Finland is perhaps the most beautiful and mysterious（神秘的） country of Northern Europe. Two-thirds of its surface is covered with thick forests and among them lie lakes, connected with rivers and canals. The northern part of this country is inside the Arctic Circle, where almost no trees can grow because of its cold weather and the people use their deer for transport, clothing and food.

The Finnish history began in the Middle Ages. In about 1155, Finland was con-quered(占领) by its western neighbour Sweden. After a period of rule by Denmark in the 14th century, the Swedes won back independence (独立) and power in 1523 under their brave king. During the Napoleonic Wars (1814－1818) Finland was passed finally from Sweden to Russia. The opportunity came in 1917, when the Russian Revolution brought foreign rule of Finland to an end. Shortly after Soviet Russia made peace with Germany, 1919 saw the founding of the Finnish Republic.

The years between the First and Second World Wars were years of progress and growing development. Finland has no coal or oil, and the nation’s wealth lies in the wood from its forest, which supplies material for paper and furniture making, and in the electric power from its water.

We finally know who will be the next president of the United States. On Nov 8 local time, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election(总统大选). He will become the 45th president of the US on Jan 20, 2017.

     And his win has sent shock waves round the world because many people thought he could not win, reported CNN.

     Donald Trump is different from any other US presidents. Unlike Hillary Clinton, and most US presidents, Trump had no experience in government. This led many to believe he couldn’t win. “When it comes to holding the top political job in the country, political experience is far more important than money-making experience,” commented The Huffington Post.

     But to his supporters, the fact that Trump is not atypicalpolitician(政治家) is actually one of his good points.

     “We have seen our country take a downturn(低迷时期) in the eyes of the world. We need to go in a different direction,” Binyomin Weisswasser, 39, a man from Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune newspaper. “Trump’s not a politician… I like that he always speaks his mind.”

     Trump, meanwhile, said he would bring changes to the US. He kept saying he would “Make America great again” during the whole election.

     When Trump gets in the White House, will he do a good job? We’ve got four years to find out.

Looking back on the revolutionary changes the Internet has brought to our lives, the future of it is still beyond imagination. But what is clear is that making the best use of the Internet will be of greater importance to promoting economic development and social progress.

   Already Chinese companies that are seizing the opportunities presented by the Internet occupy a place in global industry. The rise of e-commerce (电子商务) is particularly noticeable in China, where it is common for the majority of young people to do shopping online, which not only saves them time, but also saves them money.

   For the vast rural areas, where the majority of poverty-stricken people live, the growing popularity of Internet technology will hopefully help lift people out of poverty. There have been reports about how some rural villagers sell their agricultural products online and some use the Internet to get in touch with their customers, which may make it easier for them to make decisions. Still they only account for 28.6 percent of the total 618 million Internet users nationwide. So much can still be done to further popularize the use of the Internet and promote e-commerce in rural areas.

The United States is already one year into a depression. That was the news this week from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The downturn is the longest since a depression that began in 1981 and lasted sixteen months.

Economists generally wait for production to shrink for six months in a row before they declare a recession. But the bureau, a private group, uses a wider set of information to measure the economy. The news only confirmed what many people already knew: that the world’s largest economy is weak and may not recover soon.

Worsening conditions have led to a big drop in spending, especially on costly products like new cars. Even Japanese automaker Toyota saw its sales fall thirty-four percent in the United States in November from a year ago.

The heads of Chrysler, Ford and General Motors returned to Congress this week to again ask for federal aid. Congressional leaders blamed them two weeks ago after they came in private jets with no clear plans for saving their industry. This time, the chiefs drove to Washington in fuel-saving vehicles. And their companies presented detailed restructuring plans. The request for aid has risen from twenty-five billion dollars two weeks ago to thirty-four billion in loans and credit lines.

GM wants almost half of that, and says it needs four billion dollars this month. It warned that without support it cannot continue to operate. Ford is in a better position. But the sharing of suppliers means it could be affected if GM or Chrysler fails. Ford is asking for a nine billion dollar credit line in case it needs it. Chrysler is the smallest and most troubled of America’s Big Three. It says it needs a seven billion dollar loan by the end of the month.

