Once this profile is thoroughly drawn, you can begin to think about setting health priorities based on you particular portrait. For example, if you drink two martinis every evening, have a high-dress job, are overweight, smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, and use marijuana occasionally on weekends, you should quit smoking first, followed by losing the excess weight, reducing the stress of your job, giving up you marihuana habit, and then finally giving some thought to those martinis if you want to prevent first cancer, and then heart disease. Even for the youthful working person who has never been sick a day in his life, who is in excellent health, a good look at all health habits and at work and home environments may suggest changes that will benefit him in the future.
If you are an American and you think you might need to borrow money someday, the best thing to do is start early.
That's because just as many employers want to hire only people with experience, banks and other creditors are usually reluctant to lend to those _ without __ a proven track record of paying back, __ on __time, the money they have borrowed. But if you need experience just to get a start, how do you get that stat in the first place?
With a little help from your parents usually, while you are still financially dependent __ on __ them. It is easy to get a credit card or student loan when you are in college, because banks figure your parents will bail you out if you fail to pay.
So just as students take on internships to build up their resumes, one's university time can be a good time to work on another important personal record: the credit _ report _.
Credit reports are a _ summary _ of one's personal credit history, gathered by a credit
reporting agency, or CRA. Banks and companies__ including __hospitals, landlords and insurance companies-- regularly report to the three main CRAs in the US _ on _ how their customers are doing at paying back the money they _ owe __. Anyone with a \"legitimate business need\" has the right to order individuals' reports from the CRAs. Potential creditors usually compile the information in the reports into a credit \"score\of creditworthiness. Lack of experience in borrowing in_ addition __ to a bad record of doing so, can result in a low score.
Even if you are not considering taking out a loan for such a large purchase as a home or car, your credit report can be important to getting through life. Landlords often ask for the reports to judge _ whether __ a person can be trusted to pay the rent. Credit checks are necessary for getting a credit card, even for purchasing a mobile phone calling plan. People can obtain a copy of their own credit report, usually _ at _ a cost of around US$8-9. Some consumer organizations recommend doing this once a year to allow one to catch any mistakes __ that _ have slipped into the record or, even worse, to find out whether any fraud has taken place. Though the system is controlled by laws _ meant __ to protect people's privacy, it isn't fool-proof: Sometimes people take out bad loans in others' names, _ mining_their records.
In a society addicted __ to __ credit, that can be a disaster.
When Spanish football club Barcelona paid US＄35 million for Ronaldinho last summer, they weren’t buying a pretty face. “I am ugly,” admits the Brazilian superstar. “But everyone has got a different kind of beauty. What I do have is charm.”
Indeed he has. His buck teeth, flowing hair, big smile, and of course his amazing skills are always eye-catching on the pitch. The 23-year-old striker scored two goals in a 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruna on March 1. it was Barcelona’s sixth win in a row and, thanks to their Brazilian’s 10-goal contribution, what looked like a poor season could now end a success.
Ronaldinho — full name Ronaldo De Asis Moreira—is one of many
第一篇 A Health Profile
第二篇 Making Yourself a Good Record
第三篇 Pretty Good
South Americans who learned their skills playing in the backstreets before showing them off on the world stage.
Great things were expected when Gremio signed him as a seven-year-old, and he soon became friends with Ronaldo, who was then the other young star of Brazilian football. It was Ronaldo who first called him Ronaldinho, which means Little Ronaldo, and the name stuck.
He first played for his country in 1999 but it was at the 2002 World Cup where he showed his real worth, scoring an unbelievable free-kick in Brazil’s quarter-final victory over England.
“I have never failed to deliver in big matches,” Ronaldinho says. “My game is based on improvisation. Often a forward does not have the time to decide whether to shoot or pass. It is instinct that gives out the orders.”
While he may not have David Beckham’s good looks, Ronaldinho has a playboy reputation off the pitch. At former club Paris Saint Germain, which sold him to Barcelona, he broke club rules by going out and enjoying the city’s nightlife.
“Without doubt, Ronaldinho is the most difficult player I have ever come across,” says former PSG coach Luis Ferdandez. “The main problem for any coach is that one player without discipline can hurt the whole team.”
But Ronaldinho doesn’t think he has done anything wrong. “I am just a young person who enjoys life,” he says.
Sixty years ago, a man named Kenneth Arnold saw something that people are still seeing today -something that changed popular culture for ever.
