Intermediate Reading — 第三冊

🔊A florist is misting some plants. Misting helps to hydrate and cool the leaves. It also makes them look nice and shiny, as any dust on the leaves is washed away. The spray bottle he uses is a special one. It uses air pressure to produce a fine mist, unlike conventional spray bottles that require repeatedly pulling a trigger.

🔊Now, the young florist is making a bouquet. He handpicks many different types of flowers and bunches them together. Then, he adds some ornamental grasses and other foliage to the arrangement to make it even more beautiful. By adding a piece of this, or removing a bit of that, he artistically enhances the bouquet. He then trims the stems to even them out. Once happy with his creation, he moves inside the flower shop to wrap his work.

🔊There is a large selection of colorful papers, ribbons, bows, and small stuffed animals to finish the job with. First, he wraps the stems with newspaper, which will hold moisture in to keep the flowers fresh until they are transferred into a vase. Then the arrangement is bound with more decorative papers and cellophane. Finally, it is tied with a beautiful ribbon. It is now ready for a patiently waiting customer.

🔊If you don’t want to choose your own flowers, the shop has many bouquets already finished that you can choose from. They are great for last minute Valentine’s or birthday gifts.

🔊The advent of a projector that could connect to your PC or laptop was amazing. It sent computer-savvy teachers everywhere rushing to local electronics stores. The first, and most obvious, utilization of the device was to easily display pictures on a projector screen or wall. This saved tons of money on school and business photocopying budgets. It also opened up a whole new way of teaching. Teachers could now show larger pictures for reference in their lectures.

🔊Being able to show your computer’s desktop on an overhead projector has made teaching computer classes much easier, as well. Now students can follow along as their teachers move mice around the screen and click here and there for demonstration. Gone are the days of the teacher walking from computer station to station showing each student what to do.

🔊Projectors also quickly made their way into boardrooms across the world. PowerPoint and other such programs allowed businessmen to easily make presentations, complete with graphs and even audio. In many boardrooms and classrooms, they are now permanent fixtures.

🔊Sometimes peaceful demonstrations or public protests can get out of hand. Whenever people get together in large numbers and emotions are running high, there is always a chance that mob mentality may take over and turn things sour. In these instances police may be forced to act in order to restore order.

🔊When there is a chance that things will get out of hand, police will often don riot gear in order to protect and defend themselves. Common riot gear includes a shield, a helmet with a face shield, and a Billy club, or nightstick. In extreme situations, flak jackets may be worn. As well, more aggressive crowd controlling methods may be used to try and restore peace. During full-out rioting, police may resort to using teargas, special guns that use rubber bullets to stun people, high-pressure water and even tasers. They will try their best to make sure that no one gets severely hurt, but sometimes it is unavoidable.

🔊Such protests are not uncommon in countries where there is political turmoil. Suppressed human rights, extreme religious differences and overthrows of governments can cause people to gather in multitudes. When such things happen, people may act in ways that may not be indicative of their normal behavior. Sometimes the end result of such gatherings is violence, but often times, police are able to subdue the crowd before things get really ugly, thus, keeping the peace.

🔊Busy cities are often troubled by trying to look after both the needs of motorists and pedestrians. Their needs are quite different and often conflict. The biggest problems are always around large intersections where cars and people meet. Both need to cross the intersections safely, but when fast steel cars and walkers meet on heavily congested roads, accidents do happen and sometimes the results are fatal.

🔊To reduce the risk of this happening, city planners must use other means to get either the cars or the people to their destinations with as little contact as possible. One alternative to having pedestrians cross intersections at street level is to either have them go over or under the hectic roadway. Overpasses and underpasses, as they are called, can not only speed up the flow of traffic, but will also reduce the number of collisions between cars and people, thus, making roads much safer.

🔊This underpass is located on a busy city intersection in Chiayi. Each day, hundreds, if not thousands, of people pass under this street safely and reach the other side without incident. Inside the well-lit underground walkway, it is often much cooler than the hot black streets above. This gives pedestrians a break from the relentless sub-tropical heat, too.

🔊Businesses sometimes take advantage of having a captive audience by using the available wall space for advertisements. Cities use the money made by selling the advertisement space to offset the maintenance and construction costs. Sometimes peddlers also use these spaces to sell trinkets to passersby.

🔊Living in the small town of Jhutang is great. I have lived here since the age of 24 when I got married and moved in with my wife. The best part about this place is the park near my home. I spend a lot of time there exercising.

🔊The park was built long before I moved here. Trees that were planted when it was new are now very big and offer shade around the perimeter of the park. A cement fence also borders the park. The high wall keeps out stray dogs and helps to block the noise of passing cars. It is cracked and covered with lichen and mold, but this only adds a certain rustic appeal to the place.

