1、SAT-ESSAY 素材1Kenyan environmentalist and human rights campaigner Wangari Maathai has won the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the first African woman to be awarded the peace prize since it was created in 1901. A surprised Mrs Maathai broke the news to reporters minutes before the official announcement. The
2、 prize committee says Mrs Maathai, Kenyas Deputy Environment Minister(助理环境部长), is an example for all Africans fighting for democracy and peace. The delighted 64-year-old professor said the award was completely unexpected. “This is extremely encouraging to the people of Africa and the African woman,“
3、 she told the BBC. “It is a recognition of the many efforts of African women, who continue to struggle despite all the problems they face.“ In the late 1970s, Mrs Maathai led a campaign called the Green Belt Movement to plant tens of millions of trees across Africa to slow deforestation(采伐森林 ) . The
4、 movement grew to include projects to preserve biodiversity, educate people about their environment and promote the rights of women and girls. Known as “The Tree Woman“ in Kenya, Mrs Maathai celebrated by planting a Nandi flame tree(凤凰木 ) in her home town of Nyeri, in the shadow of Mount Kenya. She
5、said she was delighted that the vital role of the environment had been recognised. “The environment is very important in the aspects of peace because when we destroy our resources and our resources become scarce, we fight over that“. “I am working to make sure we dont only protect the environment, w
6、e also improve governance,“ she added. The committee says she has combined science with social engagement and politics, and has worked both locally and internationally. The professor was the 12th woman peace laureate since the first award was first made in 1901. A spokesman for the Kenyan government
7、 said his country was honoured. “This is a great moment in Kenyan history. To us this shows that what Wangari Maathai has been doing here has been recognised,“ Alfred Mutua said. “Were very proud of her and she deserves all the credit.“ Mrs Maathai beat a record 194 nominations, including former chi
8、ef United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix and the head of the UN energy watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, to win the prize. Mrs Maathai is the second woman in a row to be awarded the peace prize, which last year went to Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi for her work for the rights of women and children in
9、Iran. The award, which includes 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.3m) is awarded in Oslo on 10 December each year.2Reeve was real-life SupermanAlthough he will always be remembered for portraying “Superman,“ the greatest role of actor Christopher Reeves life was as a champion of sufferers of spinal cord
10、 injuries(脊椎损伤患者中的斗士) and an advocate of stem cell research(干细胞研究). Unlike the man of steel, he wasnt faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and he couldnt leap tall buildings in a single bound. But the courage and determination Reeve displayed in trying to overcome his paral
11、ysis from a 1995 horse-riding accident far surpassed any of the feats of the comic book hero(连环画英雄). “He became a real-life Superman. His heroism, his courage was extraordinary,“ Colin Blakemore, the chief executive of Britains Medical Research Council(英国医学研究学会主任) said. “Like many people who suffer
12、some terrible injury, Christopher Reeve was reinvented(彻底改变) by that experience and brought the kind of energy and enthusiasm that made him successful as a film star to an entirely different issue, with huge effect.“ Reeve, 52, died on October 10 of heart failure(心脏功能衰竭) after having treatment for a
13、n infected pressure wound(伤口严重感染) without realizing his dream of walking again. But in the nine years since his accident, he made personal progress to regain some feeling(重新获得了人们的尊敬和欣赏), established the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, a non-profit research organization, and used his fame to
14、raise millions of dollars for research into spinal cord injuries. He also provided hope and inspiration to other patients and lobbied for scientists to be allowed to conduct stem cell research in the hopes of eventually curing paralysis and other illnesses such as diabetes and Alzheimers and Parkins
15、ons disease(糖尿病、阿兹海默症和巴金森氏症). “He has been our champion. If you think of spinal injuries you automatically conjure up(想起、回忆) a picture of Christopher Reeve,“ said Paul Smith, executive director of the Spinal Injuries Association in England. It is because of Reeve that spinal cord injuries and stem c
16、ell research are so widely discussed, according to Smith. The fact that it happened to Reeve showed it can affect anyone, even Superman. Reeve did not live long enough to see whether stem cell research could help restore movement to the paralyzed. The research is still in its early days and no one k
17、nows what advances it may bring.3Adventurer Fossett launches solo balloon trip The giant high-altitude balloon, bathed in the deserts golden morning light, drifted slowly into the sky above Northam, a small mining town 100 km (62 miles) east of Perth, just after 7.00 a.m. (2300 GMT).Fossett had dela
18、yed inflating the aircraft for six and a half hours due to unfavourable winds, but with time running out before the arrival of the mornings hot thermals, he gave the order to fill the balloon with helium for a dawn launch.Fossett waved to around 100 townsfolk as he entered the capsule for an eastwar
19、d circumnavigation that he expects will take 15 days.“I am a bit nervous about the first night,“ Fossett said before take-off.“On the first night I will find out if everything works, if there are any leaks in the balloon, if there are any failures in communications and if the all-important heating w
20、orks,“ he said.The millionaire former stockbroker has made a series of failed attempts to fly solo in a balloon around the world.The last attempt to inflate the giant balloon for a launch on June 17 from the Australian gold mining town of Kalgoorlie ended in disaster when a freak wind tore it apart.