Flying his plane over mountains in the US state of Washington, he saw a line of strange objects, either crescent -shaped or disc-like, flying with the motion of a saucer skimming on water. 1
The media soon picked up on the story - the Flying Saucers were here! Was the earth being visited by creatures from another planet? Soon, so many sightings were made that the US military began to investigate 2
It called these strange objects UFOs – Unidentified Flying Objects, and that is how they are known today.
Military investigations found no evidence of visitors from outer space. But that did not stop the true believers The military were covering up, they said. Or __ maybe it was because the travelers from space were of such superior intelligence that they could hide from the most sophisticated military analysts.
People have always seen strange lights in the sky. In the past these were explained in religious ways. In a world where religion was less influential and science fiction was popular, signs from god were replaced by visitors from other planets .
The date of the first UFO signings was also significant. In 1947, World War II had just ended and the cold war was just beginning. Humanity seemed locked in endless conflicts. Like generations before them, people looked to the skies for help. But instead of seeking God, they looked for help from super-intelligent aliens with __ advanced technology. Belief in UFOs became the first religion of science. However, even people who believe in UFOs are not quite sure why they visit the earth. The universe is a big place and it is __ reasonable _ to assume that there is life somewhere out there. It is possible that aliens have worked out how to travel through space. Yet some people report that they have been taken by aliens and have had experiments __ performed on them. Why would anyone travel across half the universe to conduct medical experiments on people living in small towns in the United States?
You can't choose the name you are given at birth，but in many countries you can change it legally when you reach adulthood. Of course, most people never change their names even if they feel unhappy about them. However, some people do take this course of action—particularly artists! What makes an artist want to change their name? Sometimes it's for purely personal reasons, such as the Nobel Prize winning poet from Chile, Neflali Reyes. He didn't want his father to know he was writing poetry, so he changed his name to Pablo Neruda when he was a young man．At other times the reason may appear eccentric; take the case of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, who wrote under 75 different names. The reason ?” When I use a different name, I always write in a different way,\" he explained. In most cases，however ,the reason is for social, historical, political, or cultural reasons. Here are some of most popular:
The person's real name is jus too long and difficult to remember. Let's be honest, Madonna Louise Ciccone is not as easy to remember as just plain \"Madonna\". And short names are much easier to remember：William Bradley became Brad Pitt and Edson Arantes do Nascimento became Pele．
Sometimes names are changed for marketing purposes．For example，if a name sounds too \"foreign\
第四篇 Where Have All Our Visitors Gone?
第五篇 Why People Use Pseudonyms
more recognizable in a market. So in the film world, Ramon Estsvez adopted the name Martin Sheen. Or maybe the artist's doesn't sound very attractive -- Chad Everett does sound a lot better than Raymond Cramto.
Artists sometimes choose the name of someone they admire. Robert Zimmerman changed his name to Boo Dylan because of his admiration for the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas.
Another reason may be practicality: in the past, women found it very difficult to get published．To avoid this situation they's situation they sometimes gave themselves men's names, so the English author Mary Ann Evans became George Eliot, and she did get her books published!
Will the reform on the use of government cars really reduce office expenditure on this count? There are no reports indicating such an outcome although some local governments have moved in that direction. Hangzhou government launched its reform last month. Officials below the level of deputy bureau chief cannot use official trips for business trips. Instead they get subsidies between 300 and 2,600 yuan a month according to their administrative rank. This reform is supposed to save the government the money involving in maintaining a large number of cars.
Hangzhou in east China Zhejiang province is not the first to attempt such a reform. Nanjing, capital of the neighboring Jiangsu province, did so five years ago, yet there is no report available of how much money the Nanjing government has saved by these measures. All that we know about is the fact that government officials get monthly subsidies for business
The public have a fight to asking for transparency on the results of such reform because it is taxpayers' money that is being spent. Transparency is needed because people are skeptical about policy-makers making policy against their own interests. Obviously, the subsidies are not based on work needs. Lower level officials usually travel more than high-ranking officials. Therefore, the impact of reform appears to be diluted. Transparency alone can tell us whether the reform measures have indeed reduced government transport expenditure. If there is no disclosure of amounts saved by the reform, the public may have reason to suspect that the reform is actually a poly to increase the income of officials in the form of a transport subsidy. The way government cars are used needs to be reformed. The government spending on purchase of cars was 80 billion yuan in 2008, and use and maintenance amounts to around 300 billion yuan a year.
A study of ancient Chinese dynasties shows that the more reforms of the tax system, the heavier the taxes eventually levied on subjects. The only way to prevent this vicious cycles from happening with government car reform today is for the higher authorities to have a strict and transparent audit of local finance.
