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　　Students often complain their teachers give them too much homework Now, two reporters show that in America this is not true．

　　The Brookings report shows that most students do less than one hour of homework．The Rand report shows that only 10％ of high school students spend more than two hours a night on homework．

　　The Brookings report also talks about a study from 1995．American students do almost the least homework among twenty countries．Students in France, Italy and South Africa spend more than two hours on homework．

　　The Rand report says there was only one time when homework greatly increased in America．During the early 1960s, Americans were not happy when the Soviet．Union became the first country to reach space．People thought it was necessary to improve education．

　　Parents want their children to have time for sports, music lessons and other things after school．Some experts say schools need to give useful homework．

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　　The first newspapers were written by hand and put up on the walls in public places．

　　The earliest newspaper was started in Rome in 59 BC．In the 700's．people printed the world's first newspaper on paper．The first printed newspaper in Europe was read in 1609．It was printed in Germany．

　　The newspaper in the English language was printed in Amsterdam in 1602．An English newspaper was started in London in 1621 and it came out once a week．The first daily English newspaper was the Daily Courant．It came out in March 1702．

　　In 1690, Benjamin Harris printed the first American newspaper in Boston．But not long after it first came out, the people in power stopped the paper．In 1704, John Campbell started another newspaper that came out daily in America．By 1760, America had more than thirty daily newspaper．There are now about 1,800 daily papers in the USA．

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　　The first person to skate solo around the world, Fabrice Gropaiz of France, began his journey in San Francisco three years ago．Since then, he has skated more than 30,000 kilometres through thirty－three countries．

　　He skated across the USA and northern Mexico from west to east, then across Europe, Russia, Mongolia, China and Australia before flying across the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco again．

　　In all the big cities, television and newspaper reporters interviewed him．

　　He travelled with fifteen kilogrammes of equipment, which he pulled behind him on a homemade trailer．His equipment included a tent, a change of clothes and a video camera．

　　A friend, David Lai, made a web site(www．worldskate. com), and Fabrice sent regular news to the site．He wrote in English so that people all over the world could understand．Thousands of people sent emails to Fabrice during his journey．People saw him on television and read about him, and many readers and listeners offered to help him．Fabrice asked them to send money to a medical research organisation．In this way, he raised a lot of money for important medical research．

　　Between stops, he travelled 100 kilometres on good days．But there were also bad days and problems：bad weather, broken skates, dangerous drivers, snakes on the roads in Mexico, and a wolf attack in Mongolia．However, none of these problems stopped him, and he wants to do another trip．

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　　Do you often play with your pet dog or cat?Do you like touching wild animals like squirrels?They are cute．But be careful they don't bite you．You could get a terrible disease, rabies．

　　Believe it or not, in the last five months, rabies killed more people in China than any other disease．2,254 people got rabies in the first nine months of this year．In September, 318 people died of rabies．That is 37 percent more than last September．

　　Animals like dogs, cats, squirrels and bats can have rabies．If they bite or scratch(抓)someone, rabies could infect(感染)the person's nervous system(神精系統(tǒng))．The person could even die．It's important to get the right treatment as soon as possible．Every year, more than 50,000 people around the world die of rabies．Most of them are from developing countries．India has the most deaths．China is second．

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After working hard writing, Bernard Shaw decided to go to the countryside．He wanted to relax．One sunny afternoon, Mr Shaw was having a walk in a quiet field．The air was fresh and the view was beautiful．When he was walking, a cyclist ran into him．Mr Shaw fell to the ground．The cyclist was very．sorry．He got off his bike to help Mr Shaw get up．Fortunately, Mr Shaw was not hurt．“I'm so sorry!”said the cyclist．“Oh, no”said Bernard Shaw．“I should say sorry．I'm sorry for not giving any luck to you．”Mr Shaw looked at the puzzled cyclist and added,“If you had killed me, you know, you would be famous all over the world．”

