Fear had gripped the nation, indeed the whole world. An unknown deadly virus had infected thousands of people and was spreading quickly. There was no cure and the number of cases was rising every day. In the media, SARS seemed to be the topic of ever...
Modem hospitals are clean and safe and doctors can cure many diseases. But it was not always so. For a long time, health care was often dangerous and risky. Treatments were neither scientific nor effective, and many patients suffered deadly infection...
A Wang Lin is a carpenter who lives in eastern China with his wife and son. Two years ago, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was getting weaker and suffered from constant pain in his chest. The doctors told him that the treatment he needed would...
On the subject of reading, Francis Bacon, who lived at about the same time as Shakespeare, wrote these words: Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. This good advice shows how it is possible to re...
Many language learners think that the best way to learn a language is to spend time in a country where the language is spoken. In the past, studying abroad was a distant dream for most people. Nowadays, however, it has become easier to find both oppo...
Learning a language is obviously more than just memorising words, phrases and structures. When we learnt our mother tongue, we did not receive much formal instruction. Few parents give language lessons to their children! Instead we learnt or acquired...
On a cold November night in 1775, Miss Lucie Manette, who had grown up in England, traveled to France to meet her father, whom she thought was dead. Eighteen years before, her father, Doctor Manette attended to a young peasant boy and girl, who had b...
E: Ebenezer Scrooge S: Santa Claus Ca: Girl Y: Young Scrooge A: All B: Bob Cratchit C: Mrs Cratchit L: Little girl M: A boy E: Where are we? S: Ho, ho, ho. Don't you recognise it, Scrooge? You grew up here. Have a look through this window. (They watc...
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1) E: Ebenezer Scrooge S: Santa Claus B: Bob Cratchit F: Fred, Scrooge's nephew Ca: A gentleman (In Scrooge's office. Bob tries to warm his hands over the candle.) E: What are you doing there, Bob? B: I'm warming my hands, Mr Scro...
Once, in a dream, a boy called Chris Everyman took the advice of a wise man to go on a journey. The wise man pointed his finger across the land and told him to go through the gate at the end of the fields to enter the City of Happiness. Chris said he...
