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A thief who dropped a winning lottery ticket at the scene of his crime has been given a lesson in honesty. His victim, who picked up the ticket, managed to trace him, and handed over the cash.
The robbery happened last Saturday when maths professor Vinicio Sabbatucci, 58, was changing a tire on an Italian motorway. Another motorist, who stopped to \from his car and drove off.
The professor found the dropped ticket and put it in his pocket before driving to his home in eastern Italy. Next day, he saw the lottery results on TV and, unfolding the ticket, realized it was a winner. He claimed the 60 million lire prize.
Then began a battle with his conscience. Eventually, he decided he could not keep the money despite the fact that he had been robbed.
He advertised in newspapers and on radio, saying: \I have 60 million lire for him -- a lottery win. Please meet me. Anonymity guaranteed.\
Professor Sabbatucci received hundreds of calls from people. All of them tried to trick him into giving them the cash. But there was one voice he recognized -- and he arranged to meet the man in a park.
The robber turned out to be a 35-year-old unemployed father of two children. He gave back the suitcase and burst into tears. He could not believe what was happening. \the money?\
The professor replied: \
Then he walked off, ignoring the thief's offer of a reward.
2-13-C
Heart Transplant Operation
At a hospital near Tel Aviv, a Jewish doctor conducted a heart transplant operation, using the heart of a Palestinian for a Jew. The patient, whose name is Yigal Cohen, would have died if he had not received the heart of a Palestinian named Mazen Joulani, who was killed on Sunday. His death is being investigated by police. Mr. Joulani's family claim that he was killed by Jewish settlers but Israeli police said he was killed in a feud with other Palestinians.
After the operation, Dr. Yaccov Lavie spoke of the moment he held a Jew's heart in one hand -- and the heart of an Arab Palestinian Muslim in the other. He said, \
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transplant operation you don't think about it, but a moment later you think that during the operation you held in your right hand the heart of an Arab Palestinian Muslim... and in the left hand the heart of a Jew. You smile to yourself and see that deep inside we are exactly the same and all the conflicts are completely unnecessary.\
The Gulf News says Mr. Cohen's father David told Israel Radio: \is a noble act that really, really touched us. We were very surprised to find out the identity of the donor. It is really touching, especially in these days when relations are so tense. This noble family comes and teaches us that it is possible to do things in a different way.\
2-14-A
Passage 1:
To start with, rainwater is collected in a large 3,000 gallon tank on the highest point of land on the island. The tank is so large that it measures about 12 feet in diameter. Once the tank is filled with rainwater, fish are added to the tank and are then raised in the rainwater.
Passage 2:
What are some of the similarities between the African and the Asian elephants? Well, for one thing, both animals have long noses, called trunks. An elephant sometimes uses its trunk like a third hand. Both kinds of elephants use their trunks to pick up very small objects and very large, heavy objects. They can even pick up trees with their trunks. For another thing, both the African and the Asian elephants have very large ears, although the African elephant's ears are considerably larger.
Passage 3:
Several theories have been proposed about why the dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the earth. In recent years one popular theory proposes that climatic changes caused the dinosaurs to become extinct. This climatic change theory says that millions of years ago the climate of the world gradually became colder. As the earth slowly became colder, fewer plants were able to grow. The cold weather finally resulted in a severe shortage of food for the dinosaurs. As you probably know, most of the dinosaurs were vegetarians, and they depended on plants for their food supply.
2-14-B
Why Is Biodiversity Important?
The importance of biodiversity seems obvious to us. We enjoy the beauty of biodiversity when we take a walk in the park, take a trip to the zoo or a wild area, read books or watch TV shows about strange creatures in foreign lands. Some people believe that biodiversity is important
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simply because it is so wonderful. Some think there are philosophical or spiritual reasons for biodiversity. But there are other reasons why it is so important.
The loss of biodiversity will change the balance of life on earth. If an ecosystem is destroyed, many species adapted to that ecosystem may very likely be destroyed as well. If that species is what scientists call \
Biodiversity is also important in its direct benefits to people. Plants give us the air we breathe; animals and plants supply us with the food we eat; and organisms and microorganisms clean the air, regulate floods, recycle waste, and control pests.
Biodiversity also has economic and health benefits. Both industry and agriculture depend on it for raw material and other things. And medicine is even more dependent on biodiversity. In China, more than 5,000 species of plants are used for medicinal purposes. Many species which were thought \biodiversity.
2-14-C
How Many Species Are There?
