Evaporative cooler

Before refrigerators, homes usually had ice boxes. But another way to keep food cool without the need for electricity is to use an evaporative cooler. This is easy to make and does not even use ice.

A common design is a tall box with food placed on several shelves inside. The shelves are pieces of metal with many small holes through them. The sides of the box are covered with pieces of thick cloth. Containers of water are placed at the top and bottom of the cooler. The ends of each piece of cloth lie in the water so the cloth stays wet.

Put the cooler in the open air but not in the sun. Air will pass through the wet cloth. The inside of the box will stay several degrees cooler than the outside air temperature. And this may be cool enough to keep foods fresh at least for a short time.

Cold storage in a freezer, however, can keep foods in good condition for months after the growing season. Yet foods can be damaged if they are kept too cold. The British development group Practical Action says the best way to prepare foods for storage is at harvest time while still in the field. Use a sharp knife to avoid damage.

Drought-resistant crops

One cause of the current food crisis is drought. Food prices are high in part because of dry weather in places as far distant as Spain and Australia.

Around the world, the amount of land affected by drought has doubled in the past thirty years. So says the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States. And scientists concerned about climate change believe it will cause more drought in many areas in the future.

A lot of research is going into efforts to develop drought-resistant crops. One project involves tobacco plants genetically engineered to keep their leaves during water shortages.Eduardo Blumwald and Rosa Rivero at the University of California, Davis, led a team from the United States, Japan and Israel. Rosa Rivero says they chose tobacco because it has big leaves. Also, it grows fast and has structural similarities with some other plants.

The researchers did an experiment with two groups of tobacco plants. They worked with a set of normal plants and a set of transgenic plants. These had a gene added to interfere with the biological causes of leaf loss during drought.

complaint exersize

Letters complaint agency:

I’m worrying about the drinking and driving. Last week, the XinMing Journey reported that: In the Golden week, the number of drunk driver rose by 15%. It’s a dangerous sign which describe the rise of injured rate these days.

This phenomenon is originally due to the ignorance of the drivers. They just hide behind wheel and never consider the benefit of other road users. But the government still has the responsibility. In other Asian countries, the legal limit is much lower than us. So I strongly recommend a lower alcohol limit. It will help drivers think twice on the drinking and driving.

Please give me an acknowledgement. I’ll concentrate on the progress of the action.

A citizen

Direction

cab: pick up / drop

corner / intersection / interstate / roundabout /pedstrain crossing

We are short of drivers ourselves right now.

In that case, I reckon I may by able to help.

You go straight till you get to the first intersection(till you see a sign that says "freeway"). than you take the freeway, going north bend.

Then you pass the second intersection.

And you take the fourth exit after that.

Then you follow the signs for the New Camford freeway.

runs a garage

on the bypass

take a right at the next set of lights

Don't mention it.

I'll have 20 dollars' worth of unleaded, please.

stop him for speeding

I can drop you off at the hairdresser's on my way home.

You should never overtake on a bend.

Will you pull over immediately and let me out.

negotiate

I'm privy to the confidential information

persuade/ convince

force it through

Mike deserved that raise

major desicion

negotiate a bussiness deal

economic climate

good at accounting

too many debts to settle

profit sharing scheme for the workforce

The decision to reprimand Randall for unilateral offering Alice a pay raise was made by a consensus by the managers.

Most companies like to offer their employees such perks like company cars or vacaions, as incentives to work hard.

offer her incentives to stay with us

interpreter

do not create a good impression within the company

whether this pay raise will go through or not

rival

defect to a competitor

commodity

fluctuate

portfolio

itinerary

travel allowance

speculator

roundtrip

make a killing

viable / feasible

endoscope surgery

Medical researchers keep looking for less invasive ways to perform operations. The aim is to cut less and to reduce pain and recovery time. Some researchers see a future in NOTES. NOTES is short for Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery.

In simple terms, what this means is the removal of diseased organs through the body's natural openings. For example, a man in California recently had his appendix removed through his mouth.Twenty-five years ago, having your appendix removed meant staying in the hospital for as long as a week. Patients returned home with an ugly and permanent scar on their abdomen.

