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随着越来越多的中国孩子来新加坡求学，“陪读妈妈”已逐渐成为新加坡社会的一个特殊群体。作为中国学生出国留学的选择地, 新加坡无疑具有其独特的优势：法律健全, 环境优美，社会治安良好, 双语社会，华人居多, 生活容易适应，又允许妈妈陪读。然而, 事实上，新加坡远非人们想象中的教育天堂。中国学生大多是通过新加坡设在中国的中介公司介绍来新。来新前, 中介公司的宣传天花乱坠，可是来新后, 多数妈妈发现由于生活、学习费用以及工作证的原因，生计问题迫在眉睫。试想, 如果中介公司能够公正、客观地介绍新加坡的求学和生活情况，来新求学的孩子和妈妈们就能根据自己的经济状况在权衡利弊之后做出明智的选择。再者, 对于多数陪读妈妈来说，这里没有家的感觉, 新加坡人好像总是对她们有所防范，她们感觉孤立、无助, 很难融入当地人的生活圈子。 “十年树木、百年树人”。教育本身就是一项长期的工程，短期行为根本无法留住人, 更无法留住人才。

发展教育我们要优先发展教育。要大力推进素质教育，加强学校思想政治工作, 促进学生德智体美全面发展。加强基础教育，特别是加快贫困地区和少数民族地区普及九年义务教育步伐。推进农村义务教育以县为主的管理体制改革, 保证教师工资按时足额发放。积极发展高中阶段教育。稳步发展普通高等教育，适应新形势, 调整学科结构。大力发展中等和高等职业教育。改革课程教材，更新教学内容, 提高教育质量。继续推进高校内部管理体制改革和后勤社会化。全面提高教师思想和业务素质。加快教育信息化建设，积极发展现代远程教育。加大政府对教育的投入。鼓励、支持和规范社会力量办学、中外合作办学。

新型工业化我们要推进产业结构优化升级，坚持走新型工业化道路。依靠科技进步, 围绕提高自主创新能力，推动产业结构调整。加快开发对经济增长有重大带动作用的高新技术, 以及能够推动传统产业升级的共性技术和关键技术。抓紧制定若干重大领域关键技术创新的目标和措施，务求尽快取得新突破。完善鼓励创新的体制和政策体系。坚持引进先进技术和消化吸收创新相结合, 增强自主开发能力。大力发展高新技术产业，积极推进国民经济和社会信息化。加快用高新技术改造提升传统产业。以重大工程为依托, 推动装备制造业振兴。在专门项目指导下，继续加强能源、重要原材料等基础产业和水利、交通、通信等基础设施建设。积极发展现代配送、旅游、社区服务等第三产业。既要加快发展资金技术密集型产业, 又要继续发展劳动密集型产业。

我们必须抓住新的机遇，迎接新的挑战, 采取更加有力的措施，以更为积极的姿态扩大对外开放, 力争对外贸易和吸收外资有新的增长。要继续实行以质取胜和市场多元化战略，贯彻落实各项鼓励出口的政策, 努力扩大出口。首先要积极调整出口商品结构，进一步扩大机电产品出口, 加快纺织、服装、轻工业等传统出口商品升级换代，提高高新技术产品的出口比重, 扩大农产品出口。其次是积极开拓国际市场，特别要大力拓展非洲、拉美、东欧等新兴市场, 积极发展与周边国家及发展中国家的经贸关系。鼓励国内有比较优势的企业到境外投资办厂，开展加工贸易和资源开发等项目。继续发展对外承包工程和劳务合作。

走新型工业化道路，必须发挥科学技术作为第一生产力的重要作用, 注重依靠科技进步和提高劳动者素质，改善经济增长质量和效益。加强基础研究和高技术研究, 推进关键技术创新和系统集成，实现技术跨越式发展。鼓励科技创新, 在关键领域和若干科技发展前沿掌握核心技术和拥有一批自主知识产权。深化科技和教育体制改革，加强科技教育同经济的结合, 完善科技服务体系，加速科技成果向现实生产力转化。推进国家创新体系建设。发挥风险投资的作用, 形成促进科技创新和创业的资本运作和人才汇集机制。完善知识产权保护制度。必须把可持续发展放在十分突出的地位，坚持计划生育、保护环境和保护资源的基本国策。稳定低生育水平。合理开发和节约使用各种自然资源。抓紧解决部分地区水资源短缺问题, 兴建南水北调工程。实施海洋开发，搞好国土资源综合整治。树立全民环保意识, 搞好生态保护和建设。

