Nowadays more and more people are talking about geneticallymodified foods ( GM foods). GM foods develop from genetically modifiedorganisms (有机体), which havehad specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineeringtechniques. These techniques are much more precise where an organism is exposedto chemicals to create a non­specific but stable change. For many people, thehigh­tech production raises all kinds of environmental, ethical, health andsafety problems. Particularly in countries with long farming traditions, theidea seems against nature.

In fact, GM foods are already very much a part of our lives.They were first put on the market in 1996. A third of the corn and more thanhalf the cotton grown in the U. S. last year was the product of biotechnology,according to the Department of Agriculture. More than 65 million acres ofgenetically modified crops will be planted in the US this year. The geneticgenie is out of the bottle.

However, like any new product entering the food chain, GM foodsmust be subjected to careful testing. In wealthy countries, the debate aboutbiotech is not so fierce by the fact that they have a large number of foods tochoose from, and a supply that goes beyond the needs. In developing countriesdesperate to feed fast­growing and underfed populations, the matter is simplerand much more urgent: do the benefits of biotech outweigh the risks?

The statistics on population growth and hunger are disturbing.Last year the world's population reached 6 billion. The UN states that nearly800 million people around the world are unhealthy. About 400 million women ofchildbearing age don' t have enough iron, which means their babies are exposedto various birth defeats.As many as 100 million children suffer from vitamin Adeficiency, a leading cause of blindness.

How can biotech help? Genetic engineering is widely used toproduce plants and animals with better nutritional values. Biotechnologistshave developed genetically modified rice and they are working on other kinds ofnutritionally improved crops. Biotech can also improve farming productivity inplaces where food shortages are caused by crop damage attributable to drought,poor soil and crop viruses.

    Good afternoon, and welcome to England. We hope that your visit here will be a pleasant one. Today, I'd like to draw your attention to a few of our laws.

    The first one is about drinking. Now, you may not buy wine in this country if you are under 18 years old, nor may your friends buy it for you.

    Secondly, noise. Enjoy yourselves, but please don't make unnecessary noise. We ask you to respect other people who may wish to be quiet.

    Thirdly, crossing the road. Be careful. The traffic moves on the left side of the road in this country. Use pedestrian crossings（人行道） and don't take any chances（冒险） when crossing the road.

    My next point is about rubbish. It isn't a law to drop rubbish in the street. When you have something to throw away, please put it in your pocket and take it home, or put it in a dustbin.

    Finally, about smoking. It is against the law to buy cigarettes if you are under 16.

    If you request any help, you should contact the police, who will be glad to help you. You can call, write, or directly go to ask any policeman.

    We moved to Elmont in 1956. I was 4 years old. Elmont was a wonderful place to grow up. There were lots of kids, great schools and we had a big yard. My father, Nicholas Denaro, believed that grass was not just to look at, but that children were meant to play on it. We played games and badminton there. A white fence separated our backyard from a small wood. My friends and I jumped the fence and entered the woods.

    My father had the most amazing hand. He could fix anything. He gave those amazing hands to his son, my younger brother, Frank, who also became handy around the house. But my father saved his green fingers for me. He grew flowers, tomatoes, strawberries and figs（无花果） and he shared his love of gardening with me.

    Fourteen years ago, I went to a local nursery and bought a fig tree for Dad for Father's Day. My mother, Bridget Denaro, called it the best gift I could have given him. He planted it exactly in the middle of the front yard.

    He loved that tree and enjoyed delicious figs every year, except just after Sandy hit in 2012. He was so disappointed when cold weather just after the super storm froze all the remaining figs.

In 2015, my father died of aspirating pneumonia(呼吸性肺炎) at 97. We sold our family home of 61 years last year. We left behind Dad's tree, full of figs waiting to ripen. We considered taking it with us, but decided that his Father's Day fig tree belonged to Elmont. The new owner generously allowed me to take some branches so that I could have a precious reminder of my much-loved father and the Elmont home.

