She Says/He Says(U1B1) reading she says: Boys are so different from girls! They never show their emotions

　　If you see a cow flying overhead, you’d better check the calendar before calling the police. Perhaps it’s April Fools’ Day, or All Fools’ Day, when people play tricks on others.

　　There is evidence suggesting that the origin of this holiday dates back to medieval France. In the 16th century, it was decided that the date of New Year’s Day should be altered and moved to January 1. Prior to this, people celebrated New Year’s Day in April instead of in January. Therefore, some people believe that this is how April Fools’ Day originated: To make fun of those who failed to keep up with this change to the calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year in April.

　　In France, the tradition of April Fools’ Day is still going strong and is quite distinctive as well. The custom there is to try to tape a paper fish on a person’s back without the person’s knowledge. If you succeed, you can call this person an “April Fish” rather than an “April Fool.”

　　Elsewhere, April Fools’ Day tricks often take the form of hoaxes. It has become a tradition for the news media to broadcast fake news stories on this day, particularly in Britain. The general public, of course, is extremely suspicious of any strange news reported on April Fools’ Day, but it is surprising that many people are still taken in.

　　One of the most memorable April Fools’ Day hoaxes was broadcast on the BBC in 1957. It showed a reporter walking through fields in Switzerland where, he said, spaghetti was being grown. Spaghetti is a popular Italian dish, but it is actually made in a kitchen. To make the scene look real, the news crew had put strands of spaghetti across plants in fields, and workers were shown picking the spaghetti from these plants. Many in the audience were fooled and phoned the BBC to ask how they could grow spaghetti themselves.

　　Another funny April Fools’ Day joke was played in Hong Kong in 1982 during a water shortage. A newspaper declared that the government would be distributing powdered water to families in the city. It was said that when a pint of water was poured into the powder, it would magically swell to ten pints of water! Again, many people were taken in by this hoax.

　　Unfortunately, while most people enjoy April Fools’ Day tricks, there are always some people who reject the idea of getting into the holiday spirit. For example, a radio journalist in San Diego once announced that a space shuttle would soon make an emergency landing at the local airfield. Many people then gathered around the airfield with their cameras ready, hoping to get a glimpse of the space shuttle. Of course, it never turned up. Thousands of people were disappointed, and the local police got angry because they had been forced to send more officers to direct the heavy traffic there. As a result, this radio station was fined thousands of dollars.

　　The tradition of April Fools’ Day is popular today throughout the world. Next time April is approaching, see if you can devise a clever trick to play on your friends and avoid being fooled by one yourself!
I. Reading for the Main Idea―Skimming

Skim the reading and choose the best answer to the statement.

( )	The reading is mainly about _____. (A) the reasons why April Fools’ Day is related to fish (B) the traditional celebrations of April Fools’ Day in France (C) the tricks people like to play on others on April Fools’ Day (D) the origin of April Fool’s Day and how it has been celebrated

II. Reading for Details─Scanning

Scan the reading and choose the best answer to each of the following questions or statements.

( )	1.	April Fools’ Day began _____.
		(A) in Switzerland in 1957 (B) in France in the Middle Ages (C) because of a BBC news crew (D) because of a journalist in San Diego
( )	2.	Before the 16th century, people in France celebrated the New Year in _____.
		(A) January	(B) February	(C) April	(D) December
( )	3.	Which of the following is an April Fools’ Day tradition in France?
		(A) The news media there broadcast fake news stories. (B) The police officers there often refuse to enjoy the holiday spirit. (C) People there try to stick a paper fish on the back of another person without being caught. (D) People there devise different kinds of clever tricks to fool others around them.
( )	4.	Which of the following about the BBC’s hoax in 1957 is NOT true?
		(A) No one in the audience was tricked by this hoax. (B) It is one of the BBC’s most memorable hoaxes. (C) The news crew put spaghetti across plants in fields. (D) A reporter claimed that spaghetti was being grown in fields.
( )	5.	According to the reading, why was the radio station in San Diego fined?
		Its space shuttle damaged the airfield. Its fake news report caused a lot of trouble for the local police. Its journalist shouldn’t have taken photos of the space shuttle. It made the people who gathered around the airfield lose thousands of dollars.

Unit 4 (Book6) Taiwan Pride

READING

　　It is another busy day in a bakery. Crowds of people are lining up to buy the bakery’s bread as soon as it is ready to be sold. In the kitchen, a master baker concentrates as he works, and some eager apprentices are watching him with enthusiasm. Surprisingly, this scene does not take place in Europe but in Taiwan. Today, several young Taiwanese citizens are standing up and taking center stage in a variety of fields. They are pursuing their passions, finding success around the world, and, in the process, making Taiwan proud.

　　A bakery might be the last place that one would expect a person from Taiwan to attain success. After all, an oven is rarely used in traditional Taiwanese cooking. Yet, at the 2010 Bakery Masters competition in Paris, the winner of the title of master baker in the bread category was Taiwan’s Pao-chun Wu. Growing up in southern Taiwan, Wu never imagined that he would become an internationally celebrated baker. Still in his teens, he began to work in a bakery, and his years of hard work finally paid off when he was honored as one of the best bakers in the world. Upon receiving this honor, Wu did not move to Europe to set up a bakery there. Instead, he returned to Taiwan to offer baking courses so that young bakers will be able to follow in his footsteps and become master bakers themselves one day.

　　In the world of sports, Taiwan’s Yani Tseng performs at the top of her game. After an amateur career filled with victories, Tseng made a leap to the Ladies Professional Golf Association, winning tournaments as soon as she turned pro. At the tender age of nineteen, Tseng won the LPGA Championship, making her the youngest player─and the first from Taiwan─to do so. Later, she even became the youngest player in the history of the LPGA to win five major championships. Currently ranked as the number one female golfer in the world, Tseng is looking forward to a long and rewarding career in professional golf.