But since the late nineteen eighties, laparoscopic surgery has gained popularity. It leaves only small marks where holes were made in the skin. The doctor works with a system called a laparoscope, usually connected to a video camera. Laparoscopic surgery rarely requires a hospital stay.

With the newest kind of surgery, doctors make a small cut in the patient's belly button. A camera is placed through the hole to help guide the surgical instrument.

national teacher

A science teacher from Prineville, Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest, is the new National Teacher of the Year.

Michael Geisen is thirty-five years old. He was a forester. But he decided he would rather work with growing minds than with growing trees. Seven years ago, he got a master's degree in teaching and a job at Crook County Middle School. Crook County has high rates of poverty.

He brought new energy to the science department. He also created school projects to get parents involved in their children's work. One girl who was recently in his class said he could probably make it interesting to watch grass grow.

During lunch, his students come to his room to talk, get help, visit his turtle and sometimes join him in playing guitar. He writes songs and develops games about science. He says one of his goals as a teacher is to create people who will continue to learn throughout their lives.

Michael Geisen studied forest resource management and graduated with high honors from the University of Washington. He says he tries to be creative with each activity. He does not like to use textbooks much. When students know that the work is local and useful to their lives, he says, they start to ge

investment

make a killing

privatized

portfolio

bricks- and- mortar

every one wants to be a stag.

this section is saturated

triple

I'm a conservative

is not your best bet

bankrupt

flotation

initial public offering

equity (stock)

stock broker

dealer

bear/bull/stag

corriki.org

Wikis are Web sites designed for cooperative work. Users can easily create or change the content. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, is the best known wiki. A newer example is Curriki, a curriculum wiki. Curriki.org is a learning community for developing and sharing educational materials for free. It says it has forty thousand members in two hundred countries

The materials are for kindergarten through grade twelve. The subject areas are mathematics, science, technology, reading, language arts and languages. In addition to English, there are some materials in French, German, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish. A curriculum-building tool helps educators create lesson plans on the site. The idea is for members to donate resources that represent best practices.

Curriki's partners include Sesame Workshop, which has created videos and lesson plans to teach children about cultural differences. Another company, Atomic Learning, has provided videos for teaching about technology.

Members who donate materials are listed on the site. Comments and criticisms about materials are also posted. Anyone can use Curriki.org to teach others or themselves. The materials can be printed or saved to a CD.

Curriki is also working on several international projects. One of them involves teacher training for Indonesia. In South Africa, Curriki has been working on a research project on the process of building free and open curriculum.

In two thousand four, the Sun Microsystems company launched the Global Education and Learning Community. Two years later, Sun established it as an independent nonprofit organization and changed the name to Curriki.

Bobbi Kurshan is the executive director. She says a team of experts rates material on Curriki on a scale of one to three. The volunteers judge if the information is complete, if it is right for the age level and if it is written well.

The name "wiki" comes from a Hawaiian word for "quick." But Bobbi Kurshan says she recognizes that many teachers may not be quick to trust free, open-source materials. She says people should trust the educational community on Curriki to do the right thing. In her words, "We're changing the way we build curriculum."

wildlife services

The United States Department of Agriculture has a program called Wildlife Services. Its job is to help protect agricultural and other resources from threats and damage by wildlife. Often that means helping farmers deal with unwelcome visitors.

One example from Wildlife Services of its work involved a farmer in Washington state, in the Pacific Northwest. Several years ago, thousands of Canada geese landed on his fields. The geese began to eat his carrot crop.

Biologists from the program suggested that the farmer use noise-making devices and other measures to scare the large birds away. These efforts apparently succeeded.

Wildlife Services also has a livestock protection program. The agency kills foxes, badgers and other predators. Critics, however, say too many animals are killed that do not threaten livestock.

The Wildlife Services program is part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS. APHIS offers some suggestions of ways to keep away predators.

Game and donate

Whoever thought learning new words could feel socially responsible? A Web site called FreeRice.com is an English vocabulary game. It explains its purpose like this: "For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger."

The site began in October. It says thirty billion grains of rice have been donated so far. The United Nations World Food Program does not really get rice. The donations are given in the form of money. Advertisers whose names appear with links at the bottom of the game pay for the rice. Individuals can also become sponsors.

