Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing warning I pretended not to hear it. That，s what Mike，s leaving had been like， sudden and with an awful finality. I would rather just wallow in uncertainty than have things finished. I laughed at myself. Imagine getting all philosophical and sentimental about a mug of coffee. I must be getting old.
And yet it was a young woman who stared back at me from the mirror. A young woman full of promise and hope， a young woman with bright eyes and full lips just waiting to take on the world. I never loved Mike anyway. Besides there are more important things. More important than love， I insist to myself firmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closure on the whole Mike experience.
He doesn，t haunt my dreams as I feared that night. Instead I am flying far across fields and woods， looking down on those below me. Suddenly I fall to the ground and it is only when I wake up that I realize I was shot by a hunter， brought down by the burden of not the bullet but the soul of the man who shot it. I realize later， with some degree of understanding， that Mike was the hunter holding me down and I am the bird that longs to fly. The next night my dream is similar to the previous nights， but without the hunter. I fly free until I meet another bird who flies with me in perfect harmony. I realize with some relief that there is a bird out there for me， there is another person， not necessarily a lover perhaps just a friend， but there is someone out there who is my soul mate. I think about being a broken vase again and realize that I have glued myself back together， what Mike has is merely a little part of my time in earth， a little understanding of my physical being. He has only， a little piece of me.
生命的过客
当他告诉我他要离开的时候，我感觉自己就像花瓶裂成了碎片，跌落在茶色瓷砖地板上。他一直在说话，解释着为什么要离开，说什么这是最好的，我可以做得更好，都是他的错，与我无关。虽然这些话我已经听上好几千遍了，可每次听完都让我很受伤，或许在这样巨大的打击面前没有人能做到无动于衷。
他走了，我尝试着继续过自己的生活。我烧开水，拿出红色杯子，看着咖啡粉末一点点地落入骨灰瓷的杯子里。这正是我自己的鲜活写照，不断地往下掉咖啡粉末，却从来没有真正地泡成一杯咖啡。
水开了，水壶发出警报声，我假装没有听见。迈克的离去也是一样，突如其来，并且无可挽回。要知道，我宁愿忍受分与不分的煎熬，也不愿意以这样的方式被宣判“死刑”。想着想着我就哑然失笑，自己竟然为一杯咖啡有如此多的人生感怀，我自己一定是老了。
可是镜子里回瞪着我的那个女孩还是那么年轻啊！明目皓齿，充满了前途与希望，光明的未来在向她招手。没关系的，反正我也从来没有爱过迈克。何况，生命中还有比爱更重要的东西在等待着我，我对自己坚持说。我将咖啡罐的盖子盖好，也将所有关于迈克的记忆尘封起来。
那天晚上，出乎意料的是，他并没有进入到我的梦中。在梦里，我飞过田野和森林，俯瞰着大地。突然间，我掉了下来……醒来后才发现原来自己被猎人打中了，但是令我坠落的不是他的子弹，而是他的灵魂。我后来才渐渐明白，原来迈克就是那个使我坠落的猎人，而我是那只渴望飞翔的小鸟。到了第二天晚上，我仍然做了类似的梦，但是猎人不见了，我一直在自由地飞翔，直到遇上另外一只小鸟和我比翼双飞。我开始意识到，总有那么一只鸟，那么一个人在前面等我，这个人可能是我的爱人，可能只是朋友，但一定是知我懂我的人，这令我感觉如释重负。我想起曾经觉得自己像花瓶一样裂开了，才意识到原来自己已经把自己修理好了。迈克只是我生命过程中的小小过客，他仅仅了解我的表面，他仅仅是我生命中的小小一部分。
A Temperature Change on the Moon
Astronomers can tell just how hot the surface of the moon gets．The side of the moon toward the sun gets two degrees hotter than boiling water．The night side reaches 243 degrees below zero．
In an eclipse，the earth，s shadow falls on the moon．Then the moon，s temperature may drop 300 degrees in a very short time．