🔊The best part of the park, though, is the addition of some new things for the kids. A jungle gym, a slide, monkey bars, a swing set, and a seesaw were all donated by local businesses. Their kindness is certainly appreciated by many members of the community, especially those with children. Some other equipment was also put in very recently. I am not sure exactly what it is called, but it consists of several steel poles connected with horizontal bars. Actually, I am not even sure if it is for children or adults, but regardless I use it to exercise on.

🔊Now when I go for my daily walk through the park, I do 3 chin-ups. I can already feel my muscles getting stronger and stronger. If I keep up this pace, I might be able to do 4 by the end of next year. I might even become strong enough to beat my friend Shawn in an arm-wrestling match…in 20 or 30 years. But let’s try not to get too far ahead of ourselves. For now I’ll have to be content arm-wrestling my daughter.

🔊Harry and Jerry have been friends for many years. They are always competing at everything they do, from who has the highest test score or who is faster, to who can date the most girls. It doesn’t matter what it is, they’ll make a competition out of it.

🔊One day when Harry was feeling especially cocky, he kept taunting Jerry to try and get him to arm wrestle. Even though Jerry was clearly bigger, he was also very sportsmanlike and didn’t want to humiliate Harry or make him feel bad. But Harry persisted.

🔊“Afraid you might lose, Jerry?” Harry, the smaller of the two yapped. “Or maybe you’re just chicken.”

🔊Jerry took the teasing like a man and tried not to let it bother him. Although his pride was being bruised, he wasn’t going to let the little weasel get the better of him.

🔊“You’re such a wimp,” Harry remarked. “My grandma could kick your butt!”

🔊The last rude comment snapped something inside Jerry’s head. His face began to turn red, and then white. The normally calm boy started to shake with anger. Harry had finally crossed the line and there wasn’t any going back.

🔊“Let’s go, tough guy,” was all Jerry said.

🔊They sat on opposite sides of the desk in their classroom. Jerry’s right elbow slammed down on the table and signaled that he was ready. Harry scooted his chair closer to the desk. He was small and didn’t have the reach that Jerry did, nor did he have the leverage that came with longer arms. He was the underdog if only because of genetics.

🔊Their wrists locked. Harry immediately strained against the force of Jerry’s arm. Slowly, he was losing ground even though his opponent wasn’t putting much effort in. After a minute or two of letting Harry sweat and torture himself, Jerry decided enough was enough. He unleashed all his power in a single movement and crushed Harry’s weak arm against the desk. It hit with a thud.

🔊Harry’s face turned red, but not with anger, with embarrassment. His comeuppance had been served to him with a side of humility and a cool glass of “shut the heck up.” He would never ask Jerry, or anyone else for that matter, to arm wrestle again.

🔊This is Tommy’s pet water buffalo, Nancy. He bought Nancy at a livestock market 10 years ago when she was a cute, little calf. Tom was unaware that that cute little calf would one day grow into a massive adult. He just assumed that she would always be small.

🔊When he first brought Nancy home, he kept her in the yard, but she didn’t like sleeping outside all alone. She would bawl all night long, as any normal weaned calf would do when separated from its mother. But after several sleepless nights, Tommy finally gave in and let her sleep in the porch on an old blanket. It turned out to be a big mistake.

🔊Nancy was content sleeping in the porch at first, but soon began to push the limit as to how far into the house she could get. She would wait until Tommy was asleep and then try to quietly move further into the house, dragging her old blanket between her teeth.

🔊This went on for some time without Tom knowing. Nancy was very clever and always woke up before Tom and moved back to the porch. It may have continued on forever, but Nancy got too greedy.

🔊One dark and stormy night she decided to sleep on the couch. It was so comfortable that she slept like she had never slept before. But she slept too well and didn’t wake up early.

🔊The next morning Tom awoke to the sound of what he thought was someone cutting down a tree with a chainsaw. He climbed out of bed and walked to the living room where the sound seemed to be coming from. His jaw almost hit the floor when he saw Nancy with all fours in the air, her head hanging off the edge of the couch and drool dripping from her open mouth. She was snoring so loudly that she could’ve woken the dead.

🔊Tommy grabbed the flyswatter and smacked her on the butt. Poor Nancy was so startled that she almost had a stroke. Frantically, she started to run for the door, but she was still dozy and didn’t realize that she was still on her back. Her legs moved wildly through the air, but Nancy went nowhere. Eventually she stopped, looked around and then rolled over to stand upright.

🔊After Tommy scolded her about sleeping on the couch, she dropped her head and moped back to the porch. That was the last time she ever slept anywhere but the porch because Tommy bought a bell and tied it around her neck. If she ever tried to sneak in again, Tommy would hear.

🔊Susan was sitting on the patio at one of her favorite coffee shops in Erlin. It had been a hot, busy day and it was the perfect place to cool off and relax. Large trees provided shade and a strong breeze crossed the road offering temporary relief from the heat.