21、Fossetts fourth solo bid ended in near disaster in 1998, when a thunderstorm off Australias northeastern coast shredded his canopy and sent him plummeting 29,000 feet (9,000 metres) into the Coral Sea. He was unhurt.This year Fossett, 57, decided to launch in western Australia, some 600 km (400 mile
22、s) from the Indian Ocean, to have a better chance of avoiding thunderstorms in the South Pacific and gain time to detect problems while still over land.4Laughing Matter-Woman Resorts to Comedy to Confront the Trauma of Cancer “In a flash moment, I went from being a happy expectant mother, to being s
23、omeone afraid for her life,“ she told reporters.Minutes after doctors delivered Nate by emergency C-section, Southcott went into surgery. The diagnosis was ovarian cancer.Suddenly tears and chemotherapy overtook her life. But the lowest moment came after she lost all her hair and a free wig arrived.
24、She tried it on as her older son Kyler watched.“I thought I can cry about this bad wig and hell remember it, or I can laugh about it and he will remember that,“ Southcott said.That was when she started laughing a lot, and found it was the perfect medicine.“I spent a lot time looking for anything hum
25、or based for cancer patients,“ she said. “And Ill tell you what: There isnt much out there.“Using herself as a bald model, Bonnie started her own line of greeting cards and a calendar. Each pose pokes fun at the tribulations of chemo.“We desperately need to laugh,“ she said. “Its vital to our joy.“E
26、ven though Southcotts ovarian cancer is in remission, the diagnosis is no laughing matter - a 25-percent chance she will live for another two-years.She plans to appreciate every moment of motherhood. And she plans to laugh.5Spacewoman Stuck in Orbit with Too Much ShrimpPeggy Whitson, the American as
27、tronaut spending her 130th day in space, said on Sunday that she was happy in orbit, but maybe she brought along too much shrimp.“Sometimes, when you come to space, your tastes change. One of my favorite foods on the ground is shrimp, and up here I cant stand it,“ said Whitson, the science officer o
28、n the International Space Station .A quick check of the stations manifest showed that Whitson had planned more than 40 shrimp meals for her stay.“The guys like it because they get all my shrimp,“ she said, referring to her two Russian crewmates, Valery Korzun and Sergei Treshcvev.The three members o
29、f the space stations Expedition Five team held a joint news conference with the six astronauts from the space shuttle Atlantis on Sunday.“Im having a great time up here. Its fun to live here and do the science,“ said Whitson, a biochemist conducting and monitoring dozens of studies on the station.Wh
30、en someone asked about her plans for Christmas, Whitson said “Its hard to imagine being back home because I guess I feel like this is my home right now. I dont have my husband, but other than that, this is my home.“Whitson, due to return to Earth with Korzun and Treschev aboard a U.S. shuttle in Nov
31、ember, said some changes in space take more getting used to than others.Salsa can usually overcome space blandness. “We could probably eat paper if we had it with salsa,“ she said.But calluses are another matter. In weightlessness, she never actually stands, but does sway about with her feet in foot
32、 restraints.“It was really interesting to me to lose the calluses from the bottom of your feet and to get calluses on the top of your feet after being up here for a few months,“ she said.6Professor Popsicle Proves Cold No BarrierDuring a cold stretch that had many Canadians scurrying indoors, a rese
33、archer known as “Professor Popsicle“ has found humans can successfully spend days on end in the bitter cold.Gordon Giesbrecht has spent the past 26 days skiing the isolated, frozen expanse of Lake Winnipeg as part of his research for the University of Manitoba on how the body copes with the cold.Tem
34、peratures averaged 15 degrees below zero and dipped as low as 31 below during his 240-mile trek on cross-country skis.“Now when Im outside and its -25 C, its not really a big problem,“ he told reporters by satellite phone from his small tent on the worlds tenth largest lake.“This has been more a tes
35、t of just dealing with the cold and living with it, and getting your clothing and your actions coordinated so that you dont end up getting frostbite or anything,“ explained Giesbrecht.Soft, deep snow made for some tough slogging with his backpack and sled carrying his food and gear. On two mornings,
