1. Are all discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?（青霉素的发现，居里夫人）
2. Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way?（甘地不结盟运动与绝食，博尔顿被允许由400赛跑转为100米赛跑）
3. Is it necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negative consequences for other people?（诺贝尔发明炸药的过程曾经误炸家人，）
4. Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good?(海伦凯勒，莎士比亚早期的底层生活对于其后来作品中的语言生动性及人物取材多样性的积极影响)
5. Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we can make?
6. Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the complete truth?（欧亨利的小说“最后一片树叶”，）
7. Does the success of a community—whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, or any other group—depend upon people’s willingness to limit their personal interests?（中国乒乓球队布置战术，nba的波士顿凯尔特人队的三巨头为了总冠军而限制个人数据）
8. Does the truth change depending on how people look at things?（）
9. Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?（比尔盖茨和保罗艾伦，）
10. Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?（达尔文,马丁路德.金,马丁路德）
11. Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?()
12. Can deception—pretending that something is true when it is not—sometimes have good results?(同题目6)
13. Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well?（同题目2，特丽莎修女）
14. Is it better to change one’s attitude than to change one’s circumstances?（欧亨利的“最后一片树叶”，海伦凯勒，弥尔顿的“失乐园”，维瓦尔第的“四季”）
15. Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general?（马丁路德.金，林肯在南北战争中的决定）
16. Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?（剩女的大量出现因为对于物质的不断索取，道德风气的败坏:挟尸要价，毒奶粉导致婴儿性早熟）
17. Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?（）
18. Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right and wrong, or can we benefit from following the crowd?（达尔文,
伽利略,布鲁诺，马丁.路德）
19. Do circumstances determine whether or not we should we should tell the truth?（最后一片叶子的小说，伽利略对于教廷的妥协对比布鲁诺被烧死的例子）
20. Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people create for themselves?（爱迪生，莎士比亚依靠个人奋斗从贫穷走向知名）
21. Can people ever be truly original?（）
22. Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especially good at and developing that attribute above all else?（博尔顿，）
23. Should we admire heroes but not celebrities?（用撒尿浇灭罗马城大火的小孩，古希腊的长跑健将马拉松）
24. Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use ideas of others?（牛顿万有引力定律借鉴了他人观点，爱迪生改造电影过程中借鉴了Lumiere兄弟最开始的简陋设备，使只能被一个人观看的电影得以投放到大银幕）
25. Is the effort involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is not achieved?
26. Should people always prefer new things, ideas, or values to those of the past?（达尔文,美国三权分立制度）
27. Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or
groups with which they have something in common?（）
28. Are there benefits to be gained from avoiding the use of modern technology, even when using it would make life easier?（用步行或者地铁的方式来减少汽车的使用率，塑料袋的减少使用）
29. Do people place too much emphasis on winning?（特雷萨修女，）
30. Are people’s actions motivated primarily by a desire for power over others?（爱因斯坦拒绝以色列总统的职位而专心研究科学，特雷萨修女拒绝被调回欧洲天主教总部去享受更好的生活而专心留在印度）
31. Do incidents from the past continue to influence the present?（林肯幼年时观察到黑奴被虐的经历影响到后来对黑人人权的捍卫，）
32. Is compromise always the best way to resolve a conflict?（同意：甘地的非暴力不合作运动化解了印度不同的宗教矛盾，不同意：马丁路德.金，林肯拒绝内战中的国家分裂）
33. Are decisions made quickly just as good as decisions made slowly and carefully?（）
34. Can a group of people function effectively without some being in charge?（华盛顿在美国独立战争期间出头当家把美国从战争失败中拯救出来）
35. Do actions, not words, reveal a person or a group’s true attitudes and intention?（日本表面亲美实则偷袭珍珠港，）
36. Does planning interfere with creativity?
37. Do highly accomplished people achieve more than others mainly because they expect more of themselves?
38. Should people change their decisions when circumstances change, or is it best for them to stick with their original decisions?
39. Is striving to achieve a goal always the best course of action, or should people give up if they are not making progress?
40. Should we pay more attention to people who are older and more experienced than we are?
41. Should people let their feelings guide them when they make important decisions?
42. Has today’s abundance of information only made it more difficult for us to understand the world around us?
43. Are people best defined by what they do?
44. Is the way something seems to be not always the same as it actually is?
45. Are bad choices and good choices equally likely to have negative consequences?
46. Do people learn who they are only when they are forced to
action?
47. Are people’s lives the result of the choices they make?
48. Do closed doors make us creative?(obstacles)
49. Do people have to be highly competitive in order to succeed?
50. Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today?
51. Is there always another explanation or another point of view?
52. Is deception ever justified?
53. Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame, or power?
54. Can success be disastrous?
55. Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves?
56. Is the world changing for the better?
57. Do you think that ease does not challenge us and that we need adversity to help us discover who we are?
58. Should heroes be defined as people who say what they think when we ourselves lack the courage to say it?
SAT-ESSAY素材
1
Kenyan environmentalist and human rights campaigner Wangari Maathai has won the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the first African woman to be awarded the peace prize since it was created in 1901.
A surprised Mrs Maathai broke the news to reporters minutes before the official announcement.
The prize committee says Mrs Maathai, Kenya's Deputy Environment Minister(助理环境部长), is an example for all Africans fighting for democracy and peace.
The delighted 64-year-old professor said the award was completely unexpected.
"This is extremely encouraging to the people of Africa and the African woman," she told the BBC.
"It is a recognition of the many efforts of African women, who continue to struggle despite all the problems they face."
In the late 1970s, Mrs Maathai led a campaign called the Green Belt Movement to plant tens of millions of trees across Africa to slow deforestation(采伐森林) .
The movement grew to include projects to preserve biodiversity, educate people about their environment and promote the rights of women and girls.
Known as "The Tree Woman" in Kenya, Mrs Maathai celebrated by planting a Nandi flame tree(凤凰木) in her home town of Nyeri, in the shadow of Mount Kenya.
She said she was delighted that the vital role of the environment had been recognised.
"The environment is very important in the aspects of peace because when we destroy our resources and our resources become scarce, we fight over that".
"I am working to make sure we don't only protect the environment, we also improve governance," she added.
The committee says she has combined science with social engagement and politics, and has worked both locally and internationally.
The professor was the 12th woman peace laureate since the first award was first made in 1901.
A spokesman for the Kenyan government said his country was honoured.
"This is a great moment in Kenyan history. To us this shows that what Wangari Maathai has been doing here has been recognised," Alfred Mutua said.
"We're very proud of her and she deserves all the credit."
Mrs Maathai beat a record 194 nominations, including former chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix and the head of the UN energy watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, to win the prize.
Mrs Maathai is the second woman in a row to be awarded the peace prize, which last year went to Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi for her work for the rights of women and children in Iran.
The award, which includes 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.3m) is awarded in Oslo on 10 December each year.
2
Reeve was real-life 'Superman'
Although he will always be remembered for portraying "Superman," the greatest role of actor Christopher Reeve's life was as a champion of sufferers of spinal cord injuries(脊椎损伤患者中的斗士) and an advocate of stem cell research(干细胞研究).
Unlike the man of steel, he wasn't faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and he couldn't leap tall buildings in a single bound.
But the courage and determination Reeve displayed in trying to overcome his paralysis from a 1995 horse-riding accident far surpassed any of the feats of the comic book hero(连环画英雄).
"He became a real-life Superman. His heroism, his courage was extraordinary," Colin Blakemore, the chief executive of Britain's Medical Research Council(英国医学研究学会主任) said.
"Like many people who suffer some terrible injury, Christopher Reeve was reinvented(彻底改变) by that experience and brought the kind of energy and enthusiasm that made him successful as a film star to an entirely different issue, with huge effect."
Reeve, 52, died on October 10 of heart failure(心脏功能衰竭) after having treatment for an infected pressure wound(伤口严重感染) without realizing his dream of walking again.
But in the nine years since his accident, he made personal progress to regain some feeling(重新获得了人们的尊敬和欣赏), established the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, a non-profit research organization, and used his fame to raise millions of dollars for research into spinal cord injuries.
He also provided hope and inspiration to other patients and lobbied for scientists to be allowed to conduct stem cell research in the hopes of eventually curing paralysis and other illnesses such as diabetes and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease(糖尿病、阿兹海默症和巴金森氏症).
"He has been our champion. If you think of spinal injuries you automatically conjure up(想起、回忆) a picture of Christopher Reeve," said Paul Smith, executive director of the Spinal Injuries Association in England.
It is because of Reeve that spinal cord injuries and stem cell research are so widely discussed, according to Smith. The fact that it happened to Reeve showed it can affect anyone, even Superman.
Reeve did not live long enough to see whether stem cell research could help restore movement to the paralyzed. The research is still in its early days and no one knows what advances it may bring.
3
Adventurer Fossett launches solo balloon trip
The giant high-altitude balloon, bathed in the desert's golden morning light, drifted slowly into the sky above Northam, a small mining town 100 km (62 miles) east of Perth, just after 7.00 a.m. (2300 GMT).
Fossett had delayed inflating the aircraft for six and a half hours due to unfavourable winds, but with time running out before the arrival of the morning's hot thermals, he gave the order to fill the balloon with helium for a dawn launch.
Fossett waved to around 100 townsfolk as he entered the capsule for an eastward circumnavigation that he expects will take 15 days.
"I am a bit nervous about the first night," Fossett said before take-off.
"On the first night I will find out if everything works, if there are any leaks in the balloon, if there are any failures in communications and if the all-important heating works," he said.
The millionaire former stockbroker has made a series of failed attempts to fly solo in a balloon around the world.
The last attempt to inflate the giant balloon for a launch on June 17
from the Australian gold mining town of Kalgoorlie ended in disaster when a freak wind tore it apart.
Fossett's fourth solo bid ended in near disaster in 1998, when a thunderstorm off Australia's northeastern coast shredded his canopy and sent him plummeting 29,000 feet (9,000 metres) into the Coral Sea. He was unhurt.
This year Fossett, 57, decided to launch in western Australia, some 600 km (400 miles) from the Indian Ocean, to have a better chance of avoiding thunderstorms in the South Pacific and gain time to detect problems while still over land.
4
Laughing Matter-Woman Resorts to Comedy to Confront the Trauma of Cancer
"In a flash moment, I went from being a happy expectant mother, to being someone afraid for her life," she told reporters.
Minutes after doctors delivered Nate by emergency C-section, Southcott went into surgery. The diagnosis was ovarian cancer.
Suddenly tears and chemotherapy overtook her life. But the lowest moment came after she lost all her hair and a free wig arrived.
She tried it on as her older son Kyler watched.
"I thought I can cry about this bad wig and he'll remember it, or I can laugh about it and he will remember that," Southcott said.
That was when she started laughing a lot, and found it was the perfect medicine.
"I spent a lot time looking for anything humor based for cancer patients," she said. "And I'll tell you what: There isn't much out there."
Using herself as a bald model, Bonnie started her own line of greeting cards and a calendar. Each pose pokes fun at the tribulations of chemo.
"We desperately need to laugh," she said. "It's vital to our joy."
Even though Southcott's ovarian cancer is in remission, the diagnosis
is no laughing matter - a 25-percent chance she will live for another two-years.
She plans to appreciate every moment of motherhood. And she plans to laugh.
5
Spacewoman Stuck in Orbit with Too Much Shrimp
Peggy Whitson, the American astronaut spending her 130th day in space, said on Sunday that she was happy in orbit, but maybe she brought along too much shrimp.
"Sometimes, when you come to space, your tastes change. One of my favorite foods on the ground is shrimp, and up here I can't stand it," said Whitson, the science officer on the International Space Station .
A quick check of the station's manifest showed that Whitson had planned more than 40 shrimp meals for her stay.
"The guys like it because they get all my shrimp," she said, referring to her two Russian crewmates, Valery Korzun and Sergei Treshcvev.
The three members of the space station's Expedition Five team held a joint news conference with the six astronauts from the space shuttle Atlantis on Sunday.
"I'm having a great time up here. It's fun to live here and do the science," said Whitson, a biochemist conducting and monitoring dozens of studies on the station.
When someone asked about her plans for Christmas, Whitson said "It's hard to imagine being back home because I guess I feel like this is my home right now. I don't have my husband, but other than that, this is my home."
Whitson, due to return to Earth with Korzun and Treschev aboard a U.S. shuttle in November, said some changes in space take more getting used to than others.
Salsa can usually overcome space blandness. "We could probably eat paper if we had it with salsa," she said.
But calluses are another matter. In weightlessness, she never actually
stands, but does sway about with her feet in foot restraints.
