阅读理解

　　The young Mother set her foot on the path of life．“Is this a long way?” she asked．And her guide said, “Yes, and the ways are hard．And you will be old before you reach the end of it．But the end will be better than the beginning．”

　　The young Mother had her golden days．She played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams, and the sun shone on them．

　　Then the night came, and the storm．The children shook with fear and cold, the Mother drew them close and covered them with blankets, the children said, “Mother, we are not afraid, for you are with us．”

　　When the morning came, there was a hill ahead．The children climbed and grew tired．Now and then the Mother said to the children, “A little patience and we are there．”So the children climbed, when they reached the top they said, “Mother, we would not have done it without you．”Lying down at night, the Mother looked up at the stars and said, “This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned how to face hardship．Yesterday I gave them courage．Today I have given them strength．”

　　The next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth－clouds of war, hate and evil, and the children got frightened and shook all over，the Mother said, “Look up．Lift your eyes to the light．”The children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, it guided them beyond the darkness．That night the Mother said, “This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children hope．”

　　The days went on and the Mother grew old．She was little and bent while her children were tall and strong．When the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather, and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and a golden gate open wide．

　　The Mother said, “I have reached the end of my journey．Now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone．”The children stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gate closed after her．They said, “We cannot see her, but she is with us still．She is a living presence．”

　　Mother is always with you．She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street, she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks, and she's the cool hand on your forehead when you're not well．Your Mother lives inside your laughter and your tear drops．She's your first home and she's the map you follow．Nothing on earth can separate you．

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　　A train that floats on air? It's not magic－it's magnets(磁)．And it's close to reality．

　　In Virginia USA the fall of 2002, a train with no wheels traveled on air and carried college students across their campus．In Japan, a whisper-quiet railway engine hovered and raced at 350 miles per hour using magnets and electricity as the power．And in China, a magnet train line linked Shanghai with nearby Pudong Airport．

　　These trains use magnetic levitation(悬浮)technology, “maglev” for short．They use the same rules as the magnets you pick up at home or school：opposite poles of magnets attract each other, and like poles repel each other．

　　How does it work?

　　Powerful magnets on the bottom of train repel magnets on the track, which is actually just a magnet-filled guiding way．With a magnetic field of sufficient force, the train will go hovering on air, which seemed impossible to us in the past．

　　When an electrical current is sent through the track, the train moves．Turn the current backwards and the train slows down．

　　Maglev doesn't rely on the friction(摩擦力)of wheels on track, so it can climb a much steeper hill than a traditional train．And it can travel easily in snow and ice, something that could bring normal trains to a screaming stop．

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　　In Google's vision of the future, people will be able to translate documents instantly into the world's main languages, with machine logic, not expert linguists, leading the way．

　　Google's approach, called statistical(统计的)machine translation, differs from past efforts in which it does without language experts who program grammatical rules and dictionaries into computers．Instead, they feed documents humans have already translated into two languages and then rely on computers to decide patterns for future translations．

　　While the quality is not perfect, it is an improvement on previous efforts at machine translation, said Franz Och, 35, a German who heads Google's translation effort at its Mountain View headquarters south of San Francisco．“Some people who have been in machine translations for a long time see our Arabic-English output, and then they say, that's amazing, that's a breakthrough，”said Och．“And then other people who have never seen what machine translation was read through the sentence and they say, the first mistake here in Line Five－it doesn't seem to work because there is a mistake there．”

　　But for some tasks, a mostly correct translation may be good enough．Speaking over lunch this week in a Google cafeteria famed for offering free, healthy food, Och showed a translation of an Arabic Web news site into easily digestible English．

　　Two Google workers speaking Russian at a nearby table said, however, that a translation of a news site from English into their native tongue was understandable but a bit awkward．Och, who speaks German, English and some Italian, feeds hundreds of millions of words from parallel texts such as Arabic and English into the computer, using United Nations and European Union documents as key sources．

　　Languages without considerable translated texts, such as some African languages, face greater obstacles．“The more data we feed into the system, the better it gets，”said Och, who moved to the United States from Germany in 2002．

　　The program applies statistical analysis, an approach he hopes will avoid diplomatic embarrassing mistakes in diplomatic situations, such as when Russian leader Putin's translator annoyed then German Chancellor(总理)Gerhard Schroeder by calling him the German “Fuhrer(“leader” in English)，”which is forbidden in that context because of its association with Adolf Hitler．

　　“I would hope that the language model would say, well, Schroeder is…very rare but Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schroeder is probably 100 times more frequent than Fuhrer and then it would make the right decision．”Och said．

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　　Sir William Osler has a few words for you：“In the life of a young man the most essential thing for happiness is the gift of friendship．”Truer words were never spoken．For what more could you ask than comradeship during the peaks and valleys of life? To whom else but a close, valuable friend can you brag(吹)about your successes and complain about your failures or losses?

