Consolidating your student loans isn’t the no-brainer it used to be. So instead of racing to the bank, new grads should take some time to figure out whether consolidation works for them, and approach it carefully. Here are some considerations. 1. What’s your rate, and is it fixed? In a college loan consolidation, your original loans are paid off and bundled together in a new loan, much as a mortgage and a home equity line might be bundled together into a new mortgage with a home refinancing. The rate on the new loan is fixed. It’s a weighted average of the interest rates of the loans being consolidated, rounded up to the nearest 0.125 percent. Students who graduated this spring are most likely to have a mix of variable and fixed-rate loans. Students who already did loan consolidations in the last two years while they were still in college, might already have a portfolio of low-cost fixed-rate loans and not find it worthwhile to reconsolidate just to get everything wrapped up into one loan. 2. Timing matters. New graduates will find some advantages in consolidating if they do it within six months of getting their diploma. They are in what’s called a grace period that gives them a price break and six months to start repaying their loans. For these new graduates, the variable-rate loans are at 6.54 percent and the fixed-rate loan is at 6.8 percent. On July 1, their variable rate goes up to 6.62 percent. But when they move out of the grace period and start repayment, their loan rates will adjust up to 7.22 percent. By consolidating before then, they can lock in the lower rate. Typically, repayment starts immediately on consolidated loans, but borrowers can ask the lender to hold the loan package until the end of the 6-month grace period. 3. The bottom line matters, too. New grads like to consolidate because it can stretch out their repayment period for as long as 20 years and cut as much as 50 percent off of their monthly payments. That might be especially useful for grads who are entering low-paying professions, but in the long run a longer loan can cost a lot more in interest payments, even if the rates are lower. To figure out your bottom line, ask your lender to estimate your total interest payments on your loans or do it yourself with an online loan calculator(you can find a slew of them at http://www.finaid.org/calculators/, or check http://www.salliemae.com/repaymentoptimizer). Do a similar calculation on the proposed loan consolidation. 4. Competition matters. While rates on these federally backed loans are fixed, lenders do have leeway to offer incentives, and most do. Some cut your rate if you agree to have payments automatically debited from your checking account, or if you establish a history of paying on time. That later break often doesn’t kick in for three or four years, though, so remember to discount its value. No lenders are allowed to charge fees on federal student loan consolidations and none are permitted to have prepayment penalties, so shop around for the best discounts and services. Some places to price consolidation loans are http://www.salliemae.com/consolidation: http://www.mvrichuncle.com, and http://www.graduateleverage.com.