🔊As she sat sipping her iced-tea and eating a sweet croissant, a small puppy appeared from behind a fence near the deck. He looked dirty, gaunt and obviously homeless. Susan felt sorry for the poor little fellow.

🔊The puppy was probably in the vicinity and had smelled Susan’s snack, so he decided to investigate. He reluctantly approached Susan with his tail between his legs and head lowered in a submissive posture. He occasionally made eye contact with her to see if she was a threat, but his focus was mostly on the food in her hand.

🔊Susan’s heart melted. She couldn’t help but to feel sorry for the poor puppy. He couldn’t have been more than a few months old, was clearly malnourished and, judging by the way he scratched at himself, probably had fleas, too. It was more than she could bear.

🔊“I wish I could take you home with me,” Susan said empathically, but she knew that it wasn’t an option.

🔊Susan wondered about the stray dog situation in her town. How could there be so many homeless dogs in such a small town? Where are they coming from? Don’t people care? Her questions were endless and she didn’t have any answers.

🔊It seemed like a small gesture, even insignificant compared to the trouble that this dog would have to endure on the street; yet Susan offered him a piece of her croissant. The small piece of bread may have been of little consequence in the long run, but for one small moment in this homeless dog’s life, he felt cared for. Unfortunately, the moment was fleeting and soon he would be back to foraging through garbage bags on the street and looking for just enough food to stay alive.

🔊“When I grow up, I want to be a gymnast,” a young girl named Becky declared to her friends.

🔊“How do you become a gymnast?” one of her friends, Betty, asked.

🔊“I’m not really sure,” Becky responded, “but I think you have to go to a special school.”

🔊“What will you specialize in?” Dana, her oldest friend, inquired.

🔊“I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I’m leaning towards the balance beam.” Becky paused then added, “Or maybe the uneven bars.”

🔊“Well…” Dana, who was not only the oldest but also the wisest of the three, spoke candidly, “You had better make up your mind soon. You are already middle-aged for a gymnast. In China, you’d be washed-up and thrown into an old folk’s home by now.”

🔊Becky suddenly felt like old age was sneaking up on her. She immediately ran to the park where there was a rail waiting for her to practice on.

🔊The rail was wider than a standard Olympic-sized balance beam and much lower to the ground, too, but it was all she had. Around the rail and most of the other playground toys were black squares made from recycled tires. The rubbery surface might cushion the fall somewhat if she happened to lose her balance and land on something other than her feet.

🔊The young girl practiced long and hard into the night, until she was too tired to continue. She reluctantly hopped down from the rail and headed for home.

🔊Tomorrow would be another day and she desperately wanted to practice more. She knew that soon the Grim Reaper of gymnastics would be calling.

🔊“Have you ever been to Tienwei?” Michelle asked her friend Connie.

🔊“A couple of times,” Connie replied. “Why do you ask?”

🔊“Well I was thinking about going there this weekend,” Michelle explained. “My parents are coming for a visit and I thought they might like to look at all the flowers there.”

🔊“That’s a good idea,” Connie admitted. “I took my grandparents there last year and they really enjoyed it.”

🔊“Is it hard to find your way around?” Michelle inquired.

🔊“Of course it is,” her friend laughed. “It’s Taiwan. Every place is hard to get around in.”

🔊“That’s not what I wanted to hear,” Michelle confessed. “I don’t like driving at the best of times, let alone somewhere I’ve never been. I’m bound to get lost.”

🔊“Actually, it’s not that bad, but a car isn’t the best way to see Tienwei anyway,” Connie informed her friend. “There are just too many pedestrians, bicycles and cars on the narrow streets. It would take forever to get anywhere in a car.”

🔊“What do you suggest?” Michelle asked.

🔊“If it were me, I would park just off the main road and walk,” Connie suggested.

🔊“But my parents are kind of old and don’t like to walk too far,” Michelle said with a hint of worry in her voice.

🔊“Then Tienwei is perfect!” Connie exclaimed. “You can rent all kinds of neat bikes there.”

🔊“Tell me more,” Michelle politely demanded.

🔊“They have regular bikes, of course, but they also have two seated bicycles, 3-seaters and even 4-seaters,” Connie informed her.

🔊“You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you?” Michelle said.

🔊“No, I’m dead serious,” Connie assured her. “And the multi-seated bikes have pedals for everyone. No one gets a free ride; everybody has to pull their own weight.”

🔊“Great! Do I need to phone ahead to reserve one or can I just show up?” Michelle continued with her inquiry.

🔊“Just show up. There are several places that rent bikes, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” Connie told her.

🔊“If worse comes to worse, I can always tackle some old people and highjack their bike,” Michelle joked, barely able to contain her laughter.

🔊Connie snickered at the thought then replied, “Ok, but don’t call me to bail you out of prison.”

🔊“Anyway, thanks for your help, Connie. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Michelle admitted.

🔊“No problem,” Connie replied. “Anytime.”