　　When it comes to fashion, Taiwan’s Jason Wu has definitely taken the fashion world by storm. This Manhattan-based clothing designer became famous when Michelle Obama wore one of his dresses on the night of Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration in 2009. On seeing the First Lady in this elegant dress, the entire world wanted to know who had designed it. Almost overnight, Wu became an international sensation. Since then, Michelle Obama has worn Wu’s designs on several other important occasions, including for the cover of Vogue and during a visit with Queen Elizabeth. Even though he is now in the limelight, Wu has remained humble and devoted to improvement in his design skills.

　　There is a famous quotation that says, “Follow your bliss, and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” Pao-chun Wu, Yani Tseng, and Jason Wu have clearly shown that by doing exactly this, it is possible to achieve success not only in Taiwan but also on the international stage.

　　In the 15th century, there was a family with eighteen children living in a tiny village near Nuremberg, Germany. Every day, the father strived to earn money to support this huge family. Despite the difficult living conditions, two of the children in this family, Albrecht and Albert Durer, had a dream of pursuing their love of art.

　　They knew that they could never convince their father to send both of them to study at the art academy because he couldn’t afford the tuition. Therefore, after long discussions, they decided to flip a coin. The winner could go to the art academy. The loser, meanwhile, would work in the mines to earn money, all of which would be used to cover his brother’s studies. Then, when the winning brother had completed his education, he in turn would support the other brother at the academy, either by selling his artwork or by working in the mines, too.

　　One morning, they flipped the coin. Albrecht won and went off to the academy, while Albert went down into the dangerous mines to support his brother. At the academy, Albrecht created etchings, woodcuts, and oil paintings, many of which became popular quickly and were even better than those of his professors. By the time he graduated, he had begun to make a good deal of money from his artistic work.

　　Sitting at the opposite end of the table with tears streaming down his face, Albert murmured, “No, no, no.” Finally, he wiped the tears from his cheeks and rose from the table. He glanced at his family and then said softly, “No, brother. I cannot go. Look...look at my hands, which have been destroyed by working these years in the mines! Look at my fingers, all of which have had their delicate bones smashed. These past few months, I have been suffering from arthritis in my right hand so badly that I cannot even hold up a glass to toast your success, let alone paint or draw well. No, my brother...for me, it is too late.”

　　Over 500 years have passed since the party was held. Today, Albrecht Durer’s portraits, sketches, and etchings hang in many great museums around the world. One of these famous works was simply entitled, by Albrecht Durer himself, Hands. It shows a pair of damaged hands with the palms together and the thin fingers stretched toward the sky. These are actually Albert Durer’s hands, which Albrecht drew to pay tribute to his brother. Later, this drawing was renamed The Praying Hands by those who recognized the love in this great piece of art.

　　Next time you see a copy of this work, take a closer look at it. This drawing serves as a touching reminder that no one can succeed without the help and kindness of others.

　　Most people have heard of Hayao Miyazaki, a talented Japanese animator, and have even watched some of his world-famous animated movies. His movies, such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle, have captured the interest of people of all ages around the world. However, when it comes to the elements found in his movies, most people probably don’t know that many of these elements can actually be traced back to Miyazaki’s childhood.

　　One distinctive characteristic of Miyazaki’s animated movies is the strong female characters. Take the example of Chihiro, the ten-year-old main character in Spirited Away. Separated from her parents and forced to face numerous monsters and witches, Chihiro must share her love so that she can overcome several obstacles and save her parents. Chihiro’s adventure transforms her from an innocent child into a responsible and capable girl, and the whole process is similar to the maturation process that occurred in Miyazaki’s own life.

　　When Miyazaki was about six years old, his mother was infected with tuberculosis. Her treatment continued during his teenage years, and this meant that Miyazaki had to take care of his two younger brothers. As a result, Miyazaki started to draw pictures and make up stories to entertain them. Gradually, he developed great drawing skills, a fertile imagination, and the ability to convey stories through images. If it had not been for his unusual childhood circumstances, Miyazaki might never have gone into the animation industry.

　　Another early influence on Miyazaki was the work of his father and uncle in the aviation industry. As a child, Miyazaki spent hours drawing planes. This led to his lifelong interest in flying. Therefore, when he started to create his own movies, flying became a recurrent theme in them naturally. Miyazaki’s various flying vehicles include a witch’s broom and massive military vessels, often with emphasis on designs that were never, or could never be, possible in real life. If Miyazaki hadn’t had this early exposure to aviation, he probably would not have been so inspired by flying.

　　Miyazaki’s animated movies stand out also because his characters reflect reality. The characters in Miyazaki’s animated movies are usually neither completely good nor completely wicked, which is very true to life. As a story progresses, villains reveal their violence and evil as well as certain positive traits. Good and evil combine together, and the tension between them shows richness and complexity in Miyazaki’s stories. Moreover, his stories illustrate that there are always positive things worth living for: Joy, a peaceful resolution, and love. If Miyazaki’s characters were just the same as the ones in most typical Hollywood animated movies, his movies would not be considered one of a kind.

　　Known as an imaginative animator, Miyazaki has remained true to his own ideals and beliefs, which are expressed in each of his extraordinary productions. With these unique characteristics, his animated movies have not only achieved commercial success in Japan but also won praise from moviegoers and movie critics all over the world. Without a doubt, audiences will keep on experiencing Miyazaki’s wonderful world in awe.