The speed, danger and excitement of motor racing have been with us for more than a century. For over a hundred years, drivers have pushed their machines to the limit. Everyone in motor racing has a simple dream: to go faster!

    In the early days, a small number of people raced each other driving unsafe machines on ordinary roads. Today, motor racing is a huge moneymaking industry. Thousands of people are involved. Drivers, mechanics, designers, engineers and technicians work hard in the search for extra speed.

    Cars race along twisting roads or on round tracks. They race across ice and snow, as well as sandy deserts. Mud, dust, grass and steep hills are all part of today's range of racing events. Hundreds of thousands of people turn up to watch races. Millions more people watch the events on television. Top drivers are celebrities and earn huge amounts of money.

    Of course, these drivers don't get to the top overnight. Everyone has to start somewhere. Most drivers learn to race in go-carts when they are young. All drivers must learn about their cars and their engines. They must also be familiar with race rules and what to do in an emergency. Formula Ford is one of the race classes for beginners. Many top Formula I world champions like Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen began by Formula Ford racing.

    The Italian company Ferrari makes some of the world's best racing cars, all painted in its world-famous red colour. Ferrari is the most successful builder of Formula 1 cars. Ferrari has also had some famous Formula 1 champions such as Michael Schumacher. Ferrari prides itself on building the whole machine—the body as well as the engine. Some companies, such as Honda, only make engines for Formula 1 racing.

    Motor racing is expensive. Racing teams need huge amounts of money to keep their cars on the racetrack. Sponsorship is an important way of making money for racing teams. The logos of the sponsors are all over racing cars. The bigger the logo, the more the company will have to pay to the racing team.

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    We often dine out with others, but do you know some basic etiquette (礼节)? If you behave well at the table, it will make your partners happy. But if you don't know how to behave yourself, you will feel embarrassed. Here are some tips for the table etiquette.

    When helping a woman pull her chair to the table, hold it and guide it. Don t shove(碰撞)it against the back of her legs.
     If you're seated at a table with eight or fewer guests, wait for everyone to be served and for the hostess(女主人) to begin eating before you dig in. At a long banquet table, it's OK to start when several people are seated and served.

    If you prefer not to have wine while dining out, don't turn your glass upside down, and don t make a big deal of saying you don't drink. Simply place your fingertips on the rim(边缘) of the glass and say" Not today, thanks."

    When you excuse yourself to go to the restroom, just say" Please excuse me."

    When out with friends or family—even at a fancy restaurant –it's OK to ask for your leftovers(吃剩的饭菜) to be wrapped. But don't do it at a business lunch or dinner.

Information Card

    The Spring Festival is Chinese people's festival. There are different names for each Chinese year. We call it the Year of the Rooster, the Year of Gog…And this year is the Year of Pig.

    Before the festival, people are busy shopping and cleaning their houses. On the eve, there is a big family dinner. After dinner, all the family stay up late to welcome the New Year.

    On the Spring Festival, people put on their new clothes and go to visit their relatives and friends. They say "Happy New Year" and some other greetings to each other. People have a good time during the festival.

    Connor Bloom had an amazing two weeks at Stanford University this summer. Eyery part of the experience was amazing. The particle accelerator(粒子加运器), the chance to meet like minded kids from across the world? You guessed it. . .

    Bloom, 14, an eighth-grader at Whitefish Middle School in Montana, US, participated in a special camp at Stanford University. The camp holds many different classes for students who want to challenge(挑战)themselves.

    When Bloom looked online and saw that Stanford was to hold the "Gified Youth" program, he signed up(报名). "I like physics and math. 1like to study new things and find out everything about them, "said Bloom. " That's what made me want to sign up. "

    He handed in his test scores from fifth grade on, wrote an article and got recommendation(推荐)letters from teachers. Bloom stood out among thousands of students and got the invitation.

    Bloom had a great time with 86 students from all over the world. On the first day, they learned college-level math. Over the next four days they got to work in laboratories(实验室). They even touched a dead body to learn about how the human body works.

    In the second week, they saw the school's particle accelerator, "I never saw such a machine before, "said Bloom. " But it was just the mental workout(智力测验)1 was hoping for. "

    Bloom did more than just study for two weeks. He made friends with students from China, India and Japan. He worked together with other students in class to learn better. He spent his free time with kids who were also music fans.

    "Once we got to know each other, we helped each other out, "he said. " We learned a lot from each other. that's for sure. "

Tony is a new member (成员) of the Reading Club. He makes some new friends in the club.