听写VOA Special English直到感觉像母语一样亲切!

听写大水楼开始起盖 come on!!!!!!!!
The social security system in the United States provides (motley) payments to retired people and the disabled. Most of the money comes form a wage tax paid by workers and employers. For now, Social security collects more money than it pays out. The surplus goes into a trust fund for workers who will retire in the future. But the future will have more retirees and fewer workers to support them. Last June the congressional budget office said social security is expected to have a deficit beginning in two thousand nineteen. President Bush says now is the time to act. On Wednesday, after the first news conference of his second (turn) he said the program will be out of money in two thousand forty two. Mr. Bush wants congress to make changes. But there is intense debate about how much (fixing) this popular program needs. Social security was born out of the great depression. Poverty spread during this period from nineteen twenty-nine to the beginning of World War Two. Many leaders spoke of creating a system to guarantee payments to the disabled and the retired. Critics called it socialism.

Some states created their own plans. President F wanted a national system that could pay for itself. He proposed the social security act in January of nineteen thirty-five. Congress passed the law that year. But payments did not start until nineteen forty. Until then, money gathered in the trust fund so the program could start with a surplus. At first, social security was meant to provide a small amount of money to retired industrial workers. In time, other jobs were added. The government also offered benefits to people who survived the death of someone on social security. In nineteen sixty-five, President L and congress added two programs to offer medical benefits. Medicare for old Americans and Medicaid for the poor are no longer under the social security administration. In nineteen eighty-three social security faced a deficit. Congress agreed to increase the retirement age and social security taxes. Lawmakers also required all federal workers to be in the system. These changes were meant to fix the system for seventy-five years until around two thousand sixty. Next week, we look out the current debate about the future of social security.

One out of six Americans receive money form the social security system. Monthly payments go to retired workers and disabled people and to their survivors. Two-thirds of Americans age sixty-five and older depend on social security for at least half the money they get. The system is financed mostly by a twelve point four percent wage tax shared by workers and employers. This year, close to fifty million people will receive more than five hundred thousand million dollars in benefits. But in his state of the union speech Wednesday night President Bush said with each passing year fewer workers are paying ever-higher benefits to an ever-larger number of retirees. Thirteen years for now he said social security will be paying out more than it takes in. In his words, we must pass reforms that solve the financial problems of social security once and for all. His proposals face resistance not only opposition democrats but also some republicans. It is often said that politician’s brisk political (death) if they touch social security. Experts say any change will probably reduce future benefits. Yet, no one can even know what the population will be like years from now. The president said the system will not change for Americans now age fifty-five or older but he warned younger workers that social security would be out of money by two thousand forty- two. As he said that, democrats and Congress shouted no, no, no. Mister Bush said the only solutions would be higher taxes, new borrowing or sudden and severe cuts. He said the best way to make the system better for younger workers is to voluntary personal retirement accounts. He said the plan would permit workers to (set aide) four percentage points of the money the pay in social security taxes. The money would be invested in what he calls a conservative mix of bonds and stock funds. He said there would be ways to protect investments from sudden changes in the market before a person is about to retire. But democrats say younger workers could lose much of their retirement savings. A powerful group for older Americans AARP says it opposes any major changes. It says public opinion study show that most Americans want social security to remain as it is. Internet users can learn more about social security at VOA Special English.com.

Businesses are structured in different says to meet different needs. The simplest form of business is called an individual proprietorship. The proprietor owes all the property of the business and is responsible for it. This means the proprietor receives all profits but also must pay any debts. The law recognizes no difference between the owner and the business. Another kind of business is the partnership. Two or more people go into business together. An agreement is usually needed to state how much of the partnership each person controls. There are limited liability partnerships. These have full partners and limited partners. Limited partners may not share as much in the profits. But, their responsibilities are also limited. In the United States, the federal government does not tax partnerships. The partners are taxed though on the payments they receive. Doctors, lawyers and accountants often form partnerships to share the profits and risks of doing business. A husband and wife can form a business partnership. Partnerships can end at anytime. But partnerships and individual proprietorships exist only as long as the owners are alive. The most complex kind of business organization is the corporation. Corporations are designed to have an unlimited lifetime. Stock is the share of ownership in a corporation. Investors who buy stock can trade their shares or keep them as long as the company is in business. A company may pay shareholders in the form of what a called (dividence). Or the company may reinvest its owning into the business. If shares lose value, investors can lose all of the money they paid for their stock. But shareholders are not responsible for the debts of the corporation. A corporation is recognized as its own legal being separate from its owners. A board of directors controls (corpo) policies. The directors appoint top company officers. The directors might or might not hold shares in the corporation. Corporations may have a few major shareholders or ownership maybe spread among the general public. Incorporating offers businesses a way to gain the investment they need to grow. But not all corporations are traditional businesses that sell stock. The American Red Cross is an example of a non-profit corporation 状态不好，听的头好大啊

He says one problem is corruption in China’s government. Major western corporations can often get around that but smaller firms may not. Local officials have their hands (out ) frequently there are (like thing) process from many kinds of business that local government officials control. Local government officials invest frequently in local business so a form firm might be in competition. With the firm that has at least a partial owner, a government official that would be in the position the influence or palm (difform) companies business prospects. In what we reported this week me met a Chinese woman who is basically at American middle-class worker making about six thousand dollars per year but was pointed out that the average person in China is making a tiny (frithenov) that may be a couple of thousand dollars a year. What is income in (the quality) going to do to China’s (suturery can economic ) growth. Well, incoming quality is increased to (materkly) particular of the last (steky) but really all dimensions in its quality have gone up the gap between farmers and roll residents has gone up between people that fortuned enough to live on the coastal and those live in the deepen (dieryor) and particularly the gap between the skilled and unskilled has gone up.好难啊！

