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　　The report came to the British on May 21, 1941．The German battleship Bismarck, the most powerful warship in the world, was moving out into the Atlantic Ocean．Her task：to destroy the ships carrying supplies from the United States to war-time England．

　　The British had feared such a task．No warship they had could match the Bismarck in speed or in firepower．The Bismarck had eight 15-inch guns and 81 smaller guns．She could move at 30 nautical miles an hour．She was believed to be unsinkable．

　　However, the British had to sink her．They sent out a task force headed by their best battleship Hood to hunt down the Bismarck．On May 24, the Hood found the Bismarck．

　　It was a meeting that the German commander Luetjens did not want to see．His orders were to destroy the British ships that were carrying supplies, but to stay away from a fight with British warships．

　　The battle didn’t last long．The Bismarck’s first torpedo(鱼雷)hit the Hood, which went down taking all but three of her 1,419 men with her．

　　But in the fight, the Bismarck was slightly damaged．Her commander decided to run for repairs to France, which had at that time been taken by the Germans．The British force followed her．However, because of the Bismarck’s speed and the heavy fog, they lost sight of her．

　　For two days, every British ship in the Atlantic tried to find the Bismarck, but with no success．Finally, she was sighted by a plane from Ireland．Trying to slow the Bismarck down so that their ships could catch up with her, the British fired at her from the air．The Bismarck was hit．

　　On the morning of May 27, the last battle was fought．Four British ships fired on the Bismarck, and she was finally sunk．

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　　As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food．Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more．

　　Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes．They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children．But as the number of children gets larger, conversation gives way to the parents’ efforts to control the loud noise they make．That can have an important effect on the children．“In general the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children’s IQ scores,”Lewis says．“And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is．”

　　The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings(兄弟姐妹)．Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most to talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention．“Middle children are invisibles,”says Lewis．“When you see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are that it’s the middle child．”There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention：“When the TV is on,”Lewis says,“dinner is a non-event．”

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Ad．1

　　April fool’s party

　　On Friday, April 1, Inner Affair goes back to the days of funk!Classic Tunes from the 70’s and 80’s by DJs Den & Sion．9 p.m.till late．

　　Tickets：Free entrance for those in costume, otherwise 50 yuan(US＄6)．

　　Time/date：9 p.m., April 1

　　Place：Inner Affair, 1/F Qiankun Dasha, 6 Sanlitun Xiliujie, Chaoyang District

　　Tel：8454-0321

Ad．2

　　Language in use

　　Enjoy free in-house coffee, tea and beer as well as music and dancing．Practice your Chinese, make friends and have fun．

　　Time/date：7 to 9 pm, March 25

　　Place：Language In Use Club, 2/F, Science Fortune Center, 8 Xueqing Lu, north of Xueyuan Lu, Haidian District

Ad．3

　　The“worst”party

　　Organized by o-zone productions, the party is set to be“the worst ever”, with the lamest music from the 60s, 70s and 80s．Special prizes will be awarded to the worst dressed or for bad fashion sense．

　　Tickets：Free entrance

　　Time/date：9 p.m., April 1

　　Place：Pula Pula, Tianze Lu, Oriental Seven Colours Plaza, Chaoyang District

　　Tel：6466-8575

Ad．4

　　La Nuit Francaise

　　Again on the 2nd Thursday of the month La Nuit Francaise will be held at Le Rendezvous．The monthly event is an opportunity for all French people and everyone interested in France or speaking French to gather together．

　　The evening features three glasses of wine and canapes for participants and a special exhibition．

　　Time/date：7 to 10 p.m., April 14

　　Place：Le Rendezvous, 3 Gongti Beilu, across from the Pacific Century Plaza, Chaoyang District

　　Tel：64629110

Ad．5

　　Marco V

　　Dutch DJ Marco V drops by Banana for a gig which is supported by Hong Kong’s DJ Spark．

　　Marco V has been around for many years, as an inventive, style-blending deejay and a successful and devoted producer．His spinning is energetic, crowd-pleasing and never sees an empty dance floor．He was ranked No．15 in this year’s international DJ MAG DJTop100．

　　Tickets：40 yuan(US＄4.80)in advance, 50 yuan(US＄6)at the door, both include a free drink

　　Time/date：10 p.m.to 4 a.m., March 31, April 1

　　Place：Banana, in the lobby of the Scitech Hotel, 22 Jianwai Dajie, Chaoyang District

　　Tel：6528-3636

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　　In the USA Forbes magazine has published its annual list of the richest people in the world．Bill Gates of Microsoft is the richest man again for the eleventh successive year with a fortune of forty-four billion dollars．

　　There are a record 691 dollar billionaires according to Forbes magazine．Between them they have a fortune of two point two trillion dollars．The highest concentration of the ultra-rich is in New York followed by Moscow and San Fransisco and then London and Los Angeles．But in total the very wealthy live in forty-seven different countries with Iceland Kazakstan Ukraine and Poland entering the list for the first time this year．