中国农业发展现代农业，推进新农村建设, 要靠政策、靠投入、靠科技、靠改革。一要巩固、完善和加强支农惠农政策。增加对种粮农民的直接补贴、种植良种补贴、农机具购置补贴$3和农业生产资料综合补贴。继续实行粮食最低收购价政策。进一步加大对财政困难县乡和产粮大县的支持力度。二要加大对农业农村投入力度。切实把国家基础设施建设和社会事业发展的重点转向农村，今年财政支农投入的增量要继续高于上年, 国家固定资产投资用于农村的增量要继续高于上年，土地出让收入用于农村建设的增量要继续高于上年。中央财政安排用于“三农”的资金3917亿元, 比去年增加520亿元。积极发展农业保险，扩大农业政策性保险试点范围。三要加快农业科技进步。加强农业科技创新能力建设, 支持农业科技项目，加快农业科技成果转化, 完善基层农业技术推广体系，鼓励农业科技进村入户。

扶持农业发展我们必须加大对农业的支持力度。采取符合世贸组织规则的措施，努力维护农民利益。增加对农业和农村基础设施建设投资, 改善生产生活条件和生态环境。重点支持节水灌溉、人畜饮水、农村沼气、农村水电、乡村道路和草场围栏等设施建设。要在农业科研、技术推广、病虫害防治、信息咨询和农民培训等方面加强对农业的支持。特别要加大对粮食主产区的支持力度。改进金融对农业的服务。深化农村信用社改革。进一步搞好农村扶贫开发，多渠道增加扶贫资金, 扩大以工代赈规模。加大对灾区和特困地区的支持，减免农、牧业税, 并真正落到实处。积极帮助农村特困户和优抚对象解决实际困难。

The relationship between politicians and the press In the seaside town of Brighton in southern England the ruling Labour Party’s annual conference is getting underway. It’s a time for both Mps and grassroots members to take stock of how the party is doing， to discuss policy and to hear, hopefully inspiring speeches. The party delegates will be hoping too for plenty of coverage from the media assembled there. Newspapers in Britain have long had great influence over Governments， much to the resentment of the politicians. Almost seventy-five years ago, the then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin accused the two big press barons， Lords Beaverbrook and Rothermere, of running their papers as “engines of propaganda” for the “personal wishes and personal dislikes of two men”. He famously accused them of seeking “power without responsibility—the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages.” It’s hard to imagine the current Prime Minister Tony Blair attacking the tabloid press so publicly. The former editor of the Daily Mirror Piers Morgan claimed earlier this year that he met the Labour leader no fewer than fifty-eight times for lunches， dinners or interviews, a statistic which astonished many in Government and the media， who thought a party leader and Prime Minister should have had better ways to spend his time. But Tony Blair has good reason to court the press. In Britain, Labour， left-of-centre governments, have always had problems with national newspapers， most of whose owners traditionally supported the right-of-centre Conservative Party. This came to a head on Election Day in 1992 when Labour seemed set to win power for the first time in eighteen years. In those days, Britain’s biggest-selling daily paper， the sun, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire， was no friend of Labour, indeed it had been Margaret Thatcher’s biggest cheerleader. That morning， on its front page, it depicted the bald head of the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock as a light bulb. Alongside ran the headline： “If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights？” Labour lost. By the next election, Tony Blair was the party’s leader and determined to win over， or at least neutralize, The Sun and its owner. He succeeded， moving the Labor Party towards the center ground, and gaining The Sun’s endorsement at the last three elections. Once in Government， Labour played hardball with the media, relishing its power， and aware that if it did not take charge of the agenda, the media would. Its key figure was the former political editor of the Daily Mirror， Alasdair Campbell, who took charge not just of the Prime Minister’s press office but all government press officers， trying to ensure the Government spoke with one voice. Journalists who reported favorably were given privileged access; those who didn’t were frozen out. Mr. Blair maintained his close links with R Murdoch and his newspapers； doing everything he could to maintain their support. Lance Price claims in his diaries that the Government assured the tycoon and his editors that it wouldn’t change its policy on Europe without asking them.