Women lead eight of the five hundred largest American companies. The number failed last week last week when the directors of (Hular Parkod) asked K to resign. A day later, the (Saleree) corporation named B as its chief executive officer. K was the first chief executive chosen from outside (Hular Parkod). She was brought in to make changes at the technology company. Fortune magazine named her the most powerful women in business. Soon after she arrived at HP. Miz F stated that there is no glass ceiling. A lot of people thought he meant that women and minorities face no buriers to rising in companies. 人生最痛苦没过于伤风流鼻涕啊！

A research group C found that women held sixteen percent of top jobs at the largest American companies in two thousand two. Miz F said her point was that people who see possibilities do better over time than those who see limitations. Many chief executives keep their jobs just three or four years. Miz F stayed almost six. Businesses advisors B found the world average to be around eight years. Some people say K received the same treatment that a man would have received. Critics said she kept too much power to herself. They said her actions harmed financial performance. HP stock now sells for less than a half its price when she arrived. Miz F entered into the culture of a company started in a one (cargo wrash) in C in nineteen thirty-nine. In two thousand one, she announced the deal to combine HP with (Conpark) computer. Some shareholders resisted it. W, the son of one of the two men who started HP opposed the dead in court. But, shareholders approved it in March of two thousand two. Results have been mixed since the merger with (Conpark). HP has increased its share of the world computer market to almost sixteen percent. But (Dell) has grown faster. That company now holds almost twenty percent of the (Hily Conpartedeve) market. Still, HP remains the leading maker of computer printers in the world. And it is now the eleventh largest company in the United States. The ouster of K means the largest one led by a woman will be (Cerari). Cerari best known for food products is one hundred fourth on the Fortune five hundred list of top American companies.

Financial news sometimes has words that seem out of (place). Take a word like disgorgement. It has a few different uses but all describe much the same thing. For example, your stomach might disgorge some bud food you just ate. Trains disgorge passengers. In the business word, companies and individuals sometimes have to disgorge money. The insurance broker M and Mi recently agree to give eight hundred fifteen million dollars back to its customers. The New York state attorney general A.S. negotiated the deal. Mr. S accused M of directing buyers to insurance companies from witch it had received payment. He said M at times created the appearance of competition when there (was non.) So buyers ended a paying more for policies. As part of the deal, M and Mi apologized and agreed to change its way of doing business to avoid conflicts of interest. Another case brought by Mr. S involves R.G. the former chairman of the New York stock exchange. Mr. G resigned in two thousand three over public criticism of his pay. Mr. S wants the former chairman to return most of the one hundred forty million dollars he received.

Mr. S notes a report written for the exchange by a former government lawyer. That report became public this month. It says Mr. G had unfairly influenced and mislaid the officials who supervised his pay. And it says his pay was unreasonable. Mr. G disagrees. Another disgorgement case in the news involves a civil action by the government against major cigarette makers. The justice department brought the case in nineteen ninety-nine. The government says tobacco companies including (filo moros) part of the (autria) group cooperated for illegal gain. It says they tried to hide the dangerous of their products and marketed it to children. The government is seeking two hundred eighty thousand million dollars. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court in Washington DC ruled against the government. The court said the law used in this case does not require disgorgement of illegally received money. The cigarette makers now argue that other measures thought by the government are in conflict with that ruling. The government can appeal the ruling.

I and P have reached several agreements aimed at reducing the risk of a nuclear conflict between the two nations. The agreements include the establishment of a special emergency communication system between the I and P foreign ministries. The system will be used to prevent accidental nuclear attacks. The two nations also agreed to inform each other before any future missile tests. The agreements were announced in Newdaly on Saturday fowling two days of talks there. Representatives from I and P will meet again on Monday to discuss other weapon’s issues.

Officials in the northeastern Indian state of A say suspected rebel have destroyed part of an important oil pipeline. No one was reported hurt in the attack northeast of the state capital Y. but officials say several nearby homes were destroyed in a large fire that followed the explosion. The attack forced official to shut down pipeline operations. The pipeline belongs to government owned oil India limited. Indian police say they suspect a separatist group called the united liberation (frand) of (asom) was responsible for the attack.

Military officials in N say Maoist rebels have kidnapped at least two hundred and twenty people from villages in the western part of country. The officials say the rebels seized more than one hundred fifty women from four villages in the B area on July thirty first. The officials say seventy other people were kidnapped on that same day from villages in a nearby area. Officials say they do not know where the (house digious) were taken or how they are. But, the officials say rebels have taken villagers in the past to try to get them to fight government troops.

And American and A forces say they have killed eight resistance fighters in southern A. officials in Z province say three other militants were captured after coalition forces raided at Taliban hiding area on Saturday. Coalition forces say the also prevent a bomb attack at an American base in H province. A military statement says troops seized a man near a military base. It says the man has several explosives hidden on his body. They failed to explode. In central U province coalition forces killed one resitance fighter and captured six others.

