11 School LunchResearch has shown that over half the children in Britain who take their own lunches to school do not eat properly in the middle of the day. In Britain