Skin. It is the largest organ of the body. Skin is the body’s【C1】______to infection. It keeps out many harmful【C2】______and other things. It also keeps all the things we need in our bodies. The skin helps control body temperature. Glands on the skin release fluid to cool the body when it gets too hot. When a person gets too cold,【C3】______in the skin become narrow. This helps to trap heat inside the body. Like other organs of the body, the skin can have problems.【C4】______can tell you the most common disorder: acne. Acne is connected to hormones and how they affect the oil glands of the skin. The skin【C5】______, called sebum, from the sebaceous glands. Each gland connects to a passage of【C6】______. The sebum travels through these passages. The oil reaches the 【C7】______of the skin through little holes, called pores. Sometimes, the sebum, hair and cells of the pores block these openings. This is【C8】______. Bacteria can grow in a 【C9】______. The bacteria produce chemicals and enzymes. White blood cells—【C10】______fighters—travel to the area. All this leads to a growth on the skin, a pimple. This becomes red,【C11】______. Some people think eating chocolate or oily foods causes acne. Others blame dirty skin or【C12】______. Yet researchers tell us none of these cause acne. So【C13】______? Doctors are not sure. But they have some ideas.【C14】______, they know that hormones called androgens are involved. Androgens cause the sebaceous glands to grow and make more oil. There are several treatments for acne.【C15】______are generally treated with medicines for use directly on the skin. These【C16】______salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. People with more serious acne may be given antibiotic drugs to take by mouth. Or they might use【C17】______other treatments. Skin experts say there are simple ways to help prevent acne. One is to touch your face【C18】______, so as not to add oils or put pressure on the skin. Another good idea is to avoid the urge to burst pimples. This can leave【C19】______marks on the skin. Doctors also say to avoid【C20】______, and to be gentle as you wash and dry your skin.Skin. It is the largest organ of the body. Skin is the body’s first barrier to infection. It keeps out many harmful bacteria and other things. It also keeps all the things we need in our bodies. The skin helps control body temperature. Glands on the skin release fluid to cool the body when it gets too hot. When a person gets too cold, blood passages in the skin become narrow. This helps to trap heat inside the body. Like other organs of the body, the skin can have problems. Almost any teenager can tell you the most common disorder: acne. Acne is connected to hormones and how they affect the oil glands of the skin. The skin gets its oil, called sebum, from the sebaceous glands. Each gland connects to a passage of extremely small hairs. The sebum travels through these passages. The oil reaches the surface of the skin through little holes, called pores. Sometimes, the sebum, hair and cells of the pores block these openings. This is how acne starts. Bacteria can grow in a blocked pore. The bacteria produce chemicals and enzymes. White blood cells— infection fighters—travel to the area. All this leads to a growth on the skin, a pimple. This becomes red, hot and often painful. Some people think eating chocolate or oily foods causes acne. Others blame dirty skin or nervous tension. Yet researchers tell us none of these cause acne. So what does? Doctors are not sure. But they have some ideas. For one thing, they know that hormones called androgens are involved. Androgens cause the sebaceous glands to grow and make more oil. There are several treatments for acne. Mild cases are generally treated with medicines for use directly on the skin. These often contain salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. People with more serious acne may be given antibiotic drugs to take by mouth. Or they might use a combination of other treatments. Skin experts say there are simple ways to help prevent acne. One is to touch your face as little as possible, so as not to add oils or put pressure on the skin. Another good idea is to avoid the urge to burst pimples. This can leave permanent marks on the skin. Doctors also say to avoid strong cleaning products, and to be gentle as you wash and dry your skin.

1. Michael requested that he be transferred to the company branch in London, as the assistant manager there has just retired. 2. The MBA program of that well-known university I attended last year was rather difficult, but I got a lot out of the courses there. 3. Betty missed a week’s work because she was down with a bad cold and was advised by her doctor to stay at home. 4. The company quoted a price of 100 dollars a piece for the summer dress. But after much bargaining, we got an offer at 25% discount. 5. I’m afraid Mr. Baker, our board director, had decided last night not to attend this morning’s committee meeting. Michael wanted to work in London. Michael quitted his job in London. Michael asked for a vacation in London. Michael transferred his money to the London branch.

W: Hey, Bob! So how was the movie? M: Well, I didn’t really enjoy it very much. W: Why? That film got great reviews. It’s really popular, you know, people wait in line buying the tickets. M: Oh, the movie was fine. I just got irritated by the people sitting in front of me. W: What happened? M: Well, first they came in late. It took them a while to get into their seats. All this was happening during an exciting part of the movie. And then they started talking, on and on with very large voice. W: Oh, I hate when that happens! M: There were two of them: a man and a woman. The man had seen the movie before. He was telling the woman the entire story and the woman seemed very curious about what the man told her and sometimes, she asked the man questions about what would happen next in the movie. W: Unbelievable! M: Well, you won’t believe what happened next! Another person asked them to be quiet. Politely, of course. W: Right. M: And they started arguing! Their voices were getting louder and louder. One guy was saying, “You shouldn’t talk in the movie,“ and the other guy was saying, “You can’t tell me what to do!“ W: Well, what finally happened? M: The usher had to be called in because it was getting out of hand. Everyone quieted down eventually, but it was too late. They had ruined the movie for me. 19. How did the man feel about the movie? 20. Why did the woman feel surprised at the man’s negative comment? 21. By whom exactly did the man get irritated? 22. What did these people do that made the man irritated? He didn’t really enjoy it very much. He liked its story, but the music was awful. He enjoyed every minute of the movie. He was excited with the development of the story.

