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This made me reflect on the changes that have transformed Beijing since I came to the city 37 years ago. In those days, the bicycle was king. What sheer joy it was to cycle along with the hundreds (not thousands) of fellow pedallers (骑车人), never in fear of life and limb as one is now. I bought my first bike in 1963. It cost me 150 yuan-in those days three or four months' salary for the average city dweller.
Such changes! Good or bad？ Today, cycling is hazardous but bikes are easily affordable. Gone are the old wooden houses I remember in south Beijing and fast disappearing are the small, overcrowded courtyard houses lacking running water, central heating and bathroom. Very many Beijingers now live in more convenient, better-equipped flats in high-rises. But these very high-rises are swallowing up the unique character of the old city of narrow hutongs, age-old siheyuan and close-knit communities.
I loved years ago to cycle to Beihai to visit my friends (I then taught at China Foreign Affairs University). In spring I rode through the blue-green wheat fields, in summer through fields of tall maize (玉米). Further west; beyond Beijing Foreign Studies University there were the vegetable fields of the Evergreen Commune (四季青公社) and the rice paddies glistening in the summer sun. But now, as Beijing stretches out further and further, west, east, north, south, there's decent housing for families, busy offices for employment and large department stores and supermarkets where, if you have the money, there's little you cannot buy.
What is the principal purpose for the author to write this article？
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Pop stars today enjoy a style. of living which was once the prerogative only of Royalty. Wherever they go, people turn out in their thousands to greet them. The crowds go wild trying to catch a brief glimpse of their smiling, colorfully dressed idols. The stars are transported in their chauffeur driven Rolls-Royces, private helicopters or executive aeroplanes. They are surrounded by a permanent entourage of managers, press agents and bodyguards, photographs of them appear regularly in the press and all their comings and goings are reported, for, like Royalty, pop stars are news. If they enjoy many of the privileges of Royalty, they certainly share many of the inconveniences as well. It is dangerous for them to make unscheduled appearances in public. They must be constantly shielded from the adoring crowds which idolize them. They are no longer private individuals, but public property. The financial rewards they receive for this sacrifice cannot be calculated, for their rates of pay are astronomical.
And why not？ Society has always rewarded its top entertainers lavishly. The great days of Hollywood have become legendary: famous stars enjoyed fame, wealth and adulation on an unprecedented scale. By today's standards, the excesses of Hollywood do not seem quite so spectacular. A single gramophone record nowadays may earn much more in royalties than the films of the past ever did. The competition for the title Top of the Pops' is fierce, but the rewards are truly colossal.
It is only right that the stars should be paid in this way. Don't the top men in industry earn enormous salaries for the services they perform. to their companies and their countries？ Pop stars earn vast sums in foreign currency often more than large industrial concerns and the taxman can only be grateful for their massive annual contributions to the exchequer. So who would begrudge them their rewards？
It's all very well for people in humdrum jobs to moan about the successes and rewards of others. People who make envious remarks should remember that the most famous stars represent only the tip of the iceberg. For every famous star, there are hundreds of others struggling to earn a living. A man working in a steady job and looking forward to a pension at the end of it has no right to expect very high rewards. He has chosen security and peace of mind, so there will always be a limit to what he can earn. But a man who attempts to become a star is taking enormous risks. He knows at the outset that only a handful of competitors ever get to the very top. He knows that years of concentrated effort may be rewarded with complete failure. But he knows, too, that the rewards for success are very high indeed: they are the recompense for the huge risks involved and if he achieves them, he has certainly earned them. That's the essence of private enterprise.
The sentence Pop stars' style. of living was once the prerogative only of Royalty means ______.
Educators are seriously concerned about the high rate of dropouts between the doctor of philosophy candidates and the consequent loss of talent to a nation in need of Ph. D. s. Some have placed the dropouts loss as high as 50 percent. The extent of the loss was, however, largely a matter of expert guessing. Last week a well-rounded study was published. It was published. It was based on 22,000 questionnaires sent to former graduate students who were enrolled in 24 universities and it seemed to show many past fears to be groundless.
The dropout's rate was found to be 31 per cent, and in most cases the dropouts, while not completing the Ph. D. requirement, went on to productive work. They are not only doing well financially, but, according to the report, are not far below the income levels of those who went on to complete their doctorates.
Discussing the study last week, Dr. Tucker said the project was initiated because of the concern frequently' expressed by graduate faculties and administrators that some of the individuals who dropped out of Ph. D. programs were capable of competing the requirement for the degree. Attrition at the Ph. D. level is also thought to be a waste of precious faculty time and a drain on university resources already being used to capacity. Some people expressed the opinion that the Shortage of highly trained specialists and college teachers could be reduced by persuading the dropouts to return to graduate schools to complete the Ph. D.
