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　　The Garden Burgers located in Truman was recognized by the Garden Burgers head office in Kansas City, Missouri．The Truman location of Garden Burgers recorded the highest sales last year．It brought in over ＄ 1 ,500,000 for the entire year．But what is more important is that Truman only has a population of 40,000．The store directly behind the Truman store in terms of sales is located in a city of over 300,000．

　　Fred Laster and Jasper Watts bought into the Garden Burgers franchise(特許)only 3 years and a few months ago．They have used the combination of a good restaurant location and a series of promotional events to make Garden Burgers one of the most visited restaurants in Truman．However, they are quick to add that these are not the main reasons the store has done so well．"We found a franchise with a solid image and great franchise - wide marketing, " Watts said in a phone interview．

　　Laster and Watts expect this year to be just as productive as last year．After 4 months, they are on pace to exceed last year' s sales by more than ＄70,000．Each year the head office awards the owners of the store achieving the highest sales with a weekend stay at the best hotel in Kansas City and tickets to a Kansas City Chiefs football game．However, due to the extremely good sales performance of the store in Truman, the head office decided to change the tradition．Laster and Watts said their staff, which consists of only 5 university students, would be joining them in Kansas city as well．

　　Tom Justins, the president of Garden Burgers has also sent his congratulations and he hopes that all their stores can look at the example the store has set．

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　　Scientists have argued for long over whether birds show real intelligence．Some scientists believe birds have abilities(能力)including communication and different kinds of memory．In some unusual cases, their abilities seem better than those of humans．

　　Irene Pepperberg, a birds expert, did research about a grey parrot named．Griffin．Ms．Pepperberg says Griffin can arrange objects in order of size．She says the talking bird also can combine words in the right order．For example, he will combine words when asking for a piece of food．The researcher says experts had thought that only humans and other mammals with large brains have the ability to combine objects and words．She believes that bird brains have the ability to understand that complex(復(fù)雜的)tasks must be done in the correct order．

　　Some birds have other memory skills．For example, they collect and store thousands of seeds in autumn, and find them later in winter．Alan Kamil and Alan Bond of the University of Nebraska are studying the memories of birds called jays and nutcrackers．Their experiments show that these birds use natural objects to find the seeds they have stored．

　　It’s said some birds can learn as many as 2,000 different songs．Songs may have developed as a way for birds to communicate with other birds．

　　According to Verner Bingman of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, birds must have a special guidance system in their brain．He says that understanding how a bird’s brain operates may help us better understand how a human brain processes information．

　　However, some scientists do still believe birds do many things that appear to be acts of thoughtful intelligence．In most cases, they say, their behavior is simply instinctive(本能的), no reasoning power directing it．

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　　It’s enough to give anyone an earache．Women spend an average of about five years on the phone during their working lives, research has shown．

　　You won’t be surprised to learn that women spend 18 months longer than men on the phone－who only chat for an average of three years．

　　Both sexes make and receive almost the same number of calls－277,000 for men and 288,000 for women．But women spend 13,500 more hours in total on their conversations．

　　More than half of those chats are work-related but people spend on average twice as long on a personal call(10 minutes)as on a business one．

　　Despite the explosion in mobile phone ownership, most people still prefer to use landlines, the poll(民意調(diào)查)found．

　　However, when people are tired of talking, the top excuse for getting a caller off the line is to say “Someone’s at the door．” Other favourites include “I’m cooking” and “I need to go to the toilet”．

　　Eight out of ten phone users admitted not answering their phones on purpose if they did not want to speak to the caller．

　　One in three people thought calls after 10 pm were unacceptable but a quarter of those polled said they did not mind calls up to midnight．

　　Two-thirds admitted they had people in their address books who they should ring but never got round to doing so．

　　Joseph Blass, managing director of telecom company Toucan, said, “As a nation, we love to chat on the phone but it is quite astonishing when we look at the total number of calls we make in a lifetime．”

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　　When you have a question about something, where do you go? For many people the answer is simple as they can go online to a search engine like Google or Yahoo．But what about people in rural or underdeveloped areas who may have no way to get on the Internet?

