is still leading mystery in geography, though today many geographers are returning to the continental drift theory．

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　　Christopher Columbus was a great sailor．He was born and grew up in Genoa, one of the oldest European seaports．As a youth he made several voyages in the Mediterranean, where the greatest seamen of ancient times were born．

　　At the age of twenty－four, by lucky chance, he was thrown into Lisbon, the center of European oceanic activities．There, while employed partly in making charts and partly on long voyages under the Portuguese flag, he thought over the great enterprise(事业)that few but a sailor would have planned, and none but a sailor could have completed．

　　His idea was to reach“The Indies”－Eastern Asia by sailing west．It took about ten years to get support for this plan, and he never did complete it because a vast continent stood in the way．America was discovered by Columbus purely by accident and was named for another man．We now honor Columbus for doing something that he never intended to do and never knew that he had done．

　　Yet we are right in so honoring him, for he had the persistence(坚韧)，the knowledge, and the courage to sail thousands of miles into an unknown ocean to make the most splendid and most far－reaching geographical discovery in recorded human history．

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　　In the eighteenth century young ladies in Italy were taught reading, writing music and arithmetic．But their knowledge of history and geography was very poor．

　　Once the French ambassador in Rome was giving a ball to which many important people were invited．The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs came very late．A young lady, who was well acquainted with him, saw him enter the ball－room and asked why he was so late．

　　“You see,”said the Minister,“there has been a little accident at the King's palace．”

　　The curious young lady asked the Minister to tell her what had happened at the King's palace．

　　“Oh, nothing important,”answered the Minister．“The ambassador(大使)of Brazil, who was to be presented to the King, forgot to take his credentials(国书)with him and was obliged to go back to his hotel to bring them．If he had left them in Brazil we should have had to wait at least six months for them．”

　　“Is Brazil so far from Rome?”asked the lady, who knew very little geography．

　　“It's in the New World,”said the Minister．

　　“In the New World?”repeated the lady in great astonishment．

　　“Yes, in the New World,”answered the Minister in a sarcastic(讥讽的)tone,“which was discovered by Christopher Columbus．”

　　When the young lady heard this, she rushed into the middle of the ball－room and shouted as loud as she could：

　　“Ladies and gentlemen, have you heard the latest news?A new world has just been discovered by a certain Christopher Columbus．”

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　　The opinion of many engineers is that the architects(建筑学家)that designed the New York World Trade Center Twin Towers did a good job in designing the buildings．The buildings were safe from the hazards envisioned(预想到的)at the time．Indeed, they were designed to withstand(承受)the force of aircraft that might crash into them．They were not, however, designed to withstand the effects of the very high temperatures generated by the ignition(点燃)of tons of aviation(航空)fuel carried by the aircraft．

　　Steel lightly covered with concrete is the main structural component of the towers and steel loses a lot of structural strength when heated to 1,100 degrees Centigrade and beyond, as it was．To shield the steel the tower's beams were coated with a few centimeters of concrete．That insulation was to provide structural integrity for at least 1 hour of fire．The towers met that test．The south tower lasted 62 minutes．The north 103 minutes．Tragedy followed when not all could escape prior to the collapse(坍塌)．

　　Most experts agree that the Twin Towers were very well－designed．Many also agree that the people planning the attacks were very knowledgeable and aimed the aircraft at a height that would effect the most damage．The aircraft crash and the resulting fuel fed fires were aimed at about the 90th floor．That was just high enough to insure that the upper floors would weaken with the heat and crack down, dropping into the remaining part of the building．

　　The mass of the falling top floors created such a falling load that some experts estimate it exceeded by 5 to 10 times normal bearing loads．The effect was like a giant hammer, each floor contributing more weight to be born by the next floor down．

　　Were the Trade Towers well designed?Engineers say yes．But the public believes that architects will never again design a tall building without considering the effects of terrorist attacks of all potential kinds．That not only includes the ability of the structure to withstand attack but the means to allow the buildings occupants to escape in time to survive．

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　　LONDON(Reuters)－Ecotourism(生态旅游)is causing a lot of damage to wildlife and may be endangering the survival(生存)of the very animals people are flocking to see, according to researchers．

　　Biologists and conservationists(自然环境保护论者)are worried because polar bears, dolphins, penguins and other creatures are getting stressed and losing weight and some are dying．

　　“Evidence(证据)is growing that many animals do not react well to tourists in their back yard．”New Scientist magazine said．

　　The immediate effects researchers have noticed are changes in behavior, heart rates, or stress hormone levels but they fear it could get much worse and over the long term“could endanger the survival of the very wildlife they want to see”．

　　Although money produced through ecotourism, which has been growing at about 10～30 percent a year, has major benefits for poor countries and people living in rural areas, the Swiss-based World Conservation Union and some governments fear not all projects are audited(审计)and based on environmentally friendly policies, according to the magazine．

　　“The transmission(传播)of disease to wildlife, or small changes to wildlife health through disturbance of daily life or increased stress levels, while not obvious to the casual observer, may translate to lower survival and breeding．”said Philip Seddon, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand．

　　Scientists have noticed that bottleneck dolphins along the northeastern coast of New Zealand become nervously excited when tourist boats arrive．Similar changes in behavior have been observed in polar bears and yellow－eyed penguins in areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies．

　　Conservationists are now calling for more research into the effect of ecotourism on animals and say the industry must be developed carefully．They also want studies done before new ecotourism projects are started．

　　“The animal's welfare should be very important because without them there will be no ecotourism．”said Rochelle Constantine of the University of Auckland in New Zealand．

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　　The other day Mr．White went“home”to his sister's house．It's her home now; but it's also the house he was born in．Pat, his sister kissed him and said,“You haven't changed much, White．Let me see now－when did we meet last?”

