The European lead is striking. According to recent statistics, Americans have an average of just two weeks off each year. In Europe, by contrast, at least a month of paid vacation is viewed as an inalienable right. The Italians get 42 days of holiday a year; the French, 37 and the Germans, 35.            Even the British, with their more American business culture, still take an average of 28 days off a year. In August, the height of the holiday season, much of Europe simply closes down. There is simply no point in trying to get anyone to do any work. Taking a long summer holiday is so crucial to European self-esteem that a survey showed that more than a third of Italians who stay at home during the extended time off intended to pretend that they were going away. Considerable numbers were prepared to buy tanning machines and to take the pets to the neighbors to maintain appearances.          Naturally, people’s inclination for taking longer holidays represents a mammoth business opportunity for the tourism and travel industry, by some measures, the world’s largest industry. Figures from the World Tourism Organization suggest that most international tourists travel to or within Europe, giving Europe a 58% share of the world tourism market. Of the top eight destinations, five are in Europe; France tops the list, followed by Spain, the United States and Italy. 

   These figures, however, may mislead. Some 80% of vacationers within the European Union are from other parts of the EU. France’s top place owes much to the country’s inherent attractions but also quite a lot to its geographical position. Every Dutch or Belgian caravan thundering through France towards the beaches of Spain adds to the figure of foreign visitors to France.

    Still, there is no doubt about the economic weight of tourism in Europe. Indeed, any sign that the flow of tourists is slowing is greeted with neurotic headlines. Yet while Europe cannot live without tourists, it sometimes finds it hard to live with them. The city authorities in Venice are so fed up with some visitors’ behavior that they have just announced a list of 10 offences for which they will impose on-the-spot fines. Improprieties including walking around bare-chested and bathing in fountains, even in the torrid summer, are on the list. Spaniards and Greeks find the hordes of riotous, boozy young Britons that descend on them each summer a mixed blessing. 

   Such excesses of mass tourism will certainly do nothing to puncture Europe’s love affair with the long holiday. Those unfortunate souls charged with managing the European economy are having to factor holidays into their thinking. Analysis has shown that a large part of the wealth gap per head between Europeans and Americans could be attributed to Europeans’ preference for taking longer holidays. The figures certainly show that when they are actually in their offices, the Germans, French and Dutch (though not the British) are more productive than Americans. 

   But not everyone is as sanguine about this state of affairs. Hopeful talk by some European politicians of building up the European Union as a new superpower is likely to prove vain so long as the EU’s economic growth lags so markedly behind that of the United States—not to mention China’s. Germany’s labor minister recently caused a stir by arguing that Germans ought to work more and take less holidays. Some of his countrymen may even be taking these strictures to heart. 

   Germans traditionally take more foreign holidays per head than all other Europeans, but this year, German travel agents say that bookings are substantially down. Some attribute this to a new mood of economic insecurity. Perhaps there is a selfcorrecting mechanism in Europeans’ taste for leisure over work. If the measures were taken too far, might the economy slow down so much that people no longer feel secure or rich enough to take the usual five weeks off?

        For people in Taiwan, sometimes it’s difficult to imagine what a life without enough food would be like. However, as a matter of fact, a great number of people around the world are suffering from hunger. According to a new report just released by the United Nations, almost one in eight people worldwide doesn’t have enough food. The report mentions that around 842 million people, about 12 percent of the world population, suffer from very serious hunger. Though the figure seems dismal, in fact it has gone down from 17 percent in 1992. The U. N. states that lots of countries still fail to find effective ways to feed their people, and Africa is the region with the highest number of undernourished people. To be more precise, in about 19 African nations, more than a quarter of the population goes hungry. Moreover, about 98 percent of the world’s starving people live in developing countries. 

        The term “undernourishment” is defined by the World Food Programme (WFP) as “not having enough food for an active and healthy life” and an inability to “meet dietary energy requirement.” The WFP even claimed that currently hunger is the biggest risk to people’s health around the world. It’s a more severe problem than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.One of the main reasons why so many people are hungry is war, which is evidenced by the fact that the developing countries having experienced war in the past 20 years have much greater difficulty feeding their people. What’s worse, many scientists are worried that the situation may deteriorate due to climate change. In other words, hotter climate in more countries will result in less harvest, which will give rise to more hunger in turn.