"It was really interesting to me to lose the calluses from the bottom of your feet and to get calluses on the top of your feet after being up here for a few months," she said.
6
'Professor Popsicle' Proves Cold No Barrier
During a cold stretch that had many Canadians scurrying indoors, a researcher known as "Professor Popsicle" has found humans can successfully spend days on end in the bitter cold.
Gordon Giesbrecht has spent the past 26 days skiing the isolated, frozen expanse of Lake Winnipeg as part of his research for the University of Manitoba on how the body copes with the cold.
Temperatures averaged 15 degrees below zero and dipped as low as 31 below during his 240-mile trek on cross-country skis.
"Now when I'm outside and it's -25 C, it's not really a big problem," he told reporters by satellite phone from his small tent on the world's tenth largest lake.
"This has been more a test of just dealing with the cold and living with it, and getting your clothing and your actions coordinated so that you don't end up getting frostbite or anything," explained Giesbrecht.
Soft, deep snow made for some tough slogging with his backpack and sled carrying his food and gear. On two mornings, Giesbrecht emerged from his tent to find the wind so fierce that his tent was almost flat.
"The most vulnerable time of the day is when you are trying to set up your tent, and I was not about to take that chance," he wrote on a Web site updated by his family.
Other than numb fingertips, which will likely take a month to return to normal, Giesbrecht said he feels fine.
7
The flying Frenchman set to smash round the world record
They are calling him the Bob Beamon of sailing. And just like Beamon,
who astonished the world with his record-breaking long-jump in 1968, the French sailor Francis Joyon is rewriting the nautical record books in an unprecedented fashion.
Joyon, 47, is now in the final stages of an incredible voyage and on course to smash the existing non-stop solo round-the-world record by 20 days. Once he crosses the finish line off the Channel port of Brest on the morning of February 3, he will have completed one of the greatest feats of single-handed sailing in history.
Just like Beamon, whose leap at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 broke the world record by an almost unbelievable 21in - which stood unbeaten until 1991 - Joyon's expected time of 73 days for the 26,000-mile global course will have far exceeded what most thought possible for a solo sailor.
Joyon set sail in November on an adventure some predicted would end in disaster. The father of four from La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany was undertaking the voyage in the 90ft trimaran IDEC, a boat of tremendous power with a huge rotating mast that had been built to be raced by a crew of up to ten.
Many were worried that Joyon would end up exhausted and IDEC would simply flip over as she ran out of control in the Southern Ocean.
Others predicted that Joyon would be unable to handle IDEC's enormous sails or that the boat could lose her mast in the rough conditions that any round-the-world sailor inevitably would face.
There were also all the usual dangers - collision with debris in the water, with ice around Antarctica or the possibility that Joyon would collide with a ship while sleeping.
When he set off, the solo record stood at 93 days. Although Joyon was sailing a much faster boat than the previous record-holder, most saw little chance of him getting even close to 80 days.
Joyon had other ideas and over the past 71 days he has enjoyed good fortune with the weather, rarely running out of wind. He has, however, also displayed extraordinary stamina, determination and seamanship in keeping IDEC running close to her full potential.
8
Ronaldo: King of the World
Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima was born on 22 September 1976 in a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Like most of his childhood friends, Ronaldo began his soccer career playing barefoot in the streets of his neighborhood. At the age of 14, he joined SCristovo soccer club and only two years later became the star of Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte scoring a total of 58 goals in 60 matches and earning himself a reputation for his explosive pace and outstanding finishing skills. His goal-scoring record and unusual agility led him to be included in the Brazilian World Cup winning team the following year. After the World Cup, many top European football clubs were trying to sign him. Many people, including Brazilian football legend Pelé, referred to him as the most promising footballer of his generation.
Since his transfer to Dutch team PSV Eindhoven, Ronaldo s biography is one of success after success. Two Copa América s, a UEFA Cup, a Dutch Cup, a Spanish League Cup, and two awards as best player in the world, all in the space of two years, are some of Ronaldo s impressive achievements. On arrival to Inter-Milan in 1997, Ronaldo became the idol of the local fans who refer to him as “il Fenomeno.”
Since the 98 World Cup he has suffered two serious knee injuries that have severely limited his appearances. Just when people began to wonder whether Ronaldo would be able to continue with his football career, he proved to the world that he still could play. In the World Cup held in Korea and Japan, the magical striker won the Golden Shoe award and tied Pelé's Brazilian record for career World Cup goals with
12. He helped Brazil capture its fifth World Cup championship on June 30 with a 2-0 win over Germany. It was the third time that Ronaldo has ever played in the World Cup.
9
Hewitt: I Came, I Saw, I Conquered
Lleyton Hewitt was born in Adelaide, Australia on 24 February, 1981. His mother is a former champion netballer, his father is a league footballer, and his sister is already ranked number one in Australia for her age in tennis. She has achieved already more in tennis than Lleyton had at the same age.
The Hewitt's have a grass court at their home. This was where young Lleyton began his tennis career. When Lleyton showed an unusual ability for a 4-year-old and he was hitting balls consistently over the net, his parents decided it was time to find him a coach.
“Rather than get into bad habits, it was best he learnt how to hit the ball correctly.” says his father. Two years later, they got Peter Smith as his coach.
At the age of five, when most children that age are playing hide and seek or getting into all sorts of trouble, Lleyton and his family would make the trip to Melbourne for the Australian Open. Lleyton would sit for up to 12 hours a day watching players practise.
Lleyton's career as a tennis player was planned by his parents who tried their best to keep him away from football. Lleyton's parents thought it was too risky to play football since he might get hurt. Had Lleyton played football, it is quite possible he may have ended up playing for his favorite team—the Adelaide Crows. As his mother says, “I guess we've guided him into things we felt good for him before he did.”
By the time Lleyton was eight, he was winning “under-10 games” and always won a year ahead of his age. A professional career was looking very promising. Lleyton officially turned pro in 1997.
10
￡400,000 advance for student's first novel
An 18-year-old author has received a ￡400,000 advance for her debut novel, one of the biggest deals for a young author in British publishing history.
Helen Oyeyemi, a first-year student at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, is now in the top bracket of British authors and shares an accountant with J. K. Rowling and Zadie Smith.
Ms Oyeyemi struck a two-book deal with Bloomsbury after the publisher was bowled over by her novel The Icarus Girl. The story concerns Jessamy, an eight-year-old genius who, while on a visit to relatives in Nigeria, meets Tilly Tilly, a friend whom only she can see.
Their relationship is friendly at first but becomes darker as it appears that Tilly Tilly is a ghost who wants Jessamy's body for her own.
In an interview, the Nigerian-born author said that she was astonished at the speed with which she was snapped up. "I had to sign the contract between my exams. It was on the day of my theology A level," she said.
Ms Oyeyemi, whose father is a teacher and whose mother is training to become a driver for London Underground, began writing at the age of seven.
"I rewrote Little Women so that Laurie married Jo because I thought that was a better ending."
She began writing The Icarus Girl last year when she was in the sixth form of Notre Dame School. Her agent, Robin Wade, showed the book to Alexandra Pringle, editor-in-chief at Bloomsbury, who is also Donna Tartt's editor. "The prose sings immediately right from the first page," Ms Pringle said.
Ms Oyeyemi does not believe that she will become a full-time writer, however. "I don't think that many people can do that these days," she said. "I would quite like to be a literary agent."
11
101-year-old man parachutes into record book
A 101-year-old man is believed to be the world's oldest skydiver after he accepted a dare from friends and jumped out of an airplane at nearly 10,000 feet.
Frank Moody, from Holloways Beach on Australia's northeastern coast, beat the record set by a 94-year-old Norwegian in 1999, said Amanda Pilkington, from Skydive Cairns, which organized the jump.
On the morning of June 16, Moody jumped in tandem with an experienced skydiver from more than 9,900 feet, she said.
"He's an absolute legend. It was a bit of a drunken dare by some of his mates at the local Holloways Beach football club. He said: 'Sure, I'll go jump out of an airplane,'" Pilkington quoted him as saying, adding she nearly fell off her chair when she first heard Moody go for the record.
"We decided to attempt to beat the record as well as giving Frank an awesome experience and one that he'll remember for the rest of his life. He's very switched-on and very witty and charming. It's an absolute pleasure to have done this for him," she said.
Pilkington said the club would send video of the jump and other details to the Guinness Book of Records head office in London and expects
confirmation of the record shortly.
Moody went down to the football club with his son John after the jump to have a Guinness beer to celebrate and collect on bets place by his friends.
"He's been given his footage and photographs so he's got proof and evidence that he's done it," Pilkington said.
12
Briton who saved Jews remembered
A British agent who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis is being remembered with a plaque being placed outside the British embassy in Berlin.
Frank Foley was based in Berlin in the 1930s, working as a passport control officer, and using his position to provide papers for Jewish people.
It is believed Mr Foley saved tens of thousands of lives, even hiding people in his own home.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described him as "a true British hero".
Eyewitnesses recall Mr Foley as an unassuming hero - a small, slightly overweight man with round glasses .
But he was actually Britain's top spy in the city.
He not only interpreted the rules on visas loosely, enabling Jews to escape to Britain and Palestine, but he also helped to forge passports.
And, despite not having diplomatic immunity, he gave shelter to some people in his own home.
Mr Foley's efforts have already been recognised by Israel, which declared him a righteous gentile, like Oskar Schindler, and he has also been honoured by his home town of Stourbridge in the West Midlands.
Michael Smith of the Daily Telegraph, who wrote a book about him, said that although it is not known exactly how many lives Mr Foley saved, archive evidence would suggest the number was in the tens of thousands.
He said, "With Schindler you had 1,400 people working in a factory, working with him, they worked closely together. Their lives were together.
"So when they moved to Palestine, which later became Israel, they are all talking to each other, they are still on the phone to each other even if they are not living in Israel - they have a collective memory of what Schindler did.
"But with Foley a lot of the people he helped probably didn't even know he helped them.
"They were helped in ones or twos or in small family units - five or six people perhaps. They have got to Palestine. They have a visa they know they shouldn't have - they are not going to talk about it."
13
The Firm Helen Keller
In 1882 a baby girl caught a fever that was so fierce she nearly died. She survived but the fever left its mark - she could no longer see or hear. Because she could not hear she also found it very difficult to speak.
So how did this child, blinded and deafened at 19 months old, grow up to become a world-famous author and public speaker?
The fever cut her off from the outside world, depriving her of sight and sound. It was as if she had been thrown into a dark prison cell from which there could be no release.
Luckily Helen was not someone who gave up easily. Soon she began to explore the world by using her other senses. She followed her mother wherever she went, hanging onto her skirts; she touched and smelled everything she came across. She copied their actions and was soon able to do certain jobs herself, like milking the cows or kneading dough, she even learnt to recognize people by feeling their faces or their clothes. She could also tell where she was in the garden by the smell of the different plants and the feel of the ground under her feet. By the age of seven she had invented over 60 different signs by which she could talk to her family, if she wanted bread for example, she would pretend to cut a loaf and butter the slices. If she wanted ice cream she wrapped her arms around herself and pretended to shiver. Helen was unusual in that she was extremely intelligent and also remarkably sensitive. By her own efforts she had managed to make some sense of an alien and confusing world. But even so she had
limitations.
At the age of five Helen began to realize she was different from other people. She noticed that her family did not use signs like she did but talked with their mouths. Sometimes she stood between two people and touched their lips. She could not understand what they said and she could not make any meaningful sounds herself. She wanted to talk but no matter how she tried she could not make herself understood. This makes her so angry that she used to hurl herself around the room, kicking and screaming in frustration.
As she got older her frustration grew and her rages became worse and worse. She became wild and unruly. If she didn't get what she wanted she would throw tantrums until her family gave in. Her favorite tricks included grabbing other people's food from their plates and hurling fragile objects to the floor. Once she even managed to lock her mother into the pantry. Eventually it became clear that something had to be done. So, just before her seventh birthday, the family hired a private tutor - Anne Sullivan.
Anne was careful to teach Helen especially those subjects in which she was interested. As a result Helen became gentler and she soon learnt to read and write in Braille. She also learnt to read people's lips by pressing her finger-tips against them and feeling the movement and vibrations. This method is called Tadoma and it is a skill that very, very few people manage to acquire. She also learnt to speak, a major achievement for someone who could not hear at all.
Helen proved to be a remarkable scholar, graduating with honors from Radcliff College in 1904. She had phenomenal powers of concentration and memory, as well as a dogged determination to succeed. While she was still at college she wrote 'The Story of My Life'. This was an immediate success and earned her enough money to buy her own house.