That Old Greenspan Magic Seems to be Fading For the best part of 20 years， Alan Greenspan has been a symbol of the stupidity of ageism. He became chairman of the US Federal Reserve at 61, when plenty of workers have already been tossed on the scrapheap and many others are preparing to wind down for retirement. His golden years in charge of the US economy were when he was pushing 70 and he’s still there aged 78. Greenspan is the doyen of central bankers， still talked about in almost reverential terms by his peers. The fact that the Fed chairman rarely gives interviews and makes public pronouncements that are to economics what Finnegans Wake is to literature only adds to the mystique. It is, then， with some trepidation that the question has to be asked: has Big Alan finally lost the plot？ At the start of last week, Greenspan presided over a meeting of the Fed which kept interest rates on hold at 1%， the level they have been pegged at for nearly a year. A statement accompanying the decision said the risks to inflation were balanced, which means the Fed thinks there is as much chance of the lost of living going up as going down. On Thursday， new joblessness claims in the US fell to their lowest level in getting on for four years, and the picture of a recovering labour market was underlined by Friday’s non-farm payrolls which showed an increase of 288，000, above what had been expected. The economy is expanding at an annual rate of 4.5%， surveys of both manufacturing and the service sector are strong, the housing market is booming， inflation has started to pick up. Hardly surprisingly, Greenspan’s call on inflation is now coming under the microscope， even by those on the Kenyesian left who tend to favor expansionary macroeconomic policies. “Show me something, other than computers， where the price is falling, ” says Dean Baker of the Centre for Economic Policy Research in Washington. Baker is right. Clearly， risks to inflation are on the upside, and massively so. The economy has been injected with a cocktail of three growth-inducing drugs-negative real interest rates， a rising budget deficit and a falling currency. Oil prices have touched $40 a barrel and the labour market is tightening. It is hard to believe that Greenspan, a junkie for economic data no matter how seemingly trivial， has not spotted all this. Rates in the US are far below a neutral level, which would probably be around 5%， yet Greenspan is in no hurry to act.

George Soros the Financial Crocodile “The US governs the international system to protect its own economy. It is not in charge of protecting other economies.” Soros says. “So when America goes into recession， you have anti- recessionary policies. When other countries are in recession, they don’t have the ability to engage in anti-recessionary policies because they can’t have a permissive monetary policy， because money would flee.” In person, he has the air of a philosophy professor rather than a gimlet-eyed financier. In a soft voice which bears the faces of his native Hungary， he argues that it is time to rewrite the so-called Washington consensus—the cocktail of liberalization, privatization and fiscal rectitude which the IMF has been preaching for 15 years. Developing countries no longer have the freedom to run their own economies， he argues, even when they follow perfectly sound policies. He cites Brazil， which although it has a floating currency and manageable public debt was paying ten times over the odds to borrow from capital markets. Soros credits the anti-globalization movement for having made companies more sensitive to their wider responsibilities. “I think ［the protesters］ have made an important contribution by making people aware of the flaws of the system, ” he says. “People on the street had an impact on public opinion and corporations which sell to the public responded to that.” Because the IMF has abandoned billion dollar bailouts for troubled economies， he thinks a repeat of the Asian crisis is unlikely. The fund’s new “tough love” policy—for which Argentina is the guinea pig——has other consequences. The bailouts were a welfare system for Wall Street, with western taxpayers rescuing the banks from the consequences of unwise lending to emerging economies. Now the IMF has drawn a line in the sand， credit to poor countries is drying up. “It has created a new problem-the inadequacy of the flow of capital from center to the periphery, ” he says. The one economy Soros is not losing any sleep about is the US. “I am much more positive about the underlying economy than I am about the market， because we are waging war not only on terrorism but also on recession.” he says. “I have not yet seen an economy in recession when you are gearing up for war.” He worries that the world’s largest economic power is not living up to its responsibilities. “I would like the United States to live up to the responsibilities of its hegemonic(霸权的) power because it is not going to give up its hegemonic power, ” he says. “The only thing that is realistic is for the United States to become aware that it is in its enlightened self- interest to ensure that the rest of the world benefits from their role.”

