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In 1982, Diana entered her first international ski race. She went to the World
Handicapped Championships in Norway, where she won the downhill competition. In 1986, Diana won the Beck Award, which is given to the best American racer in international skiing. The next year, she placed 10th in a race against some of the best nondisabled skiers in the country. And in 1988, she was named Ski Racing magazine's U.S. Female Skier of the Year. As a result of her courage and determination, Diana has changed the way the world
looks at disabled athletes. People have begun to see them as strong and competent. \has some kind of 'disability',\
In 1990, Diana retired from racing for good.
Across the Frozen Sea
On July 6, 1908, dockside crowds cheered and tugboat whistles blew as a strongly-built
steamship sailed out of New York harbor. She was named the Roosevelt for President Theodore Roosevelt, and the president himself saw her off. Aboard were Commander Robert E. Peary and a hand-picked crew to accompany him on his latest attempt to reach the North Pole.
The Roosevelt had been built in 1905 according to Peary 's own specifications at a cost
of one hundred thousand dollars and was the one of the first models of the modern icebreaker.
Northward along the shore of Greenland, stops were made at several Eskimo villages to
take on board forty-nine Eskimos—twenty-two men to handle the sledges, seventeen women to sew winter garments for the party, and ten children.
\
for every foot of the way against the unyielding ice,\wrote Matthew Henson. \constant bumping of the ship against the ice made work and comfort all but impossible.\The ship smashed its way through the ice, its front rising up on the ice and then crashing through it to open the way.
On September 5, 1908, the Roosevelt reached Cape Sheridan on Ellesmere Island,
where the crew would pass the winter. From there, once the dark winter ended, Peary would set out for the Pole.
Preparation, timing, and speed all were important. They could not begin the journey
until sunlight returned to the Arctic but had to finish before great sections of the polar ice melted in the Arctic summer. Peary 's expedition consisted of five advance sledge teams, besides his own, which would take turns going ahead to open the way and establish supply camps. As they finished their marches, each team would return to the supply ship. Only one of the team leaders would accompany Peary all the way to the Pole.
The journey began in February 1909:
FEBRUARY 18—The last of the advance parties, under Henson, left the ship for Cape
Columbia, the last point of land before the floating ice of the Arctic Ocean. Henson wrote, \Arctic night still holds sway.\
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FEBRUARY 28—Peary called the expedition teams to his tent for a final briefing. He
defined the problems and explained what measures the teams could take to meet them. He expressed confidence in the venture but said, \now on we must be prepared to undergo hardships. We must always be moving on.\
MARCH 1—Henson wrote, \A. M. we were ready, standing beside our sledges
awaiting the command, 'Forward! March!'\dogs, they were off—23 men, 19 sledges, and 133 barking dogs—across the Arctic Ocean. An easy start soon turned rough, and the men used axes to clear a path through walls of
ice. Sledges broke and had to be repaired. Dead tired, they made only twelve miles.
MARCH 5—\
Cheer soon turned to worry, as progress was halted by the \—an open stretch
of water a quarter mile wide. Instead of making the twenty to twenty-five miles they had hoped, they waited for days for the lead to freeze over. \Henson wrote. \
The Eskimos complained and wanted to return. Some were sent back, and athletic
contests were organized to keep the others busy. Commander Peary walked back and forth in dissatisfaction.
MARCH 11—\
until he was sure he could keep all the party together. Off we go. No halt. The ice could open at any moment to let us sink in the cold, black water.\
MARCH 22—\—a full 15
hours.\
On they went. Temperatures as low as forty degrees below zero froze their hoods to
their beards.
APRIL 1—They were now at 88 degrees north latitude. Four teams had been sent back
to the ship.
\—Peary, 4 Eskimos and myself,\
each other. We knew without speaking that the time had come to demonstrate that we were the men who should unlock the door which held the mystery of the Arctic.\APRIL 6—\memory of the last 5 marches is a memory of toil, fatigue and exhaustion. Urged on by our Commander we marched until it was impossible to go on. We were forced to camp in spite of the impatience of the Commander, who found himself unable to rest.\
Finally, having reached a point that he believed should be close to his goal, Peary
ordered the men to stop and make camp. Eyes red and burning, he took sightings of the sun and calculated that they were about three miles from the Pole. Too tired to do anything more than eat, he crawled into a tent to sleep. He gave orders to his crew not to let him sleep more than four hours.