A temperature change like this cannot happen on the earth．Why does it happen on the moon？Astronomers think that the surface of the moon is dust．On the earth，rocks store heat from the sun．When the sun goes down，the rocks stay warm．But the dust of the moon cannot store heat．So when the moon gets dark，the heat escapes quickly．The moon gets very cold．
月球上的气温变化
天文学家们能准确说出月球表面的温度：月球阳面的温度比沸水高2度，其阴面温度低到零下243度。
在月食时，地球的阴影投射在月球上，这时月球的温度可以在瞬间下降300度。
像这样的温度骤变在地球上是不会发生的，但为什么会发生在月球上呢？天文学家们认为，月球的表面是尘埃，而地球上岩石能储存太阳的热量。当太阳下山时，岩石依旧保持温暖，但月球上的尘埃不能存热。所以当月球变得黑暗时，热量便迅速消失，月球便变得不胜寒了。
A Tornado That Makes Red Rain
A tornado can do a lot of damage The wind of a tornado rushes at great speed around a funnelshaped cloud．It travels in a path a few hundred feet wide and about twentyfive miles long．As the wind circles counterclockwise，the funnel spirals higher and higher．The force of the wind sucks up water，dirt，and objects，and carries them along with it．It may drop them again many miles away．Houses and huge trees have been drawn into tornado funnels．At sea，ships have been nearly sunk by tornadoes dropping water on them．
East of Australia，people talk about a“rain of blood”．This is caused by a tornado picking up red dust and mixing it with water to make red rain．There are even stories abut a rain of fish and frogs caused by a tornado sucking them up and then dropping them．
制造红雨的龙卷风
龙卷风能造成很大的破坏，它绕着一团漏斗形的云以极高的速度奔突猛进，风力所及宽可达几百英尺，长可达25英里左右。由于这风沿逆时针方向旋转，漏斗云便呈螺旋状逐渐升高。风力把水、污物和其他物体吸进来，挟持着一起往前。然后可能在好多英里之外再把它们扔下来。房屋和巨树被卷进龙卷风的漏斗之中；在海上，被龙卷风卷得铺天盖地的水几乎使船只沉没。
在澳大利亚的东部，人们谈论着一种“红雨”，这种红雨就是由龙卷风挟持了红色尘土并将其与水相混而造成的。甚至有传说讲龙卷风把鱼和青蛙吸到空中，又把它们扔下来，形成鱼蛙雨。
Americas Dead Sea
Picture a still，shallow lake at the bottom of a huge basin．Long after experts insist it should have dried up，the Great Salt Lake of Utah-America，s socalled Dead Sea-still exists．
The supposedly dead lake has no fish，but millions of tiny shrimp and several forms of algae-primitive plant lifethrive there，in waters saltier than the ocean．Gulls roost on islands in the lake and shore birds nest in the marshes around it．
Ancient beaches high on the sides of the surrounding mountains show that the lake once covered more than twenty times its present area．Other evidence shows that the lake has completely dried up several times in its history．
The lake，s level has not dropped much in the last hundred years，despite increased use of water from its sources for irrigation．Current plans for diverting the large Green River into the basin around the lake may even increase the lake，s present size．
美国的死海
描绘一下位于一个巨大盆地底部的既静又浅的湖泊吧。在专家们坚持认为它已干枯多年后，犹他州的大盐湖——号称美国的死海——却依然存在。
被人们设想为死湖的里面没有鱼，但是，数以百万计的小虾和几种形态的海藻——原始植物体，却在这比海水还要咸的湖水中繁衍。海鸥在湖中的岛上栖息，海岸鸟在周围的沼泽地筑巢。
高高立于周围山坡之上的古老湖滩表明：这个湖过去曾有它现今湖面的20多倍大。别的证据也显示，这个湖在历史上曾几度完全干枯。
虽然湖水被越来越多地用于灌溉，但在最近100年中，湖的水位并没有下降多少。将大格林河的水引入湖泊周围盆地的新规划，甚至还会扩大这一湖泊的现有面积。
An Old Legend About Cheese