This year some twenty-three hundred teen-agers from all over the world will spend about ten months in U.S. homes. They will attend U.S. schools, meet U.S. teen-agers, and form lifelong impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teen-agers will go abroad to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of world problems. On returning home they, like others who have participated in the exchange program, will pass along their fresh impression to the youth groups in which they are active. 　　What have the visiting students discovered? A German boy says, “We often think of America only in terms of skyscrapers. Cadillacs, and gangsters. Americans think of Germany only in terms of Hitler and concentration camps. You can’t realize how wrong you are until you see for yourself.” 　　A Los Angeles girl says, “It’s the leaders of the countries who are unable to get along. The people get along just fine.” 　　Observe a two-way student exchange in action. Fred Herschbach, nineteen, spent last year in Germany at the home of George Pfafflin. In turn, Mr. Pfafflin’s son Michael spent a year in the Herschbach home in Texas. 　　Fred, lanky and lively, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’ study the language began to come to him. School was totally different from what he had expected—much more formal, much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that are usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities. 　　Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities revolved around the closely knit family unit rather than the individual. Fred found the food—mostly starches—monotonous at first. Also, he missed having a car. 　　“At home, you pick up some kids in a car and go out and haven good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon get used to it.” 　　A warm-natured boy, Fred began to make friends as soon as he had mastered enough German to communicate. “I didn’t feel as if I were with foreigners. I felt as I did at home with my own people.” Eventually he was invited to stay at the homes of friends in many of Germany’s major cities. “One’s viewpoint is broadened,” he says, “by living with people who have different habits and backgrounds. You come to appreciate their points of view and realize that it is possible for all people in the world to come closer together. I wouldn’t trade this year for anything.” 　　Meanwhile, in Texas, Mike Pfafflin, a friendly German boy, was also forming independent opinions. “I suppose I should criticize the schools,” he says. “It was far too easy by our standards. But I have to admit that I liked it enormously In Germany we do nothing but study. I think that maybe your schools are better training for citizenship. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.” He took part in many outside activities, including the dramatic group. 　　Mike picked up a favorite adjective of American youth; southern fried chicken was “fabulous,” When expressing a regional point of view, he used the phrase “we Texans.” Summing up his year, he says with feeling, “America is a second home for me from now on. I will love it the rest of my life.” 　　This exciting exchange program was government sponsored at first; now it is in the hands of private agencies, including the American Field Service and the International Christian Youth Exchange. Screening committees make a careful check on exchange students and host homes. To qualify, students must be intelligent, adaptable, outgoing-potential leaders. Each student is matched, as closely as possible, with a young person in another country whose family has the same economic, cultural, and religious background. 　　After their years abroad, all students gather to discuss who, they observed. For visiting students to accept and approve of all they saw would be a defeat for the exchange program. They are supposed to observe evaluate, and come to fair conclusions. Nearly all who visited the United States agreed that they had gained faith in American ideals and deep respect for the U.S brand of democracy. All had made friendship that they were sure would last a life-time. Almost all were struck by the freedom demitted American youth. Many were critical, though, of the indifference to study in American schools, and of Americans’ lack of knowledge about other countries. 　　The opinions of Americans abroad were just as vigorous. A U.S. girl in Vienna: “At home, all we talk about is dating, movies, and clothes. Here we talk about religion, philosophy, and political problems. I am going to miss that.” 　　A U.S boy in Sweden: “I learned to sit at home, read a good book, and gain some knowledge. It I told them this back home, they would think I was a square.” 　　An American girl in Stuttgart, however, was very critical of the German school. “Over here the teacher is king, and you are somewhere far below. Instead of being friend and counselor, as in America the teacher is regarded as a foe—and behaves like it too!” 　　It costs a sponsoring group about a thousand dollars to give an exchange student a year in the United States. Transportation is the major expense, for bed, board, and pocket money are provided by volunteer families. There is also a small amount of federal support for the program. 　　For some time now, attempts have been made to include students from iron curtain countries. But so far the Communists have not allowed their young people to take part in this program which could open their eyes to a different world. 　　In Europe, however, about ten students apply for every place available, in Japan, the ratio is fifty to one. The student exchange program is helping these eager younger citizens of tomorrow learn a lot about the world today. It is reasonable to suppose that the author wishes that _____.