Words are presented with four choices of answers. Players click on the one that best defines the word. If they answer correctly, they get a harder word. If they choose wrong, they get an easier word. Spoken pronunciations are also provided.

Currently, the FreeRice game has fifty-five levels of difficulty. Players rarely get past level forty-eight."Does FreeRice make any money from this?" That is one of the frequently asked questions on the site. "No, it does not. FreeRice runs the site at no profit," says the answer.

Internet businessman John Breen created FreeRice. Since October, five hundred seventy metric tons of rice have been donated, enough to feed about a million and a half people for one day.The game is said to be especially popular with college students and young people who visit social networking sites.

Jennifer Parmelee is a World Food Program spokeswoman in Washington. She says cash donations help the agency to buy food locally and transport it quickly to where it is needed.

For example, with donations from the site, rice for Nepal was recently bought in the area at half the world market price. Bangladesh, Cambodia and Uganda also have received food through FreeRice.

Over the last nine months, though, the cost to secure food aid has increased fifty-five percent. Jennifer Parmelee says this is the biggest crisis the World Food Program has faced in its forty-five year history. She says creative projects like FreeRice are badly needed right now.

Physical acitvity

Common sense would tell us that physically active children may be more likely to become active and healthy adults.

In the United States, elementary and middle schools are advised to give students two and a half hours of physical activity a week. That is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association recommend. They say high schools should provide about four hours of physical activity each week.

Yet many schools across the country have reduced their physical education programs. Criticism of the cuts has led in some places to efforts to give students more time for exercise, not less. The future health of Americans may depend on it.

Just this week, a study reported that life expectancy has fallen or is no longer increasing in some parts of the United States. The situation is worst among poor people in the southern states, and especially women. Public health researchers say it is largely the result of increases in obesity, smoking and high blood pressure. They also blame differences in health services around the country.

malaria treatment

A Brazilian drug company and a nonprofit group have developed a new, simplified malaria treatment. Patients have to take only one tablet a day for three days for some ages, or two tablets a day for three days for other ages.

The medicine combines two existing malaria drugs, artesunate and mefloquine. This combination has been widely used in recent years in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

The Brazilian government will make the new treatment available throughout Latin America and Southeast Asia over this year and next. The fixed-dose drug will be offered to public agencies at a target price of two and a half dollars for the full adult treatment.

Bernard Pecoul is head of the nonprofit group, called the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. He says the new formulation is safe and fast-acting, and effective for children and adults.

The World Health Organization says artemisinin-based combination treatments are the best way to treat common malaria. Research shows that the simpler the treatment, the more likely people are to complete it. People increase the risk of drug resistance when they do not complete a full treatment.

eHold

eHold was founded in 1987 by Pere Petain and Claire Clemenceau, both of whom had previously worked in the research and development section of the hardware division of HAL, the multinational computer giant. They were interested in starting up a company that would satisfy the needs of home and small business users, focusing on imaging devices and sound devices. They began the company with less than $1 million in start-up capital, in a small rented space in the outskirts of Paris, and with two part-time employees.
The company grew quickly from these humble beginnings. By 1993 it employed more than four hundred people while producing a product line that included hand-held and table-top scanners, sound cards, digital mixing boards, midi keyboards, and laptop computers. At this time it went public; it is now traded on the Paris Stock Exchange.
By the late 90s eHold had changed its focus in order to play a pioneering role in a number of new and promising technologies: sub-laptop computers, including palm-sized and pocket-sized devices, web cams and other digital cameras, external storage media and reading devices for them, and infrared port systems and improved USB hubs to facilitate transfer of data from peripheral devices to base units.
eHold is the third largest producer of non-printer peripheral devices in the European Union. Today it has more than four thousand employees working at seventeen centers in six countries besides France. The annual turnover of the company is more than €7 billion ($6.3 billion).
Gross profits for the last fiscal year were up more than 25% compared to the previous year, while net income rose more than 30%, as a result of increased efficiency in distribution. It is expected that revenue will continue to rise in the coming years, as recent research projects begin to bear fruit in the sale of new products.