Two days of congressional hearings began on Thursday. The chairman, Democrat Chris Dodd, said he would support helping the automakers for the good of the economy. But the committee’s top Republican, Richard Shelby, continued to express opposition to financial aid.

A main root of the world financial crisis is the weak housing market in the United States. The Treasury Department has been under pressure to help troubled homeowners. Now comes news that the department is developing a plan aimed at reducing interest rates on mortgage loans (按揭贷款) for some buyers of homes. That could be good for homeowners trying to sell. That could be good for homeowners trying to sell.

    The American newspaper has been around for about three hundred years. In 1721, the printer James Franklin, Benjamin's older brother, started the New England Courant, and that was what we might recognize today as a real newspaper. He filled his paper with stories of adventure, articles on art, on famous people, and on all sorts of political subjects.

      Three centuries after the appearance of Franklin's Courant, few believe that newspapers in their present printed form will remain alive for long. Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and in some cases, their sense of purpose at a speed that would not have been imaginable just several years ago. The chief editor(主编) of the Times said recently, “At places where they gather, editors ask one another, 'How are you?', as if they have just come out of the hospital or a lost law case.” An article about the newspaper appeared on the website of the Guandian, under the headline “NOT DEAD YET.”

       Perhaps not, but the rise of the Internet, which has made the daily newspaper look slow and out of step with the world, has brought about a real sense of death. Some American newspapers have lost 42% of their market value in the past three years. The New York Times Company has seen its stock(股票) drop by 54% since the end of 2004, with much of the loss coming in the past year. A manager at Deutsche Bank suggested that stock-holders sell off their Times stock. The Washington Post Company has prevented the trouble only by changing part of its business to education; its testing and test-preparation service now brings in at least half the company's income.

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Hi, everybody. over the past couple months, most of the political headlines you’ve read have probably been about the government shutdown and the launch of the Affordable Care Act(平价医疗法案). And I know that many of you have rightly never been more frustrated with Washington.

But if you look beyond those headlines, there are some good things happening in our economy. And that’s been my top priority（优先考虑）since the day I walked into the Oval Office.

After decades in which the middle class was working harder and harder just to keep up, and a punishing recession（衰退）that made it worse, we made the tough choices required not just to recover from crisis, but to rebuild on a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth.

Five years later, we have fought our way back. Our businesses have created 7.8 million new jobs in the past 44 months. Another 200,000 Americans went back to work last month.

The American auto industry has come back with more than 350,000 new jobs –-- jobs putting out and selling the high-tech, fuel-efficient cars the world wants to buy. And they’re leading the change in a business that has added jobs for the first time since the 1990s –-- a big reason why our businesses sell more goods and services “Made in America” than ever before.

We decided to stop our addiction to foreign oil. And today, we produce more renewable energy than ever, more natural gas than anybody, and for the first time in nearly 20 years, America now produces more oil than we buy from other countries.

We decided to fix a broken health care system. And even though the task has been rough, so far, about 500,000 Americans gain health coverage starting January 1st. And by the way, health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years.

And one more thing: since I took office, we’ve cut our deficits (赤字) by more than half. And that makes it easier to invest in the things that create jobs –-- education, research, and so on.

Imagine how much farther along we could be if both parties were working together. Think about what we could do if the few didn’t hold the economy hostage (人质) every few months, or waste time on dozens of votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act rather than try to help us fix it.

In the weeks ahead, I’ll keep talking about my plan to build a better bargain for the middle class. Good jobs. A good education. A chance to buy a home, save, and retire. And yes, the financial security of affordable health care. And I’ll look for any willing partners who want to help.

Because of your hard work and tough sacrifices over the past five years, we’re pointed in the right direction. But we’ve got more work to do to keep moving that way. And as long as I’m President, I’ll keep doing everything I can to create jobs, grow the economy, and make sure that everyone who works hard has a chance to get ahead. Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Less than 60 percent of students now entering four­year American colleges are likely to graduate.The completion rate is lower than almost any other wealthy country，and worst for poor and minority students.

On Tuesday President Obama gave a nationally broadcast speech to students about the importance of staying in school.He spoke on the first day of classes at a high school in Virginia.He talked about personal responsibility，and took himself as an example of someone who overcame difficulties.