The forger’s greatest advantage is that many buyers wait years before opening their fraudulent bottles， if they open them at all. Bill Koch told me that he owns wine that he has no intention of ever drinking. He collects bottles from certain vineyards almost as if they were baseball cards, aiming to complete a set. “I just want a hundred and fifty years of Lafitte on the wall，” he said. He would hesitate before consuming the harder-to-come-by vintages, because to do so would render the set incomplete， and also because the rarest old wines often come not from the best vintages but from the worst. Historically, when good vintages were produced， collectors would lay them down to see how they would age, Koch explained. But when renowned vineyards produced mediocre vintages， people would drink them soon after they were bottled, making the vintage scarce. The second great advantage for wine forgers is that when collectors do open fraudulent bottles， they often lack the experience and acute sense of taste to know that they have been defrauded. To begin with, even genuine old wines vary enormously from bottle to bottle. “It’s a living organism，” Sotheby’s Serena Sutcliffe told me. “It moves, it changes， it evolves-and once you’re into wines that are 40, 50， 60 years old, even if the bottles are stored side by side in similar conditions， you will get big differences between bottles.” Studies suggest that the experience of smelling and tasting wine is extremely susceptible to interference from the cognitive parts of the brain. Several years ago, Frédéric Brochet， a Ph. D. student in oenology at the University of Bordeaux, did a study in which he served 57 participants amid range red Bordeaux from a bottle with a label indicating that it was a modest vendee table. A week later， he served the same wine to the same subjects, but this time poured from a bottle indicating that the wine was a grand cru. Whereas the tasters found the wine from the first bottle “simple”， “unbalanced” and “weak”, they found the wine from the second “complex”， “balanced” and “full”. Brochet argues that our “perceptive expectation” arising from the label often governs our experience of a wine, overriding our actual， sensory response to whatever is in the bottle. Thus there is a bolder kind of forger who actually substitutes one type of wine for another. He often works with genuine bottles bearing genuine labels, obtaining empties from restaurants or antique shops， filling them with another type-or types-of wine, and replacing the cork and the capsule， assuming that the status-conscious buyer will never taste the difference. And, in many cases， this assumption is right. Sutcliffe believes that the vast majority of fake wines are happily enjoyed. Rajat Parr, a prominent wine director who oversees restaurants in Las Vegas， told me that several years ago, some of his customers ordered a bottle of 1982 Pttrus， which can sell in restaurants for as much as 6, 000 dollars.

How to Find the Right International Partners The practical business of finding highly productive agents/distributors and joint ventures in the foreign market for many still remains an enigma. Often， U.S. companies are relying on luck instead of strategy in identifying their international representation. Many companies get into exporting almost by happenstance: most export sales are simply a spin-off from domestic contracts. Similarly， most agent and distributor relationships are born from random inquiries or chance meetings at trade shows. When asked-how they obtained their international representation, many companies have no recollection whatsoever of how or why the relationship began. Strange as it may seem， the same is true of joint venture relationships. With the growing use of the Internet, one could be fooled into thinking the odds of success in finding that elusive， top-performing trade partner will be increased. The key is to remember at all times that promotional materials are not stand-alone, clean “information”. The Internet can be used to provide indicators of activity and reach； however, these benefits in no way eliminate the more conventional， strategic wisdom that highly successful international sales organizations, in one way or another， employ. Surprisingly, this hit-and-miss approach to international expansion is not exclusive to small-and medium-sized companies. Many well-recognized large companies spin the same wheel of chance. Experienced international executives and substantial budgets for foreign expansion will contribute to success， given the right opportunities. The problem is that the “right opportunities” are rarely “given.” However, you may find your “right opportunities” by focusing on your international objectives and by defining your ideal international partners. If you consider export sales to be nothing more than “icing on the cake”， then that’s all, they will ever be. Treat international business relationships with the same degree of attention and care as you do your domestic ones. Avoid a soft， non-pragmatic approach to foreign trade partners. Low expectations born of previous poor performance by agents and distributors have led many companies to settle for figures that in no way reflect a meaningful market share. Don’t accept under performance and mediocrity from your international representatives. Many companies partner with the first seemingly viable company that expresses interest in representing them. Invariably, this is a mistake. When agents and distributors emerge from nowhere and stand alone without comparison， they will always appear to be “golden opportunities”. Avoid the pressure of hasty decisions by taking the time to identify and write down. What you consider to be the essential qualities of a top-performing trade partner.

