When I learned that my 71-year-old mother was playing Scrabble–a word game–against herself, I knew I had to do something．My husband suggested we give her a computer to play against．I wasn’t sure my mother was ready for it．After all, it had taken 10 years to persuade her to buy an electric cooker．Even so, we packed up our old computer and delivered it to my parents’ home．And so began my mother’s adventure in the world of computers．

　　It also marked the beginning of an unusual teaching task for me．I’ve taught people of all ages, but I never thought I would be teaching my mother how to do anything．She has been the one teaching me all my life：to cool and sew; to enjoy the good times and put up with the bad．Now it was my turn to give something back．

　　It wasn’t easy at the beginning．There was so much to explain and to introduce．Slowly but surely, my mother caught on, making notes in a little notebook．After a few months of Scrabble and other games, I decided it was time to introduce her to word processing(文字处理)．This proved to be a bigger challenge(挑战)to her, so I gave her some homework I asked her to write me a letter, using different letter types, colors and spaces．

　　“Are you this demanding with your kindergarten pupils?” she asked．

　　“No, of course not,” I said．“They already know how to use a computer．”

　　My mother isn’t the only one experiencing a fast personal growth period．Thanks to the computer, my father has finally got over his phone allergy(过敏反应)．For as long as I can remember, any time I called, my mother would answer．Dad and I have had more phone conversations in the last two months than we’ve had in the past 20 years．

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May：Happenings form the Past

　　May 5,1884

　　Isaac Murphy, son of a slave and perhaps the greatest horse rider in American history, rides Buchanan to win his first Kentucky Derby．He becomes the first rider ever to win the race three times．

　　May 9,1754

　　Benijamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette produces perhaps the first American political cartoon(漫画)，showing a snake cut in pieces with the words “John or Die” printed under the picture．

　　May 11,1934

　　The first great dust storm of the Great Plains Dust Bowl, the result of years of drought(干旱)，blows topsoil all the way to New York City and Washington, D．C．

　　May 19,1994

　　Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, form first lady and one of the most famous people of the 1960s, died of cancer in New York City at the age of 64．

　　May 24,1844

　　Samuel F．B．Morse taps out the first message, “What hath God wrought,” over the experimental long-distance telegraph line which runs from Washington, D．C, to Baltimore, Md．

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　　My friends, Emma Daniels, spent the summer of 1974 traveling in Israel．During her month long stay in Jerusalem she often went to a café called Chocolate Soup．It was run by two men, one of whom – Alex – used to live in Montreal．One morning when Emma went in for coffee, while chatting with her new friend Alex, she mentioned that she had just finished the book she was reading and had nothing else to read．Alex said he had a wonderful book she might like, and that he’d be happy to lend it to her．As he lived just above the café, he quickly ran up to get it．The book he handed to Emma just minutes later was Markings, a book by a former Secretary-General of the United Nations(UN)．

　　Emma had never read it, nor had she ever bought a copy．But, when she opened It up, she was floored to see her own name and address inside the cover in her own handwriting(笔迹)．It turned out that the summer before, at a concert back in Montreal, Emma had met a Californian who was in town visiting friends．They decided to exchange(交换)addresses, but neither of them had any paper．The man opened up a book he was carrying in his backpack(背包)and asked Emma to write her name and address inside．When he returned to California, he left the book behind in Montreal, and his friend Alex kept it．When Alex later moved to Jerusalcm, he took the book along．

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阅读理解

　　It was already late when we started for the next town, which according to the map was about fifteen miles away on the other side of the hill．There we felt sure that we would find a bed for the night．Darkness fell soon after we left the village, but luckily we met no one as we drove fast along the narrow(狭窄的)road that led to the hill．As we climbed higher, it became colder and rain began to fall, making it difficult at times to see the road．I asked John to drive more slowly．

　　After we had travelled for about twenty miles, there was still no sign of the town which was marked on the map, we were beginning to get worried．Then, without warning, the car stopped．A quick examination showed that we had run out of petrol(汽油)．Although we had little food with us, only a few biscuits(小面包)and some chocolate, we decided to spend the night in the car．

　　Our meal was soon over, and then I tried to go to sleep at once, but John, who was a poor sleeper, got out of the car after a few minutes and went for a walk up the hill．Soon he came running back．From the top of the hill he had seen, in the valley below, the lights of the town we were looking for．We at once pushed the car to the top of the hill and set off down the hill．In less than a quarter of an hour we were in the town, where we found a hotel quite easily．

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阅读理解

　　When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from china, When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase full of dark glasses and jeans．Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now．

　　Still, her answer surprised me：“Green tea．”

　　As long as I can remember she didn’t even drink Indian tea．

　　I dutifully(孝顺的)bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story．My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses．

　　At the turn of the century, China was not really familiar to the average(普通的)Indian．It was a strange country．

　　How things change! And how soon!