Let’s see, my travel experience was a truly frustrating one. I remember I was going on a short vacation to the beach which I had been dreaming of going to. We had a long holiday weekend, so it was going to be a short trip. You know, fly out on a Friday night and come back on a Sunday afternoon kind of thing. A lot of people may have had this experience before. Well, when I got to the airport and checked in at the counter, there was a problem with my ticket. It turned out the travel agent had printed the wrong date on my ticket! My ticket was for a flight at the same time, but on the following day! I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t want to leave the next day because my trip was already such a short one. Why should I have to cut my vacation short when it wasn’t even my fault? I complained to everyone at the counter, including a manager. People who heard my story all felt sorry. But there was nothing they could do. I had to go standby on that flight. In the end, I was very lucky that they had an extra seat on the plane. So I got to enjoy the beach after all. Now you can bet that I always double-check my tickets to make sure all the information is printed correctly! 23. How long was the woman’s holiday? 24. What was the problem with the woman’s ticket? 25. What did the woman have to do? 26. What happened to the woman in the end? Two days. Three days. Four days. Five days.

(1)One “bad apple“ can spread negative behavior like a virus to bring down officemates or destroy a good team. (2)Supercomputers have computed pi to more than a trillion decimal places, looking always for a pattern to unlock its mystery. (3)Infants and apes apparently adopt the same tactics for remembering where things are, but as children develop their strategies change. (4)Warning signs became apparent from 1996, as these countries faced increased competition from China and Mexico in markets for manufacturing exports. (5)Just 10 percent of the 30 million Chinese currently suffering from depression are getting proper medical care due to a lack of psychiatrists and social prejudice against mental illness.

(1)Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests: It’s my honor today to be here to participate in the Shanghai-Queensland Mathematics Friendship Contest. Please allow me, on behalf of the Shanghai Team to express our sincere thanks for your great hospitality. The whole process was really impressive and we learned a lot from your logic thinking and cooperative spirit. I should say that it’s not who won that counts, but the joy and progress in such a short period of time. (2)The rapid rise of China’s economy is one of the great achievements of our time. China’s increasing prosperity has brought great benefits to the Chinese people and China’s trading partners around the world. China has delivered that economic freedom leads to national wealth. The growth of economic freedom in China provides reason to hope that social, political and religious freedoms will grow there as well. In the long run, these freedoms cannot be separated.

Stress is a normal part of life and usually comes from everyday occurrences. Here are some ways you can deal with everyday sources of stress. Eliminate as many sources of stress as you can. For example, if crowds bother you, go to the supermarket when you know the lines won’t be too long. Try renting videotapes rather than going to crowded movie theaters. Clear up the clutter in your life by giving away or throwing away the things that get in your way. A garage sale is one effective way to do this. If you are always running late, sit down with a pencil and paper and see how you are actually allotting your time. Say it takes you 40 minutes to get to work. Are you leaving your house on time? You may be able to solve your problem(and de-stress your life a bit)just by being realistic. If you can’t find the time for all the activities that are important to you, maybe you are trying to do too much. Again, make a list of what you do during the day and how much each activity takes. Then cut back. Avoid predictably stressful situations. If a certain sport or game makes you tense(whether it’s tennis or bridge), decline the invitation to play. After all, the point of these activities is to have a good time. If you know you won’t, there’s no reason to play. If you can’t remove the stress, remove yourself. Slip away once in a while for some private time. These quiet moments may give you a fresh perspective on your problems. Avoid stressful people. For example, if you don’t get along with your father-in-law but you don’t want to make an issue of it, invite other in-laws at the same time you invite him. Having other people around will absorb some of the pressure you would normally feel. Competing with others, whether in accomplishments, appearance, or possessions, is an avoidable source of stress. You might know people who do all they can to provoke envy in others. While it may seem easy to say you should be satisfied with what you have, it’s the truth. Stress from this kind of jealousy is self-inflicted. Laborsaving devices, such as cellular phones or computer hookups, often encourage us to cram too many activities into each day. Before you buy new equipment, be sure that it will really improve your life. Be aware that taking care of equipment and getting it repaired can be stressful. Try doing only one thing at a time. For example, when you’re riding your exercise bike, you don’t have to listen to the radio or watch television. Remember, sometimes it’s okay to do nothing. If you suffer from insomnia, headaches, recurring colds, or stomach upsets, consider whether stress is part of the problem. Being chronically angry, frustrated, or apprehensive can deplete your physical resources. If you feel stress(or anything else)is getting the better of you, seek professional help—a doctor or therapist. Early signs of excess stress are loss of a sense of well-being and reluctance to get up in the morning to face another day.

