表达―烟花‖会从它的含义的烟花，人们拍摄到天空时，他们正在庆祝一个伟大的事件。火箭式烟火在黑暗的夜空，明亮的红色和蓝色，黄色，绿色和白色。 表达也表示愤怒，或刺激的东西。例如，在法庭审判辩护律师可能会影响被告的证据表明政府律师争论变得很情绪化。法官最后停止大声争辩，这两位律师提出要求。他告诉他们，―我不想在我的法庭上争吵。‖
另一种烟花可以是任何特别激动的事件或活动。一个这样的事件是在恋爱。如果什么都可以生产烟花爆竹，这是一个情人的亲吻或抚摸爱人的手。通常在电影或电视卡通节目烟花代表亲吻的激动。
人们用这个表达的烟火。但如果你生活在美国，想看真正的烟火，最好的时间就是现在。七月四日是美国的独立日。美国人的传统庆祝自己国家的自由和巨大的公共聚会和燃放烟火的夜晚。
在华盛顿，例如，大批群众聚集在华盛顿纪念碑附近，听音乐和看一个巨大的焰火表演。在其他城市和小城镇，居民听音乐会，观看焰火。
世界各地的许多其他国家也有在特殊的日子放烟花的传统。在澳大利亚，悉尼市的每个新的一年开始在午夜的烟花表演。中国是烟花的发源地。常举行大型的烟火展在中国早期。现在，人们用小型的烟花来庆祝婚礼和生日。
法国也有放烟花的传统。一个大型的烟花表演总是在巴士底日的庆祝法国大革命的开始。法国城市戛纳举办国际烟花比赛每年在七月和八月。
在印度，人们已经使用五百年以上的烟花。一个伟大的印度排灯节燃放烟花发生在宗教庆典，每年秋天。
放烟火在全世界都受欢迎。但如果我不结束这个项目现在，我的制片人会有烟花。
Passage Five
People in Hong Kong speak a rich mixture of languages. Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 156 years before was returned to Chinese control in 1997. English was the only official language until 1994.
Most people in Hong Kong today speak Cantonese, but Mandarin and other dialects also are heard, and English as the British used is still widely spoken and taught here. Now however, many people are choosing to learn English as it spoken in the United States.
Victor Chan, for example, has children who attend school called Nature EQ on Saturday and Sunday, they are learning to say words the American way. Mr Chan says he wants his sons to learn American English, because he plans to send them to the United States for further study.
Nature EQ is one of a growing number of schools in Hong Kong that offer American English
classes. Frankie Ng opened the school 17 years ago, at that time, he had only 40 students. Today, the school has 350 students, it does not have space for any more.
Mr Ng says American English is clear and defined, he says it is easy to teach and easily understood. That, however, is not the main concern of the children.
Student Sam Yu has another reason for studying English spoken the American way.
\think [American English] is getting more and more important, and is maybe taking over the dominance of British English, so I'm willing to learn,\
Public schools in the former British colony still teach mostly British English. But the number of private language schools teaching American English is growing.
In Hong Kong's Tseung Kwan O district, for example, the \had 20 students a week when it opened one year ago. Today, it has more 180 each week.
Some observers say American English is becoming the language of international business. Increased contact with American culture, like movies, television programs, computer games and the Internet is spreading American expressions and accents in areas other than business.
Language teachers in Hong Kong say wealthy people who live in mainland China are helping to increase the demand for classes in American English. Mainland Chinese are crossing into Hong Kong because it has more educational choices.
But for now, people hearing English in the streets of Hong Kong are mainly hearing traditional British English.
\local woman.
\
香港人说语言的丰富的混合物。香港曾是英国殖民地，156多年前在1997回归中国。英国是唯一的官方语言，直到1994。
在香港大多数人今天讲广东话，但普通话和其他方言也听到了，英语和英国采用的仍然是广泛使用在这里教。但是现在，很多人都选择学习英语是讲在美国。 维克多陈，例如，有上学的孩子情商在星期六和星期日称为自然，他们在学习说美国的方式。陈先生说，他希望他的儿子学习美式英语，因为他计划送他们去美国深造。
情商是一个自然的越来越多的学校，在香港提供美式英语课程。弗兰基Ng学校开办了17年前，当时，他只有40个学生。今天，该校有350名学生，它没有任何更多的空间。
吴先生说，美国英语是清楚的和定义，他说这是容易教的和容易理解的。这，然而，是不是孩子们主要关心的。
学生山姆于学习英语口语的美国生活方式的另一个原因。
―我认为[美国英语]越来越重要，并可能接管英国英语的优势，所以我愿意学习，‖山姆说，玉。
在这个前英国殖民地的公立学校还教主要是英国人的英语。但私立语言学校美式英语教学越来越多。
在香港将军澳区，例如，―美国英语培训学校‖有20的学生一个星期打开时，一年前。今天，它有更多的180个星期。
一些观察家认为，美国英语是国际商业语言。增加接触美国文化，喜欢看电影，电视，电脑游戏和互联网以外的其他业务领域传播美国的表情和语调。 在香港的语言教师说，有钱人是生活在中国大陆有助于增加对美国英语课程的需求。中国内地进入香港因为它有更多的教育选择。
但是现在，人们听到英国在香港的街道，主要是英国传统的英语听力。 ―我们可以理解，但对我们说什么，我们与英国口音说[ ]，‖一位当地妇女说。 ―英国是我认为最好的，‖一位当地人的评论。
Passage Six.
