Passage 10
Love Your Life
However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it or call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the window of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The town’s poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. Maybe they are simply great enough to receive without misgivings. Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which should be more disreputable. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn to the old, turn to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

Passage 11
Man Is Here for the Sake of Other Men
Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, and yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.
From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know that man is here for the sake of other men — above all for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. My peace of mind is often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed too heavily from the work of other men.
To ponder interminably over the reason for one’s own existence or the meaning of life in general seems to me, from an objective point of view, to be sheer folly. And yet everyone holds certain ideals by which he guides his aspiration and his judgment. The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort and happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.

Passage 12
The Ways to Duck out of Work
Want to watch the World Cup in peace without the boss over your shoulder? Simple, con him. A British Internet site offered fans an ingenious range of ways to duck out of work so they can watch games in comfort. The timings of the games, in the early morning or at midday, have posed a dilemma to millions of soccer-mad Britons used to watching games in the evenings or at weekends and desperate to follow England and Ireland’s World Cup progress live. The British government has already urged employers to bow to the inevitable and take a flexible attitude to working hours or set up TV screens. “The last thing we want is the entire workforce taking an announced sickie on the day of a big match,” Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said. But British sports company Umbro was urging fans to take the matter into their own hands. Its Web site www. umbro.com was offering a convincing-looking false sick note signed by a fictitious doctor, F. Albright, to be printed off and taken to work in advance. Alternatively, its “Top Ten Bunk Off Ideas” included such improbable excuses as: “I will be late for work today because I have to pick my uncle up from the train station. He has two bags but only one arm.” For another game, a fan might claim: “My dog ate my car keys. We’re going to hitchhike to the vet.”

Passage 13(91)
The First Calendar
Future historians will be in a unique position when they come to record the history of our own times. They will hardly know which facts to select from the great mass of evidence that steadily accumulates. What is more, they will not have to rely solely on the written word. Films, videos, CDs and CD-ROMs are just some of the bewildering amount of information they will have. They will be able, as it were, to see and hear us in action. But the historian attempting to reconstruct the distant past is always faced with a difficult task. He has to deduce what he can from the few scanty clues available.
Up to now, historians have assumed that calendars came into being with the advent of agriculture, for then man was faced with a real need to understand something about the seasons. Recent scientific evidence seems to indicate that this assumption is incorrect.
Historians have long been puzzled by dots, lines and symbols which have been engraved on walls, bones, and the ivory tusks of mammoths. The nomads who made these markings lived by hunting and fishing during the last Ice Age which began about 35,000 B.C. and ended about 10,000 B.C. By correlating markings made in various parts of the world, historians have been able to read this difficult code. They have found that it is connected with the passage of days and the phases of the moon. It is, in fact, a primitive type of calendar. It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons 20,000 years earlier than has been supposed.

Passage 14
How to Ask for a Raise
One of the most intimidating things to do in the business world is to ask for a raise at your current job. Sometimes, the boss just does not pay you enough money. So what do you do about it? There is a way to request a raise, but you had better be careful when doing that.
The best way to make more money within a company is to be in the direct flow of the cash. Companies will want to keep you around if you have some leverage. Being a direct cause of their profits is a great way to gain some leverage.
One mistake that people always seem to make is that they are never sure exactly how much money to ask for. If you are going to ask for a raise, then you should have some figure in mind of how much more you want. If you are successful in meeting with your boss and making your case, then it will look awful if you sit there with a blank stare as he asks you how much you want. Consider a realistic percentage, but be willing to negotiate in discuss. Do some research and figure out exactly  how much folks make in your profession that have had similar experience and success.
Do not ask for a raise based solely upon your personal needs. Instead, concentrate solely on your achievements, merits, and worth concerning the company. By doing this, you will create a professional environment in which you will establish some leverage.

Passage 15
Police and Communities
Few institutions are more important to an urban community than its police, yet there are few subjects historians know so little about. Most of the early academic interests developed among political scientists and sociologists, who usually examined their own contemporary problems with only a nod toward the past. Even the public seemed concerned only during crime waves, periods of blatant corruption, or after a particularly grisly episode. Party regulars and reformers generally viewed the institution from a political perspective; newspapers and magazines — the nineteenth century’s media — emphasized the vivid and spectacular.
Yet urban society has always vested a wide, indeed awesome, responsibility in its police. Not only were they to maintain order, prevent crime, and protect life and property, but historically they were also to fight fires, suppress vice, assist in health services, supervise elections, direct traffic, inspect buildings, and locate truants and runaways. In addition, it was assumed that the police were the special guardians of the citizens’liberties and the community’s tranquility. Of course, the performance never matched expectations. The record contains some success, but mostly failure; some effective leadership, but largely official incompetence and betrayal. The notion of a professional police force in America is a creation of the twentieth century; not until our own time have cities begun to take the steps necessary to produce modern departments.

Passage 16
New York May Never Win Its War on Rats
Video of rats scampering across a New York City restaurant floor may have disturbed viewers worldwide but some experts say the rodents are less dangerous than other creatures drawn to restaurants — humans. 　 
The video broadcast on television a week ago showed rats running wild at a KFC/Taco Bell restaurant just one day after the outlet had passed a city Health Department inspection.　 
It took a bite out of the share price of parent company Yum Brands Inc. and forced a city Health Department shake-up that removed the inspector who conducted the review from duty and led to 13 more restaurant closures on Thursday.