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　　A rock group called the Rocket Crew is on tour．Their agent(经纪人)has asked the town officials about Wilbour City on the tour．The stadium in the town is large enough to hold the expected crowd．Ticket sales in the area would be good because several towns are around Wilbour City．However, many people in the town don’t want a rock concert because they fear the damage the crowd might cause．To settle the problem about whether or not to invite the group to appear, the mayor took a poll(民意测验)．The results are：

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　　Animation means making things which are lifeless come alive and move．Since earliest times, people have always been astonished by movement．But not until this century have we managed to take control of movement, to record it, and in the case of animation, to retranslate it and recreate it．To do all this, we use a movie camera and a projector(放映机)．In the world of cartoon animation, nothing is impossible．You can make the characters do exactly what you want them to do．

　　A famous early cartoon character was Felix the Cat, created by Pat Sullivan in America in the early nineteen twenties．Felix was a wonderful cat．He could do all sorts of things no natural cat could do like taking off his tail, using it as a handle and then putting it back．Most of the great early animators lived and worked in America, the home of the moving picture industry．The famous Walt Disney cartoon characters came to life after 1928．Popeye the Sailor and his girl friend Olive Oyo were born at Max Ficischer in 1933．

　　But to be an animator, you don’t have to be a professional(专业人士)．It is possible for anyone to make a simple animated film without using a camera at all．All you have to do is to draw directly on to an empty film and then run the film through a projector．

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　　Tony Bennett, the American singer recently touring Britain, can’t remember how many times he has sung his standard hit “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”．He sang it again to his audience at the London Palladium last night．

　　“I never get tired of singing it,” he said, “I like it very much．It’s a great city and it’s a good song．”Bennett is to record a TV special with the American singer Lena Horne while he is here．And a new LP recorded by him in London for Philips titled “Listen Easy” will be published in June．“I like it here,” he added quietly over whiskey．“I would like to live here so many months of the year．”

　　He already keeps a large flat in Grosvenor Square, where he is staying with his actress wife Sandie Grant and their three-year-old daughter Joanna．It has a studio where he likes to paint．Tony plans to have his first exhibition later in the year and he has already sold one picture for ＄4000．At the end of the year Tony is to star in a musical film which has been specially written for him called “Two Bits”, an informal expression for 50 cents．It’s about an Italian immigrant(移民)who goes to America, but he becomes a failure．

　　“In many ways it’s very close to my life the way the story has been written,” said Bennett．

　　“My father, an Italian, was ill and died when I was nine．He always wanted me to sing, but he never lived long enough to be a part of my success．”

　　The film is to be made by Italy’s top director Vittoria De Sica．

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　　The Americans believe that anybody can become President of the United States．In a recent Hollywood comedy(喜剧), that is exactly what happens．

　　Dave Kovic, played by Kevin Kline, is a kind-hearted man who runs a business that finds people jobs．He leads a typical American way of life, except for one thing－he looks exactly like the President, Bill Mitchell．In fact, the only thing that makes him different from the nation’s leader is that he is very nice!

　　The President has started using look-alikes during some public appearances．Dave is offered a chance to “serve his country” by becoming one．However, things go wrong．The President becomes very ill and Dave ends up acting as the President forever．

　　Director Ivan Reitman, who made the popular and successful comedies like Twins, Ghostbusters and Legal Eagles, could have gone for easy laughs by making fun of the American government．Instead, Dave is an attractive comedy about an ordinary man in extraordinary situations．Kevin Kline gives a double performance as Dave and the President, and Sigourney Weaver is at her best as his First Lady．The love story that develops between her role and Dave is a real classic．

　　The film is 100％ American．However, if you’ve ever felt that anybody could do a better job running the country than the people in power, then you’ll enjoy Dave!

　　Following on from the deaths of three people in Fujian Province over the past two days as a result of the storm, the landslide happened in Minhou County of Fujian’s provincial capital, Fuzhou, China Central Television reported．

　　Heavy rains brought by the typhoon caused the hillside to give way above the buildings where the students were staying, sweeping them away．President Hu Jintao yesterday made a phone call and asked for every effort to be made to find the missing．

　　Typhoon Longwang, which means dragon king in Chinese, raged(狂吹)across Taiwan on the weekend before moving on to Fujian．

　　About 537 000 people had been moved to safety, officials said, and 2.46 million people were affected(受到影响)．Although downgraded to a tropical depression yesterday, Longwang had already damaged 60 000 hectares of crops, with 12 500 “completely damaged,” Xinhua reported．

　　Economic damage was estimated at 1.2 billion yuan(US＄150 million)．

　Downpours from the typhoon, the 19th to hit China this year, began at noon on Sunday in Fuzhou and lasted for 14 hours, dumping 111 millimetres, according to the provincial meteorological bureau．The rain paralyzed Fuzhou’s transport system．Pools of water on the main streets were about 70 centimetres deep．