“How many copies do you want printed, Mr. Greeley?” 　　“Five thousand!” The answer was snapped back without hesitation. 　　“But, sir,” the press foreman protested, “we have subscriptions for only five hundred newspapers.” 　　“We’ll sell them or give them away.” 　　The presses started rolling, sending a thundering noise out over the sleeping streets of New York City.?The New York Tribune?was born. 　　The newspaper’s founder, owner, and editor, Horace Greeley, anxiously snatched the first copy as it came sliding off the press. This was his dream of many years that he held in his hand. It was as precious as a child. Its birth was the result of years of poverty, hard work, and disappointments. 　　Hard luck and misfortune had followed Horace all his life. He was born of poor parents on February 3, 1811, on a small farm in New Hampshire. During his early childhood, the Greeley family rarely had enough to eat. They moved from one farm to another because they could not pay their debts. Young Horace’s only boyhood fun was reading—when he could snatch a few moments during a long working day. 　　The printed word always fascinated Horace. When he was only ten years old, he applied for a job as an apprentice in a printing shop. But he didn’t get the job because he was too young. 　　Four years later, Horace walked eleven miles to East Poultney in Vermont to answer an ad. A paper called?the Northern Spectator?had a job for a boy. The editor asked him why he wanted to boa printer, Horace spoke up boldly: “Because, sir, I want to learn all I can about newspapers.” 　　The editor looked at the oddly dressed boy. Finally he said, “You’ve got the job, son.” 　　For the first six months, room and board would be the only pay for his work. After that, he would get room and board and forty dollars a year. 　　Horace hurried home to shout the good news to his family. When he got there, he learned that his family was about to move again—this time to Pennsylvania. Horace decided to stay and work. Mrs. Greeley hated leaving her son behind, but gave her consent. Twice during his apprenticeship Horace walked six hundred miles to visit his family. Each time, he took all the money he had saved and gave it to his father. 　　The?Spectator?failed after Horace had spent four years working for it. He joined his family in Erie, Pennsylvania, and got a job on the?Erie Gazette. Half the money he earned he gave to his family. The other half he saved to go to New York. 　　When he was twenty, Horance arrived in New York with ten dollars in his pocket. He was turned down twice when he asked for a job. Finally he became a typesetter for John T West’s Printery. The only reason Horace got the job was that it was so difficult other printers wouldn’t take it. His job was to set a very small edition of the Bible. Horace almost ruined his eyes at that job. 　　As young Greeley’s skill grew, better jobs came his way. He could have bought better clothes and moved out of his dingy room. But he was used to being poor, and his habits did not change He spent practically nothing on himself. Even after his?Tribune?became a success, he lived as if he hadn’t enough money for his next meal. 　　The?Tribune?grew and thrived. It was unlike any newspaper ever printed before in the United States. Greeley started a new type of journalism. His news stories were truthful and accurate His editorials attacked as well as praised. Many people disagreed with what he wrote, but still they read it. The?Tribune?became America’s first nationwide newspaper. It was read as eagerly in the Midwest and Far West as it was in the East. Greeley’s thundering editorials became the most powerful voice in the land. 　　Greeley and his?Tribune?fought for many causes. He was the first to come out for the right of women to vote. His?Tribune?was the leader in demanding protection for homesteads in the West. He aroused the north in the fight against slavery. During a depression in the East, jobless men asked what they could do to support themselves. Said Greeley: “Go West, young man, go West!” 　　As the?Tribune?gained more power, Greeley became more interested in politics He led in forming and naming the Republican party. He, more than any other man, was responsible for Abraham Lincoln’s being named to run for President. 　　Horace Greeley was first of all a successful newspaperman. He was also a powerful political leader. But he was not a popular man. In 1872 he ran for President against Ulysses S Grant. Grant was re-elected by an overwhelming margin. 　　Greeley then in deep mourning over the recent death of his wife. He was heart-broken over losing the election. He never recovered from the double blow only weeks after his defeat, he died in New York City. His beloved?Tribune?lived on after him as the monument he wanted. Just before died, he wrote: 　　“I cherish the hope that the journal I projected and established will live and flourish long after I shall have mouldered into forgotten dust, and that the stone that covers my ashes may bear to future eyes the still intelligible inscription, Founder of the?New York?Tribune.” Horace gladly accepted his first job _____.

Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asked the crowed assembled in the auction-room to make offers, or “bids”, for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down” the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer bangs a small hammer on a table at which he stands. This is often set on a raised platform called a rostrum. 　　The ancient Romans probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin Autcio, meaning “increase.” The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in war; these sales were called subhasta, meaning “under the spear,” a spear being stuck in the ground as a signal for a crowd to gather, In English in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, goods were often sold “by the candle”; a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight. 　　Practically all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, hides, skins, wool, tea, cocoa, furs, spices, fruit and vegetables and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, antique furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art. The auction-rooms as Christie’s and Sotheby’s in London and New York are world-famous. 　　An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by prospective buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot,” is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot I and continue in numerical order; he may wait until he registers the fact that certain dealers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in. The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. The auctioneer may decide to sell the “lots” out of the order because _____.

