This is a true story of a mother’s sacrifice (牺牲) in an earthquake.

When the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house, they saw her dead body through the cracks. Her pose was somehow strange---she knelt (跪) on the ground like a person who was worshiping (祷告)；her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supported by an object. However, the cold and stiff body told them that she had passed away for sure.

The rescuers left this house and were going to search the next collapsed (倒塌的) building. For some reason, the team leader was driven by a strange force to go back to the ruined house. Again, he knelt down to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he screamed with excitement, “ A child! There is a child!”

The whole team worked together; carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. There was a 3-month-old little boy wrapped in a blanket under his mother’s dead body. Obviously, the woman had made great sacrifice in order to save her son. When her house was falling, she used her body to make a cover to protect her son. The little boy was still sleeping peacefully when the team leader picked him up.

A doctor came quickly to examine the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cellphone inside the blanket. There was a text message on the screen. It said, “ If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” Everybody that read the message cried.

Robert Ballard was born in 1942. From an early age, he loved the sea. Ballard grew up in Southern California. He spent his free time at the beach near his home. He enjoyed fishing and swimming. He even learned to dive.

When Ballard wasn’t at the ocean, he loved reading about it. At the age of 10, he read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, a book which describes the undersea adventures of Captain Nemo. Ballard decided he wanted to be like Captain Nemo when he grew up. His parents helped him follow his dream.

Ballard was a hardworking student. He spent many years learning all he could about the ocean. By the age of 28, he was an expert. In 1970, he took a job as a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. There he studied underwater mountains of the Atlantic Ocean. He came up with ways to predict volcanoes under the oceans. Working with other scientists, Ballard also found previously unknown sea animals. These animals lived far below the ocean’s surface, where scientists had believed no animals could live.

By the 1980s, Ballard’s interests changed. He developed unmanned vehicles to explore the ocean bottom. His first find, the well-known ship Titanic, made Ballard famous. He was not happy with just one big find, however. He looked for and found other well-known ships. One was the German battleship Bismarck. Another was the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier (航空母舰) that sank during World War II.

Today Robert Ballard is still an underwater explorer. He also heads an organization that encourages students to learn about science. Ballard hopes that some of the students will follow his footsteps. After all, the world’s huge oceans are mostly unknown. Who knows what remains to be discovered under the sea?

Mr Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr Johnson took the only escape route—through the boot(行李箱)．

Mr Johnsonˈs car had finished up in a ditch(沟渠) at Romney Marsh, Kent, after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly，” Mr Johnson said. “I couldnˈt force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”

Mr Johnson, a sweet salesman of House Sitting, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.

Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”

It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally__it__gave,__but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up.”

His hands and arms cut and bruised，Mr Johnson got to Becketts Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmerˈs wife, Mrs Lucy Bates. Trembling in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, the police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.

Next morning, there was no wind and we were half a mile from the eastern coast of the island．Although the sun shone bright and hot, I hated the thought of Treasure Island, afraid of what would happen there．

Guns were given to all the honest men．Hunter, Joyce, and Redruth were told what was happening, and were less sur-prised than we expected them to be．Then the captain went on deck to talk to the crew．

They all became happier at once．I think they thought they would find the treasure lying around on the beach! After some talk, six men stayed on board, and the others, with Silver, got into the small boats．

I then had the first of the mad ideas that helped to save our lives．If six men were left, we could not take control of the ship; and because only six were left, the captain’s men did not need my help．So I quickly went over the ship’s side and into the nearest boat．

No one took much notice of me, only one man saying, “Is that you, Jim?” But Silver called from the other boat, wanting to know if it was me．Then I began to worry if I had done the right thing．

The crews rowed to the beach and our boat arrived first．I ran towards the trees．Silver and the rest were a hundred me-tres behind, and I heard him shouting, “Jim, Jim!” But I took no notice, pushing through trees and bushes, and ran until I could run no longer．

I was pleased to lose Long John and began to enjoy looking around this strange island．I crossed wet ground and came to a long, open piece of sand, then went on to a place where the trees had branches that were thick and close to the sand．

Just then I heard distant voices, Silver’s among them, and hid behind a tree．Through the leaves, I saw Long John Silver and another of the crew talking together．

“I’m warning you because I’ m your friend, Tom,” Silver was saying．

“Silver,” said Tom．“You’re old and you’re honest, or so men say; and you’ve money, too, which lots of poor seamen haven’t．And you’re brave．Why let yourself be led away with that kind of scoundrel? I’d rather die than—”

Suddenly, there was a noise of distant shouting, then a long horrible scream．I had found one honest man here, and that ter-rible, distant scream told me of another．

“John!” said Tom．“What was that?”