For most of us, summer is a season to enjoy outdoor activities. But for people who live in tropical regions,

 summer can bring huge storms capable of damaging buildings with wind and floods. This is because hurricanes

 occur when the water temperatures in the ocean rise above normal levels. What may start out as a minor 

storm can quickly be whipped up in to a devastating hurricane after gathering strength from warm water. A hurricane is an enormous circular vortex of clouds and wind. In order to develop, a hurricane requires water temperatures of at least twenty-six degrees Celsius. When a tropical storm occurs, the energy of the 

warm water and the moisture in the air can turn the storm into a hurricane. The location and size of hurricanes are observed by meteorologists using satellite equipment and radar. The media get the information and are able to warn the public about when and where the hurricane will strike. Hurricanes are given names by meteorologists to help people identify them. Although hurricanes are easily located by using sophisticated equipment, they are difficult to be judged because of their unpredictable movement and speed. Most hurricanes last for about ten days. When they cross onto land, they frictional drag from the ground causes their winds to slow and weaken. The most dangerous hurricanes, therefore, are the ones that move along a coastline and inflict damage on land while keeping their energy source of warm water. Every year the south-eastern coast of the United States becomes exposed to hurricanes that form thousands of kilometers away in the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricanes are most likely to occur in August and September because at this time the water temperature is high due to several months’ direct sunlight and humidity. In September 1999, a tropical storm gathered strength in the Atlantic. It was named Hurricane Floyd after four days of growth. American meteorologists used satellite equipment to track Hurricane Floyd and issued severe weather warnings for the states of Georgia and South Carolina. As Hurricane Floyd approached the coast, more than two million people were forced to evacuate the coast under government instructions. Fortunately, only a small number of people were killed by the hurricane and once it crossed the coast, its strength died down. Another area prone to hurricanes is the Bay of Bengal, between India and Bangladesh. In November 1970,

 the worst damage in modern times occurred when approximately three hundred thousand people died in 

Bangladesh as a result of the tidal waves and flooding caused by a slow-moving hurricane. East Asia is also

 frequently affected by hurricanes. Countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and China are threatened every year by an average of five hurricanes that occur between August and October. In recent years, Hurricane

 Nicole traveled along the coastline of China and caused flooding which broke the banks of the Yangtze River. As a result, two million Chinese people were left homeless and the flooding was the worst seen in this region for fifty years.

 Damage will always occur if a hurricane passes over land. People exposed to a hurricane must therefore take the following precautions. All objects outside the house must be securely fastened so they won’t be blown away. Shutters must be placed over house windows to prevent them being smashed. People must remain inside during a hurricane as flying debris and lightning can be deadly. It is also important to have candles and flashlights handy in case of electricity failure.

 Every year about fifty hurricanes occur around the world. All we can do is to try to restrict the damage by making sure people are well prepared in regions where hurricanes most often occur. Experts, however, are predicting that in the future we will experience more hurricanes per year than we currently do. Because of the greenhouse effect and global warming, the warmer water temperatures are expected. With warmer water on our planet, hurricanes will occur more often and with greater force than they do today.

     In the 1970s, there was not the rash of ugly buildings around Tivoli that there is now. The ruins of Hadrian’s Villa, twice the size of __14__ of Pompeii, lay off the road, unannounced, on small tufa rises of orange soil, amid ancient olives, cypresses, and sculpted pine trees, with water trickling from pools and fountains. It rained intermittently. I took shelter under the half-collapsed domes and __15__, and in underground chambers. I read later that in 1803, Chateaubriand had visited the villa and had also been caught in the rain, taking refuge in the same places. “The fragments of masonry were garnished with the leaves of scolopendra,” he wrote in his description of his journey, “the satin verdure of __16__ appeared like mosaic work upon the white marble.” 

     The __17__ stones inset in the mortar of the walls, thick with wet moss, had blended together into one west and beautiful __18__, in the way that generations and their particular dramas blend with past and future ones, leaving patterns only: like different varieties of earth. The floors with their rich and muddy carpet of tesserae were a lesson in geology. The fragments of slate and marble parquetry offered colors subtler __19__. I remember a lone pillar so dark that it was like a diseased and veiny elephant trunk.

     Shattered domes revealed clouds of moving overhead in countless visions of eternity. It was a place made for silence and for contemplation, __20__ you wanted a book handy. Every corner was a cloister. No view was panoramic: each seemed deliberately __21__.  For Hadrian, writes Eleanor Clark in a 1950 book, Rome and a Villa, the availability of water was more important than a dominant view.                   Hadrian’s Villa was the Versailles of the ancient world. In the remnants of apsidal niches, vestibules, colonnades, and pools, one can detect signs of an arranged __22__ absent in the Roman Forum, a mere warehouse of ruins in comparison to Tivoli. And while so much of Maximian’s villa in Casale spoke of vulgarity, here everything appeared more refined. Scholars compare the villa with Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello because the scenery in each place has been so deliberately managed. The villas was Hadrian’s personal __23__ to the same extent that Monticello was Jefferson’s. 

 (AB) where (AC) vaulting (AD) yet (AE) project (BC) composed (BD) those (BE) grandeur (CD) reticulated (CE) accretion (BC) which

(AB) as (AC) their (AD) multifaceted (AE) instability (BC) alienating

(BD) by (BE) those (CD) prone (CE) validation (DE) inflating

       Narcissistic personality disorder arises from a deeply ingrained instability in an individual’s identity and self-esteem. This __16__ can stem from insecure attachment to caregivers during infancy and childhood, which may be exacerbated by genetic predispositions that trigger narcissistic defenses when the individual is exposed to __17__ experiences in their environment. Individuals may exhibit emotional splitting, distorted object relations, etc.

