Information and My Life
???? As you know, information plays an important role in our modern society. Someone ~ys that ours is a society of information. I agree with him. In fact, information is expanding at an increasing rate. As a member of modern society, I am fully aware of the significance of information to my life. It affects nearly every aspect of my life. Then how to obtain and deal with information seems to be of utmost importance.
???? As for me, the first way to obtain information is to go to library. Our library is so large that it covers a wide range of subjects. Various kinds of information can be got in it. Information about society, economy, politics and sciences will give you a fresh mind. Of course, library isn' t the only source of information. I can learn much information by other means. Even when talking with my friends I can get a lot of useful information.
????? But information is so immense that we haven' t ample energy and time to deal deeply with' it. Moreover, some of the information might not be true. So, how to select information is also significant to me. Listen to all, trust only three tenths. To obtain accurate information and to throw off the false part of it should be our goal.
????? Information should be made full use in my life. Right now, I try to use information mostly on my studies. When I get into society several years later, information will probably become more and moreimportant

Today's Luxuries Are Tomorrow's Necessities
???? By "luxury", we mean "a pleasant and often expensive thing that is not necessary". From a historical point of view, things which Were a luxury when they first came into being all became necessities later. When the electric bulb was first invented in the U.S., it was such a luxury that only government bodies could afford to use it. Nowadays, however, it has reached every part of the world. It is the same case with telephone, TV, and a lot of others, which were all luxuries years ago.
???? Anything, no matter how luxurious it is, will become a necessity when it is widely used. This is true of many of the present luxuries, including mobile phones, cars, computers and many other things. It is known to all that the purpose of the development of science is to make things easy for the mankind, not for only a small number of people. Therefore, the first thing to do after a new invention occurs is to spread it so as to benefit as many people as possible. In the course of the spread, the luxury becomes decreasingly luxurious until in the end it becomes a necessity. This is an objective law, nothing can be an exception.
???? With the quick development of science and technology, the process for many things to become a necessity from a luxury will be greatly shortened. Anything that can be imagined will be invented and in no time becomes a necessity accessible to ordinary people.


Value of Knowledge
????? In the Information Age, public awareness of the value of knowledge critically affects the economic growth of a nation. The schematic diagram clearly shows how the value of knowledge evolved in China in the past 50 years.
???? The schematic diagram mainly consists of three parts. From 1950 to 1966, the curve was roughly a straight line slightly above zero, showing that China was a poorly-educated nation then. In 1966, the curve drastically dropped below zero, moving down hopelessly in the next 11 years. This periodcoincided with the "Culture Revolution". Our society went mad then, books were burned,schools were closed and all kinds of academic activities were banned. Knowledge inflicted its masters nothing but disasters. Life was a nightmare for Chinese intellectuals, including famous scholars as well as common people who received higher education or whose profession had anything to do with knowledge. It was a time when ignorance was a virtue and knowledge was a crime. People tried desperately to be away from knowledge. As a result, China lagged farther behind the rapid progressing world. This was the darkest time in the history of New China. The curve returned to its original non-zero position around 1978 and moved up but slowly. From 1984 on, it has been shooting up. The open-up policy encourages people to study and to channel their knowledge to the market economy. Millions of Chinese are bettering off by means of their knowledge and more Chinese enjoy the fruits of knowledge and say goodbye for good to poverty that haunted them for generations.