When he awoke, Peary set out with a sledge and his instruments to find, as closely as
possible, 90 degrees north. As he crossed and recrossed an area of several square miles, he knew that he must have passed directly \and west blend into one.\
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APRIL 7—\
We will plant the Stars and Stripes at the North pole.\
The sight meant different things to those present. Otah, speaking for the Eskimos, said,
\North Pole. And Peary wrote, \Pole at last! The prize of 3 centuries, my dream and goal of 23 years. Mine at last! I cannot bring myself to realize it. It all seems so simple and commonplace.\
The party spent only thirty hours at the Pole. Peary left a strip of flag in a glass jar and
at 4 P.M. gave the order to depart, saying, \and action every minute.\
Unit 6
Feminine Force
The mere idea of becoming a successful career woman was once unheard of in Asia.
Parents made great effort to send their sons to university, but considered the thought of educating their daughters extremely foolish and a waste of time and money. Like their mothers, girls were taught to cook and keep house.
Times change. This situation has gone the way of bound feet, child brides and arranged
marriages.
Rising levels of education have given rise to a new breed of Asian working
women—confident, competent and competitive executives. Regional statistics show that women now contribute significantly to the workforce and, while men still have most of the top jobs, many women sit in such positions as presidents or managing directors.
Attitudes towards women have changed as well. Gone is the fixed image of the Asian
woman as quiet, obedient and willing to do household tasks. At work, she can hold her own in the corporate rat race. At home, she no longer takes a back seat in decision-making.
Advertising agencies and marketers realize this and aim commercials about fast-moving
consumer products at the influential feminine purchaser.
The social status of women not only reflects their advancement and development, but
also shows the level of social development of a country, and the progress achieved in human rights.
If the social status of women, who make up nearly half of China 's 1.1 billion people, is
advanced, there must also be a parallel improvement in human rights.
Until the establishment of the new China fifty years ago, human rights as well as the
social rights of most women in China had been oppressed in political and social arenas, and at home by their husbands. The establishment of the new China removed the roots of the
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oppression of women and put an end to inequality between men and women. The way was paved for the liberalization of women.
Today, in most Chinese cities, the employment rate of women is very high—only a few
percent less than the employment rate of men.
Women in China are specially protected and insured at their work places, minimizing
their working difficulties.
The economic independence of women in China has helped their political advancement
and involvement in social activities.
Most of the women wish to gain the same qualifications, training and achievements as
men. Many women have confirmed their importance by contributing to their countries' political and economic development.
The fundamental historical changes in the social status of women in China have not
only improved human rights worldwide, but have also encouraged women of all less developed countries to work hard to achieve their rights and benefits. Women
Before Jack Tan and Mary Yuan finally decided to get married, they had a long
discussion about how marriage might affect their future careers. \equality of sexes,\Jack explained with a glance at his wife. \couldn't see any important reason why either of us should give up a promising career.\her husband continued, \assumed that there would be problems if both husband and wife had full-time jobs but we thought that we would be able to solve them.\
\the time of our marriage,\Mary said, \was a research analyst for a financial
services company. My job was to research companies in Asia, so this involved a lot of travelling. Jack was an assistant professor at a local university, specializing in microbiology. His work involved trips overseas to attend conferences and meet colleagues working in the same field. Sometimes we didn't meet for a week or more. Life was tough at first.\
That was eight years ago. Jack and Mary have kept to their belief in equality. Jack is
now a professor with a growing international reputation. Mary has moved on and is now the chief executive officer in a big firm with branches throughout Southeast Asia. Her sharp eye and (so she says) female insight have helped her company to spot new markets and make some highly profitable sales in them.
On the home front, the young couple have met most of the problems they expected to
come up, and have been quite successful in dealing with them. Much of their success is personal to them: their joint income makes it possible for them to employ two maids. One maid doubles as a cook. The other takes their two children to school, brings them home and helps to bring them up with both discipline and real affection.
Jack and Mary are intelligent or lucky—or both. They have shown that it is possible for
husband and wife to follow a career while raising a family at the same time. Some couples are