Quotation

I'm sure this operation will be viable. (feasible)

eHold was founded in 1987 by Pere.

Starting up a company requires people, start-up money, and ideas.

The annual turnover of the company is $7 millions.

gross profit / net income

fiscal

The company's revenue is expected to continue to rise in the next few years.

Report

This report is a summary of research carried out for the SPDB Tower property management team to:

1. Look into new power devices currently available.

2. Consider their suitability for SPDB building.

3. Recommend which devices should be invested.

4. Finding.

The oil prices have doubled last year. And my country is lack of oil. Investing some kinds of new energy devices is economical and available. There are two products on the current market:

1、 Toshiba’s building “Micro Nuclear" reactor. The dimensions are 6-meter by 3-meter. It would supply 200 kilowatt for 40 years.

2、 Setup a Dubai wind power station at the top of the building. This device has three 50-meter leafs. It would be 2000 kilowatt.

Although these products are expensive, they are top-of-the-range devices which will improve our company’s reputation and save money in a long turn.

We suggest our building investing the Dubai wind power station, It’s more safe and more powerful.

Business

It's never a good idea to go into business with friends.

It's been great doing business with you.

Let's get down to business! There are a lot of items on the agenda today.

Prepositions

You'll have to get used to working under pressure.

I'd like to call a meeting for tomorrow to discuss our new campaign.

We're still working on the Mac compatibility.

I work for a nice boss.

I insist on talking to your boss that I'd like to meet him tomorrow.

We're impressed with the work that you've down on this project.

Category

Technical Specifications:

pixels, resolution, 16-level grayscale display, Mac compatible, 16 MB RAM

Weight:

heavy, light, kilograms, ounces

Color:

fluorescent, blue, gold, silver, light, pale, dark, bright, crimson, turquoise, purple

Properties:

portable, water-resistant, shockproof, durable, rustproof

Material:

leather, fur, wood, plastic, metal, steel, gold, silver, chrome, aluminum, copper, bronze, tin

Shape:

round, square, triangular, oval, rectangular, cylindrical, spherical

Size:

huge, large, small, tiny, long, short, wide, narrow

Size

How much does it weight?

What does it hold?

What size/color/shape is it?

What are the dimensions?

How big/heavy/long/wide is it?

What's it made of?

What are its special features?

What's that in centimeters?

What's the timeframe for delivery of the new computers?

Is it water-resistant?

inch, foot, yard, mile

ounce, pound, stone

pint, gallon

Tax cuts

High food and fuel prices. Housing and credit problems. Job losses. Worries about a recession. No wonder the economy is a top issue for American voters.

Senator John McCain says tax cuts are needed for growth. The Republican presidential candidate set out his economic plan in a speech this week in Pennsylvania. He would push Congress to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent. And he would aim to lower the top rate of income tax for businesses, from thirty-five percent to twenty-five percent.

In all, Senator McCain proposes about two hundred billion dollars in new tax cuts for businesses and individuals. To help pay for them, he would cut earmarks, those special interest projects added to spending bills.He would also hold federal spending at most agencies to current levels and cut wasteful programs. But many experts say it is unlikely these cuts would equal the cost of the tax cuts.

The campaigns of Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton dismissed the McCain plan as a continuation of George Bush's policies. Both Democrats say they are against tax cuts for the wealthy. They propose moderate tax cuts for the middle class.

order

right-hand woman

After hearing your preliminary proposal,..

adapted to your specifications

illustration of the model

They are not draw to scale.

gray scale, resolution, pixels,

portable

what's the final dimensions.

ounce

feature

It won't be functional until you registered it.

water-resistant, shock proof

This new project does not justify spending that amount of money. I'm so sorry, but I am not going to approve this proposal.

I know you are under pressure, but that doesn't justify your horrible temper.

quoted

is compatible with every operating system

work out their differences and come to an agreement

work out a cheaper way

it can be hooked on a modem as peripheral

What's the timeframe for delivery of the first units?

elevated oil prices

American motorists appear to grow more dismayed every time they go to a gasoline station. The average price for a gallon of fuel rose nearly six cents in the past week alone, and is more than 50 cents higher than a year ago.

While consumers complain, others are pointing fingers.

