Peter loved to buy used articles. Almost a month ago, he bought a popular word game that used little pieces of wood with different letters on them. As he was purchasing it, the salesgirl said, “Uh, look, the game box hasn’t even been opened yet. That might be worth some money. “ Peter examined the box, and sure enough, it was completely covered in factory-sealed plastic. He saw a date of 1973 on the back of the box. “You should put that up for auction (拍卖) on the Internet, and see what happens,“ the salesgirl said. “ Yes, you’ re right. People like something rare,“ Peter agreed, “ I can’ t imagine there being very many unopened boxes of this game still around 40 years later. “ “Don’t forget to tell me if you sell it,“ the salesgirl smiled. “No problem,“ Peter said. After he got home, Peter went online to several auction websites looking for his game, but he could not find it. Then he typed in the name of the word game and hit SEARCH. The search result was 543 websites containing information about the changes of the game. Over the years, the game had been produced using letters in different sizes and game boards in different colors. He also found some lists of game fans looking for various versions of the game. Peter emailed some of them, telling them what he had. Two weeks later, Peter went back to the shop. “Hello! Do you still remember the unopened word game?“ The salesgirl looked at him for a second, then recognized him and said, “Oh, hi!“ “I’ ve got something for you,“ Peter said. “I sold the game and made $1000. Thank you for your suggestion. “ He handed her three $100 bills. “Wow!“ the salesgirl cried out. “Thank you! I never expected it. “

It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth(收费站) , “I’m paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,“ she said with a smile. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare. “ It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend’ s refrigerator: “Practice random(随意的) kindness and senseless acts of beauty. “ The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down. Judy Forman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she decided to drive all the way back to copy it down. “ I thought it was beautiful,“ she said, explaining why she would write it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above. “ Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she did not know where it came from or what it really meant. Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days. “Here’ s the idea,“ Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly. “ Her fantasies include painting the classrooms of old schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a poor old lady. Anne says, “ Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can. “ The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!

Many post-80s couples are complaining that going to the movies, shopping or attending parties have become impossible since their kids were born. That’s the way most parents are living their lives, no weekends of their own, no time to visit friends, not even a chance of promotion in their jobs. Asking help from their parents might be a way out, but problems are that some aging parents are not strong enough to take care of the kids, and that the kids may also become too spoiled by their grandparents. Then, here comes a solution: families with kids can form a small group, and parents of each family can take turns to look after all the kids in this group on weekends. Thus, other parents can have some quiet time and feel free to do something they’ ve been planning for a long time. At the same time, the kids can make new friends and won’ t be hanging around their parents all day long. This is baby-pooling.

It is a terrible illustration of man’ s weakness to nature, and the tsunami(海啸) that struck the Japanese coast in March, 2011 has illustrated the difficulty of fighting against natural disasters, even for a prosperous nation. Totally preventing tsunami-damage is impossible. But there is much that can be done to minimize damage and loss of life. Measures that can be taken include designing solid buildings, and developing early-warning systems, public education programs and evacuation (疏散) strategies. Moreover, the approach of a tsunami is possibly picked up by the sensors of complicated international warning systems. Countries can use radio and television broadcasts as well as loudspeaker networks to warn the public. But an early warning system depends on how far the tsunami strikes, if it’ s close by, the warning system is not going to be very effective. When people are faced with an unstoppable force like a tsunami the massive waves created by events like underwater earthquakes, the best course of action for them is to get inland and to the higher ground as quickly as possible.

Global warming is causing more than 300,000 deaths and about $125 billion in economic losses each year, according to a report by the Global Humanitarian Forum, an organization led by Annan, the former United Nations secretary general. The report, to be released Friday, analyzed data and existing studies of health, disaster, population and economic trends. It found that human-influenced climate change was raising the global death rates from illnesses including malnutrition (营养不良) and heat-related health problems. But even before its release, the report drew criticism from some experts on climate and risk, who questioned its methods and conclusions. Along with the deaths, the report said that the lives of 325 million people, primarily in poor countries, were being seriously affected by climate change. It projected that the number would double by 2030. Roger Pielke Jr. , a political scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who studies disaster trends, said the Forum’s report was “a methodological embarrassment“ because there was no way to distinguish deaths or economic losses related to human-driven global warming amid the much larger losses resulting from the growth in populations and economic development in vulnerable(易受伤害的) regions. Dr. Pielke said that—climate change is an important problem requiring our utmost attention. But the report, he said, “ will harm the cause for action on both climate change and disasters because it is so deeply flawed(有瑕疵的). “ However, Soren Andreasen, a social scientist at Dalberg Global Development Partners who supervised the writing of the report, defended it, saying that it was clear that the numbers were rough estimates. He said the report was aimed at world leaders, who will meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a new international climate treaty. In a press release describing the report, Mr. Annan stressed the need for the negotiations to focus on increasing the flow of money from rich to poor regions to help reduce their vulnerability to climate hazards while still curbing the emissions of the heat-trapping gases. More than 90% of the human and economic losses from climate change are occurring in poor countries, according to the report.

Which of the following best describes the word game Peter bought?

What did the salesgirl probably think of Peter’ s word game?

Peter got the names of the game fans from______.

What happened at the end of the story?

What message can be learned from the story?