The life expectancy is the length of time that a person is normally likely to live. As it increases nowadays, the average person lives beyond the age of retirement. As a result, the elderly make up an ever-increasing percentage of society, which makes it more important to make effort to improve the lives of senior citizens.

    First of all, one way would be to make sure that the elderly have enough money on which to live. Obviously, when a person stops working, they still require a source of income to cover their basic needs such as food, accommodation and heating. A clear solution to the problem is for the government to make sure that the state pension(养老金) is enough for these needs.

    Measures should also be taken to overcome the health problems the elderly face. The government should also provide access to the best health care available, which may necessitate paying for residential homes where the elderly can have round-the-clock nursing, or, at least, providing medication free of charge to all people over a certain age.

    If we try to address the problem of social isolation (社交孤立), the lives of old people could be improved. If we organize trips for the elderly to community centers, visits from social workers, their problem of loneliness can be reduced a lot which marks the lives of so many old people living alone and far from their families.

    The last helpful suggestion is to change the attitude of the community towards its older members, who are all too often seen as a burden on society. We need to be taught from an early age to respect the views of old people, and appreciate their broader experience of life. This would help society as a whole, and encourage appreciation of the role that old people can still play today.

    Augusto Esquivel is a sculptor who, in his own words, is “crazy with comparisons of reality and potential and the balance between them.” Perhaps the best example of what he's talking about are his most famous creations: the suspended(悬挂的) button sculptures.

    Made entirely from buttons hanging on various lengths of string, Esquivel's sculptures are made to look like common objects: a piano, a gumball machine, and even a toilet. If it wasn't for the clear string hanging above, these objects, these sculptures, would look solid, yet you can put your hands right through them. The process starts with him deciding on a subject and setting the acrylic （丙烯酸树脂）from where the buttons are being suspended. He buys buttons of different shapes and sizes, paints them with spray paint, and carefully hangs them. After that, it's a manner of hanging each individual button, which takes a lot of time. For his piano, for example, he individually hung over 60 pounds worth of tiny buttons.

    Esquivel's sculptures, while mostly housed inside art galleries, perfectly capture one of the main principles of street art: something that is eye-catching and something that invites interaction. Often the best sculptures outside the art galleries aren't the ones behind guards and fencing, but the ones people can go right up to and touch. In Vancouver, a series of laughing old men are attracting people for pictures and to just generally hang around, but the people who simply walk by and see the sculptures almost always leave with a smile on their face. That's good street art: it draws the viewer in rather than relying on a gallery to draw in an audience and point them to certain pieces.

    Esquivel's art is not only a presentation of talent, something that mentions larger philosophical questions, like the ones he stated above, but also just the right combination of interesting idea and painstaking work. One can look at his work in a critical way, or simply appreciate his idea and execution(艺术品的制作).

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    In the summer of 1848, in Guatemala, a man called Ambrosio Tut went out into the jungle, as he did almost every day. Tut was a gum collector, looking for gum in the jungle. To do this, he had to climb the trees. One day, he got to the top of one tree and something caught his eye. He looked out across the trees and saw the tops of some old buildings.

    Tut didn't really know what he had seen but he knew it was something special. He ran to tell the local governor excitedly, and together they walked into the jungle. There they found Tikal, the city that the Mayans had built, many hundreds of years before. The two men saw pyramids, squares and houses.

    For a long time before that day, local people had known that somewhere in the jungle there was an old Mayan city. But no one had seen it for centuries. Between 200 and 900 AD, the city of Tikal had ben the centre of Mayan civilisation in the area, but then the Mayas let it—nobody knows why! After 1000 AD, the jungle began to cover it. And then people forgot that it was there.

    Seven years before Tut found Tikal, two British explorers had gone to Guatemala and had written a report about Mayan treasures in the jungle—but they hadn't mentioned Tikal. Even earlier than this, local Indians had told people about a great city hidden in the trees, but no one had listened to them. So they lost the chance to find the treasure. Now the lost city had been found again, and people went there immediately to see it.

    English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world's books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary — perhaps as many as two million words.

    However, let's face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

    We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.

    And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn't the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?

    How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?

    English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects (反映) the creativity of human beings. That's why, when stars are out, they are visible (能看见的); but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.

    Alzheimer's disease is a major national health problem. Nearly 2 million Americans over the age of 65 have Alzheimer's disease. It is a leading cause of death among the elderly. But Alzheimer's disease is not confined (限于) to the aged. There may be a million or more people under the age of 65 suffering from the disease.

    At one time, people suffering from the disease were said to be "getting old". The disease was thought to be a natural part of growing old, but it is now known that Alzheimer's disease strikes young and old alike. It is an organic (器官的) disease, that destroys brain cells.

    Alzheimer's disease affects the patient's memory, speech, and movement. In the beginning stages of the disease, the patient may seem slightly confused. He may have trouble speaking, and then the patient's memory begins to fail. He may forget dates, numbers, names and plans.

    As the disease progresses, the patient may not recognize family and friends. These symptoms(症状) often cause terrible anxiety in the patient. He may feel lost and frightened. Sometimes the patient reacts with wild and bad behavior.

In the last stages of the disease, the patient may not be able to take care of himself. He may have lost the ability to speak and walk.

    Scientists don't know exactly what causes Alzheimer's disease. It may be caused by a virus (病毒). It may be caused by a poisonous substance(物质) in the environment. At present, there is no cure for the disease. But there are ways to slow its progress. Exercise and physical treatment can help the patients of this disease.

    I started reading Shakespeare when I was nine, after my grandfather, an actor, sent me a copy of Romeo and Juliet. The story and the language attracted me. I found out about Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand (SGCNZ) and started volunteering for them when I was about 10. When I was 13, I managed to run a film project with SGCNZ.

    I'm home-educated and a part-time correspondence student (函授生) as well. We have a drama group made up of quite a few people who are also home-educated .I've also joined Wellington Young Actors, a youth theatre company. There are many similarities and differences between being home-educated and attending a five-day programme. I love hearing other students' reactions when meeting them and share my different ways of experiencing the world with them. While explaining the way I learn can be a challenge, I love helping people to understand there isn't just one way of learning.

    Being home-educated has offered me the freedom to have an individualized education and to pursue my passions. My education has always been about making those focuses but I do lots of the same things as people who attend five-day programs do. Shakespeare is a great approach to lots of things around English, history and the arts. I think something you learn when you perform is connection. You have to have a connection with your fellow actors, with the audience and with Shakespeare. I learn this from actually being on stage and from taking part in different Shakespeare festival programs.

    I believe it's the emotion in Shakespeare that makes it relevant today. You can be reading something that was written 400 years ago and be able to see parts of your life in the work as it shows you how to understand the world and explore a lot of different ideas.