For Ray Carbone, who heads the New York-based energy trading firm Paramount Options, the issue boils down to three words: supply and demand. He notes that the world is consuming more fossil fuel each day, led by large, rapidly developing countries like China and India, at a time when global oil production is stagnant.

"The demand numbers coming out of Asia, although slower than a year or two ago, have certainly put into the fore that the U.S. is not the big, big driver in demand that it used to be, And that seems to be what people are having trouble coming to grips with, I think."

Despite rising oil consumption, the world's largest oil cartel, OPEC, has resisted calls to boost production. But OPEC officials are offering no apologies, and scoff at the theory that inadequate supply to meet rising demand lies at the heart of today's elevated oil prices.

Lack Of Food

Food inflation has led to growing protests in developing countries. In Haiti, the government fell Saturday after riots in which several people died.

Some rice-producing countries have cut exports to protect their own supplies. World Bank President Robert Zoellick said last week that rice prices have risen around seventy-five percent in just two months, to near historical levels. Wheat prices have risen one hundred twenty percent in the past year.

Farmers are planting more wheat and rice. But population growth is raising demand. So is the use of food crops to produce biofuels. At the same time, record oil prices have meant higher costs for petroleum-based fertilizers and for energy and transportation.

Food also costs more because more people are eating meat and dairy products in growing economies like India and China. More grain is going to feed cattle. Weather has also pushed up prices. For example, Australia, a major wheat exporter, faces a drought.

High food prices hit the poor the hardest. Agricultural economist Christopher Barrett at Cornell University says many poor farmers use more of their crops than they sell. He says more investment is needed in agricultural research.

learn math

A committee has released its final report on ways to improve math education for American students. President Bush created the National Mathematics Advisory Panel two years ago.

The panel examined thousands of reports, along with survey results from more than seven hundred algebra teachers. Yet the report, released last month, is short on detailed advice. It says existing research does not show just what knowledge or skills are needed for effective math teaching. The solution? More research.

The report does say basic math skills must be taught completely in the early years of school. Children should be able to add and subtract in the third grade. By the end of fifth grade, they should be able to multiply and divide. Teachers should avoid revisiting skills year after year. And, the experts say, it is wrong to think children are "too young" or "not ready" to learn certain content at certain ages.

The report says a major goal for kindergarten through eighth grade should be understanding fractions. These skills are needed for algebra. Yet, the report says, at the present time they seem to be severely underdeveloped in American students.

Airport

departure lounge

check-in desk

security check

duty-free shopping

gate

ground stuff

passport control

baggage carousel

customs hall

arrivals hall

Belly fat

Being overweight can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes and heart attacks. But now there may be another reason to lose the fat, especially around the middle of the body. A recent study suggested that people in their forties with belly fat have an increased risk of dementia later in life.

Dementia is the name for a group of brain disorders that affect memory, behavior, learning and language. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause. Dementia rarely appears before the age of sixty. The new study added to growing evidence that people with large stomachs can face greater health risks than others who are overweight.

The study involved more than six thousand northern California members of Kaiser Permanente, a health care organization. Researchers looked at the patients' medical records from between nineteen sixty-four and nineteen seventy-three. The people were in their early to mid-forties at the time. They were all part of a long-term health study that included measurements of belly fat.

The researchers compared the records with those from when the patients were in their seventies. By that time, almost one out of six of them had dementia. The researchers found that dementia was more common in those with wider bellies.

Investment

fluctuate - stabilize

soar - plunge

gamble = speculate

safe bet - high risk

inflation, stagflation

commodity, currency, stock, share

future = derivative

Business training for women

Goldman Sachs Group, the international investment banking company, has launched a new program to provide ten thousand poor women with business education. The program, called 10,000 Women, will support partnerships between American and European universities and business schools in mostly developing countries. Partners will work together to establish or expand education programs lasting from five weeks to six months. Several partnerships may also offer full college degrees in business.

The 10,000 Women program hopes to expand into the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and throughout Africa. Sixteen schools have agreed to take part in the program so far. They include Columbia, Harvard and Stanford Universities in the United States. Other schools are in India, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

The Pan-African University in Lagos, Nigeria is also a partner. Peter Bamkoleh heads that university's Enterprise Development Services. He says about fifty women will receive training at the school every year. The women will take classes several times a week, then use what they have learned.

