-
Package holidays
(1993)
Package holidays,
covering a two-weeks stay in an attractive place,
are increasingly popular.
Once
you
get
to
the
airport,
it
is
up
to
the
tour
operator
to
see
that
you
get
safely
to
your
destination. Everything is laid on for
you. There is in fact no reason for you to bother
to arrange
anything yourselves. You
make friends and have a good time. But there is
very little chance that
you will get to
know the local people. This is even less likely on
a coach tour when you spend
almost your
entire time traveling. Of course, there are
carefully scheduled stops for you to visit
historic buildings and monuments. You
may visit the beautiful, the historic, the
ancient. But time
is always short.
There is also the added disadvantage of having to
spend your holiday with a group
of
people you have never met
before.
?
146w
The
American Family
(1994)
The American family
unit is changing. There used to be mainly two
types of
families, the
extended and the nuclear. The former
included mother, father, children, and some other
relatives
such as grandparents, living
in the same house or nearby. Then as the economy
progressed from
agricultural to
industrial, people began moving to different parts
of the country in order to search
for
job opportunities. These moves split up the
extended family.
?
The nuclear family consisting of only
parents and children, has therefore become far
more
wide
spread.
Today’
s
family,
however,
can
be
composed
of
diverse
combinations.
With
the
divorce
rate
nearly
one
in
two,
there’s
an
increase
in
single
-parent
homes
—
a
father
or
mother
living with one or more
children.
?
Blended
families
occur
when
divorced
men
and
women
remarry
and
combine
the
children
from
former
marriages
into
a
new
family.
On
the
other
hand,
there
is
an
increase
in
childless
couples while one in rive Americans
lives alone.
?
The
concept
of
family
life
has
changed
considerably
over
the
years.
/
In
earliest
times,
several generations
lived together in clans, / which consisted of all
living descendents and their
husbands
or wives. / These clans were almost totally self-
sufficient, / every member contributing
in some way toward the survival of the
group. / The men hunted and fished for food or
sometimes
maintained
flocks
of
sheep or
goats.
/ The
women
baked
bread
and
roasted
the
meat
their
men
provided.
/
Special
members
of
the
community
were
selected
to
make
products
like
pottery,
baskets and home weapons. / But with
the development of greater varieties of food,
clothing and
shelter, / a single clan
could no longer develop all the individual skills
the group required. / Clans
merged into
larger societies and at the same time broke into
smaller units consisting of married
couples and their children. / Later the
Industrial Revolution brought about even more
important
changes
in
family
life.
/
New
inventions
brought
shorter
working
hours
for
men
and
easier
housekeeping
routines
for
women.
/
Today
a
productive
family
life
suggests
not
the
group's
cooperative efforts of working
together, / but the pleasant and meaningful
sharing of its leisure.
Unidentified
Flying Objects
(1995)
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
amongst us./But there are
also less fantastic explanations available./
Although some sightings of
UFOs
are
difficult
to
explain,
most
can
be
explained
quite
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 on to the
clouds./ However,
the exact cause of
many sightings still remains a mystery.
The Indian Medicine Man
(1996)
Among the Indians of North America, the
medicine
man was a very
important person. He
could
cure illness and he could speak to the spirits.
The spirits were the supernatural forces that
controlled the world. The Indians
believed that bad spirits made people ill. So when
people were
ill, the medicine man tried
to help them by using magic. He spoke to the good
spirits and asked for
their help. Many
people were cured, because they thought the
spirits were helping them, but really
these
people
cured
themselves.
Sometimes
your
own
mind
is
the
best
doctor
for
you.
The
medicine men were often successful for
another reason, too. They knew about plants that
really
can
cure
illness.
A
lot
of
medicine
are
made
from
the
plants
that
were
used
by
medicine
men
hundreds of years ago.
Legal Age for Marriage
(1997)
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.
The Railways in Britain
(1998)
The
success of early railways, such as the lines
between big cities,/ led to a great increase in
railway
building
in
Victorian
times.
/
Between
1835
and
1865
about
25000
kilometres
of
track
were built,/ and over
100 railway companies were created. /Railway
travel transformed people's
lives.
/
Trains
were
first
designed
to
carry
goods.
/
However,
a
law
in
the
19th
century
forced
railway companies to run one cheap
train a day / which stopped at every station and
cost only a
penny a mile. / Soon
working class passengers found they could afford
to travel by rail. / Cheap
day
excursion trains became popular and seaside
resorts grew rapidly. / The railways also provided
thousands
of
new
jobs:/
building
carriages,
running
the
railways
and
repairing
the
tracks.
/
Railways even changed the time. / The
need to run the railways on time meant that local
time was
abolished/ and clocks showed
the same time all over the country. /
United Nations
Day
?
(1999)
The
24th
of
October
is
celebrated
as
United
Nations
Day.
It
is
a
day
that
belongs
to
everyone. And it is celebrated in most
countries of the world. Some countries celebrate
for a week
instead of a day. In many
parts of the world, schools have special programs
for the day. Boys and
girls in some
communities decorate a UN tree. In other
communities, young people put on plays
about
the
UN.
Some
libraries
exhibit
children's
art
works
from
around
the
world.
Schools
celebrate
with
the
songs
and
dances
of
other
countries
or
give
parties
where
foods
of
other
countries are served.
No matter how the day is celebrated, the purpose
of these celebrations is to
help
everyone
understand
the
UN,
and
the
important
roles
it
plays
in
world
affairs.
The
UN
encourages
people
to
learn
about
other
lands
and
their
customs.
In
this
way,
people
can
gain
a
better
understanding and appreciation of peoples all over
the world.
?
What We Know About
Language
?
(2000)
1B13:45
Many things about language are a
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 language changes
over time, which is natural and normal if a
language is to survive.
The language
which remains unchanged is nothing but
dead.
?
Characteristics of A Good
Reader
?
(2001)
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 for ideas
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 text books provide and skim-reading for a
general survey.
Disappearing
Forests
?
(2002)
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's
species,
thus
becoming
the
chief
resource
for
their
survival.
Tropical
rain
forests
once
covered 12% of the land of the planet,
as well as supporting at least half of the world's
species of
plants and animals. These
rain forests 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 forest land has been
used for industrial purposes or for
agricultural development such as crop-growing. By
the 1990' s
less than half of the
earth' s original rain forests remained, and they
continued to disappear at an
alarming
rate every year. As a result the world's forests
are now facing gradual
extinction.
?
Salmon
(2003)
Every
year,
millions
of
salmon
swim
from
the
ocean
into
the
mouths
of
rivers
and
then
steadily up the rivers. Passing through
waters, around rocks and waterfalls, the fish
finally reach
their
original
streams
or
lakes.
They
dig
out
nests
in
the
riverbed
and
lay
their
eggs.
Then,
exhausted
by
their
journey,
the
parent
salmon
die.
They
have
finished
the
task
that
nature
has
given them. Months, or years later, the
young fish start their trip to the ocean. They
live in the salt
water from 2-7 years,
until they, too are ready to swim back to
reproduce. Their life cycle helps
man
provide himself with a basic food-fish. When the
adult salmon gather at the river mouths for
the annual trip up the rivers, they are
in the best possible condition, and nearly every
harbor has its
salmon fishing fleet
ready to catch thousands for markets.
Money
(2004)
Money is accepted
across the world as payment for goods or 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 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
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