Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Books which give instructions on how to do things are very popular in the United
States today. Thousands of these How-to books are useful. In fact, there are about
four thousand books with titles that begin with the words “How to”. One book may
tell you how to earn money, another may tell you how to save or spend it, and another
may explain how to give your money away.
Many How-to books give advice on careers. They tell you how to choose a
career and how to succeed in it. If you fail, however, you can buy the book “How to
Turn Failure into Success”. If you would like to become very rich, you can buy the
book “How to Make a Millionaire”. If you never make any money at all, you may
need a book called “How to Live on Nothing”.
One of the most popular types of books is one that helps you with personal
problems. If you want to have a better love of life, you can read “How to Succeed in
Love every Minute of Your Life”. If you are tired of books on happiness, you may
prefer books which give step-by-step instructions on how to redecorate or enlarge a
house.
Why have How-to books become so popular? Probably because life has become
so complex. Today people have far more free time to use, more choices to make, and
more problems to solve. How-to books help people deal with modern life.
3. The 22nd Southeast Asian Games were held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 5 December
to 13 December, 2003. The Games were opened by Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan
Van Khai in the newly constructed My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi. The Games
torch was lit by Nguyen Thuy Hien of Wushu. It was the first time in the SEA Games
history that the Games venues were assigned into two cities namely Hanoi and Ho Chi
Minh City.
The 22nd SEA Games logo designed by painter Nguyen Chi Long is based on a
legendary bird named “Chim Lac”. The bird decorated the Ngoc Lu bronze drum, a
typical antiquity of the ancient Dong Son Vietnamese culture. The Emblem is
composed of harmonious and vigorous curves, creating a feeling of movement and
strength which conforms to the Olympic Spirit: “Faster, Higher and Stronger”. The
colorful whirls represent the tough competitiveness in sports
The Games’ hymn was “For the World of Tomorrow”, composed by Nguyen
Quang VInh. Painter Nguyen Thai Hung chose “Trau Vang”, the golden water buffalo
as the mascot for the 22nd SEA Games. With a gentle and harmonious nature, the
clever Buffalo has become synonymous with the water and rice civilization that is so
important in Vietnam as well as in other Southeast Asian countries. To Vietnamese
people, the Golden Buffalo symbolizes a golden harvest, prosperity, happiness, power
and the Vietnamese martial spirit.