50% ungraduated

A new report says only about half of all students in the main school systems of America's largest cities finish high school. The report notes higher rates of graduation – more than seventy percent -- in areas surrounding the cities.

The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center prepared the report.

Researchers studied high school graduation rates from the two thousand three, two thousand four school year. They also identified the nation's fifty largest cities. The largest, New York City, had a population of more than eight million. The smallest city was Wichita, Kansas. It had about three hundred sixty thousand people.

Researchers used a system of measurement called the cumulative promotion index to find graduation rates. School officials in many of the cities studied say the resulting numbers were too low. That is because different areas use different methods to find graduation rates. Critics say many methods do not give a true picture of the number of students who leave high school before finishing.

Climate change

Next Monday is World Health Day, observed by the World Health Organization. The objective chosen for this year is to get people involved in the campaign to protect against the health effects of climate change.

The World Health Organization is a United Nations agency. The W.H.O. says there is already evidence of health problems related to climate change. It says more people are dying from extreme heat, and that diseases spread by insects are also on the rise. And it says climate change has increased the risk of natural disasters, especially severe dry weather, wildfires, major storms and floods.

Disasters like these can kill directly or indirectly. People can die or get sick from food shortages or conditions like the spread of disease. Several years ago, the W.H.O. blamed climate change for two percent of diarrhea cases worldwide in the year two thousand.

Last month, researchers in Canada predicted that temperature increases there will spread insects like ticks and mosquitoes farther north. These insects can carry disease.

The scientists also predict that climate change will lead in Canada to an increase in outbreaks of diseases that can be carried in water and food. They note that flooding, heavy rains and warmer temperatures are linked to the spread of bacteria, viruses and other organisms. This is true even in the presence of water treatment systems, they say.

The report by scientists at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

World Health Day marks the establishment of the World Health Organization on April seventh, nineteen forty-eight. One goal this year is to call for local and international partnerships that will seek to improve health through efforts to stabilize climate change. The W.H.O. says it aims to put public health at the center of U.N. efforts on climate change.

A major message of this World Health Day is that the health of poor people will be hurt the most. The W.H.O. says different areas of the world will experience different problems from climate change. But it says countries with high levels of poverty and underdevelopment will be the least prepared to deal with them.

charting 40

I can't see you tomorrow morning ,because I'm going to a meeting.(* I'll go)

Had the TV mended.

Look, please don't go on about it; it really isn't that interesting.(*with)

I'm really shouldn't bother you, you're so busy.(*wouldn't)

At the bottom of the stairs.

I'm cooking you something.

Here you are! I've been looking for you.

When you were on the phone, the mailman brought the letter.

There is no point in staying here.

But I'm at the point of finishing it now.

excursion

settler/inhabitant/immigrant

I want to go to Malta, but my wife would rather go to Spain.

Please put me through to Tracy Lee.(?)

charting 39

How do you find it?
It's not the greatest hotel in the world.

I hope everything's OK as far as your accommodation goes.
I'm staying at the Windsor hotel. Do you know it?

Do I need to buy a ticket then?

And where do you suggest we meet tomorrow?
I reckon that Kennedy Plaza would be the best place.

How will I recognize you?
I'll be wearing a black jacket.

I've enjoyed meeting you too, Bill. So long for now.
Nice to meet you. I hope we meet again.

Really?I'd never have guessed.

Ah, here you are, at least.
Look, I'm so sorry I'm late, I had to wait ages for the bus.

So what about meeting again some time,then?
I'll be in touch, OK?

Give you a bad impressing of Washton hotel.

Tom caught cold. He isn't likely to come to the party.

Are you intending to leave school?

This is strictly between me and Jane; It doesn't concern you.
As far as I concerned, you can do what you like.

I've never had any problems with my mother-in-low; we get along very well together.

What's your reason for applying for this post?

There is not much demand for large, uneconomical cars these days.

Yes, Mr Brown and I have met on a number of occasions.

You and John can come in our car; we've got room.