　　What is a “good friend”? How is he best described? Well, it has been my observation that although many will cry with you, few can sincerely rejoice with you．Therefore, in my opinion, a good friend is one who can enjoy your successes without envy; one who can say, “That was wonderful! You can do it again, even better if you want!” and mean it．Nothing taxes a friendship more than the prosperity of one and not the other．Even the closest of friendships(and marriages)often cannot resist such pressure and fail．No wonder many minor friendships go down the drain(每况愈下)for the same reason．

　　A person of good character and sound moral fiber, of honor and humor, courage and belief is a friend to be sought and treasured－for there are few．Too often do we hear, “If yon can count your good friends on more than one hand．consider yourself blessed．”And even then I would add, “Even if you have lost two fingers of that hand to the electric saw．”

　　What makes a friendship last? Well, I don't know all the answers, but one of my observations is that most good friends usually have similar tastes．They generally like and dislike many of the same things．There also usually seems to exist a similarity of personality traits－especially in the fundamental values of life such as honesty, sincerity, loyalty, and dependability．More often than not, birds of a feather do fly together．I don't think it matters a lot whether one prefers jazz or hockey to another's Mozart or ballet．Much other matters far more：confiding(倾诉), relying, sharing, giving, getting, enjoying; a sympathetic ear always there; criticism when it can help; praise－even if only because it would help．With not many people on this earth will you find this much in common．When you find one, hang on to him, for a good friend found is a rare treasure．

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　　A group of Canberra women is doing its best to stop babies born with AIDS in poor countries being sent home wrapped in newspaper．The women, residents of Weston Creek's Araluen Retirement Village, want to give these babies, from many different countries, a better start in life．

　　The women's work is adding to about 59, 000 jumpers already sent to poor communities in Vanuatu, Ethiopia, Romania, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe．People from Australia, and now Britain, have united together to form the Knitting Circle for Newborn AIDS Babies and keep the bodies of newborn babies warm．Communities in Peru, South America and Vietnam have requested jumpers made by the knitting circle, indicating that there is still more to do, so founders Lyn and Ken Begley have been working hard to get more people donating to the project．

　　According to UNAIDS, 4.1 million people were newly infected and 570, 000 children died from HIV in 2005 worldwide．The Melbourne couple's attention was drawn to such figures, and concern for the living conditions of babies in the African country of Malawi rose after the media reported that the American singer Madonna had adopted a Malawian AIDS orphan．Their concern led them to start the knitting circle by asking for hand-made jumpers, wool, yarn and coin donations for shipping costs．Araluen Village resident and Canberra Quilters member Sister Elizabeth Lusby brought the idea to the Village because she was concerned for the babies．

　　“It was just the miserable story of the poor little babies going hone in newspaper．It's awful．”Sister Lusby said．“I just left some copies of the information on the notice board and said if you want to help, you can, and lots of people did．”Craft director Lynn Stead said helping people through knitting was not new for Araluen Village residents．Their handiwork raised hundreds of dollars for local charities each year．

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　　Fitness isn't just physical：Change your thoughts, and you change your world．Of course we can all agree that gaining and losing weight, exercise, diet, strength, and flexibility are all a part of fitness．But what about body image, self-esteem, aging, relationships, success and happiness? They are all related, all connected, and fitness in all areas is important if you want true and total fitness．

　　But you may say, “I just want to lose 20 pounds．If I do, I will feel better about myself and I will be happy．”Maybe in the short term, but honestly, if we don't deal with our mental and emotional fitness while working on the physical fitness, there is very little chance of keeping the weight off, feeling good about yourself, and improving every other area of your life．

　　Let's not waste time in changing our bodies when they will only change back if we don't change our minds, too．Let's work “out” and work “in” at the same time．Change your mind－and you must, because if you have been trying to lose weight, but cannot, there is something inside of you that is disallowing it．You can change this pattern, improve your self-esteem, increase your joy, and change your body for good by focusing on changing your mind, too．This is training of life．

　　Work-ins will recondition your mind, improve your attitude, change your perception(观念)and stimulate motivation(动机)at the same time you are conditioning your body for weight loss, shaping, strength and endurance．

　　If you repeat a positive statement over and over to yourself－like a mantra, your mind will change, the same way your body does, even if you don't believe it．Like lifting a weight over and over, your muscle changes－even if you don't believe it．

　　Try it－what have you got to lose? Say, “I am ready for my body to be healthier, leaner, and stronger．I love it already．”Say it over and over while you are walking or running or doing any exercise．Pick a statement that works for you－something positive and in the present tense．

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No．1

4．02．07 2, 465 applicants admitted：The Office of Undergraduate Admission announced last week that 2,465 freshman applicants have been admitted to Stanford for the 2007～8 academic year．