When we consider great painters of the past, the study of art and the study of illusion cannot always be separated. By illusion I mean those contrivances of color, line, shape, and forth that lead us to see marks on a flat surface as depicting three-dimensional objects in space. I must emphasize that I am not making a plea, disguised or otherwise, for the exercise of illusionist tricks in painting today, although I am, in fact rather critical of certain theories of non-representational art. But to argue over these theories would be to miss the point. That the discoveries and effects of representation that were the pride of earlier artists have become trivial today I would not deny for a moment. Yet I believe that we are in real danger of losing contact with past masters if we accept the fashionable doctrine that such matters never had anything to do with art. The very reason why the representation of nature can now be considered something commonplace should be of the greatest interest to art historians. Never before has there been an age when the visual image was so cheap in every sense of the word. We are surrounded and assailed by posters and advertisements, comics and magazine illustrations. We see aspects of reality represented on television, postage stamps, and food packages. Painting is taught in school and practiced as a pastime, and many modest amateurs have mastered tricks that would have looked like sheer magic to the 14th?century painter Giotto. Even the crude colored renderings on a cereal box might have made Giotto’s contemporaries gasp. Perhaps there are people who concluded from this that the cereal box is superior to a Giotto; I do not. But I think that the victory and vulgarization of representational skills create a problem for both art historians and critics. In this connection it is instructive to remember the Greek saying that to marvel is the beginning of knowledge and if we cease to marvel we may be in danger of ceasing to know. I believe we must restore our sense of wonder at the capacity to conjure up by forms, lines, shades, or colors those mysterious phantoms of visual reality we call “pictures.” Even comics and advertisements, rightly viewed, provide food for thought. Just as the study of poetry remains incomplete without an awareness of the language of prose, so, I believe, the study of art will be increasingly supplemented by inquiry into the “linguistics” of the visual image. The way the language of art refers to the visible world is both so obvious and so mysterious that it is still largely unknown except to artists who use it as we use all language—without needing to know its grammar and semantics. The author of the passage explicitly,?disagrees?with which of the following statements?

　　Europeans have long aspired to end American dominance as the world’s economic leader. The single market and the euro are widely seen as essential steps in this direction. But is Europe ready to lead? Do Europeans understand what it would take? 　　Despite a budding recovery, the United States is hardly the model of economic health that it once was. On several issues—from steel tariffs to the resurgent deficit to shady corporate practices—America has demonstrated a growing failure of leadership. Over the past two decades the United States has shown what it takes to be an economic superpower—a strong currency, openness to imports, concessions in trade negotiations and articulating an economic philosophy for the rest of the world. Now that it’s apparently fading on so many counts, the question becomes: is Europe willing and prepared to do what the United States once did, in order to supplant it? 　　First the exchange-rate issue. The euro will probably continue strengthening against the dollar, if only because of America’s huge and growing $400 billion-a-year current-account deficit. This means that, every year, the United States borrows about 4 percent of its GDP on world markets. If international investors lose confidence in the U.S. economy, fewer people will want to hold dollar assets. The dollar will fall—and the euro will appreciate. 　　This may be a normal market cycle, but there will be consequences. Among others, European companies will see their U.S. profits erode. What happens if the dollar falls farther and faster than anticipated? Are European industrial companies ready to compete with a euro worth $1.10, $1.15 or $1.25? The flip side of the much-desired strong euro would almost certainly be a surge in imports from the United States and the rest of the world. Exports might fall, resulting in job losses—perhaps even a trade deficit for the European Union. 　　Europeans are rightfully angry at new U.S. steel tariffs. But given the sheer size of America’s trade deficit, Washington’s policies are actually relatively moderate. The question remains: if Europe were in a similar position, would its voters and politicians be equally sensitive to what’s best for the global economy? Would European politicians be able to face the incredible pressures that would build for protectionist measures if it were Europe, and not the United States, that ran a persistent trade deficit? Not likely, I fear. 　　America’s retreat from its leading role presents an opportunity for the European Union. Trouble is, its political institutions have yet to mature to the point where they can resolve trade disputes, say, by looking beyond the immediate and narrow self-interests of its member states. 　　Europe’s chance for economic leadership may come sooner than expected. But too many Europeans haven’t yet grasped the basic secret of America’s leadership—the hard work and tough choices that are involved. That’s what Europeans now face, in this season of elections and decision making that will shape their future. Let’s hope they recognize that such sacrifices will pay off for them, as well as for the rest of the world.