She toured the country, giving lecture after lecture. Many books were written about her and several plays and films were made about her life. Eventually she became so famous that she was invited abroad and received many honors from foreign universities and monarchs. In 1932 she became a vice-president of the Royal National Institute for the Blind in the United Kingdom.
After her death in 1968 an organization was set up in her name to combat blindness in the developing world. Today that agency, Helen Keller International, is one of the biggest organizations working with blind people overseas.
14
Bill Gates in His Boyhood
As a child-and as an adult as well-Bill was untidy. It has been said that in order to counteract this. Mary drew up weekly clothing plans for him. On Mondays he might go to school in blue, on Tuesdays in green, on Wednesdays in brown , on Thursdays in black, and so on , Weekend meal schedules might also be planned in detail. Everything time, at work or during his leisure time.
Dinner table discussions in the Gate's family home were always lively and educational. "It was a rich environment in which to learn," Bill remembered.
Bill's contemporaries, even at the age, recognized that he was exceptional. Every year, he and his friends would go to summer camp. Bill especially liked swimming and other sports. One of his summer camp friends recalled, "He was never a nerd or a goof or the kind of kid you didn't want your team. We all knew Bill was smarter than us. Even back then, when he was nine or ten years old, he talked like an adult and could express himself in ways that none of us understood." Bill was also well ahead of his classmates in mathematics and science. He needed to go to a school that challenged him to Lakeside-an all-boys' school for exceptional students. It was Seattle's most exclusive school and was noted for its rigorous academic demands, a place where "even the dumb kids were smart."
Lakeside allowed students to pursue their own interests, to whatever extent they wished. The school prided itself on making conditions and facilities available that would enable all its students to reach their full potential . It was the ideal environment for someone like Bill Gates. In 1968, the school made a decision that would change thirteen-year-old Bill Gates's life-and that of many of others, too. Funds were raised, mainly by parents, that enabled the school to gain access to a computer-a Program Data processor(PDP)-through a teletype machine. Type in a few instructions on the teletype machine and a few seconds later the PDP would type back its response. Bill Gates was immediately hooked- so was his best friend at the time, Kent Evans, and another student, Paul Allen, who was two years older than Bill.
Whenever they had free time, and sometimes when they didn't, they would dash over to the computer room to use the machine. The students became so single-minded that they soon overtook their teachers in knowledge about computing and got into a lot of trouble because of their obsession. They were neglecting their other studies-every piece of word was handed in late. Classes were cut. Computer time was also proving to be very expensive. Within months, the whole budget that had been set aside for the year had been used up.
At fourteen, Bill was already writing short programs for the computer
to perform. Early games programs such as Tic-Tac-Toe, or Noughts and Crosses, and Lunar Landing were written in what was to become Bill's second language, BASIC.
One of the reasons Bill was so good at programming is because it is mathematical and logical. During his time at Lakeside, Bill scored a perfect eight hundred on a mathematics test. It was extremely important to him to get this grade-he had to take the test more than once in order to do it.
If Bill Gates was going to be good at something. It was essential to be the best.
Bill's and Paul's fascination with computers and the business world meant that they read a great deal. Paul enjoyed magazines like Popular Electronics, Computer time was expensive and, because both boys were desperate to get more time and because Bill already had an insight into what they could achieve financially, the two of them decided to set themselves up as a company: The Lakeside Programmers Group. "Let's call the real world and try to sell something to it!" Bill announced.
15
AN UNUSUAL ARCHITECT—LEOH MING PEI
On this vivid planet, it appears colorful with azure blue seawater, lush green plants and many world famous buildings. Among these largest artificial articles in the world, many originated from the same architect—Ieoh Ming Pei.
Ieoh Ming Pei, the 1983 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, is a founding partner of I. M. Pei & Partners based in New York City. He was born in China in 1917, the son of a prominent banker. He came to the United States in 1935 to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B. Arch. 1940) and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (M. Arch. 1946).
During World War Ⅱ, he served on the National defense Research Commission at Princeton, and from 1945 to 1948, taught at Harvard. In 1948 he accepted the newly created post of director of Architecture at Webb & Knapp, Inc., the real estate development firm, and this association resulted in major architectural and planning projects in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh and other cities. In 1958, he formed the partnership of I. M. Pei & Associates, which became I. M. Pei & Parteners in
1966. The partnership received the 1968 Architectural Firm Award of
The American Institute of Architects.
Pei has designed over forty projects in this country and abroad, twenty of which have been award winners. His more prominent commissions have included the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D .C.; the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library near Boston; the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado; the Dallas City Hall in Texas; the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Centre (OCBC) and Raffles City in Singapore; the West Wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Fragrant Hill Hotel near Beijing, China, designed to graft advanced technology onto the roofs of indigenous building and thereby sow the seed of a new ,distinctly Chinese form of modern architecture; the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse , New York; and the Texas Commerce Tower in Houston.
He has designed arts facilities and university buildings on the campuses of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Rochester, Cornell University, the Choate School, Syracuse University, New York University and the University of Hawaii. He has been selected to design the headquarters for the Bank of China in Hong Kong.
Pei is currently a member of the National Council on the Arts, and previously served on the National Council on the Humanities. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (of which he served a term as Chancellor), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Design. He is a member of the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institue of Technology.
As a student, he was awarded the MIT Traveling Fellowship, and the Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship at Harvard. His subsequent honors include the following: the Brunner Award, the Medal of Honor of the New York Chapter of the AIA, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Medal for Architecture, the Gold Medal for Architecture of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Alpha Rho Chi Gold Medal, la Grande mé-daille d?Or de I? Académie d? Architecture (France), and The Gold Medal of The American Institute of Architects. In 1982, the deans of the architectural schools of the United Sates chose I. M. Pei as the best designer of significant non-residential structures.
16
A WOMAN BILLIARDIST ALLISON FISHER
In school, Allison was a very competitive team sport player and almost pursued a career as a physical education teacher, but snooker was the game she excelled in. She got her start in Snooker by simply falling in love with the game.
“My first interest in snooker occurred when I was seven years old. My dad was watching a snooker competition on the television, and I liked what I saw so much that I asked for a table. Being the youngest and spoilt, my with was granted. I became the proud owner of the smallest competitive table on earth: 1.5 long. I graduated to a 6? x 3? table when I was eleven years old, and challenged everyone who entered our house. Whether they liked it or not! When I was twelve years old, I went to the Peacehaven Central Club with my parents where, for the first time I saw a full size snooker table(12?×6?). I had a burning desire to play on it. I went home that night and I was crying in bed. My mum came in and asked me what was wrong. “I want to play on the big table.? I replied. So she asked my dad to ask the owner, John Copper, if I could play on it. And he made my dreams come true.”
At thirteen Allison got into a league, and at fifteen she was seriously competing in the world of Snooker. By the age of seventeen, she had won her first world title and never looked back. From then until the age of twenty-seven. Allison Fisher was a dominant force in the world of Snooker, She left Snooker, winning over 80 national titles and eleven world championships, including three mixed doubles and the only Ladies Mixed Doubles event ever held. She played in her first Women?s Professional Billiards Association (WPBA) Tournament in October 1995. This newcomer startled everyone by winning two of her four events, and by placing third in the World Pool Association (WPA) World 9-Ball Championship In 1996 Allison continued to storm the tour with seven first place finishes, and a # I ranking. As she would for the next three years, Allison earned Player of the Year honors from Billiards Digest and Pool and Billiard Magazine. She also won her first WPA World 9-Ball championship, and her first WPBA Championship.
She kept up her stellar performances in 1997 by winning six of eleven WPBA events. Allison defended her championship when she again won the WPA World 9-Ball title. As in 1996, this year saw Allison Fisher end with the # I ranking in the WPBA. Her peers also honored her with a “Most Congenial Player” award from the Year-End Billiards Digest Awards.
On the personal side, Allison is British enough to miss her Mom?s pot
roast, the atmosphere in pubs, small villages, lifelong friends and family, and Alfie, her dog. Never one for the “bar scene,” a great evening for Allison is to have good food, good friends, and a night of laughter ·····
As good as she has been for the game. Allison is quick to point out that it has been even to her. Allison Fisher has always counted her blessings and since her beginning, she has never hesitated to give her time to worthy charities. She has a heart of gold and never hesitates to involve herself where she can help others.
Her sponsors are proud to have her associated with them, and Allison only promotes what she believes in .Be sure and take a peek at her sponsor page, as well as Allison?s new line of signature cues. Allison is also developing a new series of instructional videotapes that are intensely focused on the fundamentals, concentration and technique that have made her game what it is today. With Pool and Billiards on the rise with Olympic recognition. And even more television exposure thanks to the WPBA; Allison Fisher continues to be at the top of her game. Her desire is to see the sport enjoy the same “boom” in popularity that tennis enjoyed in the 1970?s. For Allison the sport itself comes ahead of the player. Family, friends, her new home and the intense level of competition keep her on her toes and enjoying life to its fullest. As Allison would say “Cheers all! Hope to see you soon!”
17
FREUD’S DISCOVERY
In April 1884 Freud read of a German army doctor who had successfully employed cocaine as a means of increasing the energy and endurance of soldiers. He determined to obtain some for himself and try it as a treatment for other conditions—heart disease, nervous exhaustion and morphine addiction. It was little known at that time and the extensive ethical and methodological rules governing modern drug trials did not exist.
Freud took some himself and was immediately impressed with the sense of well-being it engendered, without diminishing his capacity for work. Having read a report in the Detroit Medical Gazette concerning its value in the treatment of addictions his next step was to recommend the substance as a harmless substitute to his friend and colleague, Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow. Fleischl. Who had become a morphine addict following repeated therapeutic administrations for intractable neurological pain and was in desperate straits, took to
cocaine with enthusiasm and was soon consuming it in large quantities.
Meanwhile Freud continued to extol the virtues of the drug, writing a review essay on the subject, taking it himself and pressing it upon his fiancee, friends as a panacea for all ills, He had gone overboard with enthusiasm, writing to Martha when he heard she had lost her appetite,“Woe to you, my Princess. When I come. I will kiss you quite red and fees you ?till you are plump. And if you are forward you shall see who is the stronger, a gentle little girl who doesn?t eat enough or a big wild man who has cocaine in his body.??
Among the people to whom Freud introduced cocaine was his colleague Carl Koller, a young doctor working in the department of ophthalmology. Freud published his essay in the July issue of the Centralblatt für Therapie, concluding it by drawing attention to the possible future uses of the drug as a local anaesthetic. Koller was impressed, thought it likely to be useful in eye operations and two months later tried it out , first on animals and then on his own eyes with complete success. He was quick to publish his findings, thus securing a place in world history as the discoverer of what turned out to be virtually the only medical use for the substance.
Freud had missed his chance, but worse was to follow. Fleischl?s temporary improvement on taking cocaine was short lived. Within a week his condition deteriorated, his pain became unbearable and he relapsed into morphine consumption. He now had not one addiction but two, taking cocaine in doses a hundred times larger than Freud used to do. He suffered toxic confusional states in which he became agitated, experiencing severe anxiety and visual hallucinations. Yet Freud continued to advocate the use of cocaine in morphinism, presumably on the basis that (as had been reported by others) it was beneficial in selected cases.
His paper On the General Effect of Cocaine. Written in the spring of 1885, was published in August and subsequently abstracted in the Lancer, By the following year, however, cases of cocaine addiction and intoxication were being reported from all over the world. Freud came under severe criticism for his advocacy of the drug and defended himself by claiming(inaccurately)that he had never advised its use in subcutaneous injections. He expressed the following view, “Theory is fine but it doesn?t stop facts from existing.” This became a favorite warning against the uncritical acceptance of received wisdom.
18
I LIVE ENTIRELY IN MY MUSIC—BEETHOVEN
Beethoven probably began to go deaf after what he called his ?terrible typhus? of 1797, but he tried to keep it a secret, while consulting doctors and trying various remedies, such as the application of almond oil. He was extremely anxious about its possible effect on his career as a musician, and embarrassed by its effect on his social life.
In the summer of 1801 he wrote to tow friends. To Franz Wegeler in Bonn he wrote that he was very busy, with more commissions than he could cope with，and publishers competing to get hold of his latest works, but he was worried about his health, and particularly about his gradual loss of hearing. He had been leading a miserable life for the previous two years because of his deafness, and had avoided human company because he found it hard to tell people that he was deaf. He would always say, “I live entirely in my music.”