Identity theft has been a subject in the news recently. It is considered on of the top crimes in the United States. The federal trade commission estimates that ten million Americans become victims of identity theft each year. Identity thieves steal personal information. They collect social security numbers, banking records and telephone numbers. They use this information to request loans or get credit cards in the name of the victim. Identity thieves spend a lot on good or services without paying for them. FTC officials estimate more than fifty-two thousand million dollars in goods and services were purchased last year through identity theft. Victims of Identity theft can spend years attempting to reestablish their financial history and good name. Some have been denied jobs or arrested for crimes in which they were not involved. Identity thieves use several methods to get what they need. The may trick people in to giving personal information over the telephone. They also may steal documents containing such information. Activist groups have called for new laws to protect the public from identity theft. Recently, a committee of the United States Senate said it would hold hearings on the issue. Two cases of identity theft help the committee to call the hearings. Last month, bank of America said it lost computer tapes containing personal information for more than one million federal employees. They include some senators and members of the defense department. Bank of America says it deeply regrets the incident. Earlier, the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported that thieves stole about one hundred fifty thousand personal records from choice point incorporated. The company sells social security numbers and credit information to other businesses. In two thousand two, a similar security violation reportedly affected about seven thousand people. American lawmakers will consider plans to increase supervision of companies that collect personal information. Several plans have been proposed to help individuals whose personal information was stolen. Another proposal would let Americans halt any investigation into their financial history without their permission. 

Insurance is a guarantee against financial lost. Insurance policies can be bought for all sorts of things. The most common kinds of insurance include life, health and property. For example, an insurance company will pay to repair or replace the property if it is damaged or stolen. How much a company will pay in the event of a claim depends on how much insurance the policyholder has bought. The amount may also depend on the conditions that led to the damage. The insurance information institute says Americans paid forty-nine thousand million dollars for (home owners) insurance in two thousand three. The payments that policyholders make to an insurance company are called (preeniamth). (preeniamth) for car insurance tottered sixty-five thousand million. Insurance is an (inshind) idea. Early forms of insurance will use over three thousand years ago in (barbelonia) the country that is now Iraq. 

Also the Phenician, Greek and Roman cultures had forms of insurance in case of loss or death. By the fourteen hundreds, the European shipping trade had developed its own system of insurance. There are two main kinds of insurance companies. Insurance (carers) provide insurance to individuals, groups and businesses. Reinsurance companies help reduce the financial risk to /. These are insurance companies for insurance companies. / usually sell their policies through insurance agencies or brokers. Brokers bring together buyers and sellers. Large businesses often use brokers when choosing products to insure their workers, property and interests against risk. Independent sales (agency) sell insurance from many companies. Others sales agency sell insurance from only one company. Over two million Americans work in the insurance industry. A government report shows that more than ninety percent of insurance related businesses employ fewer than twenty workers. Yet, as of three years ago, just a few large companies employed almost forty percent of the workers in the industry. Employment experts say job grows in the insurance industry is slower than in other industries. They say technology has increased productivity, which means few workers are needed to do the work.

Last week, at a dinner party, the hostess asked me to sit next miss Runbol. Miss Runbol was a large unsmiling lady in a tight black dress. She did not even look up when I took my seat beside her. Her eyes were fixed on her plate. And in a short time she was busing eating. I tried to make conversation.
A new play is coming to the globe soon ,I said,
Will you be seeing it.
No she answered.
Will you be spending your holidays abroad this year. I asked.
No. she answered.
Will you be staying in England? I asked.
No. She answered.
In despair, I asked her whether she was enjoying her dinner?
Young man. She answered. If you ate more and talked less. You (will balt) enjoy our dinner.

As we discussed last week, insurance acts as a financial protection. Property was the first thing that people insured. Insurance can limit the cost to replace property that is damaged or destroyed. Now what is someone is injured on someone else is property but he property is ok? The owner may have to pay the medical cost. In that case, there is liability insurance to help pay for such claims. A person’s life can be insured too. One traditional form of life insurance is term life. It pays only the policyholder dies before a set age. A term life policy can be renewed but at a higher price. Whole life insurance costs more. It also pays if person dies. But whole life polices gain value as (saving is) over time. The policyholder can borrow against this value in the form of a loan. When people buy life insurance the insurer invest the payments in bonds, stocks and other financial products. The insurance institute in New York says traditional live insurance is an important part of the industry. But it says the main business is now is in annuities.

Do you call that a hat? I said to my wife.
You needn’t be so ruled about it. My wife answered as she looked at herself in the mirror.
I sat down in one of those modern chairs (with holds) in it and wait it.
We had been in the hat shop for half an hour and my wife was still in front of the mirror.
We mustn’t buy things we don’t need. I remarked suddenly. I regreted saying it almost at once.
You needn’t have said that. My wife answered. I need not remind you of that terrible tie you bought yesterday.
I found it beautiful. I said.
A man can never have too many ties and a woman can’t have too many hats. She answered.
Ten minutes later, we walked out of the shop together, my wife was wearing a hat that look like a lota house.

Drying food is a simple, low cost way to keep foods safe for eating. Drying removes water that small organisms use to break down food into other substances. Some of the substances may be poisonous to humans. Advice that uses the sun is a good way to dry food. There are several kinds of solar dryers. The easiest to build is called the director dryer. The sun shines directly on the food being dried. The director dryer is a box with holes in it so that air can enter and leave the box. It has a cover made of clear glass or plastic. When the sun shines into the box, heat is produced. The heat is trapped inside the box and cannot escape back through the cover. The heat dries the food. The solar dryer works better if the sides of the box are black. This is because dark colors hold heat while light colors reflected. One way to make the sides black is to use wood that is being blackened by fire. If you use black paint instead be sure the paint contains no lead. 