　　A woman in Native American clothes is sitting in the sun, sewing a dress from skin. Inside a building, a colonist is making a wooden chair, using very simple tools. And all around, tourists are taking pictures with their digital (数码的) cameras. This is Jamestown Settlement today. 　　Jamestown, Virginia, was one of the first places in the world where people from Europe, America, and Africa came together in 1608. Today, it is a living history museum, where children and adults come to experience history. In a living history museum, actors wear clothes from the past and demonstrate many of the activities of daily life back then. The actors also talk to the visitors and explain everything they do. 　　At a Living History museum, there are always many things to touch, hear, and smell Visitors at Jamestown Settlement can walk through copies of the three small sailing ships that carried colonists to Virginia and even lie down in a colonist’s bed. The colonists stayed on the crowed, dangerous ships for more than four months. When they got to Virginia they built an area of houses with a high wall around it in today’s fort(堡垒)，you can see houses, a church, and even a garden with foods that the colonists ate. Women in long dresses work inside their homes, and visitors can help them with their sewing and cooking. 　　There is also an Indian Village at Jamestown Settlement, and it looks very different from the fort. It shows how the Indians lived in long houses and grew corn and other crops in large fields. Actors there make pottery(陶器) and teach visitors how to play Indian games. You can even help them make an Indian boat from a tree. 　　Today the living history museum of Jamestown is very popular, especially with children and families. People come here to have fun, but also to learn. Many school classes visit to experience old ways of getting things done. A living history museum is the best way to understand how people lived in the past.

　　Tears can ruin make-up, bring conversation to a stop, and give you a runny nose. They can leave you embarrassed and without energy. However, crying is a fact of life, and tears are very useful. Even when you’re not crying, your eyes used to expressing emotion. These create a film over the eye's surface. This film contains a substance that protects your eyes against infection. 　　Tears relieve stress, but we tend to fight them for all sorts of reasons. "People worry about showing their emotions. They're afraid that once they lose control, they'll never get it back," explains psychologist Dorothy Rowe." As Children we were sometimes punished for shedding tears or expressing anger. As adults we still fear the consequences of showing emotions." 　　Almost any emotion-good or bad, happy or sad-can cause tears. Crying is a way that we release built-up emotions. Tears help you when you feel you are ready to explode because of very strong feelings. It may explain why people who are afraid to cry often suffer more heart attacks than people who cry more freely. 　　When some people become very stressed, however, they can't cry. They may be feeling shock, anger, fear, or grief, but they repress the emotion. "Everyone has the need to cry，" says? psychotherapist Vera Diamond. Sometimes in therapy sessions, patients participate in crying exercises. They practice crying so that they can get used to expressing emotion. Diamond says it's best to cry in safe, private places, like under the bedcover or in the car. That's because many people get uncomfortable when others cry in front of them. In fact, they may be repressing their own need to cry. 　　In certain situations, such as at work, tears are not appropriate. It’s good to hold back tears during a tense business discussion." But once you are safely behind closed doors, don't just cry," Diamond says. She suggests that you act out the whole situation again and be as noisy and angry as you like. It will help you feel better." And," she adds," once your tears have released the stress, you can begin to think of logical ways to deal with the problem." 　　Tears are a sign of our ability to feel. You should never be afraid to cry.

　　Healthy people with stressful jobs who work long hours but get little satisfaction from what they do have twice the risk of dying from heart disease as satisfied employees, according to a study. 　　Job stress has been known to trigger heart problems in people who already have cardiovascular disease. Now Finnish scientists have now shown that even in healthy people the pressures of work can take their toll. 　　Obesity, high blood pressure, lack of exercise, smoking and being overweight contribute to heart disease — a leading killer in many industrialized countries. 　　But Mika Kivimaki, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and his colleagues, who studied the medical histories of 812 healthy Finnish men and women in a metal industry company over 25 years, said job stress also plays an important role. 　　Workers who had the highest job-related stress levels at the start of the study were more than twice as likely to die of heart disease, according to the study published in The British Medical Journal. 　　Work stress involves too much work as well as a lack of satisfaction and feeling undervalued and unappreciated. 　　Many people work long hours but if the effort is rewarding the stress is minimized. Kivimaki said job pressure is damaging when being overworked is combined with little or no control, unfair supervision and few career opportunities. 　　The British Heart Foundation said the results support earlier research showing that people in jobs with low control, such as manual workers, could be at greater risk of heart disease than other employees. 　　"It is advisable for people to try to minimize levels of stress at work and for employers to allow people to have more control at work and to be rewarded for their successes," the foundation said in a statement.