       Narcissists rely on external __18__ for their self-esteem and can become reactive and engage in self-referentiality, cognitive distortions, and willful denial and projection. They lack morality and ethics, which can cause relational antagonism. These defenses protect __19__ fragile sense of self but can cause significant harm to others.

       The core issue for a narcissistic individual lies in the emotional splitting of the self into two distorted extremes: the worthless, inferior self and the special superior self. This creates an inferiority complex, which is compensated for __20__ the development of a superiority complex. Narcissistic individuals try to suppress any awareness of their inferior selves while __21__ and elevating their superior selves. They often struggle with internal vacillations between these two states, especially under stress, and subject others to the same idealizing and devaluing oscillations.

     Delusional grandiosity is another typical feature of narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissists are __22__ to feel emptiness and inferiority, which they try to overcome by indulging in delusions of superiority, special entitlement, and, in more extreme cases, omnipotent power and control. Although outsiders may see the narcissist’s grandiosity as delusional, it serves __23__ a means of psychic survival for the individual. Therefore, when others fail to reflect on what they wish to believe about themselves, they react with rage.

       In conclusion, narcissistic personality disorder is a/an __24__ mental illness that can have devastating effects on both the individual and those around them. Mental health professionals must understand the intricacies of this disorder to provide effective treatment and support to __25__ affected by it. It is crucial to acknowledge that the roots of narcissistic personality disorder are deep-seated and complex, and treatment for this disorder requires an individualized and comprehensive approach

       It may help to reflect. However, __16__ negative events and emotions definitely causes harm. It only increases your __17__ to keep thinking about your problems. Perhaps you replay a(n) __18__ you had earlier with your best friend over and over in your head. Whenever you think of it, you cannot but hold yourself __19__ for something you said. Or maybe you can’t take your mind off some hurtful comments. You feel greatly __20__, your self-worth damaged. Similar cases keep repeating themselves, and in time, you end up with an unhealthy __21__ with your own misfortune. If that’s what happens to you, __22__ yourself to changing the way you think. First and foremost, recognize it when you’re over-thinking. The more you ruminate, the more likely you are to get stuck in a negative cycle that is hard to break, and thus __23__ a downward spiral. Besides, try to solve your problems by learning from mistakes before you can quit __24__ yourself mentally instead of brooding over them. Lastly, __25__ mindfulness. That is, focus on everything you’re experiencing to improve your state of mind. Learn to live in the here and now, and over time it can tremendously decrease rumination. (AB) blame (AC) accountable (AD) distress (AE) obsession (BC) lasting (BD) inadequate (BE) practice (CD) creates (CE) dwelling on (DE) torturing (ABC) begins (ABD) commit (ABE) suspicious (BCD) quarrel

       Taiwan is globally recognized for its industrial and technological success. However, Taiwan also deserves to be recognized for its ecological and geological wonders. From tropical forests to rocky alpine meadows, sea turtles to coral reefs, Taiwan is truly a natural paradise. Hualien County on Taiwan’s east coast is the best place to visit to see such natural ecosystems. Hualien has escaped the industrialization and urbanization that have taken over much of the country and is one of the last places in Taiwan that remains truly natural and wild. Hualien is a place of biodiverse wetlands, scenic waterfalls, clear mountain streams, wild forests, and rugged mountains. With this natural diversity, combined with clean air and beautiful scenery, Hualien is a paradise within a paradise.

       Without a doubt, the most impressive part of Hualien County is Taroko Gorge. Taroko Gorge is a 19-kilometer-long valley within Taroko National Park. Although the gorge has incredible biodiversity, with hundreds of bird, lizard, insect, crab and mammal species, as well as more than 2,000 plant species, this biological wealth is not what makes Taroko Gorge so special. What makes it special is the immense size of the gorge itself. The narrow and sinuous gorge has 300-meter-tall walls that are so steep, and they seem impossible to believe when you see them. Nowhere else in Taiwan has such a dramatic geological landscape.

       The reason Taroko Gorge exists in Hualien is because of geology. Taiwan was formed by the collision of two tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean. The collision of these plates created undersea mountains. Over millions of years these mountains grew taller, eventually emerging from the ocean and becoming Taiwan. Importantly, the heat and pressure of these colliding plates sometimes create new types of rock. One special type of rock that was formed is an extremely soft rock called marble. The only place in Taiwan where this soft marble was formed is in the Taroko National Park area. This soft marble weathers and erodes easily, which allowed the Liwu River, over thousands of years, to dig the gorge deep, but not wide.

       This created the narrow and deep gorge we see today. The formation of Taroko Gorge was only possible because during Taiwan’s formation a lucky type of rock was made and placed in Hualien’s mountains, awaiting the Liwu River to turn it into one of the world’s most impressive geological landscapes.