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　　About 500 years ago, the Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus proved the Earth was round．Now American author Thomas Friedman tells us the Earth is flat in his bestseller： The World Is Flat： A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century．

　　If he is not joking, then why is the world flat?Friedman owes it to technological forces．Because of the Internet and the World Wide Web, he believes geographical barriers are disappearing．Individuals and companies around the world can cooperate or compete on the same level．

　　Bill Gates explains the meaning of this transformation best．Thirty years ago, he tells Friedman, if you had to choose between being born a genius in Shanghai and an average person in Poughkeepsie(a city in southeast New York), you would have chosen Poughkeepsie because your chances of living a prosperous life were much greater there．“Now,”Gates says,“I would rather be a genius born in China than an average guy born in Poughkeepsie．”This shows that success today is determined more by ability than by location．

　　Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven by ambitious individuals： freelancers(自由撰稿人)and creative new businesses all over the world, especially in India and China．They can compete not just for low-wage manufacturing but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well．

　　Big companies have played another important role in this globalization process．They move their factories from one country to another to cut costs．It's usual now for an engineer in China to be working for an American company．The Internet keeps them in constant touch with their American parteners．People everywhere, from the US to China, have procedures of the same standard for getting their work done．

　　The Reuters news agency provides a good example．The company moved its operation offices from London and New York to India．The Indian employees have the necessary technical skills．But the salaries and office rents are less than one-fifth of what they would be in New York or London．

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　　“I don’t believe in Santa Claus!”Trogmire Troll announced．

　　Tremor Troll looked shocked．“Why not?”he asked．

　　“Because he never leaves me any gifts at all,”Trogmire growled．

　　Tremor thought about the evidence for a few seconds．“Maybe,”he suggested, “it’s because when Santa checked his list, your name wasn’t in the ‘nice’ column．”

　　“So, he could at least bring me a lump of coal!”Trogmire replied．“And,”he went on,“Troubled Troll doesn’t believe in Santa, either．”

　　“Right,”Tremor said,“because he saw his parents putting the ‘From Santa’ presents under the tree．But I know the truth about that．My mother found out from Troubled’s mother．When Troubled’s parents got an e-mail from Santa, saying that he would never bring Troubled another gift, they didn’t want to tell him the truth．So now they buy presents and pretend they’re from Santa．”

　　“What did Troubled do to get Santa so mad?”Trogmire questioned．

　　“I think it had something to do with the time he put glue paper all over the living room floor on Christmas Eve, and left a sign that said, ‘Trapped like a rat!’ hanging over the fireplace．”said Tremor．

　　“I guess Santa doesn’t have a sense of humour,”sighed Trogmire．“Well, at least I’m not the only one who Santa scratched off his name list．”

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　　Friday’s opening ceremony is expected to be followed by 35,000 spectators inside Stadio Olympic stadium and approximately 2 billion television viewers worldwide．International Olympic Committee(IOC)president Jacques Rogge is confident that the transportation problems are just last-minute glitches in the race for the first winter Olympics in Italy since Cortina DAmpezzo in 1956．While Turin itself and the surrounding mountain venues are ready for the action which gets underway for real on Saturday, the day after the opening ceremony, the biggest problem remains traffic headaches．

　　Getting the Italian drivers to respect the lanes reserved for Olympic vehicles is proving a problem as the 2,000 bus drivers have been drafted in from all around Italy and are also unfamiliar with the local roads．

　　“Like with all games, the final stretch is always the most difficult one,”said Rogge．“Here and there, a couple of issues need to be solved．But there are still a few days until the opening ceremony．I’m very confident these will be very good games．What is important is that the fundamentals are very good．There is no structural(基础设施)issue．There is nothing that cannot be solved in a matter of days．I’m confident everything will be done by the opening ceremony．”

　　The problem over doping controls has been resolved with Rogge signing the agreement reached with the Italian government which allows controls to be carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency(WADA)．Any athletes who are proved to have used dopes will receive severe punishment and may receive a life ban from taking part in Olympic Games．

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　　Last year my husband developed a terrible disease．Dale became fearful of going anywhere alone or of being alone as some of his seizures(发作)were quite severe, even putting him in the hospital on three separate occasions．