No．2

4．03．07________：Political science Professor Terry L．Karl and Graduate School of Business Professor James M．Patell will receive the 2007 Miriam Aaron Roland Volunteer Service Prize at the fourth annual Community Partnership Awards Luncheon on May 9．

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　　So often our needs are defined by things that don't get us much：the comfort of having lots of stuff, the image we want to portray, the social pressure to appear to be rich, the fantastic idea of having something new for its own sake, like a new car or new TV or the latest fashion．For years, we have spoken to our customers about the difference between fashion and style．We've tried our best to encourage style and reinforce the concept that style isn't fashion．It comes from your imagination and is developed slowly．It's re-lection of your values．

　　Today, more than ever, the direction of an environmentally conscious style is not to have luxury or conspicuous(炫耀的)consumption written all over your clothes．This is still our message．We believe this could be best achieved by simply asking yourself before you buy something(from us or any other company)whether this is something you really need．It could be you'll buy more or less from us, but only what you need．We'll be happy to adjust our business up or down accordingly, because we'll feel we are then contributing to a healthier attitude about consumption．We know this is an opinion against the growth of economy, but frankly, if this kind of thinking doesn't catch on quickly, we, like a plague of locusts, will swallow all that's left of the planet．We could make the decision to reduce our consumption, or the decision will soon be made for us．

　　We are optimistic that we can change course and avoid the disastrous destination toward which we're heading．We also believe that there are many events occurring throughout the world right now which support this outlook．We've experienced big changes in people's attitudes about some extremely important philosophical issues and values．

　　Our purchasing habits have enormous influence．By changing the things that make us happy and buying less stuff, we can reduce the terrible impact we have been placing on the environment．We can buy for vital needs, not silly self-satisfying needs．We do need clothes, yes, but so many?

　　While we' re advocating responsible consumption, we want to suggest one more idea．What you save, if you do, through changing your purchasing habits, contributes to one of the thousands of social and environmental organizations that are working to correct, repair, preserve or halt the damage to which our consumptive ways and economic system have led us．

　　We all have to work together to preserve the continuity of natural cycles and processes．If we don't, we'll have no inheritance to give to our grandchildren．All will be gone．Our place in history will be that of the greatest mismanagers of the tarth, not such a loving way to be remembered!

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　　Taking care of unsolved issues of the past will free you to move ahead with confidence．The final step toward putting your past behind so that you can reach for what's possible is tying up your loose ends．Loose ends are the unsolved relationships that keep you from sleeping worry free at night．You have a loose end if there's someone you don't want to run into on a first date or at work．You have a loose end if there's someone you don't want to sit next to at a holiday dinner．Loose ends are distracting and have an amazing way of biting you in the bottom at the worst times．

1．Identify the five people with whom you have the most unsolved issues．These could be past relationships, employers, business partners, friends, family, or coworkers．

2．Contact each of these five loose ends．Invite each separately to a coffee shop or some other non-threatening, nonalcohol environment．Tell each one that you want to apologize for allowing things to get crossways between you．Some may doubt your intentions, but tell them that you sincerely feel it's time to clear the air．Ask those who agree to meet to write down any ways they think you wronged them, and you do the same．Tell them to bring this list to your get-to-gether．

3．Show up on time and thank each for being forgiving enough to meet with you．Be an adult here－finger pointing only tears people apart．Remember, your experience may be－and most likely is－totally different from his．Listen to each issue each of them raises and try to see it from their perspectives(视角)．Don't interrupt them when they are sharing．Seek to understand why they have bad feelings toward you．Apologize for each thing they think you did to wrong them(even if you don't completely agree with his view of the situation)．

　　After you tie up your first loose end, you'll want to solve them all．This is hard to explain until you have done it; but once you do, you'll know what I mean．I learned so much about myself by tying up my loose ends．Most of all, I think this process helped me become a more understanding and patient friend．

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NEW YORK：Staying positive through the cold season could be your best defence against getting ill, new study findings suggest．

　　In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny disposition were less likely to fall ill．The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help protect us from the common cold and other illnesses．

　　Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective－as in happiness improving immune function－and subjective－as in happy people being less troubled by a sore throat or runny nose．“People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus，”explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh．“And when they do get a cold, they may interpret their illness as being less severe．”

　　Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less likely to catch a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional trait itself had the effect．

　　For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality traits, self-perceived health, and emotional “style”．Those who tended to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense, and hostile had a negative style．

　　The researchers gave them nasal(鼻的)drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus．Over the next six days, the volunteers reported on any aches, pains, sneezing or congestion they had, while the researchers collected objective data．Cohen and his colleagues found that based on objective measures of nasal troubles, happy people were less likely to develop a cold．

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