Two days later he wrote to Karl Amenda, a more recent friend. On the same lines, expressing the anxiety that his best years would pass “without my being able to achieve all that my talent and my strength have commanded me to do.” His fear that his deafness would prevent him from realizing his artistic potential led him to contemplate taking his own artistic life, but in the so-called ?Heiligenstadt Testament?, addressed to his brothers and found among his papers after his death, which he wrote in the depths of despair in October 1802, he said that he had rejected suicide, and was resigned to his condition. He explained that his deafness was the reason why he had been withdrawing from people?s company, because he found it so humiliating not being able to hear, but he did not want to tell people about it. Although tempted to kill himself, “the only thing that held me back was my art. For indeed it seemed to me impossible to leave this world before I had produced all the works that I felt the urge to compose.”
During the summer of 1802 he had spent six months in Heiligenstadt, thirteen miles outside Vienna, on the advice of one of his doctors who thought that his hearing might improve in the peace and quiet away from Vienna. But his pupil, Ferdinand Ries (son of the leader of the Bonn court orchestra) visited him in the summer, and during a walk in the summer, and during a walk in the woods pointed out o fan elder twig. Beethoven could not hear it, and this made him very morose , As the winter approached he realized that his hearing was no better, and that it was likely to get worse, and he might end up totally deaf.
It could be argued that Beethoven?s deafness helped the development of his art: isolated from the world, and unable to perform, he could devote all his time to composing, He was already composing less at the piano, and the first of his bound sketchbooks, in which he made detailed drafts of the works in progress. Date from 1798. In his panic, at the beginning, Beethoven may have believed himself to be deaf. He suffered from tinnitus ( humming and buzzing in the ears), and loud noises caused him pain. In 1804 his friend Stephan von Breuning, with whom he briefly shared lodgings, wrote to Franz Wegler about the terrible effect his gradual loss of hearing was having on Beethoven: it had caused him to distrust his friends, and he was becoming very difficult to be with. But Beethoven did not start using an ear trumpet until 1814.
But above all else, Beethoven was dedicated to his art and the urge to compose remained with him throughout his life. It may be that he shielded away form the commitment of marriage because he knew it would interfere with his art. From a very early age he wanted to compose and, although he needed to earn a living, he wrote ?I love my art too dearly to be activated solely by self-interest.?
19
GIFT FOR MUSIC— LEONARD BERNSTEIN
In 1986, Leonard Bernstein said, “God knows, I should be dead by now. I smoke, I drink, I stay up all night… I was diagnosed as having emphysema in my mid-20s. I was told that if II didn?t stop smoking, I?d be dead at 35. Well. I beat the rap.” But in recent months he canceled engagements and a fortnight age announced that, on his doctor?s advice, he was retiring as a conductor, In 1990, Leonard Bernstein, 72, died in his Manhattan apartment after a heart attack brought on by lung failure. Perhaps to abandon conducting was to end a love affair, to give up life.
A first-generation Jewish American, Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Mass. In 1918. His father, Samuel, who was in the beauty-supplies business. Hoped his son would someday work with him. But at 10 Lenny discovered the piano. When he used his allowance to pay for lessons his father stopped doling it out— but reinstated it after discovering his son was playing in a dance and to earn money. At the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (after graduating from Harvard, at 20. with honors), Bernstein was the most gifted pupil of the great Fritz Reiner. This so enraged one student that he threatened homicide.
Contrary to legend, the golden boy did have some lean times. In 1942. Bernstein moved to New York City armed with glowing references, but couldn?t find work. Lyricist Irving Caesar happened to hear him play the piano and thought he resembled his former collaborator George Gershwin. Bernstein told him that he needed $10 a week to stay alive. “What!” Caesar exclaimed. “You, a genius, starving? Ten dollars a week for a genius? I?ll get you fifty!” And promptly got him a job transcribing music. Within two years Bernstein had published his first symphony, written a successful ballet (“Fancy Free”), had a hit Broadway show (“In the Town”) and made his now legendary New York Philharmonic conducting debut in Carnegie Hall. Filling in for an ailing maestro, the dashing 25-year-old(who had a fierce hangover) was such a smash he got as much front-page space in New York Times as the American submarines that sank seven Japanese ships.
The great creative output of the late ?40s and ?50s— the musicals “Candide”, “Wonderful Town” and “West Side Story”, the film score for “ On the Waterfront,” the ballet “The Age of Anxiety”— came, with good reason, before Bernstein acquired an orchestra. In 1958, he became music director of the New York Philharmonic — the first American-born conductor to head a top symphony orchestra. He revived the works of Mahler and Nielsen and programmed such contemporary music, even if he, a dedicated tonalist, was uncomfortable with it.
Bernstein, says Leonard Slatkin, music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. “not only opened doors for all of us, but was the musical conscience of this country for years. We couldn?t have had a better spokesman.” After leaving the Philharmonic in 1969, Bernstein, the original globe-trot-ting maestro, maintained close ties with many orchestras, including (with typical Bernstein irony) the Israel Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic.
Since the late ?50s his compositions have often been disappointing, but he was back in form in some recent works, especially the delicious Arias and Barcarolles. Though he had become white-haired and craggy, he retained the passion and quickness of a wunderkind, and no one could dispute the depth of understanding he brought to the podium, particularly in recent years, when his interpretive powers were sharper than ever.
20
An Impressionist — Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh was a man in a hurry, an artist of tremendous energy and prodigious output. He killed himself when he was only 37, but he left behind him more than 2,000 paintings and drawings, which established his reputation in a way he would never have considered possible.
Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1835 at Groot Zundert in the Dutch province of Noord Brabant. He was the son of a clergyman. His first artistic impressions were formed as a boy, from his uncle who was an art dealer. The motivation bore early fruit and from the age of 12 the young Vincent was drawing. The interest led to an apprenticeship in an art dealer?s firm, Groupil?s, in the Hague. When he was only 20, he was transferred to the firm?s London office.
In London Van Gogh faced his first major crisis, when he was rejected in love. After that, he turned to religion, expressed disapproval with art-dealing and neglected his work, Groupil transferred him from London to Paris but, when his work was still unsatisfactory, dismissed him in 1876.
The young Van Gogh made religion a consuming interest and during the next few years traveled in Britain, Belgium and Holland, trying to establish himself as a preacher, but without success. He developed strong opinions on social morality, customs and church life and alienated those he mixed with by an uncompromising attitude.
In 1880, at the age of 27, he found himself drawn back to art. He had a job as an assistant evangelist in the mining village of Borinage in Belgium but realized an artistic drive which was to motivate him unceasingly until his death 10 years later.
Although he returned to Noord Brabant and his family early in 1881, his first recognized works were set in Borinage and reflected the rural culture in which he was living and his belief in order and symmetry in both society and art. The period resulted in what became known as the Brabant canvases.
At this time he was becoming obsessed with artistic development. Although he was limited in practical experience, his work showed confidence and maturity from the start, no doubt influenced by the strength of his personal convictions. It was not an easy time, however, emotionally. There were tensions within the family, now that he was living back with his parents in Brabant. He was short of money and
rebelling against social and academic standards.
Late in 1881 he moved to the Hague and established a relationship with a woman, Christine Hoornik, with whom he lived for a time. He broke with her in 1883, however, and never again established a significant intimate relationship with a woman.
Between 1883 and 1886, at Noord Brahant again, his painting developed into characteristic dark landscapes and scenes of country life. He stressed character and expression rather than perspective and physical accuracy; he was already experimenting with impressionism.
In 1886 Van Gogh left Holland forever and traveled via Antwerp to Paris, and to major changes in artistic style. Van Gogh?s work became more youthful in Paris. He lived with his brother, Theo, who managed the modern department of an art dealer?s. A new, more animated, painting style emerged and the impressionist tendencies of earlier work weakened somewhat.
Van Gogh developed a taste for personalized brushwork and brilliant, unmixed colours. Among his most prominent experiments with colour were a series of some 30 flower paintings, a fascination which stayed with him until his death.
21
The Youngest Tennis Champion —Martina Hingis
We?re used to swaggering, in-your-face trash talk from NBA players, boxers and even a few politicians, but teenagers in tennis skirts? There?s a new generation of women on the court. They?re young. They?re pretty. And they?re unbelievably brash about everything. Here?s 17-year-old Martina Hingis explaining her lack of humility：“ People say that I am arrogant. I am No. 1 in the world, so I have a right to be arrogant.”
Actually she?s the best in the world. Two years after becoming the youngest No. 1 player in history, Hingis won her second Family Circle title.
Hingis came to Britain in 1997, posing with a large “No. 1” made of tennis balls. A week later, she had earned her sixth straight title and 31st straight victory with a Family Circle title.
“At that stage, you don?t really get it that you?re the best tennis player
in the world,” Hingis, 18, said after a 6-4, 6-3 win over Kournikova Sunday. “There is always another match to go, another tournament.” It was only later, she said, she realized, “I became No. 1. I?m like the best.”
Hardly arguing anymore now. It?s been a difficult week in the shadows for Hingis, pushed aside by the all-Williams? final at the Lipton Championships last week and Kournikova?s run through the Family Circle.
“With the Williams sisters and Anna, I was saying, ?What about me??” said Hingis, who earned $150, 000. “I think this was about time.” Hingis doesn?t mind talk of her rivals. “So long as they?re lower than me, I?m fine,” she said.
Kournikova gave her a run on the concourse and practice courts at the Sea Pines Racquet Club, though. The sassy Russian star?s poster was one of the hottest items at the season?s first clay court tournament. Her doubles matches got only attention. Even Fox Sports Net analyst Pam Oliver told Kournikova, when presenting her with the runner-up honor, that she was “really popular with the men.”
But Hingis, smiling most of the way, showed who?s No. 1 on the court. She trailed Kournikova 4-3 in the opening set, but broke the Russian?s serve three staight times in winning the next six games.
When Korunikova struck back to close the second set to 3-2, Hingis broke serve again to regain control. When Kournikova?s forehand slapped the net, Hingis had closed out her third tournament win this year and her 10th straight Family Circle singles victory.
Kournikova?s game was erratic. She overcame Hingis? 40-15 lead in the first set. Then she double-faulted twice to lose the next one.
“You have to play smart and be patient with her,” Kournikova said. “But I made a few unforced errors because I tried to go for too much.”
Hingis stayed steady throughout, never letting Kournikova break away. And when the crowd tried to pull Kournidova through, Hingis would remind them with a surprise drop shot or sharp forehand winner who?s No. 1.
Kournikova acknowledged the support she gets. She?s confident in her ability — she beat Hingis at last year?s German Open — but said she
knows her game needs the seasoning she can get by advancing to finals.
“This is great for me, great for my confidence,” Kournikova said. “This gave me some experience and hopefully, I won?t be a runner-up much longer.” But Hingis will rest for about a month, returning to the tour at the Italian Open. She understands a lot better about the knack of winning crucial points and staying on top.
“(If) you are better ranked, you?re a better player, you win the match,” Hingis said. “If not, you always are the loser.”
22
To the Top — Fidel Ramos
As a young boy, Ramos watched his congressman-father chop wood and plant vegetables to feed his family. Once prominent in the northern province, the Ramos
Ⅱ.Although he was too young for military service the war touched Ramos when he helped shield his second cousin, Ferdinad Marcos, then a lieutenant in the underground guerrilla army, from the Japanese.
Despite such distractions, Ramos remained a serious student, becoming president of his secondary school class. In 1945, one year before his country gained independence from America, he decided on a career. Engineers would be needed to rebuild his devastated country, he concluded.
He took a competitive exam for West Point, the U.S. military academy, and won the one space reserved in each class for a Filipino. Following graduation. He trained as a civil engineer in Illinois. He learned to lead by example and soon recognized his own country?s need for a professional, nonpolitical military. His time in America, he says, reinforced his strong belief in free enterprise his strong belief in free enterprise, in the rule of law and in the value of rewarding merit.
Ramos served with Philippine forces during the Korean War and then returned home to fight against peasant rebels. As a captain he helped found and train the first battalion of elite Philippine forces during the Korean War and then returned home to fight against peasant rebels.
As a captain he helped found and train the first battalion of elite Philippine special forces troops. As a major, he volunteered for Vietnam, where he realized for Vietnam, where he realized that the same conditions that fed revolution there also existed in his own impoverished country.
As Ramos rose through the ranks of the Philippine military, he knew better than most the excesses of the Marcos regime. He had frequently thought of quitting, but had stayed out of loyalty to his men. “I have so many thousands of people to whom I am responsible,” Ramos told his friends. “I cannot just quit.” Besides, Marcos himself had promoted his savvy younger cousin to head the military-led national police force.
Eventually, the break came. At 4 p.m. on February 21, 1986, Major-General Fidel Ramos was preparing to face a gathering of angry neighbors. Juan Ponce Enrile, the defense minister, was asking him to join an uprising against Marcos.