Lead is poisonous to people, especially children. The box can be made of almost any material such as wood, concrete or sheet metal. The dryer should be two meters long, one meter wide and twenty-three to thirty center (meter’s deep). The sides and bottom should have additional material called insulation to keep the heat from escaping. The surface on which the food is placed should permit air to enter from below and pass through to the food. A surface made of wires with small square openings works very well. You should use wire with the largest openings or squares that do not allowed the food to fall through. Air that comes in from below the wire surface will also carry away water (avaprated) from the food as it dries. A direct dryer will dry most vegetables in two and one half to four hours at temperatures from forty-three to sixty-three degree Celsius. Fruits take longer from four to six hours at the same temperatures. Solar food drying is fast, safe and low-cost. It is also healthy because nutrients such as vitamin C are kept in the food. Solar dried food also tastes and looks good. You can get more information about solar food dryers from the group volunteers and technical assistance. VITA is on the internet at vita.org.

If you have a few hectares of land, it might be a good place to raise sheep. Some years ago, the magazine organic gardening from the rodel institute research center offered several reasons to consider. Sheep can be raised for their meat. They produce milk which can be made into excellent cheese. Sheep have wool which can be made into weaving material. The wool is cut off once a year in the spring. Sheep eat grass. They are good natural grass cutters. And sheep provide a good supply of waste that can be used to fertilize the vegetable and flower garden. In fact, sheep manure contains more nitrogen (fasforas) and potassium than horse or cow manure. The report in organic gardening offered some advice from a (fewed) crop expert in New York state named (Carl bannon). He said it is possible to raise as many as eighteen sheep on one hectare. And he said it is not necessary that the land be completely covered with grass. A mixture of grass and trees will do. Mister Bannon said the sheep will keep the grass cut low. They will even eat weeds and the remains of crops harvested from your garden.

The waste they leave behind will add nutrients to the soil. The manure can be collected and spread in the garden. Sheep manure is not like that of cows. It does not have a bad smell. It is like waste produced by rabbits only there is more of it. You should not plan to become rich selling the wool of your sheep. But you may be able to sell the wool to people in your area who weave clothe or other things. Or you can send it to a company that will clean it and prepare it for you to use. There are many different kinds of sheep. Your choice of which kind to raise should depend on your plans for them. For example, Dorset sheep are good milk producers. Sapphic sheep are raised for their meat. (Ranbary) sheep produce fine wool that is prized by cloth makers. If you decide to begin raising sheep you need to choose the right kind for the weather in your area. But you do not need to provide much shelter from the weather for adult sheep. Just be sure to provide a secure fence to keep dogs from attacking the sheep. And there are other considerations before you go out and buy a sheep. For one thing, it might be a good idea to make sure the local laws permit people in your area to have farm animals.

Avian influenza could force change in the way farm birds are raised in Asia. The disease has already hurt the industry. The FAO the Food and Agriculture Organization says about one hundred forty million farm birds have died or been destroyed. Oxford Economic Forecasting estimates poultry farm losses in Asia last year at more than ten thousand million dollars. Top animal health officials from twenty-eight nations met for three days later last month in Hochimen city Vietnam. The officials agreed on the need for changes in traditional ways of poultry farming in many Asian cultures. For example, they said mixing different kinds of birds on farms can speed up the spread of the disease. The also agreed that chickens, ducks and other farm animals such as pigs should be kept separate. And they said human contact with animals should be limited. A lack of supervision by animal doctors was another problem noted. The FAO says more than one hundred million dollars would be urgently needed to improve animal health services and laboratories. It say several hundred millions dollars would be needed for farmers who have lost animals to disease control efforts. Sanmile Jutsi is director of the animal production and health (divition) of the FAO a United Nations agency. He says wild birds especially ducks often carry the virus yet show no signs of sickness. But Mister Jutsi says wild bird should not to be destroyed in an effort to protect farm birds. Evidence suggests that other problems aid the spread of bird flu much more. Mister Jutsi says these include trade in live farm birds and mixing different kinds of live birds at markets. Poor farming methods also help the spread of the disease. The group that met in Vietnam says vaccines can be an important tool to fight bird flu. The official said the possibility of vaccinating ducks should be considered. Experts have mixed the opinions about using these preventive medicines on birds. Some are concerned that protecting against one virus may lead to other more aggressive viruses. On March eleventh, the World Health Organization reported sixty-nine confirmed human cases of avian flu since January of last year. These cases in Vietnam, Thailand and in one case Cambodia resulted in forty-six deaths. Health officials worry that the virus could gain the ability to spread easily among people.

Agriculture scientists are continually looking for new ways to improve crops, control insects and reduce the need for chemicals. It is a never even ending search. It often results in finding a solution for one problem while making another problem worse. Sometimes, however, farmers can solve several problems at the same time. The can do this by carefully choosing the crops they plant in the same field. In the early nineteen nineties, the magazine Organic Gardening from the Rodale Institute published some studies on this subject. There was advice from a scientist named Kaboly Stoner an insect expert at the (connected) agricultural experiment station. She said farmers can keep flea beetles out of broccoli fields by planting clove in the same field. Flea beetles cannot find broccoli when it is surrounded by clove. So the insect flies away in search of broccoli that is growing in a field without clove. Another method of protecting the main crop is to plant it in the same field with some plants that insects do not like. For example, the Colorado potato beetle does not like tansy because of the strong smell of this herb.