　　The meteorological bureau reported that Longwang first struck Weitou town, Jinjiang city, with winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour at its centre．

　　The previous typhoons to hit China’s coastal areas this year caused 188 deaths and losses totalling 73.8 billion yuan(US＄9 billion), according to official figures．

　　(Adapted from China Daily 10/04/2005)

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　　Personal computers and the Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time．

　　Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members, but new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care most about．I know this from personal experience．E-mail makes it easy to work at home, which is where I now spend most weekends and evenings．My working hours aren’t necessarily much shorter than they once were but I spend fewer of them at the office．This lets me share more time with my young daughter than I might have if she’d been born before electronic mail became such a practical tool．

　　The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends．Say you do something fun see a great movie perhaps－and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it．If you call each one, you may tire of telling the story．

　　With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience, and address it to all the friends you think might be interested．They can read your message when they have time, and read only as much as they want to．They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience．

　　E-mail is also an inexpensive way stay in close touch with people who live far away．More than a few parents use E-mail to keep in touch, even daily touch, with their children off at college．

　　We just have to keep in mind that computers and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch．They don’t take the place of any of the old ways．

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Italian Lakes and Greek Islands(12 Days)

　　Prices starting from ＄1999

　　Your tour begins in Milan, Italy, and moves on to the pretty Italian Lake District and the attractive resort(胜地)of Stresa, your home for two nights．Collette Vacations has carefully chosen the Costa Victoria as your home away from home for your 7-night journey along the waterways of the Mediterranean．The cruise ship is filled with the warmth and culture of Italy and is richly designed with entertainment(娱乐)areas and very good living conditions．It will take you to the places of your dreams．

　　You’ll spend 4 days touring Greek cities you’ve always heard about．In Katakolon, you will have the only unguided tour to nearby Olympia on the whole journey．Then with a local guide you will visit the Greek islands of Santorini, which is often related to the story of the lost city of Atlantis, and Mykonos, a wonderful island with beautiful beaches．

　　Your journey ends in Verona, home of the love story Romeo and Juliet, with a fun-filled farewell dinner－a perfect ending to a pleasant journey．

　　12 Days,25 Meals：10 Breakfasts,6 Lunches,9 Dinners?

　　Day 1

　　Overnight flight to Italy

　　Days 2-3

　　Regina Palace, Stresa, Italy

　　Days 4-10

　　Costa Victoria(Costa cruises)

　　Day 11

　　Hotel Leopardi, Verona, Italy

　　Day 12

　　Leave for home

　　Please Note：

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　　Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span．

　　“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),”said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future．“I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate(保守的估计)．”

　　At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术)make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past．“There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said．“Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years．”

　　However, many scientists who specialize in ageing are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years．Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death．

　　Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live．“It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre．“At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all．”

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　　Tokyo is one of those places that you can love and hate at the same time．

In Tokyo there are always too many people in the places where I want to be．Of course there are too many cars．The Japanese drive very fast, but in Tokyo they often spend a long time in traffic jams(拥挤)．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．But the streets near the Ginze 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．

　　During the day, most people travel to and from work by train．Tokyo people buy six million train tickets every day．At most stations, trains arrive every two or three minutes, but at certain hours there do not seem to be enough trains．Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good．They always leave and arrive on time．On a London train you would see everybody reading a newspaper．In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep, whether his journey is long or short．

　　In Tokyo, I stood outside the station for five minutes．Three fire-engines(消防车)race past on the way to one of the many fires that Tokyo has every day．Tokyo has so many surprises that none of them can really surprise me now．

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　　Tim Berners-Lee is the man who wrote the software(软件)programme that led to the foundation of the World Wide Web．Britain played an important part in developing the first generation(第一代)of computers．The parents of Tim Berners-Lee both worked on one of the earliest commercial(商业的)computers and talked about their work at home．As a child he would build models of computers from packaging material．After graduating from Oxford University he went on to the real thing．In the 1980’s, scientists were already using a primitive version(原始版本)of E-mail．While working at a laboratory in Switzerland Tim Berners-Lee wrote a programme which let him store these messages．In 1990 he wrote the HTTP(服务程序所用的协议)and HTML

　　(超文本链接标示语言)programmes which form the basis of the World Wide Web．

　　The next year his programmes were placed on to the Internet．Everyone was welcome to use them and improve them if they could．Programmers used his codes(编码)to work with different operating systems(系统)．New things like web browsers(浏览器)and search engines were developed．Between 1991 and 1994 the number of web pages? rose from 10 to 100 000．

　　In 1994 Tim Berners-Lee formed the newly formed World Wide Web Consortium(协会)or W3C．More than 200 leading companies and laboratories are represented(代表)by W3C．Together they make sure that everyone can participate(参加)equally on the Web．