Moments later, Amelita Ramos ushered the neighbors into their living room. The Philippines?s second-ranking military officer sat patiently as his friends pleaded. “Please, sir,” one of his neighbors implored, “for the good of the country, resign. Leave Marcos.” Like most Filipinos, they believed the recent elections had been arranged by Marcos, denying Cory Aquino her rightful place as the new president of the Philippines.
As his neighbors left his house, Ramos was ready to join Enrile. Together they hoped to rally the philipine military to Aquino?s side, praying that enough popular support could be generated to keep themselves from being slaughtered by Marcos loyalists.
Four days later, the massive demonstrations fueled by the defections of Ramos and Enrile had triumphed. Marcos and his notorious free-spending wife, Imelda, were forced to flee the country. Cory Aquino became the new president, and the People Power revolution quickly became a worldwide symbol of democracy.
Ramos, Aquino?s first military chief of staff and later her defense secretary, was at one point urged by officers to join an attempted coup. But he held firm to his belief in the democratic process. In 1992, Aquino endorsed Ramos in the six-candidate race to succeed her.
23
The Mask Forever —Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey has become one of the most recognized faces in the world —and it is precisely because of his face that he has achieved such fame. His rubbery look, and penchant for wild and extreme behavior has given him a notoriety he delights in.
Born in New Market, Ontario, Canada on January 17th, 1962 to a working class family, growing up poor was tough for young Jim Carrey, While in his teens, he had to take a job as a janitor when his father lost his job and he had to juggle both School and work. School eventually lost out and he dropped out. He describes himself as being very angry at this time in his life, yet one good thing came out of it. He developed a tremendous sense of humour to help him cope and to shield his anger from the world.
He was a loner who claims he didn?t have any friends because he didn?t want any. Between school and work there just wasn?t much time for a childhood. At 15 though, he had enough time to start performing at Yuk Yuks, a famous Toronto comedy club where he began to perfect his shtick. He moved to LA and did the club circuit there. He soon came to the attention of Rodney and was put on his tour.
Jim Carrey got his big break in 1990, when he landed a role on the hip new sketch comedy show In Living Color which boasted a cast of African-Americans and Carrey, the sole white guy. While there, Carrey perfected many characters, most notoriously “Fire Marshal Bill” who always went up in a blaze. The sketch was yanked when critics claimed that it encouraged kids to play with fire. The controversy put Carrey?s name in the headlines for the first time.
He broke into feature films, and into the collective unconscious of the world, in one single successful year, 1994. It was the Year of the Funny Face. First there was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a surprise hit that show Carrey?s now signature wacky style. Next came The Mask, a role that seemed tailor-made for him and was a hit with audiences. As if he hadn?t made an impression yet, there was still Dumb and Dumber which was released during the holiday season and ended up on top of the box office. Jim Carrey was in the limelight now and he hasn?t looked back since.
Since that famous year Carrey has, dare we say it····, slowed down a bit. His films have come out less often but have continued to make
waves if not quite of the caliber as previously seen. There was Batman Forever, in which he inherited the role of The Riddler. Then there was a sequel to Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls which didn?t quite recapture the sparkle of the original. Next came Liar, Liar. The film was a tremendous success with crowds everywhere and put him back on top. It also brought his salary back up 20 million. Then came The Truman Show, a film which proved to the world that Jim Carrey was more than just a funny face.
In fact, Jim was awarded a Golden Globe for his dramatic portrayal. When he was snubbed by the Oscars, there was a collective gasp heard around the world. Clearly the fans at least think Jim Carrey is golden.
The future looks good for Jim Carrey, he has developed a legion of devoted fans who love his wild style of physical comedy. He has proven his ability to weather a storm and come out on top, important for any celebrity.
Carrey has come a long way from his unhappy childhood and in fact seems to be living a second childhood now. Canada has been producing fine comedic talents for years, and Jim Carrey is definitely the best of the new breed.
24
FOR BLOOMING IN WARDS—NIGHTINGALE
In May 1857 a Commission to study the whole question of the army medical service began to sit. The price was high. Florence Nightingale was doing this grueling work because it was vital, not because she had chosen it. She had changed. Now she was more brilliant in argument than ever, more efficient, more knowledgeable, more persistent and penetrating in her reasoning, scrupulously just, mathematically accurate—but she was pushing herself to the very limits of her capacity at the expense of all joy.
That summer of 1857 was a nightmare for Florence—not only was she working day and night to instruct the politicians sitting on the Commission, she was writing her own confidential report about her experiences. All this while Parthe and Mama lay about on sofas, telling each other not to get exhausted arranging flowers.
It took Florence only six months to complete her own one-thousand-page Confidential Report, Notes on Matters Affecting
the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army. It was an incredibly clear, deeply-considered volume. Every single thing she had learned from t Crimea was there—every statement she made was backed by hard evidence.
Florence Nightingale was basically arguing for prevention rather than cure. It was a new idea then and many politicians and army medical men felt it was revolutionary and positively cranky. They grimly opposed Florence and her allies.
She was forced to prove that the soldiers were dying because of their basic living conditions. She had inspected dozens of hospitals and barracks and now exposed them as damp, filthy and unventilated, with dirty drains and unventilated, with dirty drains and infected water supplies. She showed that the soldiers? diet was poor. She collected statistics which proved that the death rate for young soldiers in peace time was double that of the normal population.
She showed that, though the army took only the fittest young men, every year 1,500 were killed by neglect, poor food and disease. She declared “Our soldiers enlist to death in the barracks”, and this became the battle cry of her supporters.
The public, too, was on her side. The more the anti-reformers dragged their feet, the greater the reform pressure became.
Florence did not win an outright victory against her opponents, but many changes came through. Soon some barracks were rebuilt and within three years the death rate would halve.
The intense work on the Commission was now over, but Florence was to continue studying, planning and pressing for army medical reform for the next thirty years.
People now began to demand that she apply her knowledge to civilian hospitals, which she found to be “just as bad or worse” than military hospitals. In 1859 she published a book called Notes on Hospitals. It showed the world why people feared to be taken into hospitals and how matters could be remedied.
Florence set forth the then revolutionary theory that simply by improving the construction and physical maintenance, hospital deaths could be greatly reduced. More windows, better ventilation, improved drainage, less cramped conditions, and regular scrubbing of the floors,
walls and bed frames were basic measures that every hospital could take.
Florence soon became an expert on the building of hospitals and all over the world hospitals were established according to her specifications. She wrote hundreds and hundreds of letters from her sofa in London inquiring about sinks and saucepans, locks and laundry rooms. No detail was too small for her considered attention. She worked out ideas for the most efficient way to distribute clean linen, the best method of keeping food hot, the correct number of inches between beds. She intended to change the administration of hospitals from top to toe. Lives depended upon detail.
Florence Nightingale succeeded. All over the world Nightingale-style hospitals would be built. And Florence would continue to advise on hospital plans for over forty years. Today?s hospitals with their flowers and bright, clean and cheerful wards are a direct result of her work.
25
MACHINE MAD — HENRY FORD
Growing up on a remote Michigan farm. Henry Ford knew little of all this — but he soon showed signs that he belonged to a new generation of Americans interested more in the industrial future than in the agricultural past. Like most pioneer farmers, his father, William, hoped that his eldest son would join him on the farm，enable it to expand, and eventually take it over. But Henry proved a disappointment. He hated farm work and did everything he could to avoid it . It was not that he was lazy. Far from it. Give him a mechanical job to do， from mending the hinges of a gate to sharpening tools, and he would set to work eagerly. It was the daily life of the farm, with its repetitive tasks, that frustrated him. “What a waste it is,” he was to write years later, remembering his work in the fields, “for a human being to spend hours and days behind a slowly moving team of houses.
Henry was excited by the possibilities for the future that were being opened up by developments in technology that could free farmers like his father from wasteful and boring toil. But these developments, in Henry?s boyhood, had touched farming hardly at all and farmers went on doing things in the way they had always done. Low profits, the uncertainties of the weather, and farmers? instinctive resistance to change prevented all but the richest and most far-sighted farmers from taking advantage of the new age of machines.
So Henry turned his attention elsewhere. When he was twelve he became almost obsessively interested in clocks and watches. Like most children before and since, he became fascinated by peering into the workings of a timepiece and watching the movement of ratchets and wheels, springs and pendulums. Soon he was repairing clocks and watches for friends, working at a bench he built in his bedroom.
In 1876, Henry suffered a grievous blow. Mary died in childbirth. There was now no reason for him to stay on the farm， and he resolved to get away as soon as he could. Three years later, he took a job as a mechanic in Detroit. By this time steam engines had joined clocks and watches as objects of Henry?s fascination.
According to an account given by Henry himself, he first saw a steam-driven road locomotive one day in 1877 when he and his father, in their horse-drawn farm wagon, met one on the road. The locomotive driver stopped to let the wagon pass, and Henry jumped down and went to him with a barrage of technical questions about the engine?s performance. From then on, for a while, Henry became infatuated with steam engines. Making and installing them was the business of the Detroit workshop that he joined at the age of sixteen.
A chance meeting with an old co-worker led to a job for Henry as an engineer at the Edison Detroit Electricity Company, the leading force in another new industry. Power stations were being built and cables being laid in all of the United States? major cities; the age of electricity had dawned. But although Henry quickly learned the ropes of his new job— so quickly that within four years he was chief engineer at the Detroit power plant — his interest in fuel engines had come to dominate his life. At first in the kitchen of his and Clara?s home, and later in a shed at the back of their house, he spent his spare time in the evenings trying to build an engine to his own design.
Meanwhile, Henry?s domestic responsibilities had increased. In November 1893, Clara gave birth to their first and only child, Edsel.
Henry learned the hard way what a slow, painstaking business it was to build an engine by hand from scratch. Every piece of every component had to be fashioned individually, checked and rechecked, and tested. Every problem had to be worried over and solved by the builder. To ease the burden, Henry joined forces with another mechanic, Jim Bishop, Even so, it was two years before they had succeeded in building a working car. It was an ungainly-looking
vehicle, mounted on bicycle wheels and driven by a rubber belt that connected the engine to the rear wheels. Henry called it the “Quadricycle”.
26
The God in Youth: Michael Jordan
There were already signs that he had a good deal of talent. Harvest Smith, a classmate and close friend who in those days played basketball with him practically every day, thought he was the best player on their ninth-grade team — he was small, but he was every quick. “You?d see him get a shot off, and you?d wonder how he did it, because he wasn?t that bit,” Smith said, “but it was the quickness. The only question was how big he was going to be — and how far up he would take his skill level.”
The summer after ninth grade, Jordan and Smith both went to Pop Herring?s basketball camp. Neither of them had yet come into his body, and almost all of the varsity players, two and sometimes three years older, seemed infinitely stronger at that moment when a year or two in physical development can make all the difference. In Smith?s mind there was no doubt which of the two of them was the better player—it was Michael by far. But on the day the varsity cuts were announced — it was the big day of the year, for they had all known for weeks when the list would be posted — he and Roy Smith had gone to the Laney gym. Smith?s name was on it, Michael?s was not.
It was the worst day of Jordan?s young life. The list was alphabetical, so he focused on where the Js should be, and it wasn?t there, and he kept reading and rereading the list, hoping somehow that he had missed it, or that the alphabetical listing had been done incorrectly. That day he went home by himself and went to his room and cried. Smith understood what was happening — Michael, he knew, never wanted you to see him when he was hurt.
“We knew Michael was good,” Fred Lynch, the Laney assistant coach, said later, “but we wanted him to play more and we thought the jayvee was better for him.” He easily became the best player on the jayvee that year. He simply dominated the play, and he did it not by size but with quickness. There were games in which he would score forty points. He was so good, in fact, that the jayvee games became quite popular. The entire varsity began to come early so they could watch him play in the jayvee games.
Smith noticed that while Jordan had been wildly competitive before he had been cut, after the cut he seemed even more competitive than ever, as if determined that it would never happen again. His coaches noticed it, too. “The first time I ever saw him, I had no idea who Michael Jordan was. I was helping to coach the Laney varsity,” said Ron Coley. “We went over to Goldsboro, which was our big rival, and I entered the gym when the jayvee game was just ending up. There were nine players on the court just coasting, but there was one kid playing his heart out. The way he was playing I thought his team was down one point with two minutes to play. So I looked up at the clock and his team was down twenty points and there was only one minute to play. It was Michael, and I quickly learned he was always like that.”
