Dear Alcohol,

    You've been around forever. I can remember all the pain you've caused me.

    Do you remember the night when you almost took my father's life? I do. He loves you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than he loves me. He's addicted to you, to the way you promise to rid him of his problems only to cause more of them. You just sat back and laughed as his car went turning through the street, crashing into two other cars. He wasn't the only one badly hurt by you that night.

    Do you remember the night of my first high school party? My friends were intrigued by you. They treated you as if they were never going to see you again, drinking all of you that they could. I spent two hours that night helping my friends who had fallen head over heels for you. “I'm so embarrassed,” they said as I held their hair back so that they could throw up. “I'm sorry,” they said when I called taxis for them, walking them out and paying the driver in advance. “This won't happen again,” they said as they were sent to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. Two 15-year-old girls slept in hospital beds that night due to you.

    Do you remember the night when you took advantage of my 17-year-old neighbor who had to drive to pick up his sister from her dance lesson? Do you know how we all felt when he hit another car head-on and killed two people in the other car? He died the next morning, too. His sister walked home from her dance lesson, and passed police cars and a crowd of people gathering on the sidewalk just two blocks away from the dance studio. She didn't realize her brother was among them at all. She never saw him again. And it was all your fault.

    I wish you'd walk out of my life forever. I don't want anything to do with you. Look at all the pain you've caused. Sure, you've made people happy too from time to time. But the damage you've caused in the lives of millions is not excusable. Stop attracting the people I love! Stop hurting me, please!

Sincerely,

Me

    The poverty line is the minimum income that people need for an acceptable standard of living. People with incomes below the poverty line are considered poor. Economists study the causes of poverty in order to find solutions to the problem.

    As the general standard of living in the country rises, the poverty line does, too. Therefore, even with today's relatively high standard of living, about 10 percent of the people in the United States are below the poverty line. However, if these people had stable jobs, they could have an acceptable standard of living. Economists suggest several reasons why poor people do not have jobs.

    For one thing, more than half of the poor people in the United States are not qualified to work. Over 40 percent of the poor people are children. By law, children less than 16 years old cannot work in many industries. A large number of poor people are old. Many companies do not hire people over 65 years old, the normal retirement age.

    Some poor adults do not look for jobs for a variety of personal reasons: they are sick, they do not have any motivation, they have family problems, or they do not believe that they can find a job.

    Other poor people look for a job, but cannot find one. Many poor adults never went to high school. Therefore, when they look for jobs, they have few skills that they can offer.

    At the present time, the government thinks it can reduce poverty in the country in the following ways:

    First, if the national economy grows, businesses and industries hire more workers. Some of the poor who are qualified to look for jobs may find employment. Then they will no longer below the poverty line.

    Second, if society invests in the poor，the poor will become more productive.

    If the government spends money on social programs, education and training for poor people, the poor will have the skills to offer. Then it is more probable that they can find jobs.

    Finally, if the government distributes society's income differently, it raises some poor people above the poverty line. The government collects taxes from the non-poor and gives money to the poor. These payments to the poor are called welfare.

    Some economists are looking for better solutions to the poverty problem. However, at the present time, many people depend on welfare for a minimally acceptable standard of living.

    A new technology is going to ripe, one that could transform our daily lives, help to form new industries, even remove world economic powers from their present positions. Unlike the wave of industrialization that began in the West and spread later to the rest of the world, the new developments are taking place in research labs all over the globe—and Asians are in the forefront. Physicists are creating a new class of materials that display an amazing property unforeseen even two years ago—superconductivity (超导体技术).

    Used today only in specialized equipment, super conductors have the potential to radically change most of the electrical and electronic appliances found in the home, making them smaller, more powerful and efficient. They could free our cities of pollution by replacing petrol and diesel (柴油) vehicles with electric cars, and cut the cost of electricity. The new materials do something that even the best of conductors such as copper and silver cannot—they do away with all electrical resistance. The significances for energy storage are great.

    The technology is in its early stage, still accessible to countries that decide to invest brains and money. For 75 years it had remained little more than a scientific curiosity with limited practical use because the phenomenon occurred only at extremely low temperatures. It was first observed in 1911 by a Dutch scientist named Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who cooled mercury (水银) to temperatures below -269℃ with liquid helium (氦). Then in January last year, two IBM scientists, K. Alex Muller and J. George Bednorz, found a metal oxide ceramic (氧化陶瓷) that superconducted at -243℃. Their report went largely unnoticed until last December, when it was confirmed at a scientific meeting in Boston. Today Japan, India, China and other Asian countries all have their share of experts who spend their days and nights in labs, acting as midwives (助产士) to a new technology.

    Last year, three experienced storm chasers were killed in a tornado(龙卷风)in the US, but despite this the number of people going in search of tornadoes is growing. What drives them to take risks and look for danger? The man at the wheel glanced in the back-view mirror and then slowly turned around. "Don't put this in your program." he said. His wife in the passenger seat laughed. He lowered the window and killed the engine. The wind rushed in from surrounding wheat fields.