　　A business and international development professor in California, Rose Shuman, found an answer for them：Question Box．Question Box is a service that provides answers---free of charge---for people who cannot search the Internet directly．The users of Questions Box might be those who might not be able to read, or simply have no access to the Internet．

　　Question Box began three years ago in India．People used a metal call box with a push-to-talk button to connect a live operator．Rose Schuman explained,” You just need to push a big green button on the box which will connect you directly to our operators who are sitting in front of computers, and speak your language．You can ask them any sort of question you want, and they’ll look it up in English or in Hindi, or whatever the main language is, and translate the answer back for you．”

　　The service is currently offered in two villages．The latest version of the box uses mobile phone technology, and solar panels in case the electrical power fails．Rose Shuman says the aim was to make the box as easy as possible for users, “It is very efficient(效率高的)．Rather than try to bring a lot of difficulties to them and expect them to spend a lot of time to learn how to use the Internet, the idea was make a technology that even Grandma could use．”

　　In April 2009, Question Box was introduced to Uganda．Forty community workers with mobile phones connected villagers to call center operators in Kampala．The community workers went around telling people about the service．They wore T-shirts that said “Ask me．” But Internet service in Uganda proved slow and undependable．So Question Box teamed up with a local technology company to store information on a local server．That way, the researchers in Kampala could quickly search the database for answers．

閱讀理解

　　Last week, while visiting my dad with my daughter, we went to a restaurant for dinner．When we were seated, my dad asked the waitress if there were any soldiers eating at the restaurant．Then waitress said there was a soldier having dinner with his friend．My dad told the waitress to tell the soldier and his friend that their dinner was paid for! He also said that he did not want to be known as the benefactor(施主)．

　　Then waitress later commented on my dad’s thoughtful behavior saying that she had never seen anything like this before．At a local college, she had studied opera and so she used this to thank my dad by performing a piece from The Pearl Fisherman．Her voice brought me to tears because it sounded perfect!

　　After a while, the soldier appeared at our table(I don't know how he knew my dad paid the bill for him．)and said that he would be sent to the front the next morning and that he could not leave this country without saying“thanks” to my dad．My dad replied that it was he who wanted to say“thanks”．They shook hands as the soldier left．

　　Before we left, the waitress came by again．She did a magic show as another way to show her “thanks” to my dad．Her show was really great．My dad left her a note with email address asking for her next performance time in addition to a ＄ 50 tip．

　　Everyone witnessed something exemplary(可作榜樣的)in the human spirit that night．I can only hope to see more of this in the future．

閱讀材料

　　A lazy Susan is an addition to a table that is designed to assist in moving food from one person to another while dining．This is achieved through the use of a turntable(轉(zhuǎn)盤), which usually moves the food in a circle when it is pushed by those at the table．In this way, the food never has to be picked up and passed around the table．Instead, it remains in place on the lazy Susan．

　　A lazy Susan may also be a part of a kitchen cabinet(櫥柜)．In this sense, the lazy Susan is a type of shelving unit within the cabinet that is able to turn around its axis(軸心)．One may turn the lazy Susan in order to find certain goods in storage．From the outside, a lazy Susan appears to be two cabinets that are located at a right angle(直角)to each another．When one of these cabinets is pushed, however, both doors move and the lazy Susan is revealed inside．

　　It is believed that Thomas Jefferson invented the lazy Susan in the 18th century, though it was called “dumbwaiter” at that time．It is said that Jefferson invented the lazy Susan because his daughter complained she was always served last at table and, as a result, never found herself full when leaving the table．Others believe that Thomas Edison was the inventor, as he is believed to have invented the turntable for his phonograph(留聲機(jī))．The turntable may have developed into the lazy Susan later．

　　Regardless of who invented it, it wasn’t until 1917 that the term “l(fā)azy Susan” was used in an advertisement for the invention．In Britain, however, the term “dumbwaiter” is still used rather than “l(fā)azy Susan”．The reason for the naming of it is still a mystery．One theory is that it was named after either Jefferson’s or Edison’s daughter, both of whom were named Susan．

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　　Edward Estlin Cummings was a poet well-known for how he wrote his poems He wrote his poems with capital(大寫的)letters in the words．For example, the title of one of his poems is “The little horse is newlY” The “Y” is a capital letter．He also used “i” instead of “I” to refer to himself in the poems．