36、 Giesbrecht emerged from his tent to find the wind so fierce that his tent was almost flat.“The most vulnerable time of the day is when you are trying to set up your tent, and I was not about to take that chance,“ he wrote on a Web site updated by his family.Other than numb fingertips, which will li
37、kely take a month to return to normal, Giesbrecht said he feels fine.7The flying Frenchman set to smash round the world recordThey are calling him the Bob Beamon of sailing. And just like Beamon, who astonished the world with his record-breaking long-jump in 1968, the French sailor Francis Joyon is
38、rewriting the nautical record books in an unprecedented fashion.Joyon, 47, is now in the final stages of an incredible voyage and on course to smash the existing non-stop solo round-the-world record by 20 days. Once he crosses the finish line off the Channel port of Brest on the morning of February
39、3, he will have completed one of the greatest feats of single-handed sailing in history.Just like Beamon, whose leap at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 broke the world record by an almost unbelievable 21in - which stood unbeaten until 1991 - Joyons expected time of 73 days for the 26,000-mile global cou
40、rse will have far exceeded what most thought possible for a solo sailor.Joyon set sail in November on an adventure some predicted would end in disaster. The father of four from La Trinit-sur-Mer in Brittany was undertaking the voyage in the 90ft trimaran IDEC, a boat of tremendous power with a huge
41、rotating mast that had been built to be raced by a crew of up to ten.Many were worried that Joyon would end up exhausted and IDEC would simply flip over as she ran out of control in the Southern Ocean.Others predicted that Joyon would be unable to handle IDECs enormous sails or that the boat could l
42、ose her mast in the rough conditions that any round-the-world sailor inevitably would face.There were also all the usual dangers - collision with debris in the water, with ice around Antarctica or the possibility that Joyon would collide with a ship while sleeping.When he set off, the solo record st
43、ood at 93 days. Although Joyon was sailing a much faster boat than the previous record-holder, most saw little chance of him getting even close to 80 days.Joyon had other ideas and over the past 71 days he has enjoyed good fortune with the weather, rarely running out of wind. He has, however, also d
44、isplayed extraordinary stamina, determination and seamanship in keeping IDEC running close to her full potential.8Ronaldo: King of the WorldRonaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima was born on 22 September 1976 in a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Like most of his childhood friends, Ronaldo began his soccer care
45、er playing barefoot in the streets of his neighborhood. At the age of 14, he joined SCristovo soccer club and only two years later became the star of Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte scoring a total of 58 goals in 60 matches and earning himself a reputation for his explosive pace and outstanding finishing sk
46、ills. His goal-scoring record and unusual agility led him to be included in the Brazilian World Cup winning team the following year. After the World Cup, many top European football clubs were trying to sign him. Many people, including Brazilian football legend Pel, referred to him as the most promis
47、ing footballer of his generation.Since his transfer to Dutch team PSV Eindhoven, Ronaldo s biography is one of success after success. Two Copa Amrica s, a UEFA Cup, a Dutch Cup, a Spanish League Cup, and two awards as best player in the world, all in the space of two years, are some of Ronaldo s imp
48、ressive achievements. On arrival to Inter-Milan in 1997, Ronaldo became the idol of the local fans who refer to him as “il Fenomeno.”Since the 98 World Cup he has suffered two serious knee injuries that have severely limited his appearances. Just when people began to wonder whether Ronaldo would be
49、able to continue with his football career, he proved to the world that he still could play. In the World Cup held in Korea and Japan, the magical striker won the Golden Shoe award and tied Pels Brazilian record for career World Cup goals with 12. He helped Brazil capture its fifth World Cup championship on June 30 with a 2-0 win over Germany. It was the third time that Ronaldo has ever played in the World Cup.9Hewitt: I Came, I Saw, I ConqueredLleyton Hewitt was born in Adelaide, Australia on 24 February, 1981. His mother is a former champion netballer
