Venice, one of the cities in Italy, was founded in A.D.811 by the people of Malamocco, fleeing（逃跑）from the Franks. It was said that they were guided by pigeons carrying little crosses, and settled where now Venice lies.

Venice is built on 117 islands. It has 150 canals and 400 bridges. The narrow streets, with their historic names, are covered with stones, but have no footpaths. They are dotted with flowershop signs and lanterns. Shops and palaces stand by side. The brick bridges are high enough to allow boats to pass freely under them.

The center of public life is St. Mark’s Square where tourists and citizens sit in the famous Florian and Quadri cafes to listen to music, enjoying themselves. The Quadri is more popular but the Florian, founded in 1720, is the best-known cafe because it has received such great persons as Byron (an English poet) and Goethe (a German poet).

Unfortunately the special position of Venice is threatening（威胁）its own existence. The terrain（地势）on which it is built began to sink while the level of the surrounding waters is constantly rising. However, many measures have already been taken to prevent the city from sinking.

In the second paragraph, the author _______.

Which of the following shows the right relationship?（○=Italy; △=Venice; □=St. Mark’s Square）

Why is the Florian the famous cafe? Because _________.

From the article we can see that _______.

  The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the Americans from being discovered by the people of Europe.

       Many wrong ideas about the Atlantic made early sailors unwilling to sail far out into it. One idea was that it reached out to “the edge of the world.” Sailors were afraid that they might sail right off the earth. Another idea was that at the equator（赤道）the ocean would be boiling hot.

       The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big as the Pacific, but it is still very large. It is more than 4,000 miles (6,000km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2,000 miles (3,200km) wide.

       Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so large an ocean it has very few islands. Also, it is the world’s saltiest ocean.

       There is so much water in the Atlantic that it is hard to imagine how much there is. But suppose no more rain fell into it and no more water was brought to it by rivers. It would take the ocean about 4,000 years to dry up. On the average the water is a little more than two miles (3.2km) deep, but in places it is much deeper. The deepest spot is near Puerto Rico. This “deep” measures 30,246 feet-almost six miles (9.6km).

       One of the longest mountain ranges of the world rises from the floor of the Atlantic. This mountain range runs north and south down the middle of the ocean. The tops of a few of the mountains reach up above the sea and make islands.

       Several hundred miles eastward from Florida there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Here the water is quiet, for there is little wind. In the days of sailing vessels（船）the crew were afraid they would be becalmed（停滞不前）here. Sometimes they were.

       Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs（冰山）float down from the Far North across the paths of ships.

       We now have such fast ways of traveling that this big ocean seems to have grown smaller. Columbus sailed for more than two months to cross it. A fast modern steamship can make the trip in less than four days. Airplanes fly from New York to London in only eight hours and from south America to Africa in four!

Recently there was a major discovery in the scientific research—the mapping of all DNA in a human gene(基因) is complete．Couple of years ago, this seems an impossible task for scientist to accomplish．All this progress in science leads us to believe that the day, when the human being will be cloned, is not far away．Human cloning has always been a topic of argument, in terms of morality or religion．

Taking a look at why cloning might be beneficial, among many cases, it is arguable that parents who are known to be at risk of passing a genetic limitation to a child could make use of cloning．If the clone was free of genetic limitations．then the other clone would be as well．The latter could foe inserted in the woman and allowed to ripen to term．Moreover, cloning would enable women, who canˈt get pregnant, to have children of their own．

Cloning humans would also mean that organs could be cloned, so it would be a source of perfect transfer organs．This, surely would be greatly beneficial to millions of unfortunate people around the world that are expected to lose their lives due to failure of single (or more) organ(s). It is also arguable that a ban on cloning may be unlawful and would rob people of the right to reproduce and limit the freedom of scientists．

Arguments against cloning are also on a perfectly practical side．Primarily, I believe that cloning would step in the normal "cycle" of life．There would be a large number of same genes, which reduce the chances of improvement, and, in turn, development—the fundamental reason how living things naturally adapt to the ever-changing environment．Life processes failing to do so might result in untimely disappearance．Furthermore, cloning would make the uniqueness that each one of us possesses disappear．Thus, leading to creation of genetically engineered groups of people for specific purposes and, chances are, that those individuals would be regarded as "objects" rather than people in the society．

Scientists havenˈt 100 percent guaranteed that the first cloned humans will be normal．Thus this could result in introduction of additional limitations in the human "gene-pool"．

Regarding such arguable topics in "black or white" approach seems very innocent to me personally. We should rather try to look at all "shades" of it．I believe that cloning is only legal if its purpose is for cloning organs; not humans．Then we could regard this as for "saving life" instead of "creating life"．I believe cloning humans is morally and socially unacceptable．

TIANJIN, Feb. 6 - The computer viruses known as "Kompu" and "Happytime" will attack China next week, but damage will be limited, predicted the Tianjin-based National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center on Sunday.

The center - the only anti-virus products testing and certification center authorized by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security - raised the alert about the two viruses, which are expected to hit the country from Feb. 6 to 12.

The experts explained that the Wm_Kumpu virus originated in Estonia and appears on the computer screens with the messages "Mul on paha tuju!" and "Tahan kommi", which mean "I am in bad mood" and "Give me some candy".

The Vbs_Happytime, a virus in e-mail attachments, can eliminate.exe and .dll files in the computer hard disks.

Experts warned computer users who may log on to the Internet to receive mail or visit Internet chat rooms when they finish the week-long Spring Festival vacation and return to work on Monday.

The center advised computer system maintenance technicians to scrutinize their systems and upgrade anti-viral software as precautions against the viruses, before the routine working week starts on Monday.

