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a life with birds【有鸟陪伴的生活】for nearly 17 years david cope has worked as one of the tower of londons yeoman warders, better known to tourists as beefeaters. david, 64, lives in a three-bedroomed flat right at the top of the byward tower, one of the gatehouses. “from our bedroom we have a marvellous view of tower bridge and the thames. ” says david. the tower of london is famous for its ravens, the large black birds which have lived there for over three centuries. david was immediately fascinated by the birds and when he was ) offered the post of raven master eight years ago he had no hesitation in accepting it. “the birds have now become my life and im always aware of the fact that i am maintaining a tradition. the legend says that if the ravens leave the tower, england will fall to enemies, and its my job to make sure this doesnt happen!”david devotes about four hours a day to the care of the ravens. he has grown to love them and the fact that he lives right next to them is ideal. “i can keep a close eye on them all the time, and not just when im working.” at first , davids wife mo was not keen on the idea of life in the tower, but she too will be sad to leave when he retires next year. “when we look out of our windows we see history all around us, and we are taking it in and storing it up for our future memories. ”a lucky break【幸运的骨折】actor antonio banderas is used to breaking bones, and it always seems to happen when hes doing sport. in the film play it to the bone he plays the part of a middleweight boxer alongside woody harrelson.during the making of the film harrelson kept complaining that the fight scenes werent very convincing, so one day he suggested that he and banderas should have a fight for real. the spanish actor wasnt keenon the idea at first, but he was eventually persuaded by his co-star to put on his gloves and climb into the boxing ring. however, when he realized how seriously his opponent was taking it all, he began to regret his decision to fight. and then in the third round, harrelson hit banderas so hard in the face that he actually broke his nose. his wife, actress melanie griffith, was furious that he had been playing “silly macho games”. “she was right”, confesses banderas, “and i was a fool to take a risk like that in the middle of a movie. ”he was reminded of the time he broke his leg during a football match in his native malaga. he had always dreamed of becoming a soccer star, of performing in front of a big crowd, but doctors told him his playing days were probably over. “thats when i decided to take up acting; i saw it as another way of performing, and achieving recognition. what happened to me on that football pitch was, you might say, my first lucky break. ”a success story【一个成功的故事】at 19, ben way is already a millionaire, and one of a growing number of teenagers who have made their fortune through the internet. what makes bens story all the more remarkable is that he is dyslexic, and was told by teachers at his junior school that he would never be able to read or write properly. “i wanted to prove them wrong”, says ben, creator and director of waysearch, a net search engine which can be used to find goods in online shopping malls. when he was eight, his local authorities provided him with a pc to help with school work. although he was unable to read the manuals, he had a natural ability with the computer, and encouraged by his father, he soon began charging people 10 an hour for his knowledge and skills. at the age of 15 he set up his own computer consultancy, quad computer, which he ran from his bedroom, and two years later he left school to devote all his time to business. “by this time the company had grown and i needed to take on a couple of employees to help me”, says ben. “that enabled me to start doing business with bigger companies. ” it was his ability to consistently overcome difficult challenges that led him to win the young entrepreneur of the year award in the same year that he formed waysearch, and he has recently signed a deal worth 25 million with a private investment company, which will finance his search engine. traffic in our cities【城市的交通】the volume of traffic in many cities in the world today continues to expand. this causes many problems, including serious air pollution, lengthy delays, and the greater risk of accidents. clearly, something must be done, but it is often difficult to persuade people to change their habits and leave their cars at home. one possible approach is to make it more expensive for people to use their cars by increasing charges for parking and bringing in tougher fines for anyone who breaks the law. in addition, drivers could be required to pay for using particular routes at different times of the day. this system, known as “road pricing”, is already being introduced in a number of cities, using a special electronic card fixed to the windscreen of the car. another way of dealing with the problem is to provide cheap parking on the outskirts of the city, and strictly control the number of vehicles allowed into the centre. drivers and their passengers then use a special bus service for the final stage of their journey. of course, the most important thing is to provide good public transport. however, to get people togive up the comfort of their cars, public transport must be felt to be reliable, convenient and comfortable, with fares kept at an acceptable level. global warming【全球变暖】few people now question the reality of global warming and its effects on the worlds climate. many scientists put the blame for recent natural disasters on the increase in the worlds temperatures and are convinced that, more than ever before, the earth is at risk from the forces of the wind, rain and sun. according to them, global warming is making extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and droughts, even more