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

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100 THE KON-TIKI VOYAGE, 1947

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from the nearest mainland, lie the islands of Polynesiae. On some of the islands, there are ancient roads and buildings. These show that there have been ancient civilizations on the island. The most mysterious of the Polynesian Islands is Easter Island, where there are giant heads made of stone. Some of them are as tall as a four-storey building. These are very old. Obviously men have been living on these islands for a long, long time. But how did the islanders first get to the islands so long ago, and how did they do it when there weren't any big ships? These are some of the questions which are difficult to answer.

Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian explorer, thought he had the answer to the mystery. He believed the people from Ancient Peru sailed more than 6000 kilometres across the Pacific Ocean on their small rafts to start a new life on the islands of Polynesia.

Nobody believed Heyerdahl because they knew that the people of ancient Peru only had wooden rafts to sail on. How did the people sail from Peru to the islands? Heyerdahl wanted to show everybody that his theory was fight. Together with four friends, he started to build a raft like those of the ancient Peruvians. When it was finished they called it Kon-Tiki, the name of an ancient god. They spent a long time planning their journey and deciding what to take with them.

The natural movement of the water (a current called the Peru Current), carried them west. Although they had lots of problems during their journey with the weather and sharks, the boat was fine - it didn't sink. After 102 hard days at sea, the explorers arrived on one of the Polynesian Islands. Heyerdahl proved it was possible.

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101 U.S. CITIES: PAST AND PRESENT

The problems of the American cities - pollution, crime, a lack of planning, accidents - are bad, but they were worse in the so-called ‘good old days’. Pollution from cars is one example. It is bad now but there was a lot of pollution from horses and other animals in American cities in the 19th century.

Most cities had their own slaughterhouses. Butchers were careless about the cows and pigs which they killed and they left the remains of the animals here and there. And the sewer system for waste water from the kitchens and bathrooms did almost not exist.

Pollution was a very important problem for city governments in the last century, especially the problem of water supplies. They knew that they polluted water, but they didn't know how it was polluted. Trying to get pure water was a big problem.

People like to talk about the good old days but, actually, the cities of the 19th century were dirtier than today. Because of the dirt, communicable diseases were a great problem. When one of these diseases was seen, the situation was dangerous for all of the people in that area. Examples of such diseases were smallpox, yellow fever, malaria, cholera and typhoid. The number of children who died was high.

Some of the problems that disturbed people who lived in the cities during that period are still with us-poor planning, crime and accidents.

The planning of cities and their neighbourhoods was controlled by real estate developers who were only interested in earning more money. Actually, their real job was to build well-planned cities and provide the population with both durable housing and a good-looking neighbourhood.

Crime was a great concern then, too. The police had to work hard to stop it. Pickpockets, who were very skilled, were able to quickly steal the purses and wallets of the people and run away with theme

It is true that people were not being killed by cars. However, they were killed or seriously injured (hurt) by runaway horses, which were running around out of control. It was quite a common scene.

The situations and problems of American cities have not changed so much. We must look back at the past and try to learn from it so that developments can be made.

102 SPAS: GOOD OR BAD?

Water is the oldest treatment in medical history. It has been used for its healing properties since the earliest days by men and women to sooth and heal the injured and hurting parts of their bodies. Thus, their ill bodies feel better and also more relaxed..

Today, spa resorts, which use water and mud to heal people, are very famous in Europe. Millions of visitors each year go to their favourite spa resort to drink and bathe in mineral springs so that their backs, arms and legs will stop aching or their rough skin will feel smooth again. Some of the most famous resorts are Baden Bein Wein in Austria, Vichy in France, Marienb ad in Czechoslovakia, Baden Baden in Germany, where guests put hot mud on their bodies, and Abano Terme in Italy, a resort which offers health-giving radioactive mud to its guests.

Some treatmetits provide bizarre and strange experiences. The spa of Badgastein in Austria, for instance, has an old miner's tunnel, now a 'health tunnel'. You drive into the mountain in a truck and wear a helmet to protect your head. When you reach the depths of the tunnel, you take off your clothes and lie down naked while rich vapours surround you. Because of the heat ,a person sweats and can lose about 600 calories in an hour and thus decrease in weight. Visitors who have had this experience are very pleased and say that spa treatments are very relaxing.

But are spa resorts really beneficial? That is, do people really get something good and useful for their money there?

Many governments think they do. German, French and Austrian visitors’ spa expenses are paid by the national health system. Obviously, these governments believe in the healing factor of spas or they wouldn't let the health services pay so much money.

Not all experts, however, think spas are helpful. One doctor, for instance, recently reported, "It is silly to think that you can become a healthy person in a week or two at a spa when you have an unhealthy life style.”

Some other sources also tell us that we should be careful about spas. Not long ago, a British banker told members of his staff not to go to spas. He said, "There is usually a casino nearby where you can lose a lot of money in card games and the like."