Americans always attach great weight to the business of the country. President Coolidge's statement, “the business of America is business.” Still points to an important truth today—that business institutions have more prestige(威望) in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions possess this great prestige?

    One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.

    Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly (垄断、垄断者) of power. In contrast to one, all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers' dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors(下属) or slaves.

    A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which is a monopoly. Because is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believes, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, than democracy in preserving freedom.

    Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternation to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore world as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity in America rather than the aristocratic(贵族的) idea of inherited privilege in many other countries

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    8:30 P.M.

    Outlook

    Outlook is back with a new series of reports to keep you up date with all that's new in the world of entertainment. Stories go all the way from the technical to the romantic, from stage to screen. There will be reports of the stars of the moment, the stars of the future and the stars of the past. The director with his new film, the designer with the latest fashion, and the musician with the popular song are part of the new Outlook. The program is introduced by Fran Levine.

    9:00 P.M.

    Discovery

    When a 10-year-old boy gets a first class degree in mathematics or a 8-year-old plays chess like a future grade master, they are considered as geniuses. Where does the quality of genius come from? Is it all in the gene or can any child be turned into a genius? And if parents do have a child who might become a genius in the future, what should they do? In this 30-minute film, Barry Johnson, the professor at School of Medicine, New York University will help you discover the answer.

    10:00 P.M.

    Science/Health

Is it possible to beat high blood pressure without drugs? The answer is “yes”, according to the researchers at Johns Hopkins and three other medical centers. After a study of 800 persons with high blood pressure, the found that after 6 months, those devoted to weight loss — exercise and eating a low-salt, low-fat food — lost about 13 pounds and became fitter. Plus, 35% of them dropped into the “normal” category. This week, Dr. Alan Duckworth will tell you how these people reduce their blood pressure to level similar to what's achieved with Hypertension drugs.

    Obama, Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs—what do they have in common? They are, of course, all Americans. And according to a survey by social networking site baidu.com, they all best illustrate the word “cool”.

    But just what does it mean to say someone is “cool”? Most would answer that it is something to do with being independent-minded and not following the crowd.

    Yale University art professor Robert Farris Thompson says that the term “cool” goes back to 15th century West African philosophy. “Cool” relates to ideas of grace under pressure.

    “In Africa,” he writes, “coolness is a positive quality which combines calmness, silence, and life.”

    The modern idea of “cool” developed largely in the US in the period after World War II. “Post-war 'cool' was in part an expression of war-weariness… it went against the strict social rules of the time,” write sociologists Dick Pountain and David Robins in Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude.

    But it was the American actor James Dean who became the symbol for “cool” in the hugely successful 1955 movie Rebel without a Cause. Dean plays a tough guy who disobeys his parents and the authorities. He always gets the girl, smokes cigarettes, wears a leather jacket and beats up bullies. In the movie, Dean showed what “cool” would mean to American young people for the next 60 years.

    Today the focus of “cool” has changed to athletics stars. Often in movies about schools, students gain popularity on the athletics field more than in the classroom. This can be seen quite clearly in movies like Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die.

But many teenagers also think being smart is cool. Chess and other thinking games have been becoming more popular in schools.

    “Call it the Harry Potterization of America—a time when being smart is the new cool,” writes journalist Joe Sunnen.

    Doctors in hospital emergency rooms often see accidental poisonings. A frightened parent arrives with a child who swallowed a cleaning liquid. Or perhaps the harmful substance is a medicine. Or it might be a product meant to kill insects. These are common causes of accidental poisoning.

    In cases like this, seek medical help as soon as possible. Save the container of whatever caused the poisoning. And look on the container for information about anything that stops the effects of the poison. Save anything expelled from the mouth of the victim. That way, doctors can examine it.

    Millions of people know how to give abdominal thrusts(腹部按压)to save a person choking on something trapped in the throat. The American Red Cross says a rescuer should first hit the person on the back five times between the shoulder bones. If the airway is still blocked, the Red Cross suggests pushing hard five times along the victim's abdomen. You can do these abdominal thrusts by getting directly behind a sitting or standing person.

    The Mayo Clinic health centers suggest several steps if bleeding is severe. First, if possible, remove dirt from the wound and press on it with a clean cloth or piece of clothing. In the past, people were advised to stop severe bleeding with a tourniquet(止血带). But experts now say tourniquets are dangerous because they can crush(挤压) major arteries and nerves. If a wound seems infected, let the victim rest. Physical activity can spread the infection. Treat the wound with a mixture of salt and water until medical help arrives.

    To learn more about first aid, ask a hospital or an organization like the Red Cross or the Red Crescent Society for information. Training may be offered in your area.

    If you know first aid methods, you can be calmer and more helpful in case of emergency. 

    More students than ever before are taking a gap year (间隔年) before going to university. It used to be called the "year off" between school and university. The gap-year phenomenon originated (起源) with the months left over to Oxbridge applicants between entrance exams in November and the start of the next academic year.

    This year, 25,310 students who have accepted places in higher education institutions have put off their entry until next year, according to statistics on university entrance provided by the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS).

    That is a record 14.7% increase in the number of students taking a gap year. Tony Higgins from UCAS said that the statistics are good news for everyone in higher education. "Students who take a well-planned year out are more likely to be satisfied with, and complete, their chosen course. Students who take a gap year are often more mature and responsible?" he said.

    But not everyone is happy. Owain James, the president of the National Union of Students (NUS), argued that the increase is evidence of student hardship—young people are being forced into earning money before finishing their education. "New students are now aware that they are likely to leave university up to £ 15,000 in debt. It is not surprising that more and more students are taking a gap year to earn money to support their study for the degree. NUS statistics show that over 40% of students are forced to work during term time and the figure increases to 90% during vacation periods," he said.

    Downloading music over the Internet is pretty common among high school and college students. However, when students download and share copyrighted music without permission, they are against the law.

    A survey of young people's music ownership has found that teenagers and college students have an average of more than 800 illegally copied songs each on their digital music players. Half of those surveyed share all the music on their hard drive (硬盘), enabling others to copy hundreds of songs at any one time. Some students were found to have randomly linked their personal blogs to music sites, so as to allow free trial listening of copyrighted songs for blog visitors, or adopted some of the songs as the background music for their blogs. Such practices may be easy and free, but there are consequences.

    Sandra Dowd, a student of Central Michigan University, was fined US $7,500 for downloading 501 files from Lime Wire, a peer-to-peer file sharing program. Sandra claimed that she was unaware that her downloads were illegal until she was contacted by authorities. Similarly, Mike Lewinski paid US $4,000 to settle a lawsuit（起诉）against him for copyright violation (违反). Mike expressed shock and couldn't believe that this was happening to him. “I just wanted to save some money and I always thought the threat was just a scare tactic(战术).” “You know, everyone does it,” added Mike.

    The RIAA （Recording Industry Association of America）, the organization that files lawsuits against illegal downloaders, states that suing (控告) students was by no means their first choice. Unfortunately, without the threat of consequences, students are just not changing their behavior. Education alone is not enough to stop the extraordinary growth of the illegal downloading practice.