　　“Twenty－five years ago,”he answered．“I came here for a week, do you remember?”he added,“You haven't changed either．”It was polite for White to say so, but it wasn't true．Pat seemed almost an old lady．

　　The next morning White walked through the village alone．The place looked very different．There were lots of traffic signs on the roads and beside the roads．There was a new car park, a new post office, a new bus stop．He remembered suddenly that the bus used to stop anywhere：You just put up your hand and it stopped．One surprise followed another．The railway station was gone!The school was gone; a lot of farm machinary stood in the playground!

　　But White's biggest surprise was the people．He didn't recognize anybody at all, perhaps because everyone seemed old．He went into the post office and bought some stamps．“Where are all the children and young people?”he asked the postmaster．

　　The old fellow looked up from his book of stamps, “Children?”he said,“They are in school, of course．There are three or four young families here．The children go to school by bus to Horham．”

　　Horham was a town about twenty kilometres away．

　　At lunch Pat said,“The village looks nice, doesn't it?”

　　“It's all different, Pat．It used to be an exciting place, but now it's full of old people．I don't understand．”

　　“There are a few newcomers, but the ones we knew are still here．You are not exactly young yourself, White, are you?”

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　　Can trees talk?Yes, but not in words．Scientists have reasons to believe that trees do communicate(交际)with each other．Not long ago, researchers learned some surprising things．First, a willow tree(杨柳)attacked in the woods by caterpillars(毛毛虫)changed the chemistry of its leaves and made them taste so terrible that they got tired of the leaves and stopped eating them．Then even more surprising, the tree sent a special vapour－a signal causing its neighbours to change the chemistry of their own leaves and make them less tasty．

　　Communication, of course, doesn't need to be in words．We can talk to each other by smiling, raising our shoulders and moving our hands．We know that birds and animals use songs, sounds and movements．Bees dance their signals flying in certain patterns that tell other bees ways．So why shouldn't trees have ways of sending messages?

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　　Bill Gates, the head of the world's biggest computer software company, the Microsoft Corporation, has an ambition,“Put computers on every office desk and in every home．”Bill Gates has had this ambition since he was a university student nineteen years ago．This deep personal interest, together with his technical and business marketing skills helped him to create a giant computer company and to make him wealthy．

　　Although he is so wealthy, Bill Gates does not want to give up．He is still very interested in his vision(远见)and he travels the globe, from Beijing to London, making quick stops in cities to sell the new software products of his company．

　　The central vision of Bill Gates is the“information highway”．This is a network of computers that will link every home, office and shopping mall in the future．This computer network system will have an effect on business, shopping and education．Bill Gates says that the main use of this new technology will be in communication．It will be a way to find people with common interests and to share opinions with them．

　　But is this communication by computer along the“information highway”really a good thing?Won't we be sitting at home, only“socializing”with our computer, paying big companies money so that we can receive information that some large communication corporation some where has decided and that is“acceptable”for us to read?No, says Bill Gates, who thinks that the phrase“information highway”is a terrible phrase．It makes people think that we are all going down the same road, he says．In fact, the computer network will let us choose our own intellectual direction．It will give us freedom．It will also bring good to society, because it will allow for the spread of education．When more and more people receive education, the gap between the rich and the poor will narrow．

　　In the meantime, however, the gap between the rich and the poor is still there．To be added to this now is the gap between those with computers and those without．

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　　Part of David's heart muscle grew thick and stiff, keeping the flow of blood．The disease David had lived with for 17 years was slowly strangling(抑制)his heart．

　　The doctor explained that the traditional treatment was open－heart surgery(＝operation)．

　　That night Flora bent forward in front of her computer; everybody else was asleep．For the prize, or keeping her husband alive?To do that, she needed to search for the data(资料)：a place and someone to fix David's damaged heart．And she needed to be lucky．

　　Finally, she found them on a magazine's website(网址)．She began printing articles．When David came into the study early in the following morning, she said,“I've found it,”and handed him the papers．

　　David wondered if there was any other way．then he thought about his wife and kids．He stared at the papers．Only he could make the choice：should he have the same surgery that had killed his father, or the one that no one was sure works?This experimental treatment might be his best hope．

　　The operating theatre was kept freezing cold．David was not frightened, just nervous．He felt a burning pain, like a burning knife cutting through his heart…

　　On the EKG screen, the tiny valley in the middle of each peak(＝pointed top of a mountain)－David's disease－smoothed out．For the first time in years, he had a normal arterial pressure．“That's the most unusual thing,”said Flora, excited by the result．

　　Three days later, David and Flora drove home after the flight from Houston．Their kids ran out to meet them．

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　　On October 12,1989, some Chinese scientists were working at the computer to look for information they needed．Suddenly they saw a lot of very bright spots crossing the computers' screens．At the same time the computer were working much slower．To find out what was happening they stopped their work to check some parts of the computers．To their horror, they found out that most of their stored information was got rid of by computers viruses(病毒)！Obviously all these computers had been infected by computer viruses．

　　It is said that the computer viruses were made by a group of young men fond of playing tricks．They all had excellent education．They created the viruses just to show their intelligence．These kinds of computer viruses are named Jerusalem(耶路撒冷)Viruses．These viruses can stay in computers for a long time．When the time comes they will attack the computers by lowering the functions, damaging their normal programs or even getting rid of all the information．

　　We now come to know that Jerusalem Viruses often attack computers of Friday and that they are spreading to a lot of computers．Among the countries that suffered computer viruses last year are Britain, Australia, Switzerland and the U．S．But till now, how to get rid of the terrible viruses remains a problem．

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