About their problems. They try to find answers for their problems together. For example

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away some things). I had to drink cheap sterilised milk rather than their “biological” milk and was left work on my day off.

She would not wash my black or coloured clothes, I was refused a key, and only allowed one evening off a week... if I returned by 10 p.m.

Talking to other girls, I was convinced this was not right. After six weeks I announced I was going. Neither my agency in England nor Nice was ever of any help.

The agent in Nice, at one stage, threatened me, believing my employer in preference to me: not surprising as they collected a nice fee for each new girl introduced.

I found my last family through a friend and spent three very happy months with them, living above their patisserie.

If you want to au pair, it is worthwhile using an agency if only to have the chance of meeting others through a language school, which they organise.

Some countries require a visa.

And, by the way, boys have been known to work as au pairs.

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THE OLYMPIC MARATHON

Sport is full of wonderful moments, but perhaps nothing is as exciting as the finish of the marathon. It is the longest, hardest race of all. The name 'marathon' comes from a village in Greece. A famous war was fought there in the year 490 BC. When the Greeks won the war, a soldier ran all the way from Marathon to Athens (more than 40 km.) to tell the people the good news. The organisers of the first modern Olympic games in 1896 decided to include the marathon in the games so that this event would not be forgotten. The marathon has been a race since then.

At first the Olympic Games were part of a festival. The Greeks had this festival once in every four years in Olympia. Athletes from Greece, Cyprus, Sicily, etc. went there to participate in the games. These games were very important to the Greeks. They even stopped their wars for them.

The modern Olympic Games were started again in 1896 in Athens. However, only 300 athletes from 12 countries went there to participate in the games. Since then, of course, the games have become much more popular. Only male athletes participated in the early Olympic Games. In the 1923 Olympics in Amsterdam an important change took place. Female athletes participated for the first time.

We all know that only amateur athletes can participate in the Olympic Games. An amateur is someone who doesn't earn any money from sport. But today it is difficult to say who is an amateur and who is not. It is true that Olympic athletes never earn as much money as professional sportsmen. But they are often students or teachers of a sport and have to spend a lot of time training. Their governments pay for their training, travel and pocket-money, because they want them to win. Some people think that this changes the Olympics. They feel that the games are now a political marathon.

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THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION

From the invention of the first stone tools to today's complex computers, man has developed the power to change the world around him. Computer technology could be taking over our economic life.

On the farm, modern tractors and threshers have taken the place of field workers. With their help one man can plant and harvest enough wheat and corn to feed thousands of people. In addition, farmers have been using computers to process in formation about soil chemistry, insect control and plant genetics. By the year 2004 much of the food we eat could be the result of these new machines.

In business, computers do the job of the accountants and secretaries. In minutes, office computers type out hundreds of letters and, by satellite transmission, send out bills to customers around the world. Business managers use computers to collect huge amounts of information and, in seconds, to do calculations beyond the power of the human brain. In the future, the most important decision-maker might be the computer, not the company executive.

In industry, computerized robots have replaced many workers on factory assembly lines. Because technology supplies the muscle power, workers are free to use their brain power to make new discoveries. In the automobile industry, computer graphics help engineers design the shape of the car and calculate the size of engine parts.

The human brain has not changed in size in the past 100,000 years. However, man was able to invent hand tools, then the steam engine and now the computer. Man has used his brain to create 'intelligent machines' to do his work for him.

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MANCHESTER

The City of Manchester is situated in the heart of a huge industrial area of Lancashire. For centuries this inland city has been the centre of the cotton trade. Cotton is not grown in Lancashire, of course, but it is made into cloth there, and the finished material is exported all over the world. All around Manchester are many smaller towns where the cotton industry has developed and where soap, chemicals, dyes, rubber goods and paper goods are manufactured. Manchester itself is now famous not only for the production of machinery of all kinds, but as a great trade centre of England, second only to London.

it was not always so. Until the building of the Manchester Ship Canal the cotton goods had to be transported to Liverpool, over thirty miles away, and there loaded onto cargo ships which carried them all over the world. Naturally, this increased the cost of the goods and reduced the profits of Manchester’s trade.

Why is this no longer necessary? Because this famous canal goes all the way from Liverpool to Manchester, a distance of thirty-five miles. It is wide and deep enough to carry large ships easily and safely. It has transformed Manchester from an inland city into one of Britain's greatest ports. Huge docks and warehouses, stores and factories have sprung up along its banks (sides) and, every hour of the day and night, great ships from all over the world are loading or unloading cargo at the port.

The Ship Canal was opened to traffic on January 1st, 1894. It is a very good example of engineering skill and perseverance * Five railway lines crossed the route chosen for the canal and bridges had to be built for them. Rivers and streams also stood in the way. They could not be allowed to flow into the canal because they would have interfered with the water-level. These were only a few of the problems the engineers had to solve.

At last, however, the work was finished. On January 1st, 1894, seventy-one ships sailed for the first time from the mouth of the River Mersey where Liverpool stands, right up to the City of Manchester. On May 21st of the same year Queen Victoria herself sailed up this wonderful waterway to perform the official opening ceremony.
*perseverance: continuing tirmly in spite ot difticulties
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'SEN' OR 'SIZ'?

What do you call your parents? Mother? Father? Mum? Dad? Or do you call them by their first names. These days, many young children call their parents, and their parents' friends, by their first names However, in many countries this kind of familiarity is very impolite, and as a result many of the older people become uncomfortable.

In some languages, such as French and Turkish there are two forms for the word 'you'. In Turkish, 'sen' is the informal form and “siz' the formal. In French, the familiar word is 'tu' and the more formal one ‘vous’. In English, there is only one form, 'you', although a few hundred years ago there was also the formal expression 'thou'

In Turkey and France, the two forms of the word are part of everyday life. In both countnes it is often unacceptable for an older person to be called by the word 'sen' or 'tu' when he is talking to a younger person, but the young people usually use the informal form when they are talking to each other. In France, the change from 'vous' to 'tu' shows a change in the relationship - from a formal one to an informal one. English speaking people - Australians, Americans and the British - never have this difficulty because they don't have another choice.