　　We decided that a trained medical service dog would greatly help Dale．It would be a companion for Dale, and the dog would be trained to stay with him．If he had a seizure, with a service dog beside a downed person, others could see and will be more likely to help．

　　A local person sold us a black Labrador puppy at a reduced price．Nevaeh was eight weeks old when we got her．At that point, we turned to the local papers for help．We hoped that getting Dale’s story out would help raise funds to pay for the puppy’s training．Dale has been on disability, and his need to have someone with him at all times means I can not work either．We don’t have a lot of money left over at the end of the month．

　　Fundraising started off with the help of family donations, but we had a long way to go．Then one day there was a knock at the door．I went to answer it; a stranger stood there holding the newspaper article about Dale in her hand．She introduced herself as June and told me that her daughter’s dog had warned her to a cancer she never knew she had, probably saving her life．Now, she felt obliged to help our dog because a dog had helped her．She shocked us when she gave us ＄100!We never expected such caring and kindness from a complete stranger．

　　Dale had been feeling the world didn’t care, but this help renewed his faith．The next thing that happened was that Dale emailed local vets, asking for care for our puppy．We received a response from Dr．Noonan, who has since provided Nevaeh’s care for free．The staff and the vet are the most loving, caring people we have met．They even helped us find a local trainer who cut the training costs by more than half．If it weren’t for such amazing people, Dale probably would have become a total recluse, feeling he could never go anywhere alone．

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　　Microwaves may be great at warming up food, but what about warming people?

　　Using microwaves to directly heat owners of a room would save much of the energy wasted by heating walls and furniture．And despite popular ideas about microwaves, this technique would be safe, according to Charles R．Burlier of the Microwave Research Center in Marlborough, New Hampshire．Low-power microwaves only penetrate(贯穿)the skin(low-power microwave penetration in a ham is about 0．2 inches, for example)and with no negative effects．

　　To test this idea, Buffler subjected himself to microwaves in a special room using a standard 500-watt, 2459 MHz magnetron(磁控管)．He found that a person will start to feel warmth at about 20 milliwatts per square centimeter(mw./sq.cm.); a satisfactory feeling of warmth occurs between 35 and 50mw．/sq.cm. By comparison, a person standing in noonday summer sun feels the amount of 85 mw．/sq.cm. And a frozen meat pie in your microwave oven receives about 1000 mw．/sq.cm.

　　In houses of the future, each room could be provided with its own magnetron, says Buffler．When you stepped into the living room, for example, a motion detector(运动感应器)would turn on the magnetron, filling the room with low-power microwaves．In the same way that a microwave oven heats up a hamburger, but not the plate it’s on, you would feel warmth from the microwaves without changing the temperature of your coffee table．(You could, however, make your favorite easy chair even more comfortable by treating it with a radiation-absorbing chemical．)

　　While it might be some time before homeowners are comfortable enough with the idea to set up whole-body microwave heaters in houses, Buffler says microwaves may attract livestock(家畜)farmers．Lambs that are born outdoors in winter, for example, are frequently lost to cold．Microwaves could warm the lambs safely and quickly．

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　　How to eat healthfully can be especially complex for working women who often have neither the desire nor the time to cook for themselves(or for anyone else)．Registered dietitian(营养专家)Barhara Morrissey suggests that a few simple rules can help．

　　“Go for nutrient dense foods,”she suggests,“foods that contain a multiple of nutrients．For example, select whole wheat bread as a breakfast food, rather than coffee cake．Or drink orange juice rather than orange drink, which contains only a small percentage of real juice-the rest is largely colored sugar water．You just can’t compare the value of these foods, the nutrient dense ones are so superior,”she emphasizes．

　　Morrissey believes that variety is not only the spice of life－it’s the foundation of a healthful diet．Diets which are based on one or two foods are not only virtually impossible to keep up the strength, they can be very harmful, she says, because nutrients aren’t supplied in sufficient amounts or balance．

　　According to Morrissey, trying to find a diet that can cure your illnesses, or make you superwoman is a fruitless search．As women, many of us are too concerned with staying thin, she says, and we believe that vitamins are some kind of magic cure to replace food．

　　“We need carbohydrates, protein and fat－they are like the wood in the fireplace．The vitamins and minerals are like the match, the spark, for the fuel,”she explains．“We need them all, but in a very different proportions．And if the fuel isn’t there, the spark is useless．”