If I have called in the cuckoo to illustrate the ordinary man’s ignorance， it is not because I can speak with authority on that bird. It is simply because, passing the spring in a parish that seemed to have been invaded by all the cuckoos of Africa， I realized how exceedingly little I, or anybody else I met， knew about them. But your and my ignorance is not confined to cuckoos. It dabbles in all created things, from the sun and moon down to the names of the flowers. I once heard a clever lady asking whether the new moon always appears on the same day of the week. She added that perhaps it is better not to know， because, if one does not know when or in what part of the sky to expect it， its appearance is always a pleasant surprise. I fancy, however， the new moon always comes as a surprise even to those who are familiar with her time-tables. And it is the same with the coming-in of spring and the waves of the flowers. We are not the less delighted to find an early primrose because we are sufficiently learned in the services of the year to look for it in March or April rather than in October. We know, again， that the blossom precedes and not succeeds the fruit of the apple-tree, but this does not lessen our amazement at the beautiful holiday of a May orchard. At the same time there is， perhaps, a special pleasure in re-learning the names of many of the flowers every spring. It is like re-reading a book that one has almost forgotten. Montaigne tells us that he had so bad a memory that he could always read an old book as though he had never read it before. I have myself a capricious and leaking memory. I can read Hamlet itself and The Pickwick Papers as though they were the work of new authors and had come wet from the press， so much of them fades between one reading and another. There are occasions on which a memory of this kind is an affliction, especially if one has a passion for accuracy. But this is only when life has an object beyond entertainment. In respect of mere luxury， it may be doubted whether there is not as much to be said for a bad memory as for a good one. With a bad memory one can go on reading Plutarch and The Arabian Nights all one’s life. Little shreds and tags, it is probable， will stick even in the worst memory, just as a succession of sheep cannot leap through a gap in a hedge without leaving a few wisps of wool on the thorns. But the sheep themselves escape， and the great authors leap in the same way out of an idle memory and leave little enough behind.

Thoughts in Westminster Abbey When I am in a serious humour， I very often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey; where the gloominess of the place， and the use which it is applied, with the solemnity of the building， and the condition of the people who lie in it, are apt to fill the mind with a kind of melancholy， or rather thoughtfulness, that is not disagreeable. I yesterday passed a whole afternoon in the churchyard， the cloisters, and the church， amusing myself with the tombstones and inscriptions that I met with in those several regions of the dead. Most of them recorded nothing else of the buried person, but that he was born upon one day， and died upon another: the whole history of his life being comprehended in those two circumstances， that are common to all mankind. I could not but look upon these registers of existence, whether of brass or marble， as a kind of satire upon the departed persons; who had left no other memorial of them， but that they were born and that they died. They put me in mind of several persons mentioned in the battles of heroic poems, who have sounding names given them， for no other reason but that they may be killed, and are celebrated for nothing but being knocked on the head. The life of these men is finely described in holy writ by ‘the path of an arrow’， which is immediately closed up and lost. Upon my going into the church, I entertained myself with the digging of a grave； and saw in every shovelful of it that was thrown up, the fragment of a bone or skull intermixt with a kind of fresh mouldering earth， that some time or other had a place in the composition of a human body. Upon this I began to consider with myself what innumerable multitudes of people lay confused together under the pavement of that ancient cathedral; how men and women， friends and enemies, priests and soldiers， monks and prebendaries, were crumbled amongst one another， and blended together in the same common mass; how beauty， strength, and youth， with old age, weakness and deformity， lay undistinguished in the same promiscuous heap of matter.