Experts with the center said that there is no need to immediately format computer hard drives stricken with the viruses, since the viruses can not possibly damage all data on the hard disk in a short period of time. Computer users can use software and tools to restore the lost data.

At the beginning of this century, medical scientists made an interesting discovery; we are built not just of flesh and blood but also of time. They were  (1)  to show that we all have “a body clock”  (2)  us, which controls the  (3)  and fall of our body energies,  (4)  us different from one day one to the next.

The   (5)  of “a body clock” should not be too  (6)  since the lives of most living things are controlled  (7)   the 24 hour night-and-day cycle. We feel  (8)  and fall asleep at night and become   (9)  and energetic during the day. If the 24 hour-cycle is  (10)  , most people experience unpleasant  (11)   . For example, people who are not  (12)   to working at night can find that  (13)   of sleep causes them to  (14)  badly at work.

  (15)   the daily cycle of sleeping and  (16)  , we also have other cycles which  (17)  longer than one day. Most of us would   (18)  that we feel good on some days and not so good on  (19)   ; sometimes our ideas seem to flow and at other times, they  (20)  ​do not exist.

       Those who doubt TV’s influence on our lives might consider the effect of automobile on American society. When the automobile first appeared on the highways, most Americans saw it as a horseless carriage, not as an important symbol of a new way of life. Similarly, those of us who grew up before television tend to think of it as just another medium in a series of 20th-century mass-communication systems, such as movies and radio. But television is not just another medium.

       If you were born before 1950, television came into your life after your formative years. Even if you are now a TV fan, it will be difficult for you to understand the changes it has brought. For example, imagine spending six hours a day at the local cinema when you were 12 years old. No parent would have allowed it. Yet, among the children we asked, nearly half the 12-year-olds watch an average of six or more hours of television per day. For many of them the habit continues into adulthood（成年）. From our surveys（调查）,we estimate（估计）that about one third of all American adults（成年人）watch an average of four more hours of television per day.

       None of us is totally dependent upon television for our view of the world. However, many of us have not had the opportunity to observe the reality of police station, courtrooms（法庭）, corporate board rooms（法人会议室）; or hospital operating rooms. Critics（评论家）complain about the stercotyped（不变的）characters and plots of TV dreams. But many viewers look on them as representative（代表）of the real world.

       If adults can so easily accept the reality of television, imagine: its effect on children. By the time the average American child reaches public school, he has already spent several years in an electronic nursery school. At the age of 10, the average child spend more hours a week in front of the TV screen than in the classroom. Given continuous exposure（暴露）to the world of TV, it’s not surprising that the children we tested seemed to be more strongly influenced by TV than the adults.

       At the other end of the life cycle, television becomes the steady and often the only companion of the elderly. As failing eyesight makes reading difficult, and getting around becomes it problem, many old people spend much of the day watching TV. Here the action of fictional drama helps make up for the inaction of their lives.

Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid is used to grilling guests on the sofa every morning, but she is cooking up a storm in her latest role — showing families how to prepare delicious and nutritious meals on a tight budget.

In Save Money: Good Food, she visits a different home each week and with the help of chef Matt Tebbutt offers top tips on how to reduce food waste, while preparing recipes for under £5 per family a day. And the Good Morning Britain presenter says she’s been able to put a lot of what she’s leant into practice in her own home, preparing meals for sons, Sam,14, Finn,13, and Jack, 11.

"We love Mexican churros, so I buy them on my phone from my local Mexican takeaway restaurant," she explains. "I pay £5 for a portion(一份), but Matt makes them for 26p a portion, because they are flour, water, sugar and oil. Everybody can buy takeaway food, but sometimes we’re not aware how cheaply we can make this food ourselves. "

The eight-part series(系列节自), Save Money: Good Food, follows in the footsteps of ITV’s Save Money: Good Health, which gave viewers advice on how to get value from the vast range of health products on the market.

With food our biggest weekly household expense, Susanna and Matt spend time with a different family each week. In tonight’s Easter special they come to the aid of a family in need of some delicious inspiration on a budget. The team transforms the family’s long weekend of celebration with less expensive but still tasty recipes.

In the 1760s， Mathurin Roze opened a series of shops that boasted（享有）a special meat soup called consommé． Although the main attraction was the soup， Roze's chain shops also set a new standard for dining out， which helped to establish Roze as the inventor of the modern restaurant．

    Today， scholars have generated large amounts of instructive research about restaurants． Take visual hints that influence what we eat： diners served themselves about 20 percent more pasta（意大利面食）when their plates matched their food．  When a dark﹣colored cake was served on a black plate rather than a white one， customers recognized it as sweeter and more tasty．

    Lighting matters， too． When Berlin restaurant customers ate in darkness， they couldn't tell how much they'd had： those given extra﹣large shares ate more than everyone else， but were none the wiser﹣they didn't feel fuller， and they were just as ready for dessert．

    Time is money， but that principle means different things for different types of restaurants． Unlike fast﹣food places． fine dining shops prefer customers to stay longer and spend． One way to encourage customers to stay and order that extra round： put on some Mozart（莫扎特）．When classical， rather than pop， music was playing， diners spent more． Fast music hurried diners out．

    Particular scents also have an effect： diners who got the scent of lavender（薰衣草）stayed longer and spent more than those who smelled lemon， or no scent．

    Meanwhile， things that you might expect to discourage spending﹣"bad" tables， crowding．high prices﹣don't necessarily． Diners at bad tables﹣next to the kitchen door， say﹣spent nearly as much as others but soon fled． It can be concluded that restaurant keepers need not "be overly concerned about ‘bad' tables，" given that they're profitable． As for crowds， a Hong Kong study found that they increased a restaurant's reputation， suggesting great food at fair prices． And doubling a buffet's price led customers to say that its pizza was 11 percent tastier．