No budget for your vacation? Try home exchanges ---- swapping houses with strangers. Agree to use each other’s cars, and you can save dollars on car rentals (租赁费), too.
Home exchanges are not new. At least one group, Intervac, has been facilitating such an arrangement since 1953. But trading online is gaining popularity these days, with several sites in operation, including Home Exchanges. Founded in 1992, with some 28,000 listings, this company bills itself as the world’s largest home exchange club, reporting that membership has increased 30% this year.
The annual fee is usually less than US$100. Members can access thousands of listings for apartments, villas, suburban homes and farms around the world. Initial contact is made via e-mail, with subsequent communication usually by phone. Before a match is made, potential swappers tend to discuss a lot.
However, the concept may sound risky to some people. What about theft? Damage? These are reasonable causes for concern, but equally unlikely. As one swapper puts it, “Nobody is going to fly across the ocean or drive 600 miles to come steal your TV. Besides, at the same time they’re staying in your home, you are staying in their home.”
Exchange sites recommend that swappers discuss such matters ahead of time. They may fill out an agreement spelling out who shoulders which responsibilities if a problem arises. It does not matter if the agreement would hold up in court, but it does give the exchangers a little satisfaction.
Generally, the biggest complaint among home exchangers has to do with different standards of cleanliness. Swappers are supposed to make sure their home is in order before they depart, but one person’s idea of “clean” may be more forgiving than another’s. Some owners say if they come back to a less-than-sparkling kitchen, it may be inconvenient but would not sour them on future exchanges.What is the second paragraph mainly about?
| A．How to exchange homes. |
| B．The biggest home exchange agency Intervac. |
| C．The fact that home exchanges are not new. |
| D．A contrast between Intervac and Home Exchanges. |
How do home exchangers normally begin their communication?
| A．By phone. | B．Via a matchmaker. |
| C．By e-mail. | D．Via a face-to-face meeting. |
What is recommended in the passage to deal with the concerns about theft and damage?
| A．One can file a lawsuit in court. |
| B．Both parties can trade online. |
| C．One can damage the home of the other party in return. |
| D．Both parties can sign an agreement beforehand. |
One day, a poor boy who was trying to pay his way through school by sending newspapers door to door, was so hungry that he decided to beg for a meal at the next house.
However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” With these words, Howard Kelly left that house.
Years later the woman became badly ill and was finally sent to the hospital in a big city. Dr. Howard Kelly, now famous, was called in. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Dressed in his doctor’s clothes, Dr. Kelly went into her room and recognized her at once. From that day on, he gave special attention to her, and decided to do his best to save her life.
At last the woman was saved. Dr. Kelly asked the business office to pass the final bill to him. He looked at it and then wrote something on the side. The bill was sent to the woman’s room. She was afraid to open it because she was sure that it would take the rest of her life to pay for it off. Finally she looked, and the note on the side of the bill caught her attention. She read these words:
“Paid in full with a glass of milk, Dr. Howard Kelly.”
Tear of joy flooded her eyes.
No one can change the weather. Nobody can control the weather. But if we read correctly the signs around us, we can tell what the more important changes in the weather will be. This way of telling what the weather will be like on the following day or two is called weather forecasting(天气预报).
For many centuries and in all countries, people have studied the weather and tried to make weather forecasting. Rings around the sun are a sign of coming rain. That many people feel their joints(关节) hurt is a sign of wet weather. Some birds fly high if fine weather is coming, but they fly near the ground if rainy or stormy weather is on the way. If you see a rainbow during rainy weather, this is a sign that the weather will become clear and fine. Such rainbows come in the evening. If the stars twinkle clearly at night, then fine weather will continue. If a fog appears in the morning just above a river, then the day will be warm. If the sunset is mostly red in colour, then the following day will be fine. If a rainbow appears in the morning, rainy weather will probably come.
Most of the above sayings have been made by the people who have used their eyes and brains to make weather forecasting.
Feel tired lately? Has a doctor said he can’t find anything wrong with you? Perhaps he sent you to a hospital, but all the advanced equipment there shows that there is nothing wrong with you．
Then, consider this: you might be in a state of subhealth (亚健康)．
Subhealth, also called the third state or gray state, is explained as a borderline state between health and disease．
According to the investigation by the National Health Organization, over 45 percent of subhealthy people are middle-aged or elderly．The percentage is even higher among people who work in management positions as well as students around exam-week．
Symptoms(征兆)include a lack of energy, depression(压抑),slow reactions, insomnia(失眠),agitation, and poor memory．Other symptoms include shortness of breath, sweating and aching in the waist and legs．
The key to preventing and recovering from subhealth, according to some medical experts, is to form good living habits, alternate work and rest, exercise regularly, and take part in open air activities．
As for meals, people are advised to eat less salt and sugar．They should also eat more fresh vegetables, fruits, fish because they are rich in nutritional elements…vitamins and trace elements …vitamins and trace elements…that are important to the body．
Nutrition(营养)experts point out that it is not good to eat too much at one meal because it may cause unhealthy changes in the digestive tract(消化系统)．They also say that a balanced diet is very helpful in avoiding subhealth．
You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight．They hit one another hard．At the start they only fight with their fists．But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs．And so it goes on until one of the men crashes through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below．He is dead! Of course he isn’t really dead．With any luck he isn’t even hurt．Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars of even catching fire, are professionals．They do this for a living．These men are called stuntmen．That is to say, they perform tricks．There are two sides to their work．They actually do most of the things you see on the screen．For example, they fall from a high building．However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress．Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar! But although their work depends on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training．Often a stuntman’s success depends on careful timing．For example, when he is “blown up” in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.
Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives．They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed．A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff a thousand feet high．His parachute failed to open, and he was killed．In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only．Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action．For nowadays there are stuntwomen too.
A thief entered the bedroom of the 30th President of the United States, who met him and helped him escape punishment.
The event happened in the early morning hours in one of the first days when Calvin Coolidge came into power, late in August, 1923. He and his family were living in the same third-floor suite(套房) at the Willard Hotel in Washington that had occupied several years before. The former President’s wife was still living in the White House.
Coolidge awoke to see a stranger go through his clothes, remove a wallet and a watch chain.
Coolidge spoke, “ I wish you wouldn’t take that.”
The thief, gaining his voice, said, “ Why?”
“ I don’t mean the watch and chain, only the charm(表坠). Take it near the window and read what is impressed on its back,” the president said.
The thief read, “ Presented to Calvin Coolidge.”
“ Are you President Coolidge?” he asked.
The president answered, “ Yes, and the House of Representatives（众议院）gave me the watch charm. I’m fond of it. It would do you no good. You want money. Let’s talk this over.”
Holding up the wallet, the young man said in a low voice, “ I’ll take this and leave everything else.”
Coolidge, knowing there was 80 dollars in it, persuaded the young man to sit down and talk. He told the President he and his college roommate had overspent during their holiday and did not have enough money to pay their hotel bill.
Coolidge added up the roommate and two rail tickets back to the college. Then he counted out 32 dollars and said it was a loan(借款).
He then told the young man, “ There is a guard in the corridor.” The young man nodded and left through the same window as he had entered.