I can't see any point at all in answering all these stupid questions, can you?

I'm working for a IT firm.

I'm hungry; I feel like eating something.

AIDS in Asia

A new study says Asia must do more to prevent AIDS, or the number of people infected with H.I.V. could double by two thousand twenty. Today about five million people in Asia are living with the virus that causes AIDS.

An estimated three hundred thousand people died of H.I.V.-related diseases in Asia last year. At current rates, that number could rise to almost five hundred thousand.The United Nations program on H.I.V./AIDS requested the study, led by Indian economist Chakravarthi Rangarajan.

The report says three main groups are driving the spread of AIDS in Asia. One group is sex workers and the men who use them. Another is injection drug users who share needles. And the third group are men who have unprotected sex with other men.

Researchers estimate that as many as ten million women in Asia sell sex. At least seventy-five million men buy on a regular basis. In many Asian countries, these men, and their female partners, represent the largest group of people living with H.I.V. The study found that AIDS is the most likely cause of death and lost work days for people in Asia between the ages of fifteen and forty-four.

The report says prevention programs can be effective if governments invest at least thirty cents a year per person.For more than twenty years, scientists have been trying to develop a vaccine to prevent H.I.V. infection. The latest failures came last September. Researchers halted two studies of an experimental AIDS vaccine from the drug company Merck.

Early results showed that the vaccine not only failed to protect, it appeared to put some people at higher risk of infection.

Last Tuesday, several hundred researchers and activists met in Bethesda, Maryland, for a Summit on H.I.V. Vaccine Research and Development. They debated what to do now.Many of the scientists agreed that experimental vaccines should continue to be tested on humans. But many said there should be less dependence on human trials.

Anthony Fauci is head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which called the meeting. He and others said there should be more tests on animals, to add to discoveries from human studies.

There also were calls for a return to more basic science, first identifying and answering major scientific questions. But Doctor Fauci said the search for an AIDS vaccine will not stop.

Housing bubble burst

This week, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes in the United States increased almost three percent in February. It was the first increase since last July.

But fueling that increase was a drop in prices. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of twenty major markets showed that home prices fell almost two and a half percent in January. Prices were down almost eleven percent from a year before.

And still another report this week showed that sales of new single-family houses fell in February. Sales were down almost two percent from January, to a thirteen-year low. The Commerce Department estimated there was a ten-month supply of newly built houses waiting to be sold.

Experts say prices in many markets will have to fall further before more people are willing or able to buy. Prices went up and up in recent years, before the housing bubble burst. Many buyers now struggling to make payments took out loans that were too big. They thought prices would keep rising and they could sell their home for a nice profit.

Rising values meant that people could also take out home equity loans and lines of credit. They used their home as a cash machine by borrowing against its value.

Now, as those values fall, some people owe more than their home's worth. Many buyers, often with risky credit histories, took out adjustable-rate mortgages, which started out low but later reset to higher rates.

About two percent of all home loans are in foreclosure. Of course, that means ninety-eight percent of homes are not being reclaimed by lenders. Still, this is the highest rate since the Mortgage Bankers Association began keeping records in nineteen seventy-nine.

The weak housing market is largely responsible for an economic crisis that is leading to new government steps in the financial system.Last week, the Federal Reserve pushed through a deal for J.P. Morgan Chase to buy Bear Stearns for two dollars a share. Bear, the nation's fifth-largest investment bank, was near collapse after big losses on its mortgage-backed securities. To help make the deal, the Fed agreed to take responsibility for up to thirty billion dollars in those securities.

But J.P. Morgan faced a rebellion by Bear shareholders, so this week it increased its offer to ten dollars a share. It also agreed to take responsibility for one billion dollars of Bear's hard-to-sell securities.

supply and demand

The Bear’s shareholders are bound to be crying day and night. Last year it’s worth 170 dollars apiece. Even the day before the collapse was claimed, it’s worth 40 dollars apiece. And, the book value of Bear Stearns is still more than 80 dollars a share! But why J.P. Morgan could buy Bear on such an incredible price? The result is ‘liquidity’. For instance, you have 1kg gold in knapsack, it’s great. But unfortunately you’re in desert. There is no way you can find to exchange the gold for your needs. The gold will be the most illiquid assets when you crawl on the desert, it’s useless. You also can explain it under ‘supply and demand’ theory.

