废铁行者 地下室妹子:请帮忙找些英语短文..

Everyday thousands of Iraqis queue up at the passport office in the capital, hoping to get away from President Saddam Hussein\'s dictatorship and growing economic pain. One day Saddam went for a drive. Seeing the long line outside the passport office, he tells his chauffeur, "Stop the car; I want to talk to these people." By the time he alights from his limo, the passport seekers have vanished. "What happened? Where are they?" Saddam demands. A bodyguard explains: "Mr. President, when they heard you were applying for a passport to leave the country, they decided to stay after all."

2004 marks the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994.

Ten years ago, on the eve of World Population Day, a new campaign was launched to raise awareness of how international family planning helps save women and children's lives, safeguard the environment, and slow population growth. 179 governments committed to it when they signed the Program of Action of ICPD, which prescribes the steps that will not only save millions of women's lives but empower（授权, 使能够）societies to achieve a better future.

Today, there are more than 6 billion people on the planet, with half of the world's population under the age of 25-at or just reaching their childbearing（分娩）years.

Nearly 600,000 women still die each year from pregnancy-related causes. And an estimated 90 percent of infants whose mothers die at childbirth will not survive to their first birthday.

Wild species are becoming extinct 50 to 100 times faster than they naturally would, because of the impact of rapid population growth and increased population density in many countries.

Though population growth is slowing worldwide, more than 90 percent of current growth occurs in the developing world where needs are great and resources are scarce. And these nations have a huge unmet need for family planning services-over 150 million married women of reproductive age in the developing world indicate that they would prefer to postpone childbearing but are not using any method of contraception.

"Girl born today in the developing world faces better prospects than a girl who was born 10 years ago. School enrolment rates are increasing, mortality is declining and life expectancy（平均寿命） is rising, more and more women and couples are able to choose the number and spacing of their children and many countries are taking additional steps to confront HIV/AIDS. But progress is uneven, and in some cases slipping backwards. We need the strength and determination of a marathon（马拉松赛跑）runner to meet our goals during the next decade."

artist: bette midler

some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed.
some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.
some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
i say love, it is a flower, and you it's only seed.

it's the heart, afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance.
it's the dream, afraid of waking, that never takes a chance.
it's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give.
and the soul, afraid of dyin', that never learns to live.

when the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes the rose.