each passing year, London’s air grew clearer.
London has proved that the veil of smog can be cast off, but its success story stands almost alone. In sunny Spain, Madrid has joined the ranks of fog cities. In Italy, acid from smog cuts into centuries-old sculpture. And each rain here in Washington washes more acid onto our marble buildings and monuments. The massive struggle to clean our air began so recently that victory seems far off. But we have taken an important step and we realize we must do something. In the frequently quoted words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
Passage Two
If I were to ask everyone of you in this lecture hall what you
dreamed about last night, I know that sort of responses I would get. Some would say they had not dreamed of anything, adding, perhaps, that they never dream. Others would describe rather ordinary and unexciting dreams: the common area, for example, of re-experiencing some of the events of the previous day. Some of you would report strange and colourful dreams, of bizarre happenings in unconnected sequences, a type of dream which seems naturally to demand an examination and interpretation of its contents as symbols. Others among you, when asked to describe last night’s dreams, would blush and refuse to say!
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From these various responses, we begin to get an idea of the range of the activity. Research has shown that everyone, has dreams so, do dreams have a variety of functions? Let me examine
one
of
them.
This
function
is
of
the
experience-monitoring dream. In this, the mind reviews past experience. Often the dream has a consequence different from what actually happened, representing a more or less desirable course of action or outcome than the real event. One important function of this type of dreams is to help to solve problems by suggesting answers or predicting difficulties and indicating a way round them.
Passage Three
The non-medical use of drugs is forbidden in the United States
because they can be dangerous. Many Americans, however, still use drugs illegally without a doctor’s permission. In fact, taking drugs has become one of America’s most serious social problems.
In America, most people who have become dependent on drugs are young. Why are the young people the most frequent users of drugs? The answers are many and varied. Some young people feel depressed and nervous in a society full of tension and they want to find a means of escape. Others are bored and they think
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the drug makes their time pass more pleasantly.
Taking drugs can cause only poverty and despair. When a person takes the drug, however, he forgets his misery. The drug takes away the stress and strain of living---until the effect of the drug wears off. Then, the discomfort which results is very intense and terrible. Because he must take larger and larger doses, his habit becomes more and more expensive. Such people often turn to crime to get the money they need. They might break in and steal money and other valuable things or rob banks. In this way, taking drugs forces the crime rate up.
In the United States drugs have destroyed many of the young people’s minds and ruined their bodies. So it is necessary that a campaign to forbid taking drugs be launched in the United States and other countries.
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