M: Is this table on the corner OK? W: Sure. We can sit here. M: Gee. You’ve hardly got anything on your tray. W: Yeah. I guess I’m just not that hungry. M: What’s the matter? Aren’t you feeling well? W: Well, I’ve been really feeling worried. It’s my car. It’s in the shop again. M: Really? What’s wrong this time? W: I don’t know exactly. Something’s wrong with the brakes, I think. M: Well, at least that shouldn’t cost you much to fix. Parts are cheaper for all the American cars like yours. Did the mechanic say how much it would cost? W: He said he would call me with an estimate later on today. M: Watch out he doesn’t try to take advantage of you. W: What do you mean? M: Well, some car mechanics, if they think that someone doesn’t know much about cars, they might try to overcharge that person. W: Maybe so. But I trust this guy. He was recommended by one of my neighbors. He has done some work for me in the past and his prices seemed to be reasonable. M: Oh, that’s good to know. Maybe I’ll try using him in the future. By the way, do you need a ride home after class today? W: Oh, I’ll sure appreciate it. It’s really tough getting around without a car when you live off campus. 11. What does the woman imply about her car? 12. What does the man say about the woman’s car? 13. What does the woman say about the mechanic? 14. What does the man offer to do? She generally doesn’t allow people to borrow it. She is trying to sell it. She bought it from a friend. It has broken down before.

This is kind of a funny story that makes me laugh every time I think of it. Well, I was in Toronto that day and had a layover between flights because it’s not a direct flight. I’d arrived at about 6 pm, and my flight out wasn’t until about eight thirty. Well, my flight was delayed. What’s worse, it got really crowded at the departure gate, people waiting in a long line. I was getting tired, and there were so many people around—I hate crowds—it got me dizzy, so I went to sit away from the departure gate to escape the crowds and to have a rest for a while. I was reading my newspaper, eating chocolate, feeling drowsy, and then...the next thing I know, I wake up and there’s no one around! The crowd is gone! At first, I was very happy but later I found I’d fallen asleep and missed my flight! They must have made lots of announcements, and I missed them all! At that moment, I wanted to cry, you know, feeling helpless. Boy, did I feel stupid. Few people will do this like me. So I had to stay in Toronto overnight and catch a flight out the next morning. After this, I am sure I will never make the same mistake again. 15. What did the man do in Toronto? 16. What time had the man arrived in Toronto? 17. According to the man, which of the following statements is not true? 18. Why did he sit away from the departure gate? Attending a sales conference. Waiting for his next flight. Staying with his parents for the weekend. Visiting an old school friend.