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A young man works hard at his lessons．He in very busy studying．He doesn't have time to rest．After some time, he falls ill．Every night, when he goes to bed, he closes his eyes and tries to sleep．But he can't．He thinks,“I must go to see the doctor．”He tells the doctor,“I can't go to sleep at night．”“Try counting(數(shù))numbers．When you reach 1,000, you'll be asleep,”says the doctor．The next day the man goes back to the doctor's office．“Well,”says the doctor“How are you today?”“Well,”he said,“I tried counting one, two, three…up to 1,000．But when I reached 569, I began to feel sleepy(犯困的)．I had to get up and drink some tea．Then I went on counting up to 1,000 again．But I still couldn't fall asleep．”

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　　A computer company has a special person．He answers all the questions sent to him．The person is a 63-year-old man．He is known for always finding the right answers．On the Internet, more people are finding out about this clever man．He does not look like a computer．He has white hair and he is kind and polite．He feels that his age helps him with his work．People have asked questions about a lot of things and he remember most of them．

　　He tries to return the answers within 24 hours on the Internet．The questions are very different each day．He loves his work．Other companies do not have such a person．Of course they don't have to pay any more money, either．But it's important for good computer to have a person to answer the questions．It keeps the computer buyers happy．Happy buyers will keep coming back．

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　　The young violin player Vanessa-Mae was the first musician to use dance and rock music in classical(古典的)music．Vanessa-Mae love pop music, and she was also a very good classical violinist, and she brought these kinds of music together．

　　Vanessa-Mae was born in Singapore on October 27,1978．She moved to London with her family when she was four．A year later, she started to learn the violin．When she was eight, she went to Beijing to study the violin．When she was ten, she played with a very famous group of classical musicians．But Vanessa-Mae doesn't only play the violin．She learnt the piano before she started to play the violin．

　　She likes lots of different kinds of music, from Beethoven to the Beatles, and she wants to play the music she likes．Not only has she played in classical concerts all over the world, but she has also played in pop concerts with pop stars．

　　A lot of people don't like the way she uses modern rhythms(節(jié)奏), noisy drums and guitars in traditional(傳統(tǒng)的)music．But Vanessa-Mae has done one important thing：she has brought many new fans to classical music．For the first time, many young people began to listen to classical music．

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　　I am Steve．I was born and grew up in South Wales．My favourite place to play was out on the hills where my imagination had plenty of space to expand(拓展)．

　　My family moved out of Wales when I was thirteen．I went to a new school．One of my subjects was French．Because I had never learned any French, my teacher told me to sit in the corner and write anything I was interested in．That's the time I started writing, just for myself, and I've been writing ever since．

　　I have always loved BIG IDEAS, and so I enjoy writing fantastic stories．And I also write horror(恐怖的)stories．I think they are like the old fairytales(童話故事), and can teach you important things．

　　I am in my forties on the outside, twelve on the inside．I like rock music, Indian and Chinese food, and I enjoy drinking．I live in a small village with my wife Mary, ducks, cats, goats, hens and lots of rabbits．If you' d like to find out more about me and hope to buy my books, go to www．sbowkett. freeserve．co．uk．

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　　Dreams may be more important than sleep．Some people don't need much sleep．But we all need to dream, scientists say．

　　Dreams take up about one quarter of our sleeping time．People have several dreams each night．Dreams are like short films．They are usually in colour．Some dreams are like old films．They come to us over and over again．That may be because the dreamer is worrying about something．Dreaming may be a way of trying to find an answer．

　　Some people get new ideas about their work from dreams．They could have been thinking about their work all day．These thoughts can carry over into dreams．

　　Sometimes we wake up with a good feeling from a dream．But often we can't remember the dream．Dreams can disappear quickly from memory．

　　Too much dreaming can be harmful．The more we sleep, the longer we dream．The mind is hard at work when we dream．That is why we may have a long sleep and still wake up tired．

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