Between the time he was cut and the start of basketball in his junior year, Jordan grew about four inches. The speed had always been there, and now he was stronger, and he could dunk .His hands had gotten much bigger, Smith noticed. He was as driven as ever, the hardest-working player on the team in practice. If he thought that his teammates were not working hard enough, he would get on them himself, and on occasion he pushed the coaches to get on them. Suddenly Laney High had the beginning of a very good basketball team, and its rising star was Michael Jordan.
27
Winston Churchill :His Other Life
My father, Winston Churchill, began his love affair with painting in his 40s, amid disastrous circumstances. As First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915, he was deeply involved in a campaign in the Dardanelles that could have shortened the course of a bloody world war. But when the mission failed, with great loss of life, Churchill paid the price, both publicly and privately. He was removed from the admiralty and effectively sidelined.
Overwhelmed by the catastrophe — “I thought he would die of grief,” said his wife, Clementine —he retired with his family to Hoe Farm, a country retreat in Surrey. There, as Churchill later recalled, “The muse of painting came to my rescue!”
Wandering in the garden one day, he chanced upon his sister-in-law sketching with watercolors. He watched her for a few minutes, then borrowed her brush and tried his hand. The muse had cast her spell!
Churchill soon decided to experiment with oils. Delighted with this
distraction from his dark broodings, Clementine rushed off to buy whatever paints she could find.
For Churchill, however, the next step seemed difficult as he contemplated with unaccustomed nervousness the blameless whiteness of a new canvas. He started with the sky and later described how “very gingerly I mixed a little blue paint on the palette, and then with infinite precaution made a mark about as big as a bean upon the affronted snow-white shield. At that moment the sound of a motor car was heard in the drive. From this chariot stepped the gifted wife of Sir John Lavery .”
“ ?Painting!? she declared. ?But what are you hesitating about? Let me have the brush — the big one.? Splash into the turpentine, wallop into the blue and the white, frantic flourish on the palette, and then several fierce strokes and slashes of blue on the absolutely cowering canvas.”
At that time, John Lavery— a Churchill neighbor and celebrated painter— was tutoring Churchill in his art. Later, Lavery said of his unusual pupil: “Had he chosen painting instead of statesmanship, I believe he would have been a great master with the brush.”
In painting, Churchill had discovered a companion with whom he was to walk for the greater part of the years that remained to him. After the war, painting would offer deep solace when, in 1921, the death of the mother was followed two months later by the loss of his and Clementine?s beloved three-year-old daughter, Marigold. Battered by grief, Winston took refuge at the home of friends in Scotland, finding comfort in his painting. He wrote to Clementine: “I went out and painted a beautiful river in the afternoon light with crimson and golden hills in the background. Alas I keep feeling the hurt of the Duckadilly (Marigold?s pet name).”
Historians have called the decade after 1929, when the Conservative government fell and Winston was out of office, his wilderness years. Politically he may have been wandering in barren places, a lonely fighter trying to awaken Britain to the menace of Hitler, but artistically that wilderness bore abundant fruit. During these years he often painted in the South of France. Of the 500-odd canvases extant, roughly 250 date from 1930 to 1939.
Painting remained a joy to Churchill to the end of his life. “Happy are the painters,” he had written in his book Painting as a Pastime, “ for they shall not be lonely. Light and color, peace and hope, will keep
them company to the end of the day.” And so it was for my father.
28
a great friendship
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison met in 1776.Could it have been any other year? They worked together starting then to further American Revolution and later to shape the new scheme of government. From the work sprang a friendship perhaps incomparable in intimacy and the trustfulness of collaboration and induration. It lasted 50 years. It included pleasure and utility but over and above them, there were shared purpose, a common end and an enduring goodness on both sides. Four and a half months before he died, when he was ailing, debt-ridden, and worried about his impoverished family, Jefferson wrote to his longtime friend. His words and Madison's reply remind us that friends are friends until death. They also remind us that sometimes a friendship has a bearing on things larger than the friendship itself, for has there ever been a friendship of greater public consequence than this one?
"The friendship which has subsisted between us now half a century, the harmony of our po1itical principles and pursuits have been sources of constant happiness to me through that long period. It's also been a great solace to me to believe that you're engaged in vindicating to posterity the course that we've pursued for preserving to them, in all their purity, their blessings of self-government, which we
had assisted in acquiring for them. If ever the earth has beheld a system of administration conducted with a single and steadfast eye to the general interest and happiness of those committed to it, one which, protected by truth, can never known reproach, it is that to which our lives have been devoted. To myself you have been a pillar of support throughout life. Take care of me when dead and be assured that I should leave with you my last affections."
A week later Madison replied-
"You cannot look back to the long period of our private friendship and political harmony with more affecting recollections than I do. If they are a source of pleasure to you, what aren?t they not to be to me? We cannot be deprived of the happy consciousness of the pure devotion to the public good with Which we discharge the trust committed to us and I indulge a confidence that sufficient evidence
will find in its way to another generation to ensure, after we are gone, whatever of justice may be withheld whilst we are here. "
29
Fossett makes history
Flying from horizon to horizon, Steve Fossett completed the first nonstop, flight 'round-the-world without refueling on Thursday afternoon, landing gracefully in Kansas at 2:49 pm ET.
A cheering crowd gathered to usher the GlobalFlyer and its 60-year-old pilot into the record books, something that has become almost routine for Fossett in recent years. The aviator now holds three record-breaking circumnavigations of the globe, the two others by balloon and sailboat.
"It's something I've wanted to do for a long time," Fossett said as he stepped out of the plane, his legs wobbly after nearly three days in the cockpit. "It has been a major ambition of mine."
The sometimes tense journey across three oceans and dozens of countries began in Salina, Kansas, on Monday evening. The 25,000-mile (40,234 kilometer) voyage took 67 hours and two minutes. It was financed by Fossett's longtime friend and investor, Richard Branson, who heads Virgin Atlantic Airways.
As GlobalFlyer approached the airport, Fossett deployed small parachutes to slow the craft down.
After touching down smoothly, Fossett taxied the plane toward a hangar and Branson waved a black-and-white checkered flag as the jet came to a stop. Fossett's flight team opened a bottle of champagne onto the runway.
GlobalFlyer was built by Scaled Composites, the same firm that designed and launched the world's first civilian manned spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, last year.
Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer and head of Scaled Composites, said the plane, and the pilot, performed admirably.
Despite the successful homecoming, the GlobalFlyer encountered dark moments during its flight.
At one point, controllers thought the plane would run out of fuel far short of its target. Fossett and the GlobalFlyer team considered abandoning the trip when they were over Hawaii on Wednesday because the experimental plane came up about 2,600 pounds of fuel short after taking off. The jet burns 102 pounds of fuel per hour. The team speculated that fuel was vented from four tanks shortly after takeoff.
Fossett decided to press on because of favorable tail winds.
"If I have engine trouble, there will be no trouble with gliding," Fossett had said earlier in the day before landing.
When more data arrived from the aircraft, projections showed the fuel would propel the aircraft throughout its entire 25,000-mile trip.
30
Nowadays, auto-flush motion sensor toilets are in schools, airports, hotels, and tourist spots around the world. But do you know who invented this modern convenience? The answer may surprise you. It was Teng Hung-Chi of Nantou, Taiwan, who was only 19 when he created the original sensor urinal!
Teng's inspiration came in 1983 during an exhausting1 day of work as a mechanic. While using the restroom, Teng didn't want to dirty the urinal by pressing the flush button with his greasy hands. He began thinking about how to combine an infrared sensor with a water valve. Two months later, his invention was completed, and Teng sold the patent2 for 1.5 million NT dollars! Since then, Teng's creative inventions have earned him the title "Taiwan's Edison."
When people discover that an appliance3 is broken, they often stop using it. Not Teng, though. Since childhood, he has enjoyed learning about such appliances by taking them apart. His curiosity and persistence4 have helped him create many quality innovations.5 For Teng, inventing is nothing more than changing the status quo.
Teng's passionate interest in inventing has helped him win many prizes at the annual World Invention Contest. But behind these prestigious1 awards lie days and nights of continuous hard work.
For example, in 1999, Teng's "Remote Control Pager Device" made him the first Asian winner of the Genius Prize at the Nuremberg World Invention Exhibition. This invention can control every single
appliance in a building from far away! During his award acceptance speech, Teng thanked retailers in Taiwan. If Teng was inspired and needed components, he would knock on the doors of these retailers, even in the middle of the night! Their doors were always open to him.
In addition to his lifelong interest in inventing things himself, Teng is also devoted to educating others about invention. The 40-year-old Teng encourages people to pursue2 fantastic notions3 and make them reality, instead of being limited by conventional4 thinking.
"As long as you can endure loneliness and you never give up, becoming an inventor isn't difficult at all," Teng says. "If every school cultivated just one outstanding5 inventor, our country would definitely benefit from spectacular inventions!"
31
British "Angle of the Beach" named Child of the Year
Tilly Smith, the 11-year-old British girl, who was called as "Angle of the Beach", saved 100 tourists from a Thai beach hit by last year's tsunami and has been named Child of the Year by readers of a French children's newspaper.
She came ahead of a South African Aids orphan, a six-year-old girl who survived a kidnapping by paedophiles and a young Parisian pop singer to win the Mon Quotidien award.
Tilly had studied tsunamis with her geography teacher, Andrew Kearney, shortly before flying to Thailand for a holiday with her parents and younger sister last year.
As she watched the waves suddenly begin to recede, and the sea was bubbling,she warned her mother, Penny, that the beach was about to be struck by a tsunami. Mrs Smith and her husband, Colin, alerted other holidaymakers and hotel staff and scores of people were cleared from Maikhao beach at Phuket.
Tilly, now 11, and back in Thailand for anniversary commemorations of the disaster, said: "It's really good, just to know about tsunamis or any natural hazard in case you are in one.
"I'm very glad that I was able to say on the beach that a tsunami was coming. And I'm glad that they listened to me."
She had earlier said that the state of the sea, which was "sizzling and bubbling" was "exactly the same as in my geography lesson".
Tilly read a Thai poem entitled Tsunami at a candle-light vigil（守夜） to commemorate victims of the disaster.
She is unaware of her remarkable popularity among French children. Her picture appears on the front page of Mon Quotidien, which is read by 10 to 14-year-olds.
"Our readers chose Tilly because they could identify with her," said Fran?ois Dufour, the editor-in-chief. "To be a pop star at 11 seems impossible, and the idea of having Aids or being kidnapped is remote from their lives."
32
Born Sofia Scicolone, on Sept. 20, 1934, in Rome. An illegitimate child of Romilda Villani and Riccardo Scicolone, she grew up in dire poverty, in the slums of Pozzuoli, just outside Naples during wartime. Her mother, a frustrated actress, instilled starring aspirations in the skinny little Sofia (she was nicknamed Stechetto--the stick--at the time). Her first taste of glamour came at fourteen when she was crowned one of twelve "Princesses of the Sea" in a beauty contest ---- an honor for which she earned a railroad ticket to Rome, and 23,000 lira (about $35).
Sofia met producer and future husband Carlo Ponti while competing in another beauty contest. Though she placed second, Ponti gave her a screen test and he advanced her career in a succession of low-budget Italian productions. Sofia Lazzaro, as she was then known, became Sophia Loren in 1952. Sophia then came to Hollywood. She signed a contract with Paramount for her first English-speaking role. Once on the set, she fell in love with her co-star Cary Grant.
Though she had been involved romantically with Carlo Ponti (he was married with two children) from the age of eighteen, Sophia had suffered through years of frustration while he attempted to obtain an annulment from the church. Loren and Ponti, 24 years her senior, were married in 1957, following his Mexican divorce from his estranged wife. In 1961 she received an Academy Award for "La Ciociara" ("Two Women"). This beautiful lady then became one of the major sex symbol of the sixties, competing with Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda.
Unfortunately the Italian law did not recognize the divorce and charged them with bigamy. They were forced to have their marriage annulled in 1962, and after four more years of frustration turned in their Italian passports and became citizens of France, where they were finally legally married in 1966. Sophia gained wider respect with her later movies like "Cassandra Crossing" (1976), "Una Giornata Particolare" (1977) and "Pret a Porter" (1994). A lot of her movies were produced by her husband.