W: How many people use the Internet? M: Close to 100 million in the United States. And that’s increasing daily by tens of thousands. E-mail and chat are by far the No. 1 and No. 2 uses. E-commerce sites come in third. W: Are there people who are spending too much time online? M: Based on my research, about 6 percent of people online are using the Internet compulsively. Even if we’ve overestimated, we’re talking millions. It’s not that they just stay on for two hours. I’m talking about people losing jobs, having marital problems, experiencing a very significant negative impact on their lives. The average among the most compulsive group was upward of six to nine hours online everyday. W: Have you ever seen anything like this before? M: This isn’t a new disease. It’s a new way of expressing the same disease: addiction. People get addicted to lots of things that are pleasurable and intense. The Internet gives you that hit, a temporary high feeling, just like exercise or drugs. W: Can internet shopping go too far? M: All addictions are the same, regardless of the stimulus. You shop because you get a high. The problem is: it’s so short-lived that you have to keep doing it. And that’s where it can become a compulsive pattern. W: What should people do if they use the Internet compulsively? M: One solution is to limit the amount of time they spend online. Have a specific task you are going to do and write that down. Put a clock next to the screen so you can keep track of time. If you can’t control your use, you might have to just log off. 27. Which is not mentioned as the first three uses of the Internet? 28. How many people are spending too much time online? 29. What’s the solution for those who use the Internet compulsively? 30. What’s the man’s attitude towards the compulsive use of Internet? E-mail. Online courses. Chat. E-commerce.

The Paris Air Show brought Airbus 425 bookings worth tens of billions of dollars, a welcome distraction from troubles at the plane maker and its parent company, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. Many of Airbus’ 425 orders came not from new customers but were confirmations of previous commitments to buy its planes. The only deal announced Friday was with Singapore Airlines, which signed a contract for 20 A350-XWB aircraft, affirming a commitment announced last July. Still, Airbus got a boost for its morale and its fortunes, especially those of the A350-XWB, the Europeans’ rival to the Dreamliner. Airbus has been struggling to win customers in the lucrative market for medium-sized, long-range jets since the company was forced into an expensive redesign of the A350 by unhappy customers—resulting in the extra-wide-body, or XWB, model. Airbus took in 141 new firm orders this week for the A350-XWB, the company said Friday, though that included conversions of orders for the earlier A350. The world’s biggest passenger jet, Airbus’ A380 superjumbo, fared less well, with just three new firm orders. Delays to the A380 wiped billions of dollars off profit forecasts at EADS a year ago, and along with management turmoil made 2006 a bruising year for one of Europe’s biggest companies. Most of Airbus’ bookings this week came for the single-aisle A320 family, the company said, with 198 firm orders. It also won 83 firm orders for the A330-A340 family. In addition to the firm orders, Airbus said it received new commitments this week for a total of 303 aircraft. Overall, its orders, including firm deals and commitments, totaled more than $88 billion at catalog prices, though airlines routinely negotiate deep discounts. This year’s show put Airbus ahead of Boeing in terms of total orders so far this year, with Airbus at 626 and Boeing at 510. Airbus led Boeing on sales for several years but fell behind in 2006. Boeing continued to pull in customers for the Dreamliner at Le Bourget outside Paris—including a major deal with the original launch customer for the A350, Los Angeles-based International Lease Finance Corp. “Our long-standing policy is not to store up order announcements for an air show,“ said Boeing spokesman Charlie Miller. “We used the show to confirm that the 787 remains on schedule for first delivery in May 2008, and we look forward with growing excitement to the 787 rollout on July 8.“ Given the heavy order loads for the 787, Boeing is studying ways to boost its production capacities, Chief Executive Jim McNerney said in an interview published Friday with French business daily Les Echos. He also said he expects large orders from US airlines by the end of this year or at the start of 2008. Airbus is still expected to report another big loss this year. Worker morale is low, as Airbus pushes ahead with job cuts and factory selloffs as part of a restructuring plan meant to recoup losses from the A380 delays.