    Then, from behind, the sound of footsteps approached on the dirt road. It was a moment of peace after hours of speedy racing through the American grassland. There had been excited shouts about where a tornado might form and how we would be there if it did. We were crazy on the trail a moment ago. But now, everyone was very cool. A Kansas state trooper(骑警) introduced himself through the window. There was pretended surprise when he said how fast we had been going. Really? Wow, sorry.

    Val Cator handed over his driver's license. His wife, Amy, took the registration out of the glove box. Val explained they were storm chasers with Channel 9 News out of Oklahoma City—though it was hardly necessary. Their huge black truck has lightning bolts(闪电)and Storm Tracker 9 painted on the sides.

    Val pointed to the radar on the laptop open next to him and said those red and green dots suggested a tornado could form this afternoon. The state trooper was untouched. "I've got that in my car too." he said. People here keep a close eye on the weather. It's part of living in the tornado alley. Every year some town or other is blown off the map by tornadoes that can reach 300 miles an hour.

    Val and Amy are just two of hundreds of possibly thousands of trackers who speed around with computers and cameras hoping to catch one of these beautiful, deadly storms. I'd joined them to learn why the number of trackers keeps growing. Why are people taking real risks—beyond the steady diet of rest-stop junk food—to watch weather?

    Last year, a tornado killed three of the most experienced storm chasers. It picked up and threw their car as easily as you would a piece of paper. Dozens of other chasers were hurt in the same storm. They were crowded on a few roads when the tornado suddenly expanded and ate them. Val and Amy were there that day but still, in their words, chase aggressively.

Writing out the same word again and again may bring back bad memories for some, but handwriting can boost connectivity across brain regions, some of which are involved in learning and memory, a new study shows. 

In the study, psychologists Audrey and Ruud, both at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, stuck electrodes（电极）on the participants' heads. They asked the participants to type out or handwrite with a digital pen words that appeared on a computer screen. Sensors in a cap recorded electrical brain activity. Then the psychologists looked for when two brain areas are active with the same frequency of electrical waves at the same time. This result can reveal the connectivity among different regions across the brain. 

With handwriting, the researchers saw increased activity, specifically in low frequency bands, not only in the expected motor areas but also in others associated with learning. These low frequency bands have previously been shown to support memory processes. When the team compared the two tasks, they realized that handwriting—but not typing—increased the connectivity across parietal（顶叶）brain regions, which are involved in sensory and motor processing, and central regions, many of which are involved in memory. "Even when the movements are very similar, the activation seems much, much higher in handwriting," Audrey says. "It shows that there's more involvement of these brain regions when you're handwriting, which might give you some specific advantages."

These findings suggest that there are distinct processes of brain activation happening while a person types or writes. This boost of stimulation of handwriting facilitates learning because these particular waves between these areas are involved in memory formation and encoding（编码）. 

And although handwriting may help with learning processes, typing is often easier, faster and more practical. "Students and teachers alike should therefore consider the task at hand to decide to handwrite or type, "Audrey says. Despite the need for more studies to determine the best learning strategy, experts say that handwriting shouldn't be left behind in the digital age. "Schools need to bring in more writing into curriculum design," Ruud says. 

As spring comes to half the world, many people can enjoy the new growth that comes with warmer weather. This is a great time to get outside and get dirty! {#blank#}1{#/blank#} This outdoor activity gives us beautiful plants, pleasant smelling flowers and fresh fruit and vegetables. Moreover, it also gives us many health benefits. 

Gardening reduces loneliness. It connects people. When you are gardening, you are outdoors. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Gardeners usually enjoy showing people what they are growing. And most enjoy sharing advice and stories about their gardens. 

Gardening is a great activity to do with children. It gets them outdoors and off computers, televisions and other electronics. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Gardening can teach a child about where food comes from and healthy eating. It can also help them to understand the limits of natural resources. 

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} This means you are getting Vitamin D, which helps your bodies take in calcium(钙). That is necessary to keep bones strong. When you garden you must move around. All the different movements needed for gardening—bending, stretching and lifting—work small muscles in the body. 

Gardening may help your brain stay young. In one study, researchers found that gardening could lower the risk of future dementia(痴呆) by 36 percent. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} A flower and herb garden can help feed bees and butterflies. Growing herbs and flowers connects you to nature and pleases all of your senses. 

A. Vitamin D also helps us fight diseases. 

B. They can learn about nature and wildlife. 

C. Gardening is popular in many parts of the world. 

D. So it is a perfect time to communicate with your neighbours. 

E. While in your garden, you might feel the sunshine on your skin. 

F. Some people may not have the resources to have their own garden. 

G. Gardening can also give you the feeling that you have done something good.