Language exists to communicate whatever it can communicate. Some things it communicates so badly that we never attempt to communicate them by words if any other medium is available. Those who think they are testing a boy’s “elementary” command of English by asking him to describe in words how one ties one’s tie or what a pair of scissors is like， are far astray. For precisely what language can hardly do at all, and never does well， is to inform us about complex physical shapes and movements. Hence descriptions of such things in the ancient writers are nearly always unintelligible. Hence we never in real life voluntarily use language for this purpose; we draw a diagram or go through pantomimic gestures. The exercises which such examiners set are no more a test of “elementary” linguistic competence than the most difficult bit of trick—riding from the circus ring is a test of elementary horsemanship. Another grave limitation of language is that it cannot， like music or gesture, do more than one thing at once. However the words in a great poet’s phrase interanimate one other and strike the mind as quasi-instantaneous chord， yet, strictly speaking， each word must be read or heard before the next. That way, language is as unilinear as time. Hence， in narrative, the great difficulty of presenting a very complicated change which happens suddenly. If we do justice to the complexity， the time the reader must take over the passage will destroy the feeling of suddenness. If we get in the suddenness we shall not be able to get in the complexity. One of the most important and effective uses of language is the emotional. It is also, of course， wholly legitimate. We do not talk only in order to reason or to inform. We have to make love and quarrel, to propitiate and pardon， to rebuke, to console， intercede, and a rouse. “He that complains，” said Johnson, “acts like a man， like a social being.” The real objection lies not against the language of emotion as such, but against language which， being in reality emotional, masquerades—whether by plain hypocrisy or subtle self-deceit—as being something else.

A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out； for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part， but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts， which, remembered and cherished， become our constant companions and comforters. “They are never alone, ” said Sir Philip Sidney， “that are accompanied by noble thoughts.” The good and true thought may in times of temptation be as an angel of mercy purifying and guarding the soul. It also enshrines the germs of action, for good words almost always inspire to good works. Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay， but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds， ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good. Books introduce us into the best society； they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive； we sympathize with them, enjoy with them， grieve with them; their experience becomes ours， and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe. The great and good do not die even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens. Hence we ever remain under the influence of the great men of old.

A newspaper is much more than a business； it is an institution. It reflects and influences the life of a community; it may affect even wider destinies. It is， in its way, an instrument of government. It plays on the minds and consciences of man. It may educate， stimulate, assist， or it may do the opposite. It has, therefore， a moral as well as a material existence, and its character and influence are in the main determined by the balance of these two factors. It may make profit or power its first object， or it may conceive itself as fulfilling a higher and more exacting function. Character is a subtle affaire, and has many shades and sides. It is not a thing to be much talked about， but rather to be felt. It is the slow deposit of past actions and ideas. At the perils of its soul, a newspaper must see that the news it supplies is not tainted. Neither in what it gives， nor in what it does not give, nor in the mode of presentation， must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. Comment is free, but facts are sacred. “Propaganda，” so called, by this means is hateful. The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard. Comment also is justly subject to a self-imposed restraint. It is well to be frank； it is even better to be fair. This is an ideal. Achievement in such matters is hardly given to man. Perhaps none of us can attain to it in the desirable measure. We can but try, ask pardon for shortcomings， and there leave the matter. One of the virtues, perhaps the chief virtue， of a newspaper is its independence. Whatever its position or character, it should have a soul of its own. That is the path of self-respect—it is also the path of success. And what a work it is! How multiform， how responsive to every need—and every incident of life! What illimitable possibilities of achievement and of excellence! To the man, whatever his place on the paper， nothing should satisfy short of the best. It is here that ability counts and that character counts, and it is on these that a newspaper， if it is to be worthy of its power and duty, must rely.

The Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event subdivided into summer and winter games. They are each held every four years. Until 1992， they were both held in the same year. Since then, they have been separated two years apart. There are more than 20 Summer Olympics sports， including swimming, basketball， soccer, gymnastics， boxing, weight-lifting， yachting, cycling and equestrian events. Skiing， ice-skating and ice hockey are among the 7 Winter Game sports. A competitor must be the citizen of the country he or she represents. No more than three entries from any country are permitted in each event (4 in the winter games). Only one team per country is allowed in a team sport. There are many myths surrounding the origin of the ancient Olympic Games. The most popular legend describes that Heracles was the creator of the Olympic Games and built the Olympic stadium and surrounding buildings as an honor to his father, Zeus after completing his 12 labors. According to that legend， he walked in a straight line for 400 strides and called this distance a “stadium” that later also became a distance calculation unit. This is also why a modem stadium is 400 meters in circumference length (1 stadium = 400 meters). From then on, the Olympic Games were quickly becoming more and more important throughout ancient Greece， reaching their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honoring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia)， and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia famous for his legendary chariot race， in whose honor the games were held. The number of events increased to 20, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of the events were greatly admired and were immortalized in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years， and the period between two celebrations became known as an “Olympiad”. The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their methods to count years. The most famous Olympic athlete lived in these times: the 6th century BC wrestler， Milo Croton, is the only athlete in history to win a victory in six Olympics. The Games gradually declined in importance after the Romans gained power in Greece. After Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the religion of the Empire and banned pagan rites， the Olympic Games were outlawed as a pagan festival in 393 AD. In 1894, a French noble man， Pierrde, called a meeting in Paris that led to the first modern Olympic Games， held in Athens in 1896. Thirteen nations sent a total of 285 men, and the Games were revived. Since then the Olympics have been held in different cities of the world once every four years， with the exception of war years 1916, 1940 and 1944. Women first competed in 1912. In 1924 the Winter Olympics were instituted at Chamonix， France.