After a century and a half as cordial neighbors, two of the nation’s biggest ranches find themselves feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys over wind energy and wildlife and whether the two can coexist. The storied King and Kenedy ranches, which together cover nearly 1.3 million acres in sparsely populated south Texas, are at odds over plans to erect 240-plus wind-powered turbines on the smaller Kenedy property. The structures and their massive blades can stand 400 feet tall—taller than most 30-story buildings. The King Ranch, with 825,000 acres near the Texas Gulf Coast, says the turbines will interfere with migratory birds’ flight patterns, threaten other wildlife and create an eyesore—though the nearest highway is nearly 20 miles away. Managers of the charitable trust and foundation that oversee the Kenedy Ranch—a mere 400,000 acres—are resisting a public brawl, but the companies leasing their land for the wind farms say the King Ranch essentially ought to mind its own business. Besides, they say, they’ve spent two years studying migratory birds’ flight patterns and are convinced the environmental impact will be minimal. Already, Texas leads the nation in wind-generated power, and numerous proposed projects are under way. But none have garnered attention like the Kenedy wind farms—in part because of the King vs. Kenedy skirmish. Wind farms generate electricity by using wind to turn giant blades that rotate on turbines, an alternative to power created by utilities using coal, natural gas and other sources. King Ranch President Jack Hunt has called for state legislation to regulate the farms—the lack of such laws governing wind farms making Texas a favorite spot for potential wind projects. Hunt said he met with Kenedy Ranch overseers when the wind farms were first proposed a couple of years ago, hoping to get them to understand they’re “sacrificing the long-term value of a rare resource for short-term revenue“. “But it sort of fell on deaf ears,“ he said. Marc Cisneros, who runs the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation from nearby Corpus Christi, has declined to shout back. But he said the project on his section of the ranch not only is environmentally sound but will allow the foundation’s charitable work to continue in an impoverished part of the state. Led largely by Texas, the United States grew its wind-power capacity faster than anyone in the world in 2005 and 2006, and wind farms now operate in 36 states. A recent study for Congress by the National Research Council said wind farms could generate up to 7 percent of the nation’s electricity in 15 years—up from less than 1 percent today. That report also said more study was needed on the effect wind farms have on birds and bats. Besides the skyline of turbines endangering birds, Hunt bristles the most at the lack of regulation of the turbine-laden farms. Developers need neither state nor federal approval to erect the towers on private land. Hunt supported state legislation to require permitting for such sites, but it failed. Congress also considered such requirements, but nothing materialized.

The US Navy is warning ships to stay away from the coast of Somalia after a series of pirate attacks there. The US Maritime Liaison Office in Bahrain says that, although ships belonging to US-led anti-terror coalition are operating in the area, they cannot monitor every ship that passes the east coast of Somalia. The office is urging merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles off Somalia. Pirates have attacked at least eight ships in the area this year. On Saturday, pirates tried but failed to hijack a boat carrying food to Somalia for the United Nations World Food Program. The United Nations is calling for international action against the rampant piracy off Somalia’s coast, saying it threatens further aid deliveries to the country.

6. The Gardening Expo. was supposed to open tomorrow, but will be delayed until Friday, due to the bad weather conditions. 7. The closing of the textile factory, with two thousand workers being laid off, has doubled the unemployment rate in that town. 8. I can’t imagine why Mr. Nicholas hasn’t turned up yet. He was due for the board meeting before now. 9. Within the past century, scientists have been trying unsuccessfully to find a real cure for the common cold. 10. Twice as many tickets for the Auto Show could have been sold, but the exhibition hall has only a capacity for 500 visitors. The Expo. will be open the day after tomorrow. The Expo. is rescheduled to open on Friday. The Expo.’s opening is delayed until tomorrow. The Expo. is not likely to open on Friday.