33
Ted Turner
--the founder of CNN
The walls of Ted Turner's international headquarters，14 floors above downtown Atlanta，are lined with Oscar statuettes．If you try to pick one up，for example，the actual best-production award for Casablanca，you will discover that they are all firmly bolted to their glass display shelves，and Turner's aides will break their frowns to laugh at you．
Turner is the 63-year-old multibillionaire founder of CNN，former champion sailor，Rhett Butler lookalike and record－breaking philanthropist．
Turner has just emerged from the worst two years of his life -- years that he has said left him feeling"suicidal"．In spring 2000，he was suddenly sidelined from the broadcasting company he had built from scratch．Then his wife of eight years，the actress Jane Fonda，came home one night and informed him that she was now a born－again Christian；they divorced last year．Two of his grandchildren developed a rare genetic disorder，and one died．Turner's friends said he was inconsolable．Then，just when he felt it could get no worse，he brought the wrath of America upon himself by a speech in Rhode Island saying that the September 11 hijackers had been"brave"．
Then he threw himself into his charity work．Turner's UN Foundation，the biggest of his three charities，recently spent ＄22.2 in one month combating intestinal parasites in Vietnamese children，reducing China's greenhouse-gas emissions and helping women from Burkina Faso start businesses selling nut butter．
Nigel Pritchard，CNN's head of international public relations，who is sitting beside me，has prepared a memo outlining some things his
boss might like to consider not saying．It politely suggests that he might steer clear of talking about AOL Time Warner，and，specifically，he might like to avoid reference to that Rhode Island speech．Turner is notorious for doing as he pleases．Early in his career，he made a pitch wearing no clothes to advertising executives；later，he went to Cuba to get Fidel Castro to tape a promotional slot for CNN．
He has various worldsaving projects：from preventing the extinction of the Chiricahua leopard frog in the wilds of New Mexico to founding an influential nuclear non－proliferation institute．Turner really does seem to see himself as locked in a personal battle against apocalypse．He doesn't just give money：his staff are sometimes taken aback to see him skulking in the streets nearby，picking up litter．
When Turner gave his first billion to the UN，he dropped 67 laces on the Forbes 500 rich list，out of the top 10 for ever．（His fortune now stands at$ 3.8 bn．）
It isn't hard to see how Turner's childhood might have instilled this sense of permanent crisis，of desperate insecurity，behind the frenzied activity that is his trademark．His father，from whom he inherited an advertising business that he turned into CNN，was prone to fits of rage，and beat him with a coathanger；he committed suicide when Turner was24．Even before that，his younger sister had died from an immune disease when she was 12，and Ted was sent to a boarding school he hated．His father，he has said，not without admiration，believed that instilling insecurity in his son would help him to achieve．All in all，Turner seems to have been a well-qualified candidate for total psychic collapse．"But when everything goes wrong，"he says today，"you can either give up or you can try to fight．I tried to fight．"
After a brief spell in the armed forces，he ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business，purchasing a radio station and using empty billboards to advertise it．His radio empire grew，and expanded to local television．By 1980，he was launching CNN，although it was not until the Gulf war that the often－derided channel came into its own．He created the Cartoon Network，and bought hundreds of old MGM films，which he recycled on another lucrative channel，Turner Classic Movies．His firm eventually merged with Time Warner．But then came AOL，and Gerald Levin，the chief executive of the new giant，decided he didn't need Turner -- or perhaps couldn't tolerate his unpredictability．Levin is gone now，and his replacement，Richard Parsons，has brought Turner back into the fold in a new vice-chairman
position．The line from corporate communications is that Turner is back in the saddle．But this is not how Turner sees it．
34
George Soros -- the financial crocodile
George Soros wants to be the Bono of the financial world. The speculator whose assault on sterling ejected Britain from the European exchange rate mechanism that September of 10 years ago has a mission－－to use his esti－mated ￡5 bn fortune and his fame to help tackle what he sees as the failures of globalisation. The idea that a man who made billions betting on the financial markets sides with the anti－globalisation movement might strike some as ironic. Soros is clearly genuinely appalled at the damage wrought on vulnerable economies by the vast sums of money which flow across national borders every day.
"The US governs the international system to protect its own economy. It is not in charge of protecting other economies, "he says. "So when America goes into recession, you have anti－recessionary policies. When other countries are in recession, they don't have the ability to engage in anti－recessionary policies because they can't have a permissive monetary policy, because money would flee. "In person, he has the air of a philosophy professor rather than a gimlet－eyed financier. In a soft voice which bears the traces of his native Hungary, he argues that it is time to rewrite the so－called Washington consensus－－the cocktail of liberalisation, privatisation and fiscal rectitude which the IMF has been preaching for 15 years. Developing countries no longer have the freedom to run their own economies, he argues, even when they follow perfectly sound policies. He cites Brazil, which although it has a floating currency and manageable public debt was paying ten times over the odds to borrow from capital markets.
Soros, who at one stage after the fall of the Berlin Wall was providing more assistance to Russia than the US government, believes in practising what he preaches.His Open Society Institute has been pivotal in helping eastern European countries develop democratic societies and market economies. Soros has the advantage of an insider's knowledge of the workings of global capitalism, so his criticism is particularly pointed. Last year, the Soros foundation's network spent nearly half a billion dollars on projects in education, public health and promoting democracy, making it one of the world's largest private donors.
Soros credits the anti－globalisation movement for having made companies more sensitive to their wider responsibilities."I think [the protesters] have made an important contribution by making people aware of the flaws of the system, "he says."People on the street had an impact on public opinion and corporations which sell to the public responded to that."Because the IMF has abandoned billion dollar bailouts for troubled economies, he thinks a repeat of the Asian crisis is unlikely.The fund's new"tough love"policy－－for which Argentina is the guinea pig －－ has other consequences. The bailouts were a welfare system for Wall Street, with western taxpayers rescuing the banks from the consequences of unwise lending to emerging economies. Now the IMF has drawn a line in the sand, credit to poor countries is drying up."It has created a new problem－－the inadequacy of the flow of capital from centre to the periphery, " he says.
The one economy Soros is not losing any sleep about is the US."I am much more positive about the underlying economy than I am about the market, because we are waging war not only terrorism but also on recession, "he says."Although we don't admit it, we are actually applying Keynesian remedies, and I am a confirmed Keynesian. I have not yet seen an economy in recession when you are gearing up for war."He worries that the world's largest economic power is not living up to its responsibilities."I would like the United States to live up to the responsibilities of its hegemonic power because it is not going to give up its hegemonic power, "he says."The only thing that is realistic is for the United States to become aware that it is in its enlightened self－interest to ensure that the rest of the world benefits from their role."
35
Bringing Back Honor
When Ensign Andrew Lee Muns suddenly vanished nearly 34 years ago, the U.S. Navy branded him a deserter and a thief. It was 1968; the U.S. was waging an increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam and sailors went missing all the time. Muns was the new paymaster aboard the USS Cacapon, a refueling ship based at Subic Bay in the Philippines. When he dissapeared, the Navy discovered that $8,600 was missing from the ship's safe; since Muns had access to safe, officials decided that he had taken the money and run. Case closed.
But Muns' sister, Mary Lou Taylor, couldn't accept the official version of her brother's disappearance. She vowed to uncover the truth and
restore her family's honor. "It broke my father's heart … He literally had a heart attack three years later," said Taylor." I'm not blaming the Navy for his heart attack, but it was harder than just losing a son."
In the mid-1970s, after years of holding out hope that Muns might return, his family decided to have him declared legally dead. But when they asked the Navy to supply an American flag to present to his family at the memorial service, the Navy refused .
Eventually, Taylor decided to change that. She turned to the Internet, posting a message on a Vietnam veterans' message board looking for sailors who served with her brother on the Cacapon.
In a stroke of luck, a former member of that crew, Tim Rosaire, had just logged on to the bulletin board for the first time.
"I instantly knew what it was," he said. "I wrote her back saying, 'Yes, and I may have been one of the last people to see him." "I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't have stolen the money," said Rosaire, who supplied Taylor with names and some photographs of other crew members.
Taylor tracked down the ship's captain, only to learn that he had recently died. But his widow told Taylor her husband had been haunted by Muns' disappearance, suspecting that Muns may have been the victim of foul play.
Taylor combed through the Navy's original reports of the investigation, and found things that didn't add up. "There were people on the ship who were deliberately lying to create a motive for why Andy would have left," she concluded. And while $8,600 was missing, there was $51,000 left the safe. If her brother had stolen the money, why not all of it?
The Muns family wanted the case reopened, but the Navy said substantial new evidence was needed to do so.
So in the mid-1990s, Taylor set out to find that evidence. She found the agent who had originally investigated the case for the Naval Investigative Service, Ray McGady. McGady helped Taylor get the attention of Pete Hughes, head of the newly created "cold-case" squad at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Hughes soon agreed that there were a number of questions that
remained unanswered. Thirty years later, for the first time, the focus now shifted from a theft to a homicide. Hughes assembled a team of homicide investigators, including a criminal profiler. They studied the statements from 1968 and began reinterviewing crew members.
Suspicion began to focus on several former crew members, including Michael LeBrun, He had access to the safe and was one of the first to suggest that Muns might have deserted.
Eventually, LeBrun's defenses crumbled, and he described in detail how he had strangled Muns. He said that he had stolen the money and that Muns had caught him. LeBrun said he panicked and killed the ensign. Lebrun explained how he dumped the body in one of the ship's huge oil tanks. Muns' body was never found.
The interview was recorded on videotape. Lebrun was charged with murder. But he pleaded not guilty and is out on bail.
A federal judge has agreed, in part, ruling that prosecutors cannot use the videotaped confession because LeBrun's constitutional rights were violated. Without a legal and reliable confession, the government does not have much of a case.
But Taylor said she finally got what she was looking for. 33 years after Muns disappeared aboard the Cacapon, a ceremonial casket covered with an American flag made its way to a gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery. Friends, family and naval criminal investigators came from around the country to watch as Muns was given full honors in recognition of his service to the Navy and his country.
36
The Century’s Greatest Minds
Albert Einstein
The scientific touchstones of the modern age——the Bomb, space travel, electronics, Quantum physics——all bear his imprint.
Einstein had conjured the whole business, it seemed. He did not invent the “thought experiment”, but he raised it to high art. Imagine twins , wearing identical watches; one stays home, while the other rides in a spaceship near the speed of light … little wonder that from 1919, Einstein was——and remains today——the world?s most famous scientist.
In his native Germany he became a target for hatred . As a Jew, a liberal, a humanist, an internationalist, he attracted the enmity of rationalist and anti-semites. His was now a powerful voice, widely heard, always attended to , especially after he moved to the U.S. He used it to promote zionism, pacifism, in his secret 1939 letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the construction of a uranium bomb.
Meanwhile, like any demigod, he made bits of legend: that he failed math in school (not true). That he opened a book and found an uncashed $1,500 check he had left as a bookmark (maybe---he was absentminded about everyday affairs).That he was careless about socks, collars, slippers … that he couldn?t even remember his address: 112 Mercer Street in Princeton, where he finally settled.
He died there in 1955 And after the rest of Einstein had been cremated, his brain remained, soaking for decades in a jar of formaldehyde belonging to Dr. Thomas Harvey. No one had bothered to dissect the brain of Freud, Stravinsky or Joyce, but in the 1980s, bits of Einsteinian gray matter were making the rounds of certain neurobiologists, who thus learned … absolutely nothing. It was just a brain——the brain that dreamed a plastic fourth dimension, that banished the ether, that released the pins binding us to absolute space and time, that refused to believe God played dice.
In embracing Einstein, our century took leave of a prior universe and an erstwhile God. The new versions were not so rigid and deterministic as the Newtonian world. Einstein?s. God was no clockmaker, but the embodiment of reason in nature. This God did not control our actions or even sit in judgment on them. (“Einstein, stop telling God what to do,” Niels Bohr Finally retorted.) This God seemed rather kindly and absentminded, as a matter of fact . Physics was free, and we too are free, in the Einstein universe which is where we live.
Einstein?s Theory of Relativity
Special Relativity
Relativity says that light always moves in a straight line through empty space, and always at the same speed in a vacuum, no matter what your observation point. From these simple claims follow bizarre consequence that challenge common sense and our perception of reality.
* A moving clock runs slower than a stationary one from the perspective of a stationary observer.
* A moving object appears to shrink in the direction of motion, as seen by a stationary observer
General Relativity
In general relativity, time is considered a dimension like height, width and depth, creating a four dimensional universe called space-time. Einstein argued that gravity is really a warping of space-time,with the greatest distortions near the most massive objects. Because light travels in a straight line through the contours of space-time, a light beam will curve where space-time curves, this curving was first measured in 1919
37
The Master of Investment: Warren Buffett
For someone who is such an extraordinarily successful investor, Warren Buffett comes off as a pretty ordinary guy. Born and bred in Omaha, Nebraska, for more than 40 years Buffett has lived in the same gray stucco house on Farnam Street that he bought for $31,500. He wears rumpled, nondescript suits, drives his own car, drinks Cherry Coke, and is more likely to be found in a Dairy Queen than a four－star restaurant.