“My father left my family when I was two years old，and I was raised by a single mother who had to work and struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had.There were times when I missed having a father in my life.There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in，”said President Obama.

But he told students that problems in their own lives should not stop them from learning.“There’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher，or cutting class or dropping out of school.There’s no excuse for not trying.”

This was not the first presidential speech to students.Ronald Reagan spoke from the White House in 1988.And George H.W.Bush spoke from a school in Washington in 1991.

But many conservatives(保守派) criticized plans for the speech.Some called it“socialized education”or federal interference(干预)in local schools.Others feared it would be too political.Some schools decided not to show the speech.But the White House released(公布) the text on Monday，and that calmed a lot of critics.

On Sunday，on the CBS program“Face the Nation”，Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 30 percent of students do not graduate from high school.He called the dropout rate“staggering(令人难以置信的)”.It represents more than a million students every year who entered the ninth grade but did not complete the 12th grade.

Online purchases have soared during the Chinese New Year holiday.

   It’s the dead of winter in Shanghai. Delivery man Liu Jia and his colleagues start the day when most of people are still asleep. Working at a distribution point of a shopping website in Shanghai, they promise to deliver products within three hours of an order being placed. “I buy most of my grocery online, especially the heavy items. It’s convenient and cheap compared to the supermarket in my neighborhood,” Customer Chen Hong said. Orders such as these have increased for the New Year, forcing Liu Jia to work around the clock. “The orders are usually rice, laundry detergent（洗涤剂）, tissue paper and snacks, mostly food and articles for everyday use,” Liu Jia said.

According to an industry report, China’s B2C（Business to Customer） online sales are growing at an annual rate of 25 percent. Competition between online giants like Taobao and Jingdong is now fiercer than ever. “The advantage of online shopping is that customers can buy products easily. So the competition is about: firstly, the range of products; secondly, the depth under each category of products; third, the price and user experience,” Pan Biao, vice president of YHD. com, said. E-commerce is one of China’s fastest growing sectors. It’s changed people’s buying habits, and even their living habits. And it’s had a huge impact on the retail industry. To make online shopping more convenient, major sites are investing heavily to build payment systems and logistics（物流）networks.

On average, a retailer now can deliver goods to the majority of cities within 3 days, and to towns and more remote areas in the country within a week. “Competition will produce a number of good companies, making better products and services that customers need. In the field of E-commerce, we are leading the world in terms of products, services and industry development,” Liu Yinbin, associate professor with Dept of Information Management, Shanghai University, said. Experts also say customers are increasingly making their online purchases from mobile devices, opening up vast new opportunities and competition for retailers.

Progress in agriculture moves at different rates around the globe. In some places, it moves swiftly. In others, the pace is slow. But everywhere, people depend on farmers to provide the necessities of food and clothing.

Since the 1800s, new machines, chemicals, and farming methods have been making farms more and more productive. Now, the farms in western' Europe produce the greatest amount of food per acre in the world. Farmers in the United States are also very productive. In this country, an average farmer produces enough food to feed 78 people.

Many countries are still looking for ways to help themselves grow more food. In 1995, the United Nations began helping farmers in Eritrea. These farmers began using fertilizers, new farming techniques, and better seeds. By 1997, many farmers in Eritrea were able to grow two to four times more wheat than before. But experts are still searching for ways .to help Eritrea. For example, because Eritrea gets little rain, scientists are searching for crops that grow quickly and resist droughts.

In northern Uganda, farmers now have a better way to harvest the cassava root, which is their most important crop. Until recently, it took a week to cut, peel, wash, and dry a bitter cassava root. Farmers did this to get rid of a poison called cyanide, which is in the roots. But now, with hand-held tin graters (粗齿木锉)，farmers can make a cassava root safe to eat in just one day. This is an important change, because sometimes people in Uganda arc dying of hunger. They cannot wait one week for a cassava root.

The same farming improvements do not help everywhere. Some countries, like Senegal, need irrigation systems to distribute water. Other countries, like Eritrea, need machinery (机器) that can process larger amounts of crops at a time. In each place that people are hungry, people will need a different solution.