Isn't it surprising that scientists have a better understanding of how many stars there are in the galaxy than how many species there are on Earth? Their estimates of global species diversity vary from 2 to 100 million species. Most people agree on an estimate of somewhere near 10 million and yet only 1.75 million have actually been named. Current knowledge of species diversity is limited. This problem becomes more serious because there is a lack of a central database or list of the world's species.
New species are still being discovered -- even new birds and mammals. On average, about three new species of birds are found each year, and since 1990, 10 new species of monkeys have been discovered. Other groups are still far from being completely described: an estimated 40 percent of freshwater fishes in South America have not yet been classified.
Scientists were startled in 1980 by the discovery of a huge diversity of insects in tropical forests. In one study of just 19 trees in Panama, 960 new species of beetles were discovered.
As scientists begin investigating other little-known ecosystems, like the soil and the deep sea, \discoveries of species become commonplace. There is nothing strange about this, though, since as many as a million undescribed species are believed to live in the deep sea. And one gram of a small-sized piece of land might hold 90 million bacteria and other microbes. How many species these communities contain is still anyone's guess.
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2-15-A
The environment on our planet is a closed system: nothing new is ever added. Nature recycles its resources.
Today, the Earth is in trouble. Factories pour dirty water into our rivers. Many fish die and the water becomes unhealthy for people to drink. Cars and factories put poison into the air and cause plants, animals and people to get sick. People throw bottles and paper out of their car windows, and the roadside becomes covered with all sorts of wastes. Over the years, people have changed the environment, and we have pollution.
To continue to survive, we must learn how to use the Earth's resources wisely. We have to change our habits and stop dumping such enormous amounts of industrial waste into the water and air. We must cooperate with nature and learn better ways to use, not abuse, our environment.
2-15-B
Plastic Bags -- A Big Problem in Hong Kong
Every day people in Hong Kong get rid of 15 million plastic bags. They weigh about 600 tons. This is not including the tens of thousands of plastic bags people dump at the beaches and in local waters, which have caused serious pollution.
These bags cost taxpayers over $70 million a year to deal with. Some of the bags are destroyed by burning. The problem with this is that, when they break down, they release poisonous chemicals, which can cause cancer. The chemical poisons penetrate into the earth.
In order to attract the public's attention to the problem of plastic bags and to reduce the number of bags used at the same time, the Retail Management Association launched the Use Fewer Bags Campaign. In the first stage of the campaign, 1,500 retail stores aimed to reduce the number of plastic bags given away to customers by 10 per cent. This has been achieved. The second stage of campaign will focus on the number of plastic bags given away in markets.
\as canvas bags, that can be washed,\had two objectives. Besides reducing the number of plastic bags used, she hoped that the campaign would increase the public's overall awareness of environmental problems.
2-15-C
The Rhine River
The River Rhine is Western Europe's most important waterway. Rising in the Alps, it passes through Switzerland, Germany, France and Holland, before flowing into the North Sea.
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But for decades, industrial and domestic waste flowed untreated into the river and, not surprisingly, the Rhine was seriously polluted from the 1950s to the 1970s. Fish disappeared and it was dangerous to swim in it. Then in 1986 a fire at a chemical plant in Basel caused tons of pesticides to leak into the river. Thousands of fish died. That was a wake-up call for the countries along the Rhine. They realized that they really had to get together and clean it up and keep it clean. Otherwise it could be the death of the Rhine. Switzerland, Germany and France now work together in Basel to keep the river clean. At various points, water is extracted and checked every six minutes, twenty-four hours a day. And industries that pollute the river can be traced and fined.
Thanks to international cooperation, the river is on the path to recovery. At Basel, in the evening summer sun, the river has a festive atmosphere. People walk leisurely along the river banks, listening to live music, and pause for a drink in one of the many open-air cafes. On the vast river itself, boats from Germany sail slowly past the old town of the city, towards the more modern structures of the chemical industries.
2-16-A
Passage 1:
Students and teachers at 20 schools in China's poor rural areas will have their own computer labs by the end of 2001. The labs are being jointly funded by the China Youth Development Foundation and Coca-Cola (China) Beverages Ltd., which have planned to establish more computer labs in 1,200 rural schools in the future.
Passage 2:
China is now using India's rich resources and expertise in IT education to meet its great demand for software professionals. An Indian company has recently signed a deal with China to establish a joint venture company in Beijing. It is the first Indian company to invest in the education of software professionals in China.
Passage 3:
Code Red II , the world's most vicious cyber worm, is about to start another attack. Unlike its former peer, \network. Anti-bug experts are calling for greater online security.
2-16-B
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