　　Laksmi Mittal, an Indian born steel tycoon(巨头)enjoyed the biggest increase in personal fortune．His net worth has quadrupled(变成四倍)to thirteen billion dollars making him the world’s third richest man．Ingvar Kamprad founder of the Swedish furniture chainIkea also saw a big increase in wealth taking him to the sixth place．Developing countries make more of a showing than in past years－there are for example three Russians and four Indians in the top sixty richest people, though surprisingly perhaps none from China excluding Hong Kong．Asian wealth is probably under-represented as its usually spread among families whereas Forbes looks at individuals．Relatively few women feature in the list－among them is JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels ranked 620th with a fortune of 519 million dollars．New entrants to the list include the founders of the Internet search group Google Sergie Brin and Larry Page each worth more than seven billion dollars after their company’s recent stock market debut．The richest Italian is the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi ranked number 25 in the global wealth league．

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　　Modern man has cleared the forests for farmland and for wood, and has also carelessly burned them．More than that, though, he has also interfered(干涉)with the invisible bonds between the living things in the forests．There are many examples of this kind of destruction．The harmfulness of man’s interference can be seen in what happened many years ago in the forest of the Kaibab plateau(凯亚巴布高原)of northern Arizona．Man tried to improve on the natural web of forest life and destroyed it instead．

　　The Kaibab had a storybook forest of largesized pine, Douglas fir, white fir, blue and Engelmann spruce．In 1882 a visitor noted,“We, who…have wandered through its forests and parks, have come to regard it as the most enchanting region it has ever been our privilege(特权)to visit．”This was also the living place of the Rocky Mountain mule deer．Indians hunted there every autumn to gather meat and skins．The forest also had mountain lions, timber wolves and bobcats that kept the deer from multiplying too rapidly．

　　Then, in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt made the Kaibab a national game preserve．Deer hunting was forbidden．Government hunters started killing off the deer’s enemies．In 25 years’ time,6,250 mountain lions, wolves and bobcats were killed．Before the program, there were about 4,000 deer in the Kaibab, by 1924, there were about 100,000．

　　The deer ate every leaf and twig they could reach．But there was not nearly enough food．Hunting of deer was permitted again．This caused a slight decrease in the deer herd(鹿群), but a far greater loss resulted from starvation(饥饿)and disease．Some 60 percent of the deer herd died in two winters．By 1930 the herd had dropped to 20,000 animals．By 1942 it was down to 8,000．

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　　Long bus rides are like television shows．They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials(商业广告)thrown in every three or four minutes．The commercials are unavoidable．They happen whether you want them or not．Every couple of minutes a billboardglides by outside the bus window．“Buy Super Clean Toothpaste．”“Drink Good Wet Root Beer．”“Fill up with Pacific Gas．”Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of“You Need It!Buy It Now!”

　　The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before．Usually some things have changed new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road．The bus driver has a style of driving and it’s fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so．If the driver is particularly reckless(鲁莽的)or daring, the ride can be as thrilling(惊心动魄的)as a suspense story．Will the driver pass the truck in time?Will the driver move into the right or the left hand lane?After a while, of course, the excitement dies down．Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride．Food always makes bus rides more interesting．But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat．Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops．

　　The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning．You know it will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement in that．The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed．By now you’ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the armrestseven with your hands crossed behind your head．The end comes just at no more ways to sit．

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　　Ever since news of widespread food recalls caused by a carcinogenic dye broke, there has been confusion(混淆)over possible links to the country of the same name, but Sudan officials say there is no connection whatever．

　　Sudan-1 is a red industrial dye that has been found in some chilli powder, but was banned in food products across the European Union(EU)in July 2003．

　　Since the ban was put in place, EU officials have been striving to remove some food products from the shelves．So far 580 products have been recalled．

　　Last week Sudan’s Embassy in the United Kingdom asked the Food Standards Agency(FSA)for clarification of the origin of the dye’s name．

　　Omaima Mahmoud Al Sharief, a press official at Sudan’s Embassy in China, explained the purpose of the inquiry was to clear up any misunderstanding over links between the country and the poisonous dye．

　　“We want to keep an eye on every detail and avoid any misunderstanding there,”she said．“Our embassy to Britain asked them how the dye got that name and whether the dye had something to do with our country．But they told us there was no relationship．”

　　The FSA, an independent food security watchdog in Britain, received a letter from the Sudanese embassy last week．

　　“They asked us why the dye is named Sudan, however, we also do not know how it got the name,”she said．“People found the dye in 1883 and gave it the name．Nobody knows the reason, and we cannot give any explanation before we find out．”

　　Sudan dyes, which include Sudan-1 to 4, are red dyes(颜料)used for colouring solvents(溶剂), oils, waxes, petrol, and shoe and floor polishes．They are classified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer．

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