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　　In the United Statcs, there were some well-constructed houses for native Indians, ranging from the simple brush shelter to the five-storied pueblo．

　　In the eastem United States, one of the existing types was that commonly know under the Algonkian name of wigwam in which the Iroquois Indians lived．The wigwams were of wagon-top shape with straight sides and ends, made by bending young trees to form the round shape．Over this shape pieces of tree bark were laid to protect the Indians from bad weather．Over the bark dried grass was added．A small hole allowde smoke to escape from the top．Doorways at each en served also as windows, The Iroquois Indians built trunk walls all around their villages．The wall had only one opening, They could quickly close this cpening if their enemies came near．

　　Interestingly, the Choctaw Indians in Mississippi also lived in a wigwam of a most primitive(原始的)construction, but different from those of the Iroquois Indians．The Choctaw Indians'wigwams, made from mud,cane and straw, were in the form of a bee-hive．The covering was made of a long, tough grass．A post in the centre supported the roof．A hole in the top admitted the light, and allowed the smoke to pass out．

　　The tipi tent-housing of the upper lake and plains area was put up with poles set lightly in the ground, tied together near the top, and covered with bark and grass in the lake country．It was easily portable, and two women could set it up or take it down within an hour．

　　The Pawnee, Mandan and other Indian tribes(部落)along the Missouri built solid ring-shaped structhures of trunk, covered with earth and dried grass,housing adozen families．

　　The Wichita and other tribes of the Texas border built large ring-shaped houses covered with dried grass．

　　Apart from the regular housing, almost every tribe had some style of housing．

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　　To：All Staff

　　From：Jakie Mok, Secretary;Sports Development Committee

　　Date：May 20, 2010

　　A week ago,“Sports for Life”pregramme was sent to the parents, requiring them to select a sport they wanted their child to play．Since then, our staff have received lots of calls from parents asking for more information about it．Here is a memo(备忘录)for your reference when you answer the phones．

　　Sports 1：Basketball．

　　We expect that this will be the most popular of the four sports．Therefore, students should be advised to sign up as soon as possible．Students will take a prevate bus to and from Kwun Tong Sports Park．To cover the cost of hiring a bus,each student will have to pay ＄10 each time．There will be four basketball courts available for our use with one teacher watching over each game．

　　Sports 2：Gym

　　We will be using St．Peter's Memorial Park．There are two reasons for choosing theis park．Frist, it is not very busy and crowded before 6∶00 p. m．Second, it has lot of trees with plenty of shade．Students must bring along two bottles of water to prevent thirst．Three activities, skipping, jogging, outdoor aerobics(有氧运动),all of which are free of charge, will be arranged．And there will be a teacher on duty for each of the activities．

　　Sports 3：Hiking

　　Hiking(远足)will take place at Kowloon Peak．The activitiy will start at 2∶30 p. m and finish 90 minutes later．Three teachers will accompany the students, and a hiking instructor will accompany each group of 15 hikers．Each instructor will cost ＄75/hr．

　　Sports 4：Swimming

　　The Kowloon City Aqueatic Centre is a 10-minute walk from our school．Four teachers will go to the pool and conduct the goings-on from the poolside．We will only be able to reserve the pool for one hour(i．e．2∶45p. m to 3∶45p. m)．Only students skilful at swimming can take up this activity．The pool will have two lifuguards present．Girls must wear a swimming suit．The cost is ＄10 per visit．

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　　Businesses are witnessing a difficult time, which has in turn produced influence on consumers' edsire to go green．However, shoppers are still laying stress on environmental concerns．

　　Two thirds of customers say that environmental considerations inform their purchases to the same degree as they did a year ago, while more than a quarter say that they are now even better aware of the environmental effect on what they buy．

　　This may help to influence how shops store goods on their shelves．And the companies should still make efforts to become more envitonmentally friendly．Two out of three people think it is important to buy from environmentally responsible companies, with about one in seven saying that they had even decided to take their custom elsewhere if they felt a company's environmental reputation was not good enough．