Priscilla Ouchida‘s ―energy-efficient‖ house turned out to be a horrible dream. When she and her engineer husband married a few years ago, they built a $100,000, three-bedroom home in California. Tightly sealed to prevent air leaks, the house was equipped with small double-paned (双层玻璃的) windows and several other energy-saving features. Problems began as soon as the couple moved in, however. Priscilla’s eyes burned. Her throat was constantly dry. She suffered from headaches and could hardly sleep. It was as though she had suddenly developed a strange illness.
Experts finally traced the cause of her illness. The level of formaldehyde (甲醛) gas in her kitchen was twice the maximum allowed by federal standards for chemical workers. The source of the gas? Her new kitchen cabinets and wall-to-wall carpeting.
The Ouchidas are victims of indoor air pollution, which is not given sufficient attention partly because of the nation’s drive to save energy. The problem itself isn’t new. “The indoor environment was dirty long before energy conservation came along,” says Moschandreas, a pollution scientist at Geomet Technologies in Maryland. ―Energy conservation has tended to accentuate the situation in some cases.‖
The problem appears to be more troublesome in newly constructed homes rather than old ones. Back in the days when energy was cheap, home builders didn’t worry much about unsealed cracks. Because of such leaks, the air in an average home was replaced by fresh outdoor air about once an hour. As a result, the pollutants generated in most households seldom build up to dangerous levels.
Ouchida百的―节能‖的房子变成了一个可怕的梦。当她和她的丈夫娶了一个工程师几年前，他们建立了一个100000美元，在加利福尼亚的三间卧室的房子。密封，防止漏气，房子配有小型双窗格窗口（双层玻璃的）和其他几个节能的特点。问题就开始了这对夫妇搬到了，但是。普丽西拉的眼睛里燃烧。她的喉咙总是干。她头痛，无法入睡。她好像突然得了怪病。
专家们终于找到了她生病的原因。甲醛的水平（甲醛）气体在她的厨房里两次被允许联邦标准的化学工作者最大。气体的来源吗？她的新厨房橱柜和地毯。 这Ouchidas室内空气污染的受害者，这是没有得到足够的重视，部分原因是因为国家的驱动器以节约能源。这本身并不是新问题。―节约能源出现前的室内环境是肮脏的长，说：‖莫斯坎瑞斯，在马里兰州的几何技术污染科学家。―节约能源已趋于加重的情况在某些情况下。‖
这个问题似乎在新建的房子要比旧的更麻烦。在能源还是很便宜的时候，房屋的建造者并不是很担心密封裂缝。因为这样的泄漏，空气在一个普通家庭被新鲜的室外空气约一小时一次。作为一个结果，所产生的污染物在大多数家庭很少积累到危险的水平。
Passage Seven
President Obama repeated the spurious gender wage gap statistic in his State of the Union address. ―Today,‖ he said, ―women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it‘s an embarrassment.‖
What is wrong and embarrassing is the President of the United States reciting a massively discredited factoid. The 23-cent gender pay gap is simply the difference between the average earnings of all men and women working full-time. It does not account for differences in occupations, positions, education, job tenure, or hours worked per week. When all these relevant factors are taken into consideration, the wage gap narrows to about five cents. And no one knows if the five cents is a result of discrimination or some other subtle, hard-to-measure difference
between male and female workers. In its fact-checking column on the State of the Union, the Washington Post included the president‘s mention of the wage gap in its list of dubious claims. ―There is clearly a wage gap, but differences in the life choices of men and women… make it difficult to make simple comparisons.‖
Consider, for example, how men and women differ in their college majors. Here is a list (PDF) of the ten most remunerative majors compiled by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Men overwhelmingly outnumber women in all but one of them:
1. Petroleum Engineering: 87% male
2. Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration: 48% male 3. Mathematics and Computer Science: 67% male 4. Aerospace Engineering: 88% male 5. Chemical Engineering: 72% male 6. Electrical Engineering: 89% male
7. Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering: 97% male 8. Mechanical Engineering: 90% male 9. Metallurgical Engineering: 83% male 10. Mining and Mineral Engineering: 90% male
And here are the 10 least remunerative majors—where women prevail in nine out of ten:
1. Counseling Psychology: 74% female 2. Early Childhood Education: 97% female
3. Theology and Religious Vocations: 34% female
4. Human Services and Community Organization: 81% female 5. Social Work: 88% female
6. Drama and Theater Arts: 60% female 7. Studio Arts: 66% female
8. Communication Disorders Sciences and Services: 94% female 9. Visual and Performing Arts: 77% female
10. Health and Medical Preparatory Programs: 55% female
Much of the wage gap can be explained away by simply taking account of college majors. Early childhood educators and social workers can expect to earn around $36,000 and $39,000, respectively. By contrast, petroleum engineering and metallurgy degrees promise median earnings of $120,000 and $80,000. Not many aspiring early childhood educators would change course once they learn they can earn more in metallurgy or mining. The sexes, taken as a group, are somewhat different. Women, far more than men, appear to be drawn to jobs in the caring professions; and men are more likely to turn up in people-free zones. In the pursuit of happiness, men and women appear to take different paths.
But here is the mystery. These and other differences in employment preferences and work-family choices have been widely studied in recent years and are now documented in a mountain of solid