“That?” replied Silver．His eyes shone like pieces of broken glass in the sun．“That’ll be Alan．”

“Alan!” cried poor Tom．“An honest and true seaman! John Silver, you’ve been a friend of mine, but for no longer．You’ve killed Alan, have you? Then kill me, too，if you can!”

The brave man turned his back on Silver and began to walk back to the beach．With a shout, Silver threw his crutch through the air．It hit poor Tom between the shoulders, and he fell to the ground with a cry．

Julia Morgan was born in San Francisco on January 20, 1872 and raised in Oakland. Julia attended Oakland High school, graduating in 1890. With a strong mathematical interest she attended U.C. Berkeley, studying in the College of Engineering. In her senior year, Bernard Maybeck, a professor at U.C. Berkeley, taught descriptive geometry(画法几何) and he started a series of informal architectural seminars for his favorite students. He became a positive influence on Julia and others, encouraging them to study at the famous Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris which he had attended ten years earlier. Julia went to Paris in 1896, learned French, and passed her entrance exams in the fall of 1898, becoming the first woman ever admitted to the architectural department within the Ecole. After three years’ hard work Julia earned her diploma in February 1902.

Morgan returned to Oakland in 1902 and worked for Architect John Galen Howard at U.C. Berkeley, assisting him on the construction of the Greek theater. But her ambition was to open her own practice. She took the state licensing exam and was allowed to practice as an architect in her own right in 1904. She opened her first office at 456 Montgomery, a building destroyed in the earthquake of 1906. In 1907 she moved into the Merchants Exchange Building firstly with Ira Wilson Hoover as a junior partner, but from 1910 she was lifted simply as Julia Morgan, Architect. 

Her first major project after the April 18, 1906 earthquake was the reconstruction of the badly damaged Fairmont Hotel. Morgan supervised(监督) its repair so that it reopened on the first anniversary of the earthquake.

Morgan designed over 700 buildings in her 50- year career. She was highly regarded, especially by women. She also designed a surprising number of homes and apartments in San Francisco.

a. She opened her first office.

b. She worked for John Gallon Howard.

c. She studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

d. She graduated from Oakland High School.

e. She supervised the repair job of Fairmont Hotel.

One day last summer, watching the boys and girls trying to catch butterflies I remembered something happened when I was young. When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.

We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. No musician can sing more beautiful than the birds. I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.

I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, the bird flew about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.

I had left the cage out, and on the second day my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I about how to feed her baby.

The following morning when I went to see how my bird was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken good care of my little bird.

Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time. Hearing me crying over the death of my bird, he explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poisonous (有毒的) berries (干果). She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in cage.”

Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.

                                                                                   Three Boys and a Dad

Brad closed the door slowly as Sue left home to visit her mother. Expecting a whole day to relax, he was thinking whether to read the newspaper or watch his favourite TV talk show on his first day off in months. “This will be like a walk in the park,” he’d told his wife. “I’ll look after the kids, and you can go visit your mom.”

Things started well, but just after eight o’clock, his three little “good kids”—Mike, Randy, and Alex—came down the stairs in their night clothes and shouted “breakfast, daddy.”  When food had not appeared within thirty seconds, Randy began using his spoon on Alex’s head as if it were a drum. Alex started to shout loudly in time to the beat（节拍）. Mike chanted “Where’s my toast, where’s my toast” in the background.  Brad realized his newspaper would have to wait for a few seconds.

Life became worse after breakfast. Mike wore Randy’s underwear on his head. Randy locked himself in the bathroom, while Alex shouted again because he was going to wet his pants. Nobody could find clean socks, although they were before their very eyes. Someone named “Not Me” had spilled a whole glass of orange juice into the basket of clean clothes. Brad knew the talk show had already started.

By ten o’clock, things were out of control.  Alex was wondering why the fish in the jar refused his bread and butter. Mike was trying to show off his talent by decorating the kitchen wall with his colour pencils. Randy, thankfully, appeared to be reading quietly in the family room，but closer examination showed that he was eating apple jam straight from the bottle with his hands. Brad realised that the talk show was over and reading would be impossible.

At exactly 11:17, Brad called the daycare centre (日托所）.“I suddenly have to go into work and my wife’s away. Can I bring the boys over in a few minutes?”  The answer was obviously “yes” because Brad was smiling.

Our lifestyles today are very busy. We have family, school, sports, entertainment and social activities to fit into a time that seems never enough. We need to be healthy to meet the demands of daily life. But what does it mean to have a healthy lifestyle?

To have a healthy lifestyle, we need to:

◆ eat different kinds of healthy food most of the time

◆ do exercise often

◆ have time to relax

◆ get enough sleep to give our bodies time to grow healthy and strong

Read about a normal day in the lives of two children.