　　Harry Morrison, chief executive(主管)of the Carbon Trust, sympathizes：“I understand this situation where survival is very important now．But from environmental considerations, the clocd is ticking－we don't have much time．In addition, cutting carbon has an immediate effect as costs drop and a mediun-term benefit for the brand．”

　　Larger companies have an extra motivation to look at reducing their carbon footprint, as new rules next year will require businesses bo buy carbon allowances to make up for their emissions(排放)．Those that have taken early action will have a head start．More than two thirds of consumers are not clear about which companies are environmentally responsible．This suggests that firms that are able to relay clearly their message to the public will be in a pole position to attract shoppers．

　　The Carbon Trust believes that it can help by informing customers about the good work companies are doing．“When companies are granted(授予)the standard, they can use a logo(标识)in all their marketing which makes it clear that they are working towards cutting emissions,”Mr．Morrison said．

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　　Forget Twitter and Facebook, Google and the Kindle．Television is still the nost influential medium around．Indeed, fot many of the poorest regions(地区)of the world, it remains the next big thing－finally becomes globally available．And that is a good thing, because the TV revolution is changing lives for the better．

　　Across the developing world, around 45％ of families had a TV in 1995; by 2005 the number had climbed above 60％．That is some way behind the U．S．where are more TVs than people, and where people now easily get access to the Internet．Five million more families in sub-Saharan Africa will ger a TV over the next five years．In 2005, after the fall of the Taliban(塔利班),which had outlawed TV, I in 5Afghans had one．The global total is another 150 million by 2013－－pushing the numbers to well beyond two thirds of families．

　　Television's most powerful effect will be on the lives of women．In India, researchers Robert Jensen and Emily Oster foumd that when TVs reached villages, women were more likely to go to the market without their husbands approval and less likely to want a boy rather than a girl．They were more likely to make decisions over child health care TV is also a powerful medium for adult education．In the Indian state of Gujarat, Chitrageet is a popular show that plays Bollywood songs with words in Gujarati on the screen．Within six months, viewers had made a small but significant(有意义的)improvement in their reading skills．

　　Too much TV has been associated with violence, overweight and loneliness．However, TV is having a positive influence on the lives of billions worldwide．

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　　F．Scott Fitzgerald, born on September 24,1896, an American novelist, was once a student of St．Paul Academy, the Newman School and attended Princeton．University for a short while．In 1917 he joined the army and was posted in Alabama, where he met his future wife Zelda Sayre．Then he had to make some money to impress her．

　　His life with her was full of great happiness, as he wrote in his diary：“My own happiness in the past often approached such joy that I could share it even with the person dearest to me but had to walk it away in quiet streets and take down parts of it in my diary．”

　　This side of paradise, his first novel, was published in 1920．encouraged by its success, Fitzgerald began to devote more time to his writing．Then he continued with the novel the Beautiful and Damned(1922), a collection of short stories Thales of the Jazz Age(1922), and a play The Vegetable(1923)．But his greatest success was The Great Gatsby, published in 1925,which quick brought him praise from the literary world．Yet it failed to give him the needed financial security．Then, in 1926, he published another collection lf short stories All the Sad Young Men．

　　However, Fitzgerald's problems with his wife Zelda affected his writing．During the 1920s he tried to reorder his life, but failed．By 1930, his wife had her first breakdown and went to a Swiss clinic．During this period he completed novels Tender Is the Night in 1934 and The love of the last Tycoon in 1940．while his wife was in hospital in the United States, he got totally addicted to alcohol．Sheila Graham, his dear friend, helped him fight his alcoholism．

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　　To err is human．To blame the other guy is even more human．

　　Common sense is not all that common．

　　Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?

