1993 Package Holiday
1Package holidays covering a two weeks stay in an attractive place 2 are increasingly popular.
3 Once you get to the airport, 4 it is up to the tour operator to see that you get safely to your destination. 5 Everything is laid on for you. 6 There is in fact no reason for you to bother to arrange anything yourselves. 7 You make friends and have a good time，8 but there is very little chance that you will get to know the local people. 9 This is even less likely on a coach tour 10 when you spend almost your entire time traveling. 11Of course there are carefully scheduled stops for you 13 to visit historic buildings and monuments. 12 You may visit the beautiful, the historic, the ancient, but time is always short.
14 There is also the added disadvantage of having to spend your holiday 15 with a group of people you have never met before.
1994 American Families
1 The American family unit is changing. 2There used to be mainly two types of families: 3 the extended and the nuclear. 4 The former included mother, father, children and some other relatives such as grandparents, living in the same house or nearby.
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5Then, as the economy progressed from agricultural to industrial, 6 people began moving to different parts of the country in order to search for job opportunities. 7These moves split up the extended family. 8The nuclear family consisting of only parents and children / has, therefore, become far more widespread. 9 Today’s family, however, can be composed of diverse combinations. 10 With the divorce rate nearly one in two, there is an increase in single-parent homes, 11 a father or mother, live with one or more children.12 Blended families occur when divorced men and women remarry, 13 and combine the children from former marriages into a new family. 14 On the other hand, there is an increase in childless couples, 15 while one in five Americans lives alone.
1995 Unidentified Flying Objects
There are many explanations for why UFOs visit the earth. /The most popular one is that they may contain visitors from other planets. /To fly such an aircraft, their builders must develop different forms of aviation/ because they seem to fly much faster than normal aircraft. /The UFOs, it is believed, must contain scientists / from other planets who are studying life on earth. / It is even believed that several such aircraft may have landed on earth / and the space visitors may be living among us. / But there are also less fantastic explanations available. / Although some sightings of UFO are difficult to explain, most can be explained quit easily. /In many cases the observers might have made a mistake. / They might have seen a weather balloon or an aircraft. / Or the light they saw in the sky might have been light from the ground / reflected onto the clouds. / However, the exact cause of many
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sightings still remains a mystery. /
1996 The Medicine Man
1 Among the Indians of North America, 2 the medicine man was a very important person.3 He could cure illnesses and he could speak to the spirits.4 The spirits were the supernatural forces that controlled the world.5 The Indians believed that bad spirits made people ill.6 So when people were ill, the medicine man tried to help them by using magic.7 He spoke to the good spirits and asked for their help.8 Many people were cured because they thought 9 that the spirits were helping them.10 But really these people cured themselves. 11 Sometimes, your own mind is the best doctor for you.12 The medicine men were often successful for another reason, too.13 They knew about plants that really can cure illnesses.14 A lot of modern medicines are made from plants15 that were used by medicine men hundreds of years ago. /
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1997 Legal Age for Marriage
Throughout the United States, the legal age for marriage shows some difference. / The most common age without parents’ consent is 18 for both females and males. / However, persons who are under age in their home state can get married in another state, / and then return to the home state legally married. /Each state issues its own marriage license. / Both residents and non-residents are qualified for such a license. / The fees and ceremonies vary greatly from state to state. / Most states, for instance, have a blood test requirement, but a few do not. / Most states permit either a civil or religious ceremony, / but a few require the ceremony to be religious. /In most states a waiting period is required before the license is issued. / This period is from one to five days depending on the state. / A three-day-wait is the most common. / In some states there is no required waiting period. /
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1999 United Nation’s Day
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1 The 24th of October is celebrated as United Nation’s Day. 2 It is the day that belongs to everyone, 3 and it is celebrated in most countries of the world.4 Some countries celebrate for a week instead of a day.5 In many parts of the world schools have special programs for the day.6 Boys and girls in some communities decorate a UN tree. 7 In other communities, young people put on plays about the UN.8 Some libraries exhibit children’s art works from around the world. 9 Schools celebrate with the songs and dances of other countries,10 or give parties where foods of other countries are served.11 No matter how the day is celebrated, the purpose of these celebrations 12 is to help everyone understand the UN 13 and the important roles it plays in world affairs. 14The UN encourages people to learn about other lands and their customs. 15 In this way people can gain a better understanding /and appreciation of peoples all over the world.