The world needs legal guidelines for burying greenhouse gases to help the still tiny business become one of the main ways of fighting global warming by 2050, the International Energy Agency(IEA)said on Thursday. The IEA said pilot projects for capturing gases—emitted mainly by burning fossil fuels in power plants, refineries, and factories—now accounted for just 0.05 percent of the potential total by mid-century. “There is a need for a worldwide agreement on the legal challenges,“ Claude Mandil, executive director of the IEA, which advises 26 industrialized nations, told a news briefing in Oslo during a conference on carbon capture and storage. He said most IEA estimates showed that carbon capture would be the top contributor to curbing greenhouse gases by 2050, behind only energy efficiency savings and ahead of renewable energies and nuclear power. Until now, most work has focused on ways of cutting the prohibitively high costs of capturing, piping away and entombing the gases under a broader UN goal of averting climate change such as more droughts, floods and rising sea levels. But a legal framework was also urgently needed, in tandem with development of cheaper technologies, Mandil said. He noted that most projects so far were small, such the Sleipner gas field off Norway where Statoil has been filtering out and reinjecting about a million tons of carbon dioxide a year since 1996 to avoid a carbon emissions tax. “Carbon capture and storage potential is 6 billion tons a year by 2050,“ he told an audience of about 200 experts. “Pay attention to the scale. That means 6,000 Sleipner projects.“ Six billion tons of carbon dioxide is roughly equivalent to current emissions by top emitters the United States and China. Carbon capture would help coal-fired power plants keep operating, he noted. Mandil that there were unsolved legal questions about who would be liable in the event of leaks from carbon stores, for instance in 20, 50 or 100 years’ time, and about issues such as property rights, waste and technology transfers. The IEA issued a 140-page booklet about legal aspects of storing carbon dioxide outlining the problem but stopping short of giving clear recommendations, for instance about whether governments should assume liability for leaks in the long term. The booklet also said that uncertainty about the rules should not block approval of new pilot projects in coming years. “We need about 10 full-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects by 2015,“ Mandil said. “That’s challenging but possible.“ He praised Norway, the world’s number five oil exporter, for technological advances at Sleipner and for planning to fit future gas-fired power plants with carbon capture and storage. “Carbon capture will undoubtedly be an important part of the answer to climate change,“ Norway’s Oil and Energy Minister Odd Roger Enoksen said. “But the cost of carbon capture and storage has to be brought down.“

An experimental treatment for Parkinson’s disease seemed to improve symptoms—dramatically so, for one 59-year-old man—without causing side effects in an early study of a dozen patients. The gene therapy treatment involved slipping billions of copies of a gene into the brain to calm overactive brain circuitry. More than half a million Americans have Parkinson’s. They endure symptoms that include tremors, rigidity in their limbs, slowness of movement and impaired balance and coordination. Eventually they can become severely disabled. The small study focused on testing the safety of the procedure rather than its effectiveness, and experts cautioned it’s too soon to draw conclusions about how well it works. But they called the results promising and said the approach merits further studies. “We still have quite a bit more testing to do,“ said Dr. Michael Kaplitt of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, an author of the study. Still, “the initial results are extremely encouraging“. Nathan Klein, a 59-year-old freelance television producer in Port Washington, N.Y., said the disease left him “pretty messed up“. It weakened his voice, impaired his walking and made his hand tremble so badly he couldn’t hold a glass of wine without spilling it all. Klein was the first patient to be treated with Kaplitt’s gene therapy procedure in 2003, and he said his symptoms gradually subsided afterward. Nowadays, he said, apart from freezing now and then when he wants to walk, the symptoms are basically gone. “I’m elated,“ said Klein, who continues to take his regular pills for the disease. “It’s unbelievable.“ Kaplitt, who has a financial interest in Neurologix Inc., which paid for the research, noted that the 12 patients in the study still have Parkinson’s symptoms. The amount of medication they were already taking for their symptoms didn’t change significantly in the year after the surgery. Current medicines can control symptoms, but can’t stop the disease from getting worse over time, and they can produce troublesome side effects like uncontrollable movement. Some patients gain relief from a surgical treatment called deep brain stimulation, in which electrodes are placed in the brain and connected to a programmable stimulator. Kaplitt’s procedure was aimed at achieving the same goal as that surgery, calming overactive circuitry in the brain. It gets overactive because it loses the normal supply of a chemical called GABA. The gene therapy was designed to make the brain produce more GABA. For the gene therapy surgery, a tube about the width of a hair was threaded through a hole about the size of a quarter at the top of the skull. The tube delivered a dose of a virus engineered to ferry copies of a gene into cells of a brain region called the subthalamic nucleus. The gene copies enable the cells to pump out more GABA.