　　Edward was born on October14, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts．Edward’s father was also named Edward．Young Edward’s mother was named Rebecca．She loved to spend time with her children．She also taught Edward Jr how to write poems．Edward’s sister was born 1896 and her name was Elizabeth．Edward’s father was the first professor of Sociology at Harvard University．He later became the minister of one of Boston’s respected churches．He was the one who taught his son to use his hands as well as his mind．Edward Jr used his hands to paint abstract art．

　　E．E．Cummings was a very smart boy．Edward was 12 when he became a freshman in high school．He loved circuses, ballets, music and amusement parks．

　　Edward graduated from Harvard in 1916．During World War I, he joined the army and was sent to France where he drove an ambulance．He and his friend from Harvard were arrested because people thought they were German spies．They were kept in one room where they slept, ate, talked and tried to deal with their fears and boredom．Edward wrote his first book, published in 1922, called The Enormous Room, based on his wartime experiences．

　　E．E．Cummings was a poet that made his own rules in poetry．He was one of the most popular poets of the 20th century．

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　　My granddaughter, Shari, owns The Berry(莓果)Factory in Sacramento, California, and her mother, Joan, and I were helping with the Valentine’s Day rush．We’d dipped(浸泡)hundreds of berries, arranged gift baskets and packaged orders to be shipped around the country．

　　By the end of the day, the two middle-aged women, Joan and I, were exhausted．Shari didn’t seem tired．That was typical Shari．Though she was very busy, I’d seen her give away berries to everybody－parking attendants, mail carriers and hairdressers．“For me?” they would say, bursting into a smile．

　　As a “thank you”, Shari took us out for dinner．But there was a 45-minute wait at her favorite restaurant．“No big deal．There’s another place just up the road,” she said, driving us there．This time we walked right in．

　　When the waitress came to take our drink orders, Shari reached into her handbag, pulling something out．“I want you to have these,” she said, handing the waitress a box of chocolate-dipped strawberries．“She will love those berries!” I thought．But the waitress seemed startled．She only let out a “thank you” before grabbing the box and rushing into the kitchen．

　　A few minutes later, the waitress returned with our iced tea．“I apologize,” she said．“My best friend and I had promised to send each other something every Valentine’s Day．But she passed away last year．I didn’t know how I’d get through this day without her．Then you handed me that box．” “I’m so sorry to hear that,” said Shari．“It’s not much, but I hope you can enjoy them．” “Oh, I will,” the waitress said．“See, every year we always sent each other the same thing; a box of chocolate-dipped strawberries bought from our favourite store, The Berry Factory．”

閱讀理解

　　We have designed all our bank cards to make your life easier．

　　As a Switch card, it lets you pay for all sports of goods and services, whenever you see the Switch logo．The money comes straight out of your account, so you can spend as much as you like as long as you have enough money or an agreed overdraft(透支)to cover it．It is also a cheque guarantee(擔(dān)保)card for up to the amount shown on the card．And it gives you free access to your money from over 31,000 cash machines across the UK．

　　You can use your Cashcard as a Solo card to pay for goods and services wherever you see the Solo logo．It can also give you access to your account and your cash from over 31,000 cash machines nationwide．You can spend or withdraw(提取)what you have in your account, or as much as your agreed overdraft limit．

　　You can also use your Servicecard and Cashcard when you’re abroad．You can withdraw cash at cash machines and pay for goods and services wherever you see the Cirrus or Maestro logo displayed．We take a commission charge(手續(xù)費(fèi))of 2.25％ of each cash withdrawal you make(up to ￡4)and a commission charge of 75 pence every time you use Maestro to pay for goods or services．We also apply a foreign-exchange transaction(交易)fee of 2.62％．

　　With your credit card you can do the following：

　　※Pay for goods and services and enjoy up to 56 days’ interest-free credit．

　　※Pay in over 24 million shops worldwide that display the Maestro card or Visa logo．

　　※Collect one AIR MILE for every ￡20 of spending that appears on your statement(結(jié)算單)．(This does not include foreign currency or traveler’s cheques bought, interest and other charges．)