Abbey gets up at 7:00 am, feeds the dog, and has cereal and a glass of juice for breakfast. She walks to school with her friend, Julia. She has a bag of chips for a morning snack, drinks water, and has a chicken and lettuce sandwich with a banana for lunch. She likes to play soccer with her friends at lunch and morning break time. She walks home with Julia, has some crackers with cheese and juice for afternoon snack and plays with the dog for a while. She plays computer games for an hour or two before dinner, then has a shower and does her homework. She watches her favorite television show for an hour, then usually goes to bed at about 9:30 pm.

Carl gets up at 8:30 am and has two pieces of bread with jam and a glass of milk for breakfast. His mother drives him to school on her way to work. He eats cookies with juice for morning snack and a pot pie ordered from the school lunch room with juice for lunch. He likes to play card games with his friends at lunchtime and climb the fixed equipment at morning break time. He catches the bus home, has a cereal bar and a can of soda for afternoon snack, then watches some television. He has a shower before dinner, then plays the computer for an hour or two. He goes to bed at about 10:30 pm.

No matter which kind of lifestyle you agree on, just remember it’s important to balance all aspects of life.

B

The Wake-up Call

    “What’s that?” my ten-year-old daughter, Genie, asked. She’d caught me laughing at a piece of mail I’d just opened. “Wake-up service; $2.50 per call.” At the bottom was a phone number and a drawing of a rotary phone, like the one my great-aunt Sara had owned 40 years ago.

   “Is that mail funny?” Genie asked.

   “Not really,” I admitted. “It’s just outdated.”

    “What’s a wake-up call？” She frowned. I explained how, before smart-phones, people sometimes paid someone to wake them with a call.

    “Who sent this flyer?” she pressed.

   “Probably someone older,” I said, “and could use some money.”

Her eyes lit up. “Can we order a wake-up?” she asked.

    “We don’t need it.” I picked it up and headed for the recycling bin.

   “Wait!” she screamed.

     “I feel sorry for the wake-up man, if he needs some money,” she said, tearing up. “Can’t we order?”

       I looked at the flyer with its drawing of a rotary phone. I remembered, again, my great-aunt Sara and her rotary phone. As a kid, I’d visited her over Labor Day, when Jerry Lewis would host his charity event for the disabled kids. Aunt Sara would squeeze my hand, then reach for the rotary phone, dialing the number on the screen. Holding the receiver between us, we’d announce to the operator, “We’d like to help those kids.”

       Now here was my own child, showing the same big heart I’d once been encouraged to have, and how could I ignore her? I Googled the flyer’s return address. The address belonged to a man called Raymond. He was in his mid-60s. We called him and, holding the receiver between us, the way Aunt Sara and I used to, told him we needed his services. “Great!” Raymond said in a shaky but friendly voice, clearly amazed at receiving an order from a child. When I asked how to pay the $2.50, he answered, “Mail a check.”

      Genie was happy all week. Friday night, I put the phone by her pillow so she could answer Raymond’s call. She bounded to my bedroom to tell me all about how he’d wished her a good morning and told her to have a great day, which she did.

        Technology has made some things outdated. But there are still other things the world will always require. In the rush of my daily life, I’d temporarily forgotten that. I guess I just needed a wake-up call.

  Below is a housing for students going to London.

University accommodation (住所) offices

    Many university accommodation offices have their own list of registered landlords (房东). Others also provide information on accommodation agencies and other housing organizations. The advantage of using your university accommodation is that you can get support if you have a problem. The disadvantage is that they are unlikely to have enough registered landlords to house all their students.

Property papers: Loot and Renting

    Loot is an important source of information about private housing for co-renters. The offers are from private landlords, agencies and individuals looking for other co-renters. They also have a website: www.loot.com. The advantage of using Loot is that there are some excellent bargains. The disadvantage is that there is no quality control over the offers.

    Renting is another useful paper. The offers in this paper are mainly from accommodation agencies. Their website is at www.renting.co.uk.

Accommodation agencies

    The majority of rented accommodation in London is probably advertised through accommodation agencies. The advantage of using accommodation agencies is that you will have access to a large number of accommodations. A good agent will listen to your requirements and can save you time in looking for the right accommodation. The disadvantage is that they will make a range of charges to potential renters.

Noticeboards

    Around the universities you will find a number of noticeboards where offers of accommodation will be posted. These will either be from landlords or from students. Some universities will also have online noticeboards where students can advertise to other students. Advertisements from students can be an excellent way to find accommodation. However, advertisements from landlords can be problematic.

Word of mouth

    Some of the best housing in London is never advertised but is passed on from one group of students to another by word of mouth. It might be that you can find out about good offers from final year students. However, don’t suppose that just because you have found out about housing from a friend it is necessarily going to be better than that found through any other source.

Family

    Faced with the very high rents charged in London, some students and their parents will consider buying as an alternative. In some cases this might be a good choice.