But the 68－year－old Omaha native has led an extraordinary life. Looking back on his childhood, one can see the budding of a savvy businessman. Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, the middle child of three. His father, Howard Buffett, came from a family of grocers but himself became a stockbroker and later a U. S. congressman.
Even as a young child, Buffett was pretty serious about making money. He used to go door－to－door and sell soda pop. He and a friend used math to develop a system for picking winners in horseracing and started selling their"Stable－Boy Selections"tip sheets until they were shut down for not having a license. Later, he also worked at his grandfather's grocery store. At the ripe age of 11, Buffett bought his first stock.
When his family moved to Washington, D. C. , Buffett became a paperboy for The Washington Post and its rival the Times－Herald.
Buffett ran his five paper routes like an assembly line and even added magazines to round out his product offerings. While still in school, he was making $175 a month, a full－time wage for many young men.
When he was 14, Buffett spent $1,200 on 40 acres of farmland in Nebraska and soon began collecting rent from a tenant farmer. He and a friend also made $50 a week by placing pinball machines in barber shops. They called their venture Wilson Coin Operated Machine Co.
Already a successful albeit small－time businessman, Buffett wasn't keen on going to college but ended up at Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania－－his father encouraged him to go. After two years at Wharton, Buffett transferred to his parents'alma mater, the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, for his final year of college. There Buffett took a job with the Lincoln Journal supervising 50 paper boys in six rural counties.
Buffett applied to Harvard Business School but was turned down in what had to be one of the worst admissions decisions in Harvard history. The outcome ended up profoundly affecting Buffett's life, for he ended up attending Columbia Business School, where he studied under revered mentor Benjamin Graham, the father of securities analysis who provided the foundation for Buffett's investment strategy.
From the beginning, Buffett made his fortune from investing. He started with all the money he had made from selling pop, delivering papers, and operating pinball machines. Between 1950 and 1956, he grew his $9,800 kitty to $14,000. From there, he organized investment partnerships with his family and friends, and then gradually drew in other investors through word of mouth and very attractive terms.
Buffett's goal was to top the Dow Jones Industrial Average by an average of 10% a year. Over the length of the Buffett partnership between 1957 and 1969, Buffett's investments grew at a compound annual rate of 29.5%, crushing the Dow's return of 7.4% over the same period.
Buffett's investment strategy mirrors his lifestyle and overall philosophy. He doesn't collect houses or cars or works of art, and he disdains companies that waste money on such extravagances as limousines, private dining rooms, and high－priced real estate. He is a creature of habit－－same house, same office, same city, same soda
－－and dislikes change. In his investments, that means holding on to "core holdings"such as American Express, Coca－Cola, and The Washington Post Co. "forever. "
Buffett's view of inherited money also departs from the norm. Critical of the self－indulgence of the super－rich, Buffett thinks of inheritances as"privately funded food stamps"that keep children of the rich from leading normal, independent lives. With his own three kids, he gave them each $10,000 a year－－the tax－deductible limit－－at Christmas. When he gave them a loan, they had to sign a written agreement. When his daughter, also named Susie like her mother, needed $20 to park at the airport, he made her write him a check for it.
As for charity, Buffett's strict standards have made it difficult for him to give much away. He evaluates charities the same way he looks for stocks：value for money, return on invested capital. He has established the Buffett Foundation, designed to accumulate money and give it away after his and his wife's deaths－－though the foundation has given millions to organizations involved with population control, family planning, abortion, and birth control. The argument goes that Buffett can actually give away a greater sum in the end by growing his money while he's still alive.
One thing's for sure about Buffett：He 's happy doing what he's doing. "I get to do what I like to do every single day of the year, "he says. "I get to do it with people I like, and I don't have to associate with anybody who causes my stomach to churn. I tap dance to work, and when I get there I think I'm supposed to lie on my back and paint the ceiling. It's tremendous fun." It's fun to watch the master at work, too.
38
Marathon boy, four, runs into storm of exploitation claims
For his armies of cheering fans in India's slums(在印度贫民窟中众多兴奋的仰慕者看来), he is a small but nimble miracle, destined to run his way into history as one of the world's greatest athletes.
Budhia Singh, a four-year-old urchin, can complete a 26-mile marathon faster than many runners who are twice his height and many times his age.
But just as fame and fortune beckon - and a trip to Britain to star in a
television documentary(电视记录片) - doctors who have examined the child phenomenon have laid down an early finishing line to his career(提前为其运动生涯划上了句号).
Alarmed at television footage of him collapsing in the final stages of a record-breaking 43-mile run, Indian health officials ordered police to take him into hospital on Friday for tests to see if the intense exercise was damaging his young body.
Results delivered yesterday confirmed those fears - with doctors warning that he will soon be a physical wreck.
"Making a child this age run marathons on a regular basis will lead to him being physically burnt out in a few years", said Dr Manabendra Bhattacharya of the Sports Authority of India, who discovered that Budhia had abnormally high pulse and blood pressure readings. "It's not desirable to submit such a young body to so much stress and strain. Those who think they're doing the child a service by promoting him to run such long distances are causing him terrible damage."
Budhia - hailed as the world's youngest marathon runner, although he has no birth certificate to prove his age - is now the subject of a legal wrangle between the state authorities and his coach, who stands accused of exploiting and maltreating the boy.
The controversy is being played out amid huge media interest in the boy's story, a tale of rags to riches that has transfixed the Indian public. The son of an illiterate dishwasher mother and an alcoholic beggar father, Budhia was sold for 800 rupees (?10) to a street hawker after his father died three years ago.
His physical stamina was spotted by a judo coach, Biranchi Das, who caught him bullying another child near his club one day and ordered him to him run round an athletics track as a punishment. When he returned five hours later, expecting the child to be long gone, he found him still doing laps.
Since then Mr Das, who claims to have legally adopted him, has been training him up, feeding him a high-protein diet of meat, eggs, milk and soya beans. He runs up to 20 miles every second day, and has taken part in six big races, bringing offers of lucrative sponsorship deals, according to Mr Das.
But his achievements have been less well received by some
government officials, who are anxious to counter India's image as a country that turns a blind eye to child exploitation. Pramila Malik, a minister of state for women and child welfare, accused Mr Das of turning the boy into "a performing monkey".
Mr Das, 39, said that he was making no money out of Budhia and insisted he only had the child's interests at heart. "I have a doctor check on him every few days and he's fine," he said.
He has the backing of Budhia's mother, Sukanti Singh, 35, and her son is likewise unconcerned. "I love running, I never get tired," he said.
Budhia is due to fly to London on May 15 at the behest of British-based Touch Productions, which is making a documentary about him for Five and the Discovery Channel. Touch says that it is paying the expenses of the trip but that no fee is being paid to the boy, his mother or carers.
British experts sided with Dr Bhattacharya. Richard Godfrey, a sports science lecturer and former chief physiologist at the British Olympic Medical Centre, said: "This lad will probably stop growing soon because the impact from his running will have damaged the ends of his bones."
Malcolm Brinkworth, the executive producer of Touch Productions, stressed that the health concerns would be raised. "We are making an objective documentary, looking very carefully at the issues involved. We're not trying to be part of any process of exploiting this child," he said.
39
Rags to Riches
Chris Gardner tells 20/20 how he worked to move himself from a life of homelessness to a successful life as a businessman.
Gardner is the head of his own brokerage firm and lives in a Chicago Townhouse--one of his three homes with a collection of tailored suits, designer shoes, and Miles Davis albums.
His path to this extraordinary success took a series of extraordinary turns. Just 20 years ago, Gardner was homeless and living, on occasion, in a bathroom at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, Calif.
Gardner was raised by his mother, a schoolteacher. He says he never knew his father while he was growing up. But his mother had a way of keeping him grounded when he dreamed of things like being a jazz trumpeter.
"Mothers have a way of saying things," Gardner said, "She explained to me, 'Son, there's only one Miles Davis and he got that job. So you have to do something else. But what that something else was, I did not know.'"
Gardner credits his uncles with providing the male influence he needed. Many of them were military veterans. So, straight out of high school, he enlisted in the Navy for four years. He says it gave him a sense of what was possible.
A Red Ferrari and a Turning Point
After the military, Gardner took a job as a medical supply salesman. Then, he says, he reached another turning point in his life. In a parking lot, he met a man driving a red Ferrari." He was looking for a parking space. And I said, 'You can have mine. But I gotta ask you two questions.' The two questions were: What do you do? And how do you do that? Turns out this guy was a stockbroker and he was making $80,000 a month."
Gardner began knocking on doors, applying for training programs at brokerages, even though it meant he would have to live on next to nothing while he learned. When he finally was accepted into a program, he left his job in medical sales. But his plans collapsed as suddenly as they had materialized. The man who offered him the training slot was fired, and Gardner had no job to go back to.
Things got worse. He was hauled off to jail for $1,200 in parking violations that he couldn't pay. His wife left him. Then she asked him to care for their young son without her. Despite his lack of resources, Gardner said, "I made up my mind as a young kid that when I had children, my children were gonna know who their father was." Although a broker finally helped him enter a training program, Gardner wound up with no place to live. He was collecting a meager stipend as a brokerage trainee, and, like many working poor in America, he had a job but couldn't make ends meet.
The Kindness of Strangers
When he could afford it, he stayed with his son, Chris Jr., in cheap motels. When they returned home at night, Gardner says, he received help from some unexpected sources. “The ladies of the evening were beginning their shift. And they would always see myself, this baby and the stroller.
”So they started giving him $5 bills. Without their help, Gardner said, there would have been nights when he couldn?t have fed his son. The Rev. Cecil Williams, founder of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, remembers the first time he saw Gardner, who had gone to the church with his son to stand in a meal line. He said, “I wondered, ?What in the world is a man doing with a baby??
Even to Williams, it was an unusual sight. The Urban Institute estimates that children make up 25 percent of the nation?s homeless population, but most are living with a single mother,not the father.
It Is a Green Thing
With Williams? help and a room supplied by Glide Memorial when he needed it, Gardner not only made it through the brokerage training program, he passed his licensing exam on the first try.
Gardner went to work making cold calls at the firm of Dean Witter. He says no one at the firm knew he was homeless. “I was the first one at work, I was the last one to leave。 I’d be on the phone, 200 phone calls a day. That’s what they noticed,” he said. “Every time I picked up that phone, I was digging my way out of this hole.”
” Gardner moved on to Bear, Stearns. As he learned the business, he also learned that it came with some unpleasant baggage. Because African-American brokers were rare, one phone customer, assuming that Gardner was white, told racist jokes as he placed his orders. When the client came for a face-to-face meeting, Gardner says, “He was either gonna close his account with me or I was gonna get all his business.”
Gardner kept the account.“That?s when I learned in this business it?s not a black thing, it?s not a white thing, it?s a green thing. If you can make me money, I don?t care what color you are.”
In 1987, with $10,000 in capital, Gardner started his own company in Chicago，operating at first from his home. His company is now an institutional brokerage firm with offices in Chicago?s financial district.
Ironically, when San Francisco?s Bay Area Rapid Transit System issued new bonds to raise money a few years ago, one of the underwriters was Gardner's company run by a man who, when he was homeless, had bathed his son in the bathroom of one of its train stations.
No Books, No Bucks
He has donated money to educational projects in memory of his mother. And he has been honored for his work on behalf of an organization called Career Gear, which helps clothe and advise young people who are applying for jobs.
When he speaks at high schools he keeps his message simple, telling students: “No books, no bucks. That?s it.”
He also has returned many times to Glide Memorial in San Francisco, not only to donate money, but to work on the food line where he used to stand. “I see me, I see my son 20 years ago,”he said. “And I know how important this meal is to that individual, to that man, that woman.”
40
（励志名言）
Knowledge is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone. -- Emerson
Real knowledge, like everything else of value, is not to be obtained easily, it must be worked for, studied for, thought for, and more than all, must be prayed for. -- Thomas Arnold
Knowledge comes from experience alone.
Knowledge makes humble, ignorance makes proud.
Knowledge is power. -- Bacon
Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it.
Knowledge is the food of the soul. -- Plato
Knowledge, in truth, is the great sun in the firmament. Life and power are scattered with all its beams. -- Daniel Webster
Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist.
Learning is the eye of the mind.
Learn young, learn fair.
What is learned in the cradle is carried to the grave.
Learn from the mistakes of others and prevent your own.
最后祝大家SAT考试出色发挥！
Good Luck!
寄托天下
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