Since the earliest times in England， the traveler’s inn has always been a warm and hospitable place, a gathering place for voyagers to rest and recover. The tireless landlord， the local customers sharing drinks and food, the welcoming atmosphere， have all become part of the legend of the typical English country and city life. In later centuries, the English tavern took on the role of community gathering place， being the location where friendly chatter and fierce social debate mixed with business discussions, and food， wine, beer and coffee were consumed as the noise of convivial exchanges rose. In modern times， the English pub often continues to function as the communal meeting place, especially for people whose homes are too small to entertain any number of guests or friends. In many Asian countries， the local restaurant serves a similar social function. In Ireland, the pub has acted as a central attraction for poorer villagers in the rural areas， and as a literary and social focus in the cities. In keeping with the sociable nature of pub gatherings, music as well as talk has become a central part of this institution in Ireland. Now people around the world are able to experience the friendly nature of the Irish pub， which follows in the wake of its English equivalent as a welcome and growing expert. English pubs have been found in America, in parts of Europe and throughout the world where English pub is witnessing an outburst of international popularity as westerns turn away from their television and computer screens and seek to put a human face to their social contacts. They are finding it in the bars and corners of Irish pubs where Guinness stout， the Irish national drink, is available in the tall dark creamy pint glasses and Irish music is the regular fare. An international representative for the Irish manufacturers of Jameson’s whiskey， Patrick Mc-Carville, points out that while the world has been laughing at Irish jokes (a stereotype of the Irish way of life)， the Irish have been quietly carrying out an economic coup which is seen in the evidence of the explosion of Irish pubs.

The British are the most voracious newspaper readers in the world. They read newspapers at breakfast； they walk to the bus reading a newspaper; they read a newspaper on the bus， as they go to work; and on the way back home， after work, they are engrossed in an evening newspaper. There are many “morning papers”， both national and provincial. The most famous is The Times. Contrary to what many foreigners believe, this is not a government newspaper. The various newspapers usually have their own views on politics， but they are not organs of the political parties, with the exception of the Communist Morning Star. Bold headlines and a variety of photographs are features of the British press. Some newspapers， such as the sober Daily Telegraph and The Times (which belong to the “quality press”) use photographs sparingly. The more “popular” newspapers, using the small or “tabloid” format， such as the Daily Express, the Daily Mail， the Daily Mirror and The Sun, use pictures extensively and also run strip-cartoons and humorous drawings， some of which present striking pictorial comment on politics. Besides offering features common to newspapers all over the world, British newspapers specialize in pages devoted to criticism of the arts and a woman’s page. One feature found in many foreign newspapers is missing in British papers： the serial. Nearly all papers pay special attention to the reporting of sport and athletics. The evening newspapers (the first editions of which appear in the morning!) are often bought because the purchaser wants to know the winner of a race, or to get a good tip for a race that is still to be run. There is no censorship of the press in Britain (except in wartime)， though of course all newspapers-like private persons-are responsible for what they publish, and be sued for libel for publishing articles that go beyond the bounds of decency， or for “contempt for court” (e.g. calling man a murderer while he is still being tried). Such lawsuits are infrequent. The population of the United Kingdom is now over 55, 000，000. About 17, 500，000 newspapers are sold every day. The British people, therefore， are great readers of newspapers. There are few homes to which one newspaper is not delivered every morning. Many households have two, or even three， newspapers every day. One newspaper may be delivered at the house, a member of the family may buy one at the station bookstall to read in the train as he goes to town， and someone else in the family may buy an evening newspaper later in the day.