From the beginning, water has furnished man with a source of food and a highway to travel upon. The first civilizations arose where water was a dominant element in the environment, a challenge to man’s ingenuity. The Egyptians invented the 365-day calendar in response to the Nile’s annual flooding. The Babylonians, who were among the most famous law-makers in ancient times, invented laws regulating water usage. Water inspired the Chinese to build a 1,000-mile canal, a complex system which, after nearly 2,500 years, remains still practically in use and still commands the astonishment of engineers. But the ancients never found complete solutions to their water problems. The Yellow River is also known as “China’s Sorrow”; it is so unpredictable and dangerous that in a single flood it has caused a million deaths. Floods slowed the great civilization of the Indus River Valley, and inadequate drainage ruined much of its land. Today water dominates man as it always has done. Its presence continues to govern the location of his homes and cities; its violent variability can kill man or his herds or his crops; its routes links him to his fellows; its immense value may add to already dangerous political conflicts. There are many examples of this in our own time.
Music comes in many forms; most countries have a style of their own. At the turn of the last century, __ when jazz was born, America had no prominent music of its own. No one knows exactly when was invented or by whom. But it began to be heard in the early 1890s. Jazz is America's contribution to popular music. In contrast to classical music, which _ follows _ formal European traditions, jazz is spontaneous and free in 1form. It bubbles with energy, __ expressing __ the moods, interests, and emotions of the people. In the' 1920s jazz _ sounded _ like America. And so it does today. The _ origins_ of the music are as interesting as the 第六篇 Reform on the Road
第七篇 Water
第八篇 An Early Form of Jazz Music
music itself. American Negroes, or blacks, as they are called today, were the jazz pioneers. They were brought to the Southern states _ as _ slaves. They were sold to plantation owners and forced to work long hours. When a Negro died his friends and relatives __ formed a procession to carry to body to the cemetery. In New Orleans, a band often accompanied the procession . On the way to the cemetery the band played slow, solemn music, suited to the occasion. __ But _ on the way home the mood changed. 2
Spirits lifted. Death had removed one of their number, but the living were glad to be alive _. The band played happy music, improvising 3on both the harmony and the melody of the tunes played __ at the funeral. This music made everyone want to dance. It was an early form of jazz.
People in Beijing wear a lot of clothing during winter to fend off the cold. In the United States, however, people wear less , partly because the car is the primary mode of transportation. Cars take them straight to their workplaces, which are heated well. The American diet is full of calories, so their bodies can afford to burn heat more quickly.
Fewer layers of clothing give people the opportunity to stay fashionable .Lots of Yale girls wear skirts even when it's 10 degrees Centigrade outside. Some of them at least wear boots, tights, 1
and leg-warmers2. Some, however, really just go for the look at the risk of health. These girls have nothing to prevent their legs against the wind, and no socks to protect their feet. A mini skirt and a pair of stilettos are all that they wear.
Typically, the ones pursuing fashion are skinny , with little body fat. Just by the nature of their bodies, they are already at a disadvantage compared with normal people in cold weather. I have always wondered , whenever I pass these girls, how they manage to 3refrain from shivering and just smile like spring had arrived.
And then there are the guys. The girls can be said to sacrifice health for beauty. But why do guys wear so little? It is not like, once they shed some layers, they suddenly become better-looking. They are not exactly being fashionable when they only wear sporty shorts and shower slippers in the midst of winter. It's not cute. Of course, people have the freedom to look whatever way hey want. I am just surprised that, given the vast difference between winter and summer temperatures in Connecticut, they can still look like they are partying on the beach in the middle of February.
Science now might be able to explain women's fascination with Brad Pitt's face and George Clooney's eyes. Women seem to _ judge potential mate by how masculine their features are, new research shows. Men with 1
square jaws and well-defined brow ridges are seen as good short-term partners, while those with more feminine traits such as a rounder face and fuller lips are perceived as better long-term mates. In the study by Daniel Kruger at the US's University of Michigan, 854 subjects viewed a series of male head shots that had been digitally 2
changed to exaggerate or minimize masculine.traits They then __ answered questions about how they expected the men in the photos to behave. Most participants said that those with more masculine features were likely to be risky, competitive, and more apt to fight, challenge bosses, cheat on spouses and put less effort into parenting. Those with more feminine faces were seen as good parents and husbands, hard workers and emotionally supportive mates. But, despite all the negative characteristics, when asked who they would choose for a short-term relationship, women selected the more masculine looking men. Brad and George, both chiseled jaws and well-defined brows, then would be good for a brief romance, not for something longer.