So researchers at the Rodale Institute planted tansy in several potato fields. The population of Colorado potato beetles was reduced anywhere from sixty to one hundred percent. The reduction depended on the amount of tansy planted. Studies done later in a laboratory showed that tansy produces a natural chemical that keeps the potato beetle at a distance. In fact, some insects like weeds more than they like crop plants. Scientists did some research at the subtropical cotton insects research station in Texas. They planted ragweed and pigweed in a field of bell peppers. Leaf minor insects can destroy a bell pepper crop. But, when giving a choice of bell peppers or ragweed and pigweed the insects chose the weeds. In another experiment researchers in India planted cabbage and mustard greens in the same field. They were attempting to control dining back mouse and leaf (webs.) In three separate tests, the insects chose the mustard greens instead of the main crop the cabbage. Next week we will discuss how some plants help each other through their roots systems and we will discuss how some plants attract helpful insects that feed on harmful insects.

Last week, we discussed how farmers can control harmful insects by mixing different kinds of plants with the main crop. But, there are also other ways to use plants to protect crops without chemicals. Some plants provide food and protection for insects that help control harmful insects. Organic Gardening magazine published by the Rodals Institute once describe some examples such as ladybugs. Ladybugs are beetles that like (christen) clover and (hurry veg). They find food, water and a resting place in the clover and veg. Ladybug (lovey) eat harmful aphids. Aphids are tiny insects that feed on many different kinds of crop plants. Plants also help each other through their root systems. For example, scientists say roots of the marigold flower reduce harmful nematode populations in the soil. Nematodes are tiny worms. There are more than ten thousand different kinds of nematodes and some of them feed of corn. Wild mustard is another plant that releases poison through its roots. This poison kills nematodes. It also kills some kinds of fungi. A researcher at the university of California center crews said the wild mustard should be cut close to the ground after the first fifteen days. 

After that, it should be cut once a month. If left to grow freely, wild mustard will compete with the corn for nutrients in the soil. Canadian researchers discovered that the dandelion weed can protect tomato plants from (fusourian) disease. F attacks the plant root. If reduces the number of tomatoes that the plant produces. Dandelion roots produce (socorg) acid. This acid prevents the disease from getting ion from the soil. F needs ion to survive. There are however plants that should never been grown together. The roots of the black walnut tree, for example, produce a poison that kills potatoes, peas, tomatoes and peppers. Dying parts of the (bresic) family of plants produce a poison that prevents the seeds of some plants from growing. B plants include broccoli, cabbage and (cully) flower. Plants with small seeds such as lettuce are specially affected by the bresic poison. A professor at the university of Connecticut said b plants should be removed from the soil after they have produced their crop. 

American researchers have found evidence that a blood protein link to inflammation of the (Aldraies) is a cause of heart disease. Two independent studies found that lowering the amount of the protein in the blood is just as important as lowering bad (cloistral) to prevent heart attacks. Until recently, doctors were concerned with lowering the amount of bad / and raising the amount of good / in the blood. But new research has shown that levels of c reactive protein or crp also must be reduced in order to prevent heart disease. Studies during the past ten years have found that a major problem in heart disease is Inflammation. Inflammation cannot be easily measured, so doctors use blood tests for crp to measure it. C reactive protein is a substance released by the liver. Some experts say the protein is directly link to faddy (pluck) build up in the (odories) leading to the heart. They say the protein causes the (pluck) to break up and form blood clots in the (odories). 

Which can lead to a heart attack. Two studies appeared in the New England journal of medicine. P R of (bringmin) in women’s hospital in Boston led the main study. Patients in the study already had severe heart disease and were taking drugs called (statance) to reduce bad cholesterol levels. (staton) drugs also lower levels of C-reactive protein. The researchers found that patients who already had lowered cholesterol levels could reduce their risk of another heart attack by lowering their C.R.P. levels. The study showed that even when bad cholesterol levels were normal, people with lower levels of C.R.P. had slower progression of heart disease and fewer heat attacks and deaths. Doctors say startance are not the only way to lower C.R.P. They say exercise, a healthy diet and stopping smoking also reduce it. The new findings are only for people who already have heart disease. A separate study is been done to see if lowing C.R.P. can reduce heart attack in healthy people with normal cholesterol levels but higher levels of C.R.P. Almost half of all heart attacks happen in people with normal cholesterol levels. Researchers are hopeful that the new information can lead to new medicines to prevent and treat heart disease. 

The American cancer society says the United States is making progress against several obvious deadliest and most common cancers. The group says death rates from colon, breast and prostate cancer continue to decrease. This is also true for lung cancer in man. Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer death. But fewer Americans smoke these days. In women, the death rate from lung cancer has stayed about the same for the first time. This is good news after years of increase. Almost one-fourth of all deaths in the United States are from cancer. Cancer is the second leading cause of death after heart disease. Death rates for both diseases are falling. But researches say the rate for heart disease is falling faster. As a result, an American cancer society report shows that cancer now kills more Americans under the age of eighty-five than any other cause. Some cancers can be prevented or treated especially if found early. Cancer is the name for a group of diseases. All involve the uncontrolled growth and spread of cells that are not normal.

Cell growth and division are controlled by genes. Some cancers are linked to family genetics. Pollution and chemicals can also raise a person’s risk of cancer. The report shows that in recent years, cancer rates in the United States have dropped about one percent per year. Lung, colon, breast and prostate cancer make up more than half of all the cases. For men, prostate caner is the most common. For women, it is breast cancer. Rates of both have continued to increase but more slowly than in the past. Smoking causes about one-third of all cancer deaths. Poor diet and a lack of exercise are blamed for another third in the United States. The American Cancer Society says cancer deaths worldwide could increase nearly one hundred percent in the next twenty years. Yet, most could be avoided. The report calls tobacco use the number one cause of cancer and the number one cause of preventable death throughout the world. Hepatitis and other infections will cause an estimated seventeen percent of new cancers worldwide this year.