    Just like rice and noodles are different from bread, snacks in China are a world apart from those in the UK and the US. For one thing, I never imagined that sunflower seeds (瓜子) would be so popular here. I spotted people having them while waiting for tables outside restaurants, before dinner and, of course, while watching TV. I also saw that a plate of sunflower seeds is always on offer during the Spring Festival holidays.

    I had seldom tried sunflower seeds when I came to China. In the UK, though, young people love their snacks. In fact, young people in Britain eat more snacks than people of the same age in other European countries. A recent survey has discovered that 64 percent of under 20-year-olds snack between meals, according to an article on the British Council website. In comparison (对比), 58.7 percent of young people snack in Germany, 53 percent in France, and only 40.7 percent in Spain.

    British snacks are generally unhealthy. Our favorites are probably potato chips, which we call crisps, and chocolate bars. From a very young age, we always looked forward to our crisps and chocolate bars after school, perhaps even included with sandwiches and fruit in our school lunches that our parents made for us.

    Snacks are also popular in the US. One of the things that I found the most extraordinary when I first visited the US was the number of snacks in their supermarkets; I was surprised to find huge aisles (过道) just for snacks that were bigger than some stores I'd been to in the UK. Snack tastes in the US are much the same as those in the UK, except there's much more choice – every kind of fatty, sugary food is available (可获得的) to everyone all the time.

    All in all, it's probably best for your health if you like sunflower seeds rather than potato chips and chocolate. But eating these delicious treats at times couldn't possibly be wrong, could it?

    Londoners are great readers. They buy vast numbers of newspapers and magazines and of books-especially paperbacks, which are still comparatively cheap in spite of ever­increasing rises in the costs of printing. They still continue to buy "proper" books, too, printed on good paper and bound (装订) between hard covers.

    There are many streets in London containing shops which specialize in book­selling. Perhaps the best known of these is Charring Cross Road in the very heart of London. Here bookshops of all sorts and sizes are to be found, from the celebrated one which boasts of being "the biggest bookshop in the world" to the tiny, dusty little places which seem to have been left over from Dickens' time. Some of these shops stock, or will obtain, any kind of books, but many of them specialize in second­hand books, in art books, in foreign books, in books on philosophy, politics or any other of the countless subjects about which books may be written. One shop in this area specializes only in books about ballet!

    Although it may be the most convenient place for Londoners to buy books, Charring Cross Road is not the cheapest. For the really cheap second­hand books, the collector must venture off the beaten track, to Farringdon Road, for example, in the East Central district of London. Here there is nothing so impressive as bookshops. The booksellers come along each morning and pour out their sacks of books onto small handcarts. And the collectors, some professionals and some amateurs, have been waiting for them. In places like this they can still, occasionally, pick up for a few pence an old one that may be worth many pounds.

Many people might feel lost during a major transition (转折) in life. Life coaching, however, is the best choice for anyone who is looking for ways to get through the tough path of life.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Some life coaches might focus only on certain types of situations, like advancing careers, while others may be willing to help with nearly any life transition.

A life coach will often act as an advisor for his clients (客户). {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Many times, he will also be able to look at a client's life with a fair eye and offer fresh ideas on certain situations. In doing so, the life coach will usually be able to help his client work through any problems he may face.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} During this interview, the life coach should find out what the client's wants, needs and goals are in life.

How to help each client is different to everyone, and it is a very individualized process. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Because of this, a life coach must develop plans based on each client's strengths, weaknesses, abilities and so on. A life coach will also usually take each client's morals and values into consideration.

Some life coaches may be able to find employment with a few select universities and corporations. There are also a handful of large life coaching firms that hire life coaches as well. The majority of life coaches, however, work for themselves, opening their own life coaching practices.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Methods that work for one client may not work for another.

B. A good life coach should try to satisfy all the needs of his clients.

C. He is often expected to listen closely to their concerns and problems.

D. Before a life coach can help a client, he first needs an in-depth interview.

E. Life coaches offer guidance to all types of people in different stages of their lives.

F. In some cases, life coaches may work together and offer a wider range of services.

G. Generally, there are no strict education requirements for starting a life coaching career.