I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job. I also think my work is important. There was a time when I thought I would never have that sort of career.

    I wasn't an excellent student because I didn't do much schoolwork. In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn't have much to offer. I just accepted that I wasn't the type to have a career.

    I then found myself a job — looking after two little girls. It wasn't too bad at first. But the problems began when I agreed to live in so that I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening. We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week, she'd give me time off the next. But unfortunately, it didn't often work out. I was getting extremely tired and fed up, because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children.

    One Sunday, I was in the park with the children, and met Megan who used to go to school with me. I told her about my situation. She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification（资格证书）if I wanted to work with children. I didn't think I would be accepted because I didn't take many exams in school. She persuaded me to phone the local college and they were really helpful. My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part-time course. I had to leave my job with the family, and got work helping out at a kindergarten.

    Now I've got a full-time job there. I shall always be thankful to Megan. I wish I had known earlier that you could have a career, even if you aren't top of the class at school.

    Is pricing a plane ticket based on the passenger's weight fair? If you're taking an international flight on Samoa Air today, your fare will be based on your weight, along with that of your luggage. The cost is 93 cents to $1.06 for each kilogram.

    The average American woman weighs 75.5 kilograms, far from the ideal weight for her average height. Her ticket on Samoa Air, at the $1 a kilogram rate, would cost $75.50. But let's be honest here. Since the average American woman is overweight, the ticket will cost her more.

    Samoa Air Chief Executive Chris Langton said, “Planes are run by weight and not by seat. The plane can only carry a certain amount of weight and that weight needs to be paid.”He believes other airlines should adopt the policy.

    It' s not a new idea. I remember a newspaper columnist years ago who put forth the idea that the heavier among us should pay more for their seats on planes, trains and buses. Who hasn' t been squeezed into a middle seat between two plus-sized folks on a flight? It's happened to me; one time my married seatmates had purposefully chosen their seats to have more space until a sold-out flight put me between them. Not one of my better flying experiences.

What if such a policy is adopted by some airlines in the United States? Could such pricing provide a much-needed motivation for Americans to reduce body weight? I hope so. But, as we know, more than one-third of us are obese and another third are overweight. The high probability is that the heavy customers will not suddenly lose weight or stop flying, but will instead choose a different airline, simply moving the supposed problem elsewhere.

    There's no doubt that the heavier will suffer more discrimination (歧视). Discrimination against the overweight in the United States has increased by 66 percent over the last decade —“and is comparable to rates of racial discrimination, especially among women,”wrote Yale University researcher Rebecca M. Puhl. Your weight can affect your salary, your chances for employment, how others view you and even, now, your air fares.

     “If the policy succeeds it may encourage the spread of body discrimination across different industries and the wider culture,” said one British editorial writer. He holds that it is companies' duty to provide equipment that meet the needs of their customers.

And we'll see how effective it is as a business model.

    People generally tend to pick out the best-looking fruits and vegetables when shopping for produce, but Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws is attracting customers with badly-shaped and faulty produce at the price of 30% lower than normal-looking ones.

    A trial run of the ugly food line, named “Naturally Imperfect”, began with only apples and tomatoes to choose from. Consumer demand has been so huge that Loblaws is going to introduce more unsightly vegetables and fruit options like onions and mushrooms. The line is available at other stores, including Real Canadian Superstore and Your Independent Grocer.

    All the produce that will be sold through Naturally Imperfect would otherwise have been used in juices, sauces, or soups, or have not been harvested at all. The director Dan Branson explained that this program benefited both food producers who would otherwise have to let abnormal harvest go to waste, and consumers who could buy fresh produce at low prices. And he was right, given how popular the line has become.

    “It really went well beyond our expectation,” Branson said. “I think it really spoke to the fact that Canadians are out there really looking for some options.”

    Of course, Canadians know that beauty is more than skin deep, but they also recognize that they can get the same flavor and nutritional benefits in spite of appearances. The positive response to the initial offering of apples and potatoes showed the opportunity to expand the line and offer more options at a greater price to Canadian families.

