【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 A peti tors of Bi l Gates Bil l Gates has been very successful and be e very ri ch. H e i s very generous but how has he got his m oney? H e has down thi s by m aking sure that no one el se wi l be abl e to pete with hi s software. Hi s software i s not the best but it i s used m ost wi del y i n the worl d. When he sees what is needed, he m akes a program and produces it qui cker than anybody el se. That way he gets a l arge part of the software m arket. Then he works on im provi ng the software later. H e tries hard to stop others m aki ng better software. In 1995 the governm ent tri ed to m ake thi ngs fairer for peopl e li ke m e. The governm ent wanted to m ake Mi crosoft i nto two pani es so that nei ther of them was so strong nor so ri ch. Thi s m eant that they coul d not stop som ebody else m aki ng new software. I al ways wonder how he coul d get so ri ch so quickl y. H as he done i t by fai r m eans? Or has he done i t by bei ng a puter bul y? 必修二 Uni t 1 In search of the am ber room Frederi ck Wi l i am I, the ki ng of Prussi a, coul d never have im agi ned that hi s greatest gift to the Russi an peopl e woul d have s uch an am azi ng hi story. Thi s gi ft was the Am ber Room, whi ch was gi ven this nam e because several tons of am ber were used to m ake i t. The am ber whi ch was sel ected had a beauti ful yel owbrown col our li ke honey. The desi gn of the room was i n the fancy style popul ar in those days. It was al so a treasure decorated with gol d and jewel s, which took the country’s best artists about ten years to m ake. In fact, the room was not m ade to be a gi ft. It was desi gned for the pal ace of Fredri ck I. H owever, the next Ki ng of Prusi a, Fredrick Wi li am I, to whom the am ber room bel onged, deci ded not to keep i t. In 1716 he gave i t to Peter the Great. In return, the Czar sent him a troop of his best sol diers. So the Amber Room became part of the Czar’s winter pal ace in St Petersburg. About four m etres l ong, the rom served as a smal recepti on hal for i mportant vi stors. Later, Catheri ne Ⅱ had the Am ber Room m oved to a pal ace outsi de St Petersburg where she spent her sum mers. She tol d her arti sts to add m ore detail s to i t. In 1770 the room was pl eted the way she wanted. Al most si x hundred candl es li t the room , and i ts m i rors and pi ctures shone li ke gol d. Sadl y, al though the Am ber Room was si dered one of the wonders of the worl d, i t i s now mi ssi ng. In Septem ber 1941, the N azi arm y was near St Petersburg. Thi s was atim e when the two countri es were at war. Before the N azi s coul d get to the summ er pal ace, the Russi ans were able to rem ove som e furnitures and sm al art objects from the Am ber Room . H owever, som e of the N azi s s ecretl y stol e the room i tsel f. In l es than two days 100000 pi eces were put i nsi de twentyseven wooden boxes. There i s no doubt that the boxes were then put on a trai n for Koni gsberg, whi ch was at a tim e a Germ an city on the Bal ti c Sea. After that, what happened to the Am ber Room rem ai ns a m ystery. Recentl y, the Russians and Germ ans have bui l t a new Am ber Room at the sum m er pal ace. By studyi ng ol d photos of the form er Am ber room , they have m ade the new one l ooke li ke the ol d one. In 2021 i t was ready for the peopl e of St Petersburg when they cel ebrated the 300th bi thday of their ci ty. A fact of an opi ni on What i s a fact? Is i t som ething that peopl e beli eve? N o. A fact i s anythi ng that can be proved. For exam ple, i t can be proved that Chi na has m ore people than any other country i n the worl d. Thi s is a fact. Then what is an opi ni on? An opi ni on i s what som eone beli eves i s true but has not been proved. So an opinoion is not good evidence in a trail . For exampl e, it is an opinion if you say “Cats are better pets than dogs”. It may be true, but it is difficul t to prove. Some people may not agree with this opinion but they al so cannot prove that they are ri ght. In a trail , a judge m ust deci de whi ch eyewi tnesses to bel i eve and which not to beli eve. The judge does not consi der what each eyewitness l ooks l i ke or where that person l i ves or works. H e/She onl y cares about whether the eyewitness has gi ven true i nform ati on, whi ch m ust be facts rather than opi ni ons. Thi s ki nd of i nformati on i s cal ed evi dence. Bi g Feng to the rescue His friends and famil y cal him “Big Feng” because he is bery tal l and pl ayed basketbal l as a young man. But he is al so bi g i n a di fferent way — he fights hard to protect China’s past. H is real name is Feng Jicai and he has written many novels about l ife in China. Several years ago, however, he put down hi s pen for a whi l e and began to protect the cltural reli cs i n Ti anji n, where he li ves. O nce som eon asked him why he no l onger wrote. H e repl ied that at the m om ent he fel t protecti ng cul tural reli cs was m ore im portant. Feng l oves hi s hom etown. H e bel i eves that ol d thi ngs m ust be gi ven a plave next to new thins, or peopl e wil l soon fet ther great past. H e does not m ake speeches to get others to hel p him i n hi s projects. Instead he goes out and does what he can him esel f. If others fol low him, so m uch the better. O ne of hi s bi gest projects was to protect the ol dest street i n Ti anjin. Al ong that street some shops had done busi ness for seven hundred years. Al thought the ci ty governm ent rebui l t thi s street, they di d save i ts ol dest buil ding. Another project was m ore successful : he persuaded the city governm ent to buy some l and i n the centre of the ci ty so it coul d not be sol d for businesses. Thi s area i s very im protant for the hi story of Ti anji n. It was here that the ci ty was first buil t during the Song Dynasty. Later m any treasures were found here. To Feng, di ggi ng down i n to the earth i