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　　In only two decades Asian Americans have become the fastest growing U．S．minority．As their children began moving up through the nation schools, it became clear that a new class of academic achievers was emerging．Their achievements are reflected in the nation’s best universities, where mathematics, science and engineering departments have taken on a decidedly Asian character．This special liking for mathematics and science is partly explained by the fact that Asian-American students who began their education abroad arrived in the U．S．with a solid grounding in mathematics but little or no knowledge of English．They are also influenced by the promise of a good job after college．Asians feel there will be less unfair treatment in areas like mathematics and science because they will be judged more objectively．And the return on the investment in education is more immediate in something like engineering than with an arts degree．

　　Most Asian-American students owe their success to the influence of parents who are determined that their children take full advantage of what the American educational system has to offer．An effective measure of parental attention is homework．Asian parents spend more time with their children than American parents do, and it helps．Many researchers also believe there is something in Asian culture that breeds success, such as ideas that stress family values and emphasize education．

　　Both explanations for academic success worry Asian Americans because of fears that they feed a typical racial image．Many can remember when Chinese, Japanese and Filipino immigrants were the victims of social isolation．Indeed, it was not until 1952 that laws were laid down giving all Asian immigrants the right to citizenship．

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　　Telepathy is the ability to communicate without the use of the five senses(sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste)．It’s an instinct(本能)which can be woken up in times of emergency or need．When we feel that something is happening or about to happen by instinct, we’re using resources within the unconscious mind．When the resources of two persons’ unconscious minds link together into the same frequency, we call it Telepathy．

　　We can either send or receive Telepathy．If you know who is calling before you answer the ringing phone, you are probably a good receiver．If you think of a person and then he/she calls you, you are most likely to be better at sending．

　　You can easily put your abilities to the test．Think of somebody and will him or her to contact you．Be patient．The other person may not be a good receiver, but they should contact you much earlier than would normally be expected．Or whenever the phones rings, but try“feeling”who is contacting you．Don’t guess, but try to feel it with your mind．However, if neither of these work for you, that doesn’t mean that you have no ability of telepathy．As mentioned earlier, telepathy is most likely to turn up in case of emergency．

　　Telepathy dreams often contain telepathic messages．Two people may both dream of the other and find that their dreams had a clear connection．These people are probably linking to each other’s unconscious mind．

　　Telepathy & Relationships．The more people spend time together, the more likely they are to be able to link up to the other’s mind, specially when separated．There are two reasons for this．One is that they understand the other’s mind through time spent together; the other is that there is usually a strong desire to communicate．A mother will often sense that her child is in danger．This is due to the child’s eagerly wanting his or her mother, knowing that is the person who would always want to be there for them, and the mother’s deep desire to protect her child from harm．

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　　The German port of Hamburg has been offered ＄10,500 to change its name to“Veggieburg”by animal rights activists who are unhappy about the city's association with hamburgers．“Hamburg could improve animal welfare and bring kindness to animals by changing its name to Veggieburg,”the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA)wrote in a letter sent to Hamburg Mayor Ole yon Beust．The German branch of PETA, which has 750,000 members worldwide, said the organization would give Hamburg' s childcare facilities 10,000 euros worth of vegetarian burgers if the city changed its name．But city officials in Hamburg, Germany's second largest city which traces its roots to the ninth century, were unmoved．“I cannot afford to waste my time with this．I don't even want to look at nonsense like this,”said Klaus May, a city government spokesman．“But that doesn't mean we Hamburgers don' t have a sense of humor．”In its letter, PETA said the name Hamburg reminded people of“unhealthy beef patties(肉饼)made of dead cattle”．“Millions of people fall ill each year with deadly illnesses like heart disease, cancer, strokes and diabetes from eating hamburgers,”PETA said in the letter．

　　The original“hamburger steak”, a dish made of ground beef, traveled west with Germans to the United States in the 19th century．The first mention of“hamburgers”appeared on a menu in a New York restaurant in 1834．Some historians trace its beginning to a beef sandwich once popular with sailors in Hamburg．The city' s name“Hamburg”comes from the old Saxon words“ham”(bay)and“burg”(castle)．PETA recently made a similar offer to the U．S．town of Hamburg, New York．But their ＄15,000 bid was refused．

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