rewards

Some of American schools pay teachers more if their students improve on tests. Now there is a growing movement to pay the students in some cases even just for coming to class. Students at one school in New Maxico can earn upto 300 dollars a year for good attendance. A program in New York city pays upto 500 dollars for good attendance and high test scores. In Baltimore, Maryland, high scores on state education tests can be worth more than 100 dollars. And New Jersey school system plans to pay students 50 dollars per week to attend after school tutoring program. Schools that pay students can be found in more than 1/4 of the 50 states. Other schools pay students with foods or other rewords. Robert Schaefer is public education director for the National Center for Fair and Open testing and activist group. He says paying may improve performence in short turn, but students develop false expectations for the future. He sees a lack of long turn planning in these programs, because the pressure on schools to raise test scores.

Public schools need to show improvement under the education reform law signed by President Bush six years ago. Low-performing schools may lose their federal money; teachers and administrators may lose their jobs. Often these schools are in poor neighborhoods where getting students to go to school can be a continual problem.

Critics say paying students sends a message that money is the only valuable reward. But some students say it makes school more exciting. And some teachers have reported getting more requests for extra help.

In two thousand four, the city schools in Coshocton, Ohio, launched a program. They wanted to see if paying elementary school students as much as one hundred dollars would help in passing state exams.

Now, Eric Bettinger of Case Western Reserve University has reported mixed results. Math scores increased, but only while students were able to get paid. And there was no evidence of higher scores in reading, social studies and science. Officials will decide later this year whether to continue the program. Yet adults get paid for their work. And if teachers can be rewarded for their students' work, then why not the students themselves? This is what some people say.

about parties

Andy is working for a technical department. So his social relationship is simple. Except his best friends, no one writes his name on the 'must invite' list. Andy is friendly and has sense of humor. But he doesn't focus on maintaining the relationship. So he might forget anyone's name. This problem has confused him for several years.

HIV

South Africa has the highest number of HIV cases of any country in the world. An estimated 5 and a half million people are infected with the virus that causes ADIS. 55% of them are women. Last May, the cabinet of president Thabo Mbeki approved 5 years plan to guide efforts against ADIS in South Africa. For the plan to succeed, officals agreed the nation had to deel with the poverty, violence and discrimination facing women. Now a report from Amnesty international, looks at the struggles of poor rural women living with HIV in South Africa. The humen rights group says, the women face oppression and a human right abuses. And it says other woman who feel socially and ecnomicly weak, all at higher risk of becoming infected with HIV.

Amnesty researcher Marry Rayner says rural women have little control their relationship with men. Amnesty gathered statements from 37 women in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal provinces. They said that sometimes when they tried to ask their sexual partners to use protection, they might exprense verbal aggression or violence. The report says many rural women with HIV do not even have enough money to travel to health centers for treatment. They might not have enough money for food. Unemployment is a major problem. Amnesty International released this report in London last week. Also in London Scottish singer Anne Lennox promoted her new charity single called sing . The aim is to raise money for the treatment action Campaign,an HIV AIDS orgnization in South Africa.

sing are sister sing, let your voice be heard, what won't kill you make you strong, sings are sister sing.....

schistosomiasis

Scientists think there's a step closer to a new drug to treat schistosomiasis. More then 200 million people suffer from this parasitic worm disease. Most live in developing nations in tropical climates. About 10% victims become seriously disabled from internal bleeding, iron loss, organ damage or other effects. A team in the United States has found that chemical compounds known as oxadiazoles can target an enzyme needed for the survival of schistosomiasis. This is a group of flatworms cause schistosomiasis. The Scientists tested oxadiazoles on laboratory mice. They found that one compound killed parasite at every level of development from larva to adult. The study also shows that compound active against all 3 major species of Schistosoma worms that infect humans. the national Institutes of health supported research. Scientists for Illinois State University and Chemical Genomics center at N.I.H reported their findings in the journal Nature Medicine. Biology professor David Williams led the research, he says the Schistosoma parasite needs oxygen to servive.

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