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EF test

(2013-10-30 23:11:00)

分类：读·笔记

Manchester is a large city in the North West of England. It is an important industrial city and is famous for producing clothing and different kinds of metals. Manchester is also famous for its football team - Manchester United - who have been very successful in the past 50 years. Outside of the city you can find some very beautiful countryside which is a nice area for walking.

Many people find Japanese culture and traditions fascinating and want to find out more about them. Reading about traditions and talking to local people is one way to do this. Another way is to take Japanese culture classes at university or employ a local tutor to teach you at home.

Computer games and game consoles have been popular for decades now and many households have at least one. However it can be seen that playing these games causes social, educational and personal problems of several kinds both to youngsters and society. Firstly, youngsters who spend a great deal of time in front of a monitor are not studying, playing sport, socializing or learning about life, which are skills needed in order to interact with others and succeed in the real world. Secondly, studies have shown that the new generation of young males is actually physically growing less than previous generations due to lack of exercise. In addition to this they are more likely to be overweight and less healthy and therefore prone to diseases such as diabetes. Furthermore, the games themselves are often quite violent and dangerously sexist. For example, there are games which show graphic fighting scenes where the most brutal is most applauded. Women are shown as either sexy, but weak or as some kind of warrior type character. Violence against women is often part of these games, which encourages negative opinions of women. The language tends to be violent and sexist which further adds to the problems of lack of interaction and social skills. It is easy to imagine the effects of such games on young minds. If we wish children to grow up to become well-adjusted members of society, these games should be more tightly controlled.

South African Hein Wagner has become the world's fastest blind driver. Driving a red Maserati V8 Gran Sport, he notched up 269km/h along an airstrip in northwest South Africa.
It is an absolutely awesome feeling. It was over so fast", the 33-year-old said, after breaking the previous 233km/h record.Blind from birth, Mr. Wagner is a motivational speaker from Cape Town and was raising funds for the South African National Council for the Blind. "We've raised $9,500 so far and I'm aiming to get $15,500", he told the BBC News website on his arrival back in Cape Town. "The record was set on an airstrip because blind people are not allowed to drive on public roads", he said. "I had five hours training in the car before I made the attempt", he said. He also said he had to drive the sports car, owned by the car dealer Viglietti, without any insurance. This is not his only intrepid sporting success. In 1998 he was part of the South African blind cricket team, which won the first-ever blind World Cup. He has also completed two marathons; climbed 10 of the highest mountains in South Africa's Western Cape region and finished the Cape to Rio Yacht Race in 1993.

On the mountainside there is a battle of the aliens. The once almost universal blue of the Alaskan Lupin is being smothered by the taller white mass of flowers from a tougher weed. Warmth is transforming Iceland. Short grass and tiny ground-hugging plants, typical of cold and rocky areas, are no longer the only plants that can survive. The Lupin, a tough, cold-resistant plant, was introduced deliberately by the government from similar climes in Alaska 50 years ago to reverse erosion and add nitrogen to the soil. It has been so successful it covers vast areas of open country, so much so that there is serious concern it is out of control. Now a new uninvited invader has entered the fray - but this is a weed of temperate climes - Cow Parsley. How it arrived is not known but it probably came from seeds trapped in the mud of a tourist's boot. This summer there are hundreds of thousands of plants smothering both the Lupin and all other local vegetation. Iceland's greatest asset, its fish stocks, are also on the move. The capelin on which the cod feed are disappearing northwards because the water is too warm. Monkfish, once a rarity because the sea was too cold, are now an important commercial catch. Shrimp are far fewer because cod, deprived of capelin to eat, and haddock in increasing numbers, are eating them before they can be caught for human consumption. The new warmth in Iceland is not just changing the sort of plants that can grow here, it is melting the glaciers and ice caps and changing lifestyles too.British tourists with winter coats arrive to find long-legged girls in hot pants and T-shirts sitting outside on the pavement cafes in the capital Reykjavik. The country's population is also on the increase, up to 280,000 from a low of 40,000 during the mini-ice age of the 18th century. Unlike most of the rest of the planet, climate change offers a lot of advantages for Iceland. Twenty years ago it was not possible to grow barley because it was too cold for grain to ripen. Ten years ago in the extreme south farmers succeeded in getting a crop for winter fodder - it was the first harvest since the time of the first Viking settlers. This year farmers are planting barley all over the country. The change is so rapid that the country's scientists cannot believe it will continue. For the last two years temperatures have been the highest since records began in the country in 1822 and, judging by the Greenland ice cores, any time since the medieval warm period when the Vikings arrived in Iceland. Everyone believes that soon there must be a swing back to colder times.