　　Now every town of any size seems to have a“China Market”．And everyone is talking about China．

　　The government of India has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done．A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investment(投资)and such a step would“work wonders as it did for China”．

　　But it’s a two-way street．I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Rangalore to train in software．Meanwhile, all the IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China．

　　No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago, is expected to hit about US＄15 billion for last year and US＄20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments,

　　No wonder, my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino-Indian(中印)century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino-Indian Friendship Year．

　　But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea．

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阅读理解

　　What if I told you that you have the ability to decide if you are happy or not? You would probably say that I’m crazy．I am not crazy and happiness is a choice．

　　You can’t depend on anyone else to make you happy．This is a lesson I learned early in my marriage．I realised I couldn’t rely on my husband．I learned one has to choose to be happy．

　　You can choose your emotions(情感)。Then how do you choose happiness? The same way you choose to smile or choose to wear a certain outfit(外套)。You choose it because that’s what you want to experience in your life．

　　You want to buy a new pair of shoes, so you choose a pair that you like and that feels good．You couldn’t buy a pair that you don’t like or that doesn’t fit well, right? So why do we keep choosing emotions and feelings that don’t make us feel good?

　　Choosing to be happy when you realize your anger has shown up can be benificial．We choose our feelings, and no one can do for us．If we let others influence our emotions－we are giving their power over us．When others cause us anger or pain, we are giving their power．

　　We need to keep our feelings in check and don’t react automatically(机械地)to what is thrown at us．We need to think our actions out instead of just reacting to what someone says or does．

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阅读理解

　　I was waiting for a phone call from my agent．He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled．I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later．So I waited and waited, but there was still no call．Three hours passing by, I became more and more impatient．I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me．I was overcome with that thought．I started to shout at the phone,“Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”

　　At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on．Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone,“Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone!”And she swept it into the wastebasket．

　　I stood watching her, speechless．What on earth?

　　She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the rest of the house,“Now hear this! All objects in this room-if you do anything to upset my husband, out you go!”Then she turned to me, kissed me, and said calmly,“Honey, you just have to learn how to take control．”With that, she left the room．

　　After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight, I noticed that something in my mood(情绪)had changed．I was laughing．How could I have trouble with that phone? Her antics helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things．Twenty minutes later my agent did call．I was able to listen to him and talk to him calmly．

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阅读理解

　　Fire can help people in many ways．But it can also be very harmful．Fire can make water hot and house warm, give light and cook food．But fire can burn(燃烧)things, too．It can make trees, houses, animals and other things catch fire(起火)．If some people can't run away from fire, it can kill them．This happens in every country every year．

　　Sometimes big fire can burn forests．A month ago, a large forest fire broke out in Yunnan Province．It lasted nearly half a month．The forest in Heilongjiang Province and the grassland in Inner Mongolia caught fire in May, 2006．After more than ten days' fight, over 30,000 people and soldiers put out(扑灭)the fire at last．

　　Nobody knows clearly when people began to make fire, but there are many interesting stories about the first time a man or a woman started a fire．One story from Australia tells about a man who went to the sun and brought fire down a long time ago．Today people know how to make a fire with matches(火柴)．Children sometimes like to play with them．But matches can be very dangerous．The match can burn a piece of paper and then it can burn a house．A small fire can become a big fire, and destroy many things．Fire kills many people every year．So you must be careful with fire．

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阅读理解

　　The spread of worsening international financial crisis has seriously affected world economic growth and stability．The ongoing financial crisis is rarely seen in history．Countries and organizations have taken measures in response, and we hope these measures will produce the desired results soon．Countries in Asia and Europe are an important force for international financial stability and world economic growth．I suggest that we make greater efforts in the following aspects：

　　First, countries should run their own affairs well．In the face of the crisis, it is important for leaders to act in the fundamental and long-term interests of the people and use necessary monetary and regulatory tools to regain market confidence as soon as possible and maintain economic growth．

　　Second, set up coordination(调和)and cooperation among governments．The financial departments, central banks and financial regulators around the world should closely follow the development of the crisis and study its trend and impact．

　　Third, strengthen regional financial dialogue and cooperation．Members of the Eurozone have reached agreement on the basic principles to tackle the financial crisis．We in Asia are also exploring the possibility of expanding the size of bilateral currency swap(互惠外汇信贷)arrangements under the 10+3 framework．

　　Fourth, push forward the reform of the international monetary and financial systems．The present crisis has exposed the weaknesses in the existing international financial system and governance structure．It is important to do three things in this regard： first, increase the say and representation of developing countries in international financial organizations; second, expand the space of the regulation of the international financial system, and third, establish a reasonable global financial rescue mechanism(机制)．

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