　　These three popular misquotes(戏谑的引语)are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature．To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don't want to accept the responsibility for the problem．Perhaps it is the natural thing to do．The original quote about human nature went like this：”To err is human, to forgive, divine(神圣的)．”This saying mirrors an deal people should be forgiving of others' mistakes．Instead, we tend to do the opposite–find someone else to pass the blame on to．However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a making of great maturity．

　　Common sense is what we call clear thought．Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan．Commonsense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine．Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything．People say that in a large company,”the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing．”

　　And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art?One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people．get the idea that it's okay not to be totally honest all the time．There is a corollary(直接推论)to that：if good excuse is“good”even if it isn't honest, then where is the place of the truth?

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　　In the kitchen of my mother's houses there has always been a wooden stand(木架)with a small notepad(记事本)and a hole for a pencil．

　　I'm looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother．Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did．Surely it can't be the same pencil?The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one．

　　“I'm just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these year．”I say to her, walking bank into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil．“You still use a pencil．Can't you afford a pen?”

　　My mother replies a little sharply．“It works perfectly well．I've always kept the stand in the kitchen．I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days．”

　　Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently．My mother smiles and says,“One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty．One of the children must have taken the paper．So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back．It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on．”

　　This story－which happened before I was born－reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician．I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work．Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards．Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics．Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible(看不到的)exhibits at every meal．

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　　Why play games?Because they are fun, and a 1ot more besides．Following the rules…planning your next move…acting as a team member…these are all“game”ideas that you will come across throughout your life．

　　Think about some off the games you played as a young child, such as rope-jumping and hide-and-seek．Such games are entertaining and fun．But perhaps more importantly, they translate life into exciting dramas that teach children some of the basic rules they will be expected to follow the rest of their lives, such as taking turns and cooperating(合作)．

　　Many children's games have a practical side Children around the world play games that prepare them for work they will do as grown-ups．For instance, some Saudi Arabian children play a game called bones．Which sharpens the hand-eye coordination(协调)needed in hunting．

　　Many sports encourage national or local pride．The most famous games of all, the Olympic Games, bring athletes from around the world together to take part in friendly competition．People who watch the event wave flags, knowing that a gold medal is a win for an entire country, not just the athlete who earned it．For countries experiencing natural disasters or war, an Olympic win can mean so much．

　　Sports are also an event that unites people．Soccer is the most popular sport in the world．People on all continents play it－some for fun and some for a living．Nicolette Iribarne, a Californian soccer player, has discovered a way to spread hope through soccer．He created a foundation to provide poor children with not only soccer balls but also a promising future．

　　Next time you play your favorite game or sport, think about why you enjoy it, what skills are needed, and whether these skills will help you in other aspects of your life．

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　　Have you winterized your horse yet?Even though global warming may have made our climate more mild, many animals are still hibernating(冬眠)．It's too bad that humans can't hibernate．In fact, as a species, we almost did．

　　Apparently, at times in the past, peasants in France liked a semi-state of human hibernation．So writes Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French peasants．As soon as the weather turned cold, people all over France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months on end．

　　In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio's The Current, tells something referred to as "first sleep", which was not clarified, though．Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in separate periods．The business of eight hours' uninterrupted sleep is a modem invention．

　　In the past, without the artificial light of the city to bathe in, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves around midnight．The late night period was known as "The Watch"．It was when people actually kept watch against wild animals, although many of them simply moved around or visited family and neighhours．

　　According to some sleep researchers, a short period of insomnia(失眠)at midnight is not a disorder．It is normal．Humans can experience another state of consciousness around their sleeping, which occurs in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning．This period can be an extraordinarily creative time for some people．The impressive inventor, Thomas Edison, used this state to hit upon many of his new ideas．

　　Playing with your sleep rhythms can be adventurous, as anxiety may set in．Medical science doesn't help much in this case．It offers us medicines for a full night's continuous sleep, which sounds natural; however, according to Warren's theory, it is really the opposite of what we need．