　　Before arrest. Some communities are using mediation and arbitration centers for resolving family and neighborhood disputes. For instance, the Citizens Dispute Settlement Project in Columbus, Ohio, uses law students to do this. The project is credited with lowering the number of minor arrests and assaults by 22 percent. San Francisco's Delancey Street Foundation has a residential center where drug addicts are sent for counseling. Erie, Pa., offers similar help to inebriates. 　　Before trial. Citations and summonses, similar to traffic tickets, are given for certain misdemeanors, such as disorderly conduct. The offender is allowed to pay a fine, rather than go to jail. Some courts are using non-bail release which relies on a third party or a court-appointed supervisor to ensure an accused's appearance at trial. 　　During a trial. Some cities are using weekend and night courts to handle the large number of arrests that occur over weekends. Without such off-hour court sessions, jails are frequently filled to capacity over weekends. In place of prison, some communities require Violators to pay compensation to victims in larceny, burglary, and auto theft cases. Some judges sentence minor offenders to perform some kind of community service. Georgia, which handles 85 percent of its misdemeanors and 15 percent of its felony convictions in this manner, has lowered its county jail population by a daily average of 66 percent.

　　The large river best known to the ancient Greeks was the Nile of Egypt. They spoke of the river with admiration and called Egypt “the gift of the Nile”. The reason for this was, first, that the Nile brought water to a rainless desert and, second, that once a year, the river overflowed its banks, leaving, as the water went back, a new layer of fertile soil. 　　The flood waters carry in them soil (called silt) from the upper parts of the river valley to the lower parts, and so to the sea. But as the river meets the sea, the sea acts as a barrier and forces the river to drop the silt it is carrying. 　　There are no tides in the Mediterranean to carry the silt away, so year after year it collects at the mouth of the Nile, and the river must find its way around islands of silt to the always more distant Mediterranean. In this way, a vast area of fertile soil has been built up at the mouth of the Nile and out into the sea. The river water splits up to form small branches winding across the area. To the ancient Greeks, the mouth of the Nile looked like the drawing. 　　Now we sometimes name things after the letters of the alphabet they resemble: a U-turn, an I-beam a T-square, an S-bend, and so on. The Greeks did the same. The triangular area of land built up at the mouth of the Nile looked like the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet delta (Δ) and so this was the name they gave it. The word is now used for all areas of land formed at the mouth of rivers which flow into tideless seas, even when they are nor triangular in shape. The Mississippi delta, for example, is not shaped at all like the Greek delta, as you will see if you look at a map.

　　和平稳定是发展的前提和基础。上个世纪，人类经历了两次世界大战，生灵涂炭，经济社会发展遭受严重挫折。第二次世界大战结束以来，世界经济能够快速增长，主要得益于相对和平稳定的国际环境。 　　我们应该恪守联合国宪章宗旨和原则，充分发挥联合国及其安理会在维护和平、缔造和平、建设和平方面的核心作用。坚持通过对话和协商，以和平方式解决国际争端。 　　我们应该坚持国家不论大小、强弱、贫富都是国际社会平等一员，以民主、包容、合作、共赢的精神实现共同安全，做到一国内部的事情一国自主办、大家共同的事情大家商量办，坚定不移奉行多边主义和国际合作，推进国际关系民主化。 　　我们应该营造支持各国根据本国国情实现和平、稳定、繁荣的国际环境。应该本着求同存异的原则，尊重各国主权和选择发展道路和发展模式的权利，尊重文明多样性，在交流互鉴、取长补短中相得益彰、共同进步。