The study was published in the December issue of the US journal Personal Relationships.
Kruger said that from an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense. The key is testosterone, the hormone responsible for the development of masculine facial features and other sexual characteristics. It has been found to affect the body's ability to fight disease: men with high levels of the hormone are typically strong and healthy- traits women want to pass on to their children. However, increased testosterone has also been linked to cheating and violence in relationships. So, these men might produce high quality offspring, but they don't always make great parents or faithful mates, Kruger says. 3
The scientific community have __ shown skepticism toward physiognomy, which links facial characteristics to certain behavioral traits. But Kruger argues that the research is a valuable tool for understanding mating strategies. And, of course, for explaining why Tony
第九篇 Freezing to Death for Beauty
第十篇 The Ideal Husband
Leung and Takeshi Kanesshiro have millions of female fans . It might have to do with their genes. Or something to do with ours.
*第十一篇 On the Net Friends Come and Go, Talking of...
The young woman was visibly upset and clearly wmated to get something off her chest.
\"What's up?\" I inquired .
\"I've just been defriended,\" she said. Now \"defriended\" is a word with which I am not familiar. I have been befriended by - and befriended - many people since arriving in Beijing. But defriended? It turns out this is a new word created by the Interact-savvy younger generation specifically in relation to the worldwide social networking phenomenon, Facebook.
Those who join can invite friends to become members of the site, too . They can then share photographs, \"chat\observations and perform a host of other mutually accessible applications.
I've seen some people's sites boasting hundreds of friends, all moments away down a fiber optic cable, providing they are logged on to their computers or hooked up to a high-spec cell phone.
It creates the possibility of \"befriending\" 'anyone in the world who has online access. Currently, Facebook has 150 million users. That means there's a lot of \"friends\" out there.
The downside is that you can be \"defriended\" - you can be denied access to the Face, book site someone who had previously invited to be his or her friend. And you can do it without the potential for instant recrimination.
Where once, in the school playground on child might have petulantly
shouted at another, \"I'm not going to be your fried any more\" the same hurt and loss of face can be performed remotely with the chick of a button.
A controversial aspect of \"defriending\" is that, un like With other applications such as the \"what are you thinking about?\" posting a digital depository of the often dire, dreary , dull and desperate, no message is sent out alerting you or your contacts about the change m status. You only find out you have been dumped when you try to visit a \"friend's\" site, and you find you can no longer get in. the delay of the discovery is all too often doubly hurtful.
Just as bombs are dispatched impersonally against an unseen enemy in modem warfare, so relationships are blown out of the window with the same callous disregard, without the risk of any face-to-face comeback. One second you arc there, the next you are deleted.
Muhammad Ali is probably the most famous sports figure on earth: he is recognized on every continent and by all generations, The diagnosis 2
of his illness as Parlonson’s disease after his retirement fuelled the debate about the dangers of boxing and criticism of the sport. That, plus his outspoken opposition to women’s boxing, made people wonder how he would react when one of his daughters decided to take up the sport. His presence at Laila’s first professional fight, however , seemed to broadcast her father's support. Of course Muhammad Ali wanted to watch his daughter fight. The ring announcer introduced him as the \"the greatest\" and as he sat down at the ringside the crowd chanted.
Twenty-one-year-old Laila's debut fight was a huge success and there was as much
publicity for the fight as her father's fights once attracted. Unfortunately , Laila's opponent was much weaker than she was and the fight lasted just 31 seconds. Since then. Laila has won most of her fights 3
by knocking out her opponent. \"She knows what she's doing, all fight， \"said one referee about her. \"She knows about moving well. You can see some of her dad's moves．\" 4
Laila Ali would rather not compare herself to her father. She prefers to make her own name . Her father supports her decision to enter the sport but he has not spared her the details of what can happen．Laila realizes that her father wants her to understand the worst possible scenario to see if she still wants to go forward with it. She knows she's going to get hit hard at times, that she may get a broken nose or a swollen face，but at least she is prepared for it.
Laila's decision to start boxing despite her father’s struggle with the symptoms of Parkinson's disease has of course sparked a mixture of debate and criticism . But Laila is a feisty and determined individual and it is that as much as her famous last name that has made her a magnet for worldwide media attention. Of course, the arrival on the boxing scene of a woman with her family history attracts even more questions about whether women's boxing is sport or spectacle.
*第十二篇 Sport or Spectacle?
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