Many old people work well into their 70s and 80s, running families, countries or corporations. Other people, however, despite being fit and highly talented, are forced to retire in their 60s or even earlier because of company or national regulations. First of all, older employees have an immense amount of knowledge and experience, which can be lost to a business or organization if they are made to retire. A second point is that older employees are often extremely loyal and are more willing to implement company policies than younger less committed staff. However, a more important point is regarding the attitudes in society to old people. To force someone to resign or retire at 60 or 65 indicates that society does not value the input of these people and that effectively their useful life is over. Allowing older people to work indefinitely however is not always a good policy. Age alone is no guarantee of ability. Many younger employees have more experience or skills than older staff who may have been stuck in one area or unit for most of their working lives. Having compulsory retirement allows new ideas in an organization. Another point of view is that older people should be rewarded by society for their life’s labor by being given generous pensions and the freedom to enjoy their leisure.With many young people unemployed or frustrated in low-level positions, there are often calls to compulsorily retire older workers. However, this can affect the older individual’s freedom - and right - to work and can deprive society of valuable experience and insights. Giving workers more flexibility and choice over their retirement age will benefit society and the individual.

King Tutankhamen’s army just lost a major battle. His subjects could be facing a terrible plague. Egypt's king probably has a lot on his mind as he goes to bed for the night. Suddenly someone leaps out of the shadows and strikes the king with a fatal blow to the back of the head. Tutankhamen’s nine-year reign comes to a quick and mysterious end. That's one of many theories about how Egypt's most famous king died at age 19. The puzzle has fascinated researchers since 1922, when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamen’s 3,300-year-old tomb. Determined to find the answer, explorer Zahi Hawass used modern technology to put this old theory to the test. "I was almost trembling when I arrived at the tomb," Hawass says. His team of experts carefully removed King Tutankhamen’s mummy from its royal grave and placed it in a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner. The machine created detailed images of Tutankhamen’s mummy, which were reconstructed on a computer. That way scientists could examine Tutankhamen from any angle without damaging him.

It's called Apophis. It's 390m wide. And it could hit Earth in 31 years time In Egyptian myth, Apophis was the ancient spirit of evil and destruction, a demon that was determined to plunge the world into eternal darkness. A fitting name, astronomers reasoned, for a menace now hurtling towards Earth from outer space. Scientists are monitoring the progress of a 390-metre wide asteroid discovered last year that is potentially on a collision course with the planet, and are imploring governments to decide on a strategy for dealing with it.NASA has estimated that an impact from Apophis, which has an outside chance of hitting the Earth in 2036, would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear blast over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometers would be directly affected by the blast but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere. And, scientists insist, there is actually very little time left to decide. At a recent meeting of experts in near-Earth objects (NEOs) in London, scientists said it could take decades to design, test and build the required technology to deflect the asteroid. Monica Grady, an expert in meteorites at the Open University, said: "It's a question of when, not if, a near Earth object collides with Earth. Many of the smaller objects break up when they reach the Earth's atmosphere and have no impact. However, a NEO larger than 1km [wide] will collide with Earth every few hundred thousand years and a NEO larger than 6km, which could cause mass extinction, will collide with Earth every hundred million years. We are overdue for a big one." Apophis had been intermittently tracked since its discovery in June last year but, in December, it started causing serious concern. Projecting the orbit of the asteroid into the future, astronomers had calculated that the odds of it hitting the Earth in 2029 were alarming. As more observations came in, the odds got higher.Having more than 20 years warning of potential impact might seem plenty of time. But, at last week's meeting, Andrea Carusi, president of the Spaceguard Foundation, said that the time for governments to make decisions on what to do was now, to give scientists time to prepare mitigation missions. At the peak of concern, the Apophis asteroid was placed at four out of 10 on the Torino scale - a measure of the threat posed by an NEO where 10 is a certain collision, which could cause a global catastrophe. This was the highest of any asteroid in recorded history and it had a 1 in 37 chance of hitting the Earth. The threat of a collision in 2029 was eventually ruled out at the end of last year.

How to make beef jerky. This recipe is enough for about 3 pounds of meat, which will dehydrate down to about 16-18 ounces. While beef is what most people are familiar with, just about any firm meat can be made into jerky. If there are any hunters in your family, try venison. Turkey breast or firm fish such as salmon or tuna also make excellent snacks. Simply slice your choice of meat thinly (usually 1/8") with the grain. This is a bit trickier with fish, so I highly recommend freezing it halfway first. Freezing will make slicing all meats easier. Note: You can also use ground meats for jerky in which case you can forego the marinade and use a dry spice rub instead. Mix all marinade ingredients together in a large (gallon size or larger) plastic zipper bag. Add sliced meat and refrigerate, turning and mixing every hour or two. Hearty meats like beef and venison should be marinated overnight. For turkey, salmon or tuna, 3-4 hours is usually plenty. Don't marinate ground meats. When ready to begin drying, place a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven to aid in cleanup. Drain meat in a colander and pat dry with paper towels (the drier the better at this point). Set the oven at the lowest temperature setting and carefully place the meat slices directly onto the oven racks. Leave the oven door open a crack to allow moisture to escape. Drying times vary due to oven differences and meat size. Perfect jerky is firm and dry and not at all spongy. However, if your jerky is so dry it breaks in two easily, it's probably over-dried.

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