　　中国的春节在农历一月一日，是新一年的开始。这是举家团圆的时刻。一般说来，在春节前几天，只要有可能的话，多数人无论身处何地都会回家。就像圣诞节一样，人们会买很多东西如食品、礼物、衣服和烟花爆竹给孩子们。在除夕之夜，多数农村家庭仍然保持着一些传统习俗，如在两扇门上都贴上门神和春联。他们把“福”字倒贴在墙上和家具的门上，意思是“福到了”。除夕之夜的年夜饭是必不可少的程序。全家人围坐着一张桌子一同分享佳肴，人多的话兴许不止一张桌子。家人还会为没能赶回家的亲人留些座位，仿佛他们也在一起吃似的。年夜饭过后，大家会坐在一起，观看中央电视台的春节特别节目，等待，新年的到来。午夜将近时，特别节目也接近尾声，这时家家户户都到户外去放鞭炮。据说这样可以驱妖除魔。新年的早饭是很特别的，北方人吃饺子，南方人吃糯米饭团。走亲访友从新年的第一天就开始了，俗称“拜年”。每到这时，孩子们是最开心的，因为他们可以从长辈那里拿到压岁钱，据说压岁钱能带给他们好运。新年第五天，人们祭拜财神，送走新年。春节就结束了。

　　指南针的发明源于中国。 　　2000多年前的战国时期，人们利用磁铁在地球磁场中的南北指极性发明了指南针的雏形，称之为“司南”。它用天然磁石制成，样子像一把勺子，底部为圆形，可在平滑的“地盘”上自由旋转，待旋转的磁勺慢慢停止下来时，勺柄就指向南方。磁石的硬度为5.5—6.54。 　　900年前的北宋时期，人们把一片薄铁皮剪成约7厘米长，1.5厘米宽的鱼形，放在炭火中烧得通红，然后用鱼嵌夹着鱼头，让鱼尾正对着地球磁场方向。这样，铁鱼内部被烧得处于活动状态的磁畴就顺着地球磁场方向排列，再把磁化后的铁鱼迅速浸入冷水中，磁畴的规则排列就马上固定下来。这时，再把小鱼浮在水面平静的碗中，鱼头鱼尾就可以指南北了。在使用指南针的过程中，人们不断地改进，不断地摸索，使指向仪器在外形上终于成为最简便的针形。人们拿一根小钢针在磁石上反复摩擦，待钢针磁化后，便是指南针了。在此基础上，以后人们发明了更为先进的罗盘。 　　指南针首先是风水先生发明和使用的。北宋时期，指南针应用于航海事业中，使之有了经久不衰的生命力。北宋前，航海者是利用日月星辰的位置来判定方向。这种方法在天晴时尚可运用，一旦阴雨天，航海者的命运就难以把握了。 　　自从有了指南针，它为航海者带来极大的方便，成为航海家的必备之物。郑和七次下西洋，哥伦布对美洲大陆的发现和麦哲伦的环球航行，都与指南针的应用分不开。

　　调查显示，对于“婚前财产公证”的态度，随着时代的变迁，人们越来越宽容和接受了，尤其是中高学历者，46%的本科学历者“做过或打算做婚前财产公证”。在调查中还发现，传统方式上，婚后一般双方的财产是放在一起管理的，可是目前，未婚者对于财产的管理比已婚者更倾向于“保留自己的部分财产，然后把余下的部分共同管理”这种理财方式，经济有一定的独立性，又不失一个家庭的作用。这种不失个人独立的家庭理财方式，在调查的本科及以上学历者中有30%的人接受。

　　近年来，中国汽车保有量年平均增长达15%左右。汽车总量剧增，大量排放有害气体，成为危害国人身心健康的“无形杀手”。据统计，在全国总死亡人数中，呼吸系统疾病占22.64%，居死亡人数第一位，这与大气的污染有直接关系。专家分析，城市大气污染70%以上来自汽车尾气排放。北京大气中74%的碳氢化合物、63%的一氧化碳和37%的氮氧化物均来自汽车尾气。 　　专家还指出，中国汽车尾气污染的根本源头是现代汽车工业技术水平低下，新车质量不高，能源消耗高。中国汽车设计与制造技术水平大多尚停留在国际60年代水平。大多数汽车装配492型发动机，整体性能差，电子喷射技术差，汽油燃烧不充分，机内净化问题没有解决好，没有严格的新车尾气排放标准。汽车尾气污染城市环境问题已引起国家有关部门及民众的高度重视，一些治理措施正在逐步有效地展开。国务院规定，中国将在2000年完全禁止生产、销售和使用含铅汽油。

I felt somewhat disappointed and was about to leave, _____ something occurred which attracted my attention.

_____ it seems that there is a discrepancy between your expectations and his behaviour.

In most developed countries, the small corporation pays about 32.5 percent of its net income in taxes _____ the large one pays _____ 46 percent.

_____ to flow spontaneously from a block of ice to a surrounding volume of water, this could occur in complete accord with energy conservation.

_____ doubt there are a lot of natural resources in this country.