A new study suggests that moderate use of alcohol might help reduce the loss of mental ability, at least in old women. The researchers define moderate as less than fifteen grams a day or about one drink. The study compared the risk of (cognitive) in (paremen) in women who used alcohol to women who did not. (Cognitive in parement) means a loss of thing ability. Here is what the scientist reported in the New England journal of medicine. Women who drink less than fifteen grams of alcohol per day had about a twenty-percent-lower risk than those who drink none at all. Mental ability was measured for only a two-year period. Doctor F G of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston M led the research. She says earlier study showed that moderate amounts of alcohol may reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. But she says less research has been done on how it may affect mental skills. This is one of the largest studies done on the issue. The researchers used information from more than twelve thousand women in the Nurses health study, a major project.

All the women were between the ages of seventy and eighty-one. Beginning in nineteen eighty, the women answered questions every few years about their alcohol use. Then starting in nineteen ninety-five, they answered questions by telephone to test their memory and reasoning skills. Some researchers think alcohol increases good cholesterol, which helps blood flow better to the brain. That may improve mental skills. The new study found similar results for all forms of alcoholic drinks. But the study found no additional reduction in risk for more than one glass a day. The researchers note that other studies of women as well as men have had similar findings about moderate alcohol use and mental ability. But they also say that care should be taken in advising even moderate use of alcohol. The scientists say more must be learned about the effect of moderate alcohol use. But they point out that the harmful effects of drinking too much are well established. Too much alcohol can ruin lives and families. It can cause liver disease and harm the brain. It can also worsen other medical conditions and may increase the risk of some kinds of cancer.

一个星期复习以前听写，偷懒中.......

Scientists now know a lot more about a grain that people have eaten for ten thousand years. Research teams around the world have completed a map of the genes of rice. Such a map is called a genome. The findings appeared last week in the magazine Nature. The map represents ninety-five percent of the rice genome. And information is considered ninety-nine point nine nine percent correct. The aim is to speed up the improvement of rice. The scientists warn that the kinds of rice plants use now have reached the limit of their productivity. Yet, world rice production must grow by an estimated thirty percent in the next twenty years to meet demand. In their paper, the researchers say rice is an excellent choice for genetic nubbin and engineering. Rice genes have only about three hundred ninety million chemical bases. That might sound like a lot. But other major food grains have thousands of millions. The new map could better explain not just rice. Rice shares a common ancestor with other crops in the grass family. These include corn and wheat. Also, rice shares more than seventy percent of its genes with (aropdopsis).

This plant is in the mustard family. Its genome was completed in two thousand. Genes produce proteins, which guide the building of organisms. Genes are placed a long chromosomes. Rice has twelve chromosomes. The scientists found almost thirty-eighty thousand genes. By comparison, studies have found only twenty-five thousand genes in humans. The international rice genome-sequencing project in S Japan led the research. The effort started in nineteen ninety-eight. The rice genome research program Japan supervise the mapping of about half of the genome. American researchers will responsible for three chromosomes. Chinese and Taiwanese researchers mapped one each. A French group mapped one and part of another. Researchers in Brazil, Britain, France, India, South Korea and Thailand also took part. The project was expected to take ten years, but the work was finished in six because many of the groups shared information and technology. Two companies Monsanto of the United States and Zinjanta of Switzerland also shared their research.

We often think of agriculture as planting seeds and harvesting crops. But many crops do not come from seeds. Many kinds of trees and plants are grown from pieces cut from existing trees and plants. This is called grafting. Farmers cut branches or young groats called (bads) from one plant and place them on a related kind of plant. The branch or bard that is grafted is called a cion. The plant that accepts the graft is called the rootstock. Over time, the parts from the two plants grow together. The grafted plant begins to produce the leaves and fruit of the cion not the rootstock. A graft can be cut in several ways. A cleft graft for example requires a cion with several / on it. The bottom of the cion is cut in the shape of the letter V. A place is cut in the rootstock to accept the cion. The cion is then securely placed into the cut on the rootstock. Material called a growth medium is put on the joint to keep it wet and help the growth. Grafting can join cions with desirable qualities to rootstock that is strong and resists disease and insects.

Smaller trees can be grafted with older scions. The American environmental protection Agency says grafting can reduce the need to use pesticides on crops. The EPA found that grafting stronger plants costs less than using chemicals. Also, poisons can be dangerous to people and the environment. Agriculture could not exist as we know it without grafting. Many fruits and nuts have been improved through this method. Some common fruit trees such as sweet cherries and (magon tush) apples have to be grafted. (bean) cherries for example are one of the most popular kinds of cherries. But a bean cherry tree is not grown from seed. Branches that produce bean cherries must be grafted onto root stock. All sweet cherries on the market are grown this way. And then there are seedless fruits like (naval) oranges and seedless watermelons. Have you even wonder how farmers grow them? The answer is through grafting. The grape fruit tree is another plant that depends on grafting to reproduce. Grapes, apples, pears and also flowers can be improved through grafting. In an age of high technology agriculture, grafting is a low technology method that remains extremely important. 

