"Dad, "I say one day, "let's take a trip. Why don't you fly out and meet me?"

My father had just retired after 27 years as a manager for IBM. His job filled his day, his thoughts, his life. While he woke up and took a warm shower, I screamed under a freezing waterfall in Peru. While he tied a tie and put on the same Swiss watch, I rowed a boat acrossLake of the Ozarks.

My father sees me drifting aimlessly, nothing to show for my 33 years but a passport full of funny stamps. He wants me to settle down, but now I want him to find an adventure.

He agrees to travel with me through the national parks. We meet four weeks later in Rapid City.

"What's our first stop?" asks my father.

"What time is it?"

"Still don't have a watch?"

Less than an hour away isMount Rushmore. As he stares up at the four Presidents carved in granite（花岗岩）, his mouth and eyes open slowly, like those of a little boy.

"Unbelievable, " he says. "How was this done?"

A film in the information center shows sculptor Gutzon Borglum spent 14 years on the sculpture and then left the final touches to his son.

We stare up and I ask myself, Would I ever devote my life to anything?

No directions, no goals. I always used to hear those words in my father's voice. Now I hear them in my own.

The next day we're at Yellowstone National Park, where we have a picnic.

"Did you ever travel with your dad?" I ask.

"Only once, "he says. "I never spoke much with my father. We loved each other--- but never said it. Whatever he could give me, he gave."

That last sentence --- it's probably the same thing I’d say about my father. And what I’d want my child to say about me.

In Glacier National Park, my father says, "I've never seen water so blue." I have, in several places of the world. I can keep traveling, I realize---and maybe a regular job won't be as dull as I feared.

Weeks after our trip, I call my father.

"The photos from the trip are wonderful, "he says. "We’ve got to take another trip like that sometime."

I tell him I've decided to settle down, and I’m wearing a watch.

Our country buy Genetically modified (GM,转基因的) beans from America. It was the first time the government approved(批准) the production of GM grains(谷物).

Although Chinese scientists have said that they are as safe as non-GM rice, some experts and people are still worried. They worry that if we eat too much GM food, we will get sick. But will GM food make our bodies sick? To answer that question, first let’s find out what GM food is.

Genetically GM food is food withgenes（基因）that have been changed. Here’s an example. There’s a kind of fish that lives in the Antarctic. It can stand very cold weather because it has a special cold gene in its body. Scientists took that gene and put it into a kind of tomato. As a result, the tomato will be able to live in cold weather. It is a GM food.

Scientists develop GM food because they can have certain advantages over non-GM food. For example, the approved GM rice can resist insects. They can also produce more food.

The safety of GM food is a long-time public problem. Different experts and scientists have different opinions. Some say that there is no evidence（证据）that GM food is harmful to people’s health. GM food has to pass strict tests before it is allowed into markets. But others say there is danger. We just don’t know enough about it yet.

The US is the country that most welcomes GM crop. It is the biggest producer of GM corn in the world. But only six countries in Europe choose to grow GM crops. Most European countries do not accept GM crops and GM foods.

Television talk shows have been popular since arrival of the medium, like many shows coming from the ones on radio. For example, the start of talk shows’ golden age can be considered in 1948, although the television was not common in American homes until the 1950s. From 1949 to 1973, nearly half of all daytime programs on the three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) was talk.

As we know that video did not kill the talk show hosts, the radio stars—it made him / her an even bigger star. Hosts during the golden age included Arthur Godfrey (Arthur Godfrey and his friends), Dave Garroway (The Today Show), and Jack Par (The Tonight Show). All were necessary parts in the formation of the talk show formats (编排) we know and love today.

A talk show can cost less than＄100,000 per episode (连续剧中的一集) to produce while many of today’s dramas cost more than＄1 million an episode. So, if successful, it can make bountiful money.

Still, it takes a lot of work. Since 1948, hundreds of talk shows have come and gone, with only a few having true staying long. Conan O’Brien, for example, tried to stay long only because the network did not know what else to put in its place.

There are several types of talk shows, from the foreign and strange programs like Comedy Central’s The Graham Norton Effect to the more traditional Late Show with David Letterman. But while the styles might be different, the format is limited (受限制).

What we are most used to is the informal (非正式的) guest-host format, in which the show’s host welcomes famous people or other talk-worthy people, and this is considered as an informal discussion. The scene is is very comedic (戏剧性) or musical or both.

The second most common format is the public affairs (公共事务) show, in which a host or hosts interviews people in the news or experts in a given field. Shows that follow this format include booth the morning news programs (Good morning America Or Meet the Press) and “issue” talk shows (The Oprah Winfrey Show or The Jerry Springer Show).

Everything else is mainly a mixture of these two formats.

The price of rice changes during the year．

   It is useful for rice farmers to know how the price changes，then they can sell their rice when the price is high．But it was hard for farmers to guess how the price would change from month to month．

   Last year, the price of rice was very low in November．This was a bad time for farmers to sell their rice．November, December, and January were all bad months．The best month for farmers to sell rice last year was April．July and August were also good times to sell rice．

Between August and November, the price of rice were down every month．During other parts of the year, the price went up and down．