Consolidating your student loans isn’t the no-brainer it used to be. So instead of racing to the bank, new grads should take some time to figure out whether consolidation works for them, and approach it carefully. Here are some considerations. 1. What’s your rate, and is it fixed? In a college loan consolidation, your original loans are paid off and bundled together in a new loan, much as a mortgage and a home equity line might be bundled together into a new mortgage with a home refinancing. The rate on the new loan is fixed. It’s a weighted average of the interest rates of the loans being consolidated, rounded up to the nearest 0.125 percent. Students who graduated this spring are most likely to have a mix of variable and fixed-rate loans. Students who already did loan consolidations in the last two years while they were still in college, might already have a portfolio of low-cost fixed-rate loans and not find it worthwhile to reconsolidate just to get everything wrapped up into one loan. 2. Timing matters. New graduates will find some advantages in consolidating if they do it within six months of getting their diploma. They are in what’s called a grace period that gives them a price break and six months to start repaying their loans. For these new graduates, the variable-rate loans are at 6.54 percent and the fixed-rate loan is at 6.8 percent. On July 1, their variable rate goes up to 6.62 percent. But when they move out of the grace period and start repayment, their loan rates will adjust up to 7.22 percent. By consolidating before then, they can lock in the lower rate. Typically, repayment starts immediately on consolidated loans, but borrowers can ask the lender to hold the loan package until the end of the 6-month grace period. 3. The bottom line matters, too. New grads like to consolidate because it can stretch out their repayment period for as long as 20 years and cut as much as 50 percent off of their monthly payments. That might be especially useful for grads who are entering low-paying professions, but in the long run a longer loan can cost a lot more in interest payments, even if the rates are lower. To figure out your bottom line, ask your lender to estimate your total interest payments on your loans or do it yourself with an online loan calculator(you can find a slew of them at http://www.finaid.org/calculators/, or check http://www.salliemae.com/repaymentoptimizer). Do a similar calculation on the proposed loan consolidation. 4. Competition matters. While rates on these federally backed loans are fixed, lenders do have leeway to offer incentives, and most do. Some cut your rate if you agree to have payments automatically debited from your checking account, or if you establish a history of paying on time. That later break often doesn’t kick in for three or four years, though, so remember to discount its value. No lenders are allowed to charge fees on federal student loan consolidations and none are permitted to have prepayment penalties, so shop around for the best discounts and services. Some places to price consolidation loans are http://www.salliemae.com/consolidation: http://www.mvrichuncle.com, and http://www.graduateleverage.com.

中国与法国是东西方两个具有代表性的国家，两国都十分重视保护和弘扬民族文化，都主张积极开展不同文明间的对话和进行不同文化间的交流，都主张维护民族文化的特性，保护世界文化的多样性，促进世界文化多元化的发展。文化关系在中法两国的关系中发挥着更为独特的作用，直接受到两国领导人的关注，成为两国关系的重要特征。这是一次多层次、全方位的合作。文化交流是个互相学习、互相借鉴的过程。办文化年也是中国文化自身发展的需要。

What does it mean by “no-brainer“(Para. 1)?

Which of the following is NOT true about college loan consolidation?

According to the passage, a grace period______.

The ways to figure out your own bottom line are as follows EXCEPT______.

More information about places to price consolidation loans is available at website______.