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2000 What We Know About Language
Many things about language are all mystery and will remain so. / However, we now do know something about it. / First, we know that all human beings have a language of some sort. / No human race anywhere on earth is so backward / that it has no language of its own at all. / Second, there is no such thing as a primitive language. / There are many peoples whose cultures are undeveloped, / but the languages they speak are by no means primitive. / In all the languages existing in the world today, / there are complexities that must have been developed for years. / Third, we know that all languages are perfectly adequate. / Each is a perfect means of expressing its culture. / And finally, we know that a language changes over time, / which is natural and normal if a language is to survive. / The language which remains unchanged is nothing but dead. /
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2001 Characteristic of A good Reader
To improve your reading habits, /you must understand the characteristics of a good reader. /First, the good reader usually reads rapidly. / Of course he does not read every piece of material at the same rate. / But whether he is reading a newspaper or a chapter in a physics text, /his reading rate is relatively fast. /He has learned to read forideas rather than words one at a time. /Next, the good reader can recognize and understand general ideas and specific details. /Thus he is able to comprehend the material, /with a minimum of effort and a maximum of interest. /Finally, the good reader has at his command several special skills/, which he can apply to reading problems as they occur. /For the college student, the most helpful of these skills include /making use of the various aids to understanding that most textbooks provide /and skim reading for a general survey. /
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3rd time: Of course he does not read every piece of material at the same rate.
2002 Disappearing Forests
The world’s forests are disappearing. /As much as 1/3 of the total tree cover has been lost /since agriculture began some 10,000 years ago. /The remaining forests are home to half of the world species, /thus becoming the chief resource for their survival. /Tropical rainforests once covered 12% of the land of the planet. /As well as supporting at least half of the world species of plants and animals, / these rainforests are home to millions of people. / But there are other demands on them. / For example, much has been cut for timber. /An increasing amount of forestland has been used for industrial purposes/ or for agriculture development such as crop growing. / By the 1990s less than half of the earth original rainforests remained, / and they continued to disappear at the alarming rate every year. /As a result, the world’s forests are now facing gradual extinction. /
2003 Salmon
1) Every year millions of salmon swim from the ocean 2) into the mouth of rivers, and then steadily up the rivers. 3) Passing through waters, around rocks and waterfalls, 4) the fish finally reach their original streams or lakes. 5) They dig out nests in the riverbed and lay their eggs. 6) Then, exhausted by their journey, the parent salmon die. 7) They have finished the
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task that nature has given them. 8) Months or years later, the young fish start their trip to the ocean. 9) They live in the salt water from 2 to 7 years, 10) until they too are ready to swim back to reproduce. 11) Their life cycle helps man provide himself with a basic food---fish. 12) When the adult salmon gather at the river mouths for the annual trip up the rivers, 13) they are in the best possible condition, 14) and nearly every harbor has its salmon fishing fleet 15) ready to catch thousands for markets.
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2004 Money
Money is accepted across the world as payment for goods and services. People use money to buy food, clothes and hundreds of other things. In the past, many different things were used as money. People on Pacific islands once exchanged shells for goods. The Chinese used cloth and knives. In Africa, elephant’s tusks or salt were used. Even today some people in Africa are still paid in salt. Coins were first invented by the Chinese. Originally they were round pieces of metal with a hole in the center, so the piece of string could keep them together. This made doing business much easier. But people still found coins inconvenient to carry when they wanted to buy something expensive. To solve this problem, the Chinese
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again came up with a solution. They began to use paper money for coins. Now paper notes are used throughout the world.
2005 The Wrist Watch
It is generally believed that wristwatches are an exception / to the normal sequence in the evolution of men’s jewelry. / Reversing the usual order, they were first worn by women, / and then adopted by men. / In the old days, queens included wristwatches among their crown jewelry. / Later, they were worn by Swiss workers and farmers. / Until World War I, Americans associated the watch with fortune hunters. / Then army officers discovered that the wristwatch was most practical for active combat. / Racecar drivers also loved to wear wristwatches, / and pilots found them most useful while flying. / Soon men dared to wear wristwatches without feeling self-conscious. / By 1924, some thirty percent of men’s watches were worn on the wrist. / Today the figure is ninety percent. / And they are now worn by both men and women / for practical purposes rather than for decoration. /
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