    “If you grow produce in your backyard, there will be a lot of produce that won't look as pretty as what you will see in a grocery store, said Branson. “And nature doesn't grow everything perfectly. I'd like to think if somebody were to take a No Name Naturally Imperfect apple, put right beside a No.l apple, close their eyes and eat them, there would be no difference.”

    I'm a reporter. Last month I was in Stockholm, Sweden. Now I'm in Frankfurt, Germany. Next month, who knows?

    You certainly won't believe that I can call you from my laptop, which is what I'm often doing these days using something called Skype.

    Skype lets me call any phone number anywhere in the world for about 2 cents a minute, a little more to some places, such as the Middle East and Asia. My computer does the dialing, and the processing of incoming and outgoing voices. All you need is a broadband connection (宽带接头). With the basic version of Skype, all anyone needs to make or receive a call is to install the program on his or her computer (and that includes personal digital assistants). All calls from PC to PC are free.

    You don't even need a pair of headphones, though headphones can be a good idea if you wish to be discreet. I use my laptop's built-in microphone.

    The paid service for calling regular telephones is called SkypeOut. The quality is completely clear, provided that there's not too much traffic on the Internet. If there's an echo, hang up and try again, and it usually gets better. There is one warning: on some computers, especially those running older versions of Windows, it doesn't always work, or can sound like a confusing conversation. You can't hear a thing.

    Skype was invented chiefly by a Swede named Niklas Zennstrom along with a group of programmers in Estonia.

Latin is considered as a dead language by some people, but a little {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (many) disagree. They think that Latin is not dead because news {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (report) by the Roman Catholic Church in Latin regularly. While its use is still taught, Latin is no {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (long) considered to be a developing language to the degree of most modern languages. There are many reasons {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Latin is dying out. The most important one has to do with the fall of the Roman Empire. During the Roman period, Rome was the most {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(power) country in the Western world, so most of those {#blank#}6{#/blank#} wanted to succeed tried to learn Latin. As a result, the language developed quickly. But that rapid {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (develop) slowly stopped. Latin continued to be used during the Middle Ages. Throughout Europe, it remained the language of choice. However, there was no need {#blank#}8{#/blank#} a standard language, so Latin began to change when different {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (area) developed their own languages over a period of hundreds of years, of which the most {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (common) spoken are Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.

If you use "123456", "password'' or "qwerty" as a password, you're probably aware that you're at the risk of being attacked by hackers(黑客). But you're not alone. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Recently, password management service NordPass has carried out a study to determine the 200 most commonly used passwords around the world. They analyzed the data across 50 countries.

The findings show password choices are often attached to cultural references. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. In the UK, "liverpool" was the third most popular password, with 224,160 hits, while the name of Chilean football club "colocolo" was used by 15,748 people in Chile, making it the fifth most common choice.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Women tend to use more positive and affectionate(深情的) words and phrases such as "sunshine" or "I love you", while men often use sports-related passwords. In some countries, men use more swear words than women.

Choosing long and complex passwords remains the main authentication mechanism (身份验证机制) for computers and network-based products and services. But we know people continue to choose weak passwords and often don't manage them securely. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

To overcome the security issues linked with password-based authentication systems, researchers and developers are now concentrating on creating authentication systems which don't depend on passwords at all. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} For example, two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods are good ways to secure your accounts. These methods combine a password with biometric information (for example, a face scan or fingerprint) or something distinguishable, like a captcha(验证码). All in all, a secure password is the first line of defense against Internet attacks. Don't give up security for convenience.

A. As a result, they put themselves under potential online security threats.

B. The findings show that passwords tell our emotions and our identity.
C. Besides, there are other ways to protect your personal information.  

D. These are among the most popular passwords around the world. 
E. The report also reflected different preferences between genders. 

F. People in some countries take inspiration from a football team.  
G. They need the support of computer experts.