Miss. ranked fattest state in nation

I found this article on Yahoo! News. The title of this article is: “Miss. ranked fattest state in nation.” This article talks about the obesity rate in the U.S.A.. The Deep South states are the fattest states, such as Mississippi and West Virginia. Some poor families only can buy some cheaper, processed foods that have higher fat. So they become fat and are not healthy. And some state governments try to solve this problem, which is that people are getting fat. They force people to do exercise and give them knowledge about health. School, try to stop selling the junk food such as soft drink with full calories. They want people to get good behavior with food and health. If they don’t force or teach people, people are going to be fat and dead in the future.

I think health for a person is the first important thing during his/her life. Being without healthy body means being without a good life, even if you are very rich. Most Americans like to eat fast food or junk food. That’s a bad thing; these kinds of food are without nutrition and include a lot of fat or calories. That’s not good for humans. We need balanced nutrition and to get good knowledge about food. Some states in the U.S. already started this kind of law to force children to learn and do exercise. That can make people learn a good habit when they are children. This is really a good policy. I do exercise every day, because I deeply believe health can bring more wealth.

EAP2-B NewsTalk
by Henry

China defends food safety at Asian security summit

I found this article in CHINAdaily online. The problem about food from China is written in this article. At Asian security summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi emphasised the safety of chinese food and he said that we shold not string this problem with politics.
Recently, many American dogs were died because of the dog food imported from China. After that Chinese food and goods are seemed dengerous, and China is suffering badly in trade.China is struggling with bad reputation now. Chinese goods are being examined strictry.

I don't agree with China side all. I think we cannot devide this matter from politics. Food trade is concerned with politics because food are related to the health of livingthings. A government should not allow other country to export specious thing. All governments have a responsibility to guard people's lives. Although trade is important for the country economy, citizen's health is the most essencial to maintain the country's condition. China is now in the hard situation, but I think it's the best time to get back their reputation.

The article is here:
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2007/08/01/china-defends-food-safety-at-asian-security-summit/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chinadaily.com.cn%2Fchina%2F2007-08%2F01%2Fcontent_5447265.htm&frame=true

Atsuko wrote.

Greece Battles Unchecked Wildfires for Fourth Day

I found this article from the VOA news website. But the link was changed and the article is not exist now. And here is a related article called "Firefighters Continue Battle Against Greek Wildfires for Fifth Day". It is about the wildfires in Greece. It has been burning for 5 days. At least 63 people died from the wildfires. Thousands of hectares of forests were burned by the fires. 7 people were arrested on a charge of arson. Police also offered 1.4 million as a reward for finding more arson suspects. Some officials thought some land developers did it to clearing the land for development. Also, some Athens newspapers argued that the government was incompetent in fighting the fires and there will have parliamentary elections on September 16.

It is a very bad event for not only Greeks but also all of the people in the world. When I saw this news, the first thought came to mind was "global warming". Because lots of trees were burned by the fires which means we have fewer trees in the Earth now. Moreover, when trees were burning, a lot of C02 were produced and went to the atmosphere. It will let global warming become worse. And it is not a accidental event. Some people did it on purpose. But no matter what they wanna get they can not do things like this, because it will damage all the world and nobody will win. In addition, I also worried about the historical remains, like the ancient ruins of Olympia. Fortunately, as I know, there's no damage about the ancient ruins of Olympia.

17-year-old hacker hacks the iPhone

I found this article in our St. Louis newspaper and later found it online. In our newspaper its title is: "Le telephone rings, thanks to 17-year-old hacker." It's about a young kid who spent the summer figuring out how to get his iPhone to connect to networks besides the AT&T network that it's supposed to connect to. After 500 hours, including getting help from other people, he finally figured out how to do it. He had to solder (which is melting metal) and use software. When he finished he told everyone how to do it but he said it wasn't easy.

I really admire this guy, because I can't do this kind of thing, but it's a very interesting thing to be able to do. Apparently it is legal now although I'm sure they will make it illegal eventually, if they want to protect their ability to sell the iPhone. One interesting thing about the article is that it mentions that now, there will probably be a small industry made of people who do what he did, in bigger numbers, and sell the iPhones abroad for good money. I think young people know a lot these days, and it's a little scary. I worry about my children: What will they know? How will they use it? If this kid "hacks the brain," then what will he learn and what will he do with it?

-Mr. L.

Elusive on the field

I read this article, which is called "Elusive on the field, Vick can't give dog-fighting rap the slip" and is from the canada.com network. It is about the different opinions in the media about Michael Vick. Vick was arrested because he ran a dog-fighting operation and had many dogs which he raised for fighting and betting; he also killed the dogs after they lost. Some people feel that it's ok because they're only dogs. Some people feel Vick's ok because he's a loyal guy, loyal to his friends and his teammates. The author feels he is a "sociopath" and is "despicable" and lots of other people do too.

I agree with the author. In some ways, a dog is just a dog; when our dog gets sick, we will probably not spend thousands of dollars, like some people do, to heal it. But on the other hand no animal really lives to fight and kill; people don't either. To direct animals toward killing each other and then make them good at it is bad for animals and bad for us. I think he deserves jail and probably more, although I'm sure he's a good football player and a loyal guy.

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