"The results of our research," Dr. Tucker concluded, "did not support these opinions."
1. Lack of motivation was the principal reason for dropping out.
2. Most dropouts went as far in their doctoral program as was consistent with their levels of ability or their specialties.
3. Most dropouts are now engaged in work consistent with their education and motivation.
Nearly 75 percent ofthe dropouts said there was no academic reason for their decision, but those who mentioned academic reason cited failure to pass the qualifying examination, uncompleted research and failure to pass language exams. Among the single most important personal reasons identified by dropouts for non-completion of their Ph. D. program, lack of finances was marked by 19 percent.
As an indication of how well the dropouts were doing, a chart showed 2 % in humanities were receiving $ 20,000 and more annually while none of the Ph. D. s with that background reached this figure. The Ph. D.'s shone in the $ 7,500 to $ 15,000 bracket with 78% at that level against 50% for the dropouts. This may also be an indication of the fact that top salaries in the academic fields, where Ph. D.'s tend to rise to the highest salaries, are still lagging behind other fields.
As to the possibility of getting dropouts back on campus, the outlook was glum. The main condition which would have to prevail for at least 25% of the dropouts who might consider returning to graduate school would be to guarantee that they would retain their present level of income and in some cases their present job.
The author states that many educators feel that ______.
On the 36th day after they had voted, Americans finally learned Wednesday who would be their next president: Governor George W. Bush of Texas.
Vice President A1 Gore, his last realistic avenue for legal challenge closed by a U.S. Supreme Court decision late Tuesday, planned to end the contest formally in a televised evening speech of perhaps 10 minutes, advisers said.
They said that Senator Joseph Lieberman, his vice presidential running mate, would first make brief comments. The men would speak from a ceremonial chamber of the Old Executive office Building, to the west of the White House.
The dozens of political workers and lawyers who had helped lead Mr. Gore's unprecedented fight to claw a come-from-behind electoral victory in the pivotal state of Florida were thanked Wednesday and asked to stand down.
"The vice president has directed the recount committee to suspend activities," William Daley, the Gore campaign chairman, said in a written statement.
Mr. Gore authorized that statement after meeting with his wife, Tipper, and with top advisers including Mr. Daley.
He was expected to telephone Mr. Bush during the day. The Bush campaign kept a low profile and moved gingerly, as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next steps.
Yet, at the end of a trying and tumultuous process that had focused world attention on sleepless vote counters across Florida, and on courtrooms from Miami to Tallahassee to' Atlanta to Washington the Texas governor was set to become the 43d U. S. president.
The news of Mr. Gore's plans followed the longest and most rancorous dispute over a U. S. presidential election in more than a century, one certain to leave scars in a badly divided country.
It was a bitter ending for Mr. Gore, who had outpolled Mr. Bush nationwide by some 300000 votes, but, without Florida, fell short in the Electoral College by 271 votes to 267—the narrowest Electoral College victory since the turbulent election of 1876.
Mr. Gore was said to be distressed by what he and many Democratic activists felt was a partisan decision from the nation's highest court.
The 5 to 4 decision of the Supreme Court held, in essence, that while a vote recount in Florida could be conducted in legal and constitutional fashion, as Mr. Gore had sought, this could not be done by the Dec. 12 deadline for states to select their presidential electors.
James Baker 3rd, the former secretary of state who represented Mr. Bush in the Florida dispute, issued a short statement after the U. S. high court ruling, saying that the governor was "very pleased and gratified."
Mr. Bush was planning a nationwide speech aimed at trying to begin to heal the country's deep, aching and varied divisions. He then was expected to meet with congressional leaders, including Democrats. Dick Cheney, Mr. Bush's ruing mate, was meeting with congressmen Wednesday in Washington.
When Mr. Bush, who is 54, is sworn into office on Jan. 20, he will be only the second son of a president to follow his father to the White House, after John Adams and John Quincy Adams in the early 19th century.
Mr. Gore, in his speech, was expected to thank his supporters, defend his five-week battle as an effort to ensure, as a matter of principle, that every vote be counted, and call for the nation to join behind the new president. He was described by an aide as "resolved and resigned,"
While some constitutional experts had said they believed states could present electors as late as Dec. 18, the U. S. high court made clear that it saw no such leeway.
The U.S. high court sent back "for revision" to the Florida court its order allowing recounts but made clear that for all practical purposes the election was over.
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