To call something marginal means it is not very good. Farmers have their own way to define marginal land. It is the last to be planted under good conditions and the first to be avoided under poor conditions. Low quality soil is not the only reason land could be considered marginal. It might be in an area where rainfall is limited or a hillside might rise too steeply. There are uses for marginal land however most often it is used as grassland. Grasses provide expellant feed for grazing animals like cattle, sheep and goats. Grass seed can be bought from a supplier or native grasses can be used. But it is important to establish good ground cover to avoid soil loss through   erosion. Forage crops like clover and alfalfa can be planted. These members of the legume family provide high protein food for grazing animal. They also improve the quality of the soil. Most plants use a nitrogen, but legumes put nitrogen back into the soil. Forage crops also help limit erosion.

However, using marginal land for grazing is not a simple issue. There is a risk of over grazing. Cattle can damage forage crops by eating down to the roots. Also the wait of the animals crashes the soil and can make it too hard for growing. A way to reduce the harm is to move animals from one field to another. This method is known as rotational grazing. Experts say rotational grazing is extremely important for marginal land. Another use for marginal land is for tree crops. Studies have shown that white pine and loblolly pine are two kinds of trees that grow well on such land. They grow fast and provide good quality wood. Another tree is the poplar found in many parts of the worlds. Slower growing trees like the black walnut also provide a nut crop. Trees support the soil. They reduce the effects of wind and rain, and they help block the sun. Failure to take the care and needed to protect marginal lands can make a bad situation worse. But good planning can turn a marginal resource into a highly productive one.

Farmers are the biggest users of fresh water resources. The Food and Agriculture Organization says agriculture uses seventy of all surface water supplies. That is the world average. Without the right measures, agriculture can be a major cause of water pollution. But solutions do not have to cost much. There are simple methods for farms of any size to reduce or prevent pollution of water supplies. We are going to talk about a few of them. The first deals with fertilizers and poisons. One way such chemicals can enter the environment is when they are not stored correctly. Stored chemicals can slowly leak into the soil and get (inter) ground water. To help avoid such problems chemicals should be kept in structures with a floor made of cement. Farm animals can also pollute water supplies. Animals like cattle, pigs, sheep and goats are often left to feed on grass in open fields bordered by streams or rivers. Large animals loosen dirt and rocks as they walk along waterways to drink. 

Animal waste also enters water supplies. Experts say it is important to keep large farm animals away from water supplies with the use of a fence or barrier instead of leading animals to water, bring the water to them. It does not have to be transported long distances. Farmers can send water through pipes to a watering area for their animals with a pump powered by electricity or fuel. Human powered treadle pumps are another solution. Trees, bushes and smaller plants can act as natural barriers along streams and rivers. Bushes provide expellant ground cover when grown near waterways or along the borders of fields. Animals avoid bush with sharp /. Tree roots provide natural support for soil. Trees planted near waterways help stop soil loss from heavy rains. They also help keep the sun from drying out soil. Other plants and grasses also help protect water quality. The hold soil in place during rains and ease the water flow. These methods will not solve all water quality problems. But they are good first steps. 

From the beginning of human history, people have used oils from seeds and nuts. Most of the times these oils are used as food, especially in cooking. But some times they have other uses. For example, oils are found paint and in cleaning products like soap. Oil is separated from seeds by using pressure. A machine called (oppress) is often used. Some times it is surprising to learn how much oil the seeds contain. Sesamin, cotton and some flower seeds, for example, all contain at least fifty percent oil. Soybean is an important seed around the world, but it is only twenty percent oil. So, / are needed to release oil from soybeans. The first step in pressing the oil from seeds is to crush the seed between two stones. A cloth container of bag is filled with the crushed seeds. Then, the bag is hung up. Some of the oil will flow out of bag and can be collected. But some oil will remain in the crushed seed inside the bag. The easiest way to get the rest of the oil out is to placed heavy rocks on the crushed material.

Another method is to place several cloth bags on top of each other in a box. Than a long wooden stick is used to slowly push a heave cover down on the bags. Great pressure is produced in this way. Much great pressure can be produced by using a machine, a hydraulic jack. The greater the pressure the more oil will be produced. Oil can also be collected with small hand-operated machines. Small presses are important in areas where electricity or gasoline cannot be used. They are also a good way to test if a local market for oil exists. Small batch presses can be made of local materials. Their cost is low. They are not difficult to operate, and they are easy to repair. The small presses produce good quality oil. But the work is hard. And getting all of the oil from the seeds can be difficult. A system can be set up to press together an amount of seeds at deferent time of the day. But if there is a large supply of seeds, then large powered presses that can operate all day are needed.

The United States has its second confirmed case of mad cow disease. The first case was found in December of two thousand three in Washington State. But it involved an animal imported from Canada. This time officials say it was a twelve-year-old cow born and raised in Taxes. It was born before nineteen ninety-seven, when the government banned feeding the remains of cattle to other cattle. The disease can spread that way. But agriculture department officials now say genetic tests on cows from the same group as the infected one have found no other cases. Officials noted that the cow in Texas did not enter the food supply. It was brought dead last November to a pet food company. Employees took brain tissue and sent it to a state laboratory. The text results prove nothing. So tests took place at the Agriculture Department laboratory in Ames, Iowa. These showed that the cow was not infected. Then, in the middle of June, the inspector general of the department ordered a third test. The results let officials to send the tissue for more study at a top laboratory in Weighbridge, England. 

On June twenty fourth, agriculture secretary / announced the finding of mad cow disease. His department has tested four hundred thousand cattle since June of last year. He says one case out of that many shows an extremely, extremely low presence of the disease in the United States. Still, Mr. / ordered officials to develop new rules for the testing process. Critics point two mistakes witch delayed confirmation of the disease. After the first case in two thousand three, major importers placed restrictions on American beef. As of the end of June sixty-four countries had completed or partial bans. Top importer Japan, as well as South Korea, China and Taiwan continue to ban all American beef. Canada and Mexico have partial ban. The United States Meat Export Federation a trade group says exports fell eighty-six percent last year. The scientific name for mad cow disease is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE. A form of this brain wasting disease can infect people. Most of the cases have been reported in Britain. Scientist there blamed the disease for at least one hundred fifty deaths in the last ten years.

Many farmers improve their soil and their crops with compost. Composting is the mixing of plant or animal wastes so they break down and produce simple substances that make the soil rich. Compost is an example of a natural fertilizer. Farmers add compost to their soil instead of burning the plant and animal wastes or flowing them away. During the growing season, plants take gases from the air such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They combine these gases with minerals from the soil. After the growing season ends, many parts of the plant die. Farmers gather a large amount of dead plant materials into compost piles. They may add animal wastes they must add water so the materials will break down or decay. Soon, the plants are attacked by insects and organisms including warms and bacteria. Oxygen helps the organisms change the plant materials more rapidly. The plants decay into a mixture that can be spread on the farmland where the crops are growing. The compost returns nutrients to the soil. Some rules need to be followed to produce the best quality compost. Good compost piles need water to speed the process of the decay. Yet the piles should not be too wet, or the plant material will be ruined. The temperature of the compost pile should not be too high or too low. The best temperature for a compost pile is about thirty to thirty-seven degrees Celsius. You can turn the pile over and over to help cool down the material. Truing the compost pile over adds more oxygen to the mixture, which helps it decay. Sometimes, small animal such as rats and mice like to eat the composting materials. This can be prevented if you add a thin amount of soil to the top of compost pile. 

At one time, the United States was a nation of farmers. In nineteen hundred about thirty-nine percent of Americans or thirty million people lived on farms. A similar percentage of the labor force earned a living by working on farms. By nineteen ninety, fewer than two percent of the population lived or worked on farms. There were also fewer farms. In nineteen forty, there were more than six million farms in America. Today, there are fewer than two million. While the number of farms decreased the size of remaining farms increased. The average farm today is about two hundred hectares. In nineteen hundred, it was sixty. As the United States became an industrial nation, its farms change not only in size but in their business plans. In the past, farmers raised many different crops or animals. For example, in nineteen hundred, almost all farms raised chickens, more than seventy-five percent of farms raised pigs and milk cows. In nineteen ninety-seven, however, only about six percent of farm raised these animals. The (trined) in American farming has been to specialize. Farmers put their efforts into intensively raising only a few things. New technology has helped create specialized systems that produce more, using less labor. Two examples of this are milk and corn. Since nineteen twenty-four, American milk production has grown almost one hundred percent. But the number of milk cows has decreased by half. Cows today produce more than four times more milk than their ancestors eighty years ago. The thing is true for corn. Improved kinds of corn produce about four point seven times more corn per hectare than one hundred years ago. Economists call producing more with less an increase in productivity. The department of Agriculture uses a measure called an index to show how productivity changes. It says America’s agricultural productivity increased by more than one hundred percent between nineteen fifty and nineteen ninety-six. Over the same period, prices of agricultural goods fell by more than fifty percent. So the / toward increased productivity has meant lower prices. Many farmers have answered by increasing the size of their specialized operations.

Over the years, new technologies have changed farming. Change in a general direction is a trend. Yet, people often recognize trends only when they consider the past. Today, we look back at some trends in American Agriculture. We begin with the change from animal power to mechanical power. Our information comes from the National Agricultural Statistic Service, part of the agriculture department. In nineteen twenty, America had more than twenty-five million horses and mules most were used for farm work. Around the same time, a competitor began to appear in large numbers. Tractors could turn soil, pull ploughs and speed harvests and they could do it better. More tractors meant few horses and mules. By the nineteen sixties, the numbers of these work animals settled to there they remain today. That is about one-tenth the levels in nineteen twenty. Yet, even the demand for tractor had its limits. Tractors reached their highest numbers around nineteen eighty-two. Their numbers have been slowly decreasing. Experts say farmers can do more with less now because of new technologies. So tractors replaced horses and mules. As a result, farmers no long need to raise crops to feed work animals. Oats have long been food for horses and mules. In nineteen fifty-four, American farms planed over sixteen million hectares of oats. By two thousand, that was down to less than one million hectares. So what did the farmers do with the extra land? More and more farmers began to plant a new crop around the same time that the tractor became popular. It was the soybean. The soybean is one of the oldest plants harvested. Yet, it was not planted widely in the United States until the nineteen twenties. By the year two thousand, close to thirty million hectares were planted with soybeans. It is the nation’s most important crop for high protein animal feed and for vegetable oil. In fact, soybeans are the second most valuable crop grown by American farmers after corn. Much of the soybean production goes to exports. 

Most fish farming involves fresh water fish. Eighty-five percent of agriculture in the United States is done in rivers and lakes. Production at sea mostly involves shellfish harvested close to shore. But a proposed American law could greatly increase ocean agriculture. It would permit fish farming up to three hundred twenty kilometers from shore. The bill is called the national (out shore) agriculture act of two thousand five. The administration of President Bush