閱讀理解

　　Falling on the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar, Duanwu Festival, is usually celebrated with boat races and the eating of zongzi, pyramid-shaped zongzi made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo leaves．

　　South Korea’s Gangneung Danoje Festival, which occurs at the same time and has roots in Chinese culture, is celebrated with masked performances and traditional Korean games．

　　When the news that the Republic of Korea planned to nominate(提名)its Gangneung Danoje Festival for inclusion in the UNESCO list in 2005, many Chinese people thought China would lose its“patent”(專利權)on the celebration．

　　The furore(狂熱)eventually died down, but the widespread interest in protecting traditional Chinese festivals remained．The festival has been the focus of such interest．

　　Wen Yangyang, deputy secretary-general of the China Food Industry Association,said the association had submitted a proposal in 2005 urging the government to add traditional festivals to the state list of intangible cultural heritage．

　　That and five other traditional festivals, including Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, were added to the list last year．

　　“Last year, more than 10 000 people signed a banner calling for the festival to be recognized as part of the world’s intangible heritage,”Wen said．

　　The Ministry of Culture is reportedly ready to accept application documents for the preparatory list．

　　However, Zou Qishan, a ministry official, said China would not recommend the festival for inclusion on the UNESCO list this year．

　　Zou added that it was still exciting to see that so much care about the country’s intangible heritage．

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閱讀理解

　　There are so many different plastic cards that adults have to carry around－library cards, savings cards for different banks, credit cards, just to name a few．So why not have one to replace them all?

　　Scott Barnhill, an 1l-year-old fifth-grade student in the US, has come up with an idea for a"Security One Card"．

　　Sound smart?The US Patent(專利)Office thought so, and it approved a patent for his idea in April．

　　Here's an example of how Barnhill's idea would work．

　　Let's say you have the three cards mentioned above．Instead of carrying them all, you could have just one by having additional magnetic strips(磁條)added to it．

　　The magnetic strips can be added to any plastic card, even a blank one．

　　Companies could add their information to one of the strips．For example, you could ask a library to add a strip to your bankcard．

　　Barnhill has a lot of hobbies, including designing websites．He got the idea at the age of 9 when he saw his father using a keycard to enter their hotel room．He thought, "The hotels are wasting money with the key cards."So, instead of using a hotel-issued key card, guests could use their credit cards－if the hotel added a special magnetic strip．At check-out, the strip would simply be removed．

　　Now that he has his patent, his next step is a letter-writing campaign to get support from major credit card companies．

　　"I'm going to be writing letters to credit card companies to ask if they can co-operate．I hope they'll give me money every time someone puts a strip on the back of another card, or every time the idea is used,"Barnhill said．"I'll write the letters and see what they say．If they say no, I'll ask someone else, another credit card company．"

　　He is hoping to make money from his patent and has decided it would be better to collect royalties(專利使用費)if the idea takes off rather than sell his patent．

　　"The ATM person who invented that sold it totally, and if he'd chosen royalties he'd get like 2 cents for every transaction(交易)and he'd be a billionaire now,"Scott said．

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閱讀理解

　　Machines in the home have a short history．Sewing machines, washing machines and tumble dries are common enough today, but a hundred years ago few people could even imagine such things．However, inventors have designed and built a wide range of household machines since then．In most cases the inventor tried to patent(申請專利)his machine, to stop anyone copying it．Then he tried to produce a lot of them．If the machine became popular, the inventor could make a lot of money．

　　In 1790 the first sewing machine was patented．The inventor was an Englishman called Thomas Saint．There was nothing to match his machine for forty years, and then someone built a similar device．He was a Frenchman, Bartelemy Thimonier．Neither of these early machines worked very well, however．It wasn't until 1846 that an inventor came up with a really efficient sewing machine．He was an American, Elias Howe and his machine was good enough to beat five skilled sewing women．He didn't make much money from it, however．The first commercially successful sewing machine was patented by Isaac Singer five years later．

　　Today, we take washing machines for granted, but there was none before 1869．The revolving drum(旋轉(zhuǎn)桶)of that first machine set a pattern for the future, but it was crude by today's standards．The drum was turned by hand, and needed a lot of effort．Eight years passed before someone produced an electric washing machine．The world had to wait even longer for a machine to dry clothes．The first spin-drier was another American invention, patented in 1924; but it was 20 years before such machines were widely used．

　　It was yet another American, called Bissell, who introduced the carpet sweeper．He patented the original machine back in 1876．It didn't pick up dirt very well, but it was quicker than a dustpan and brush．Thirty-six years later, even the carpet sweeper was old-fashioned：modern homes now have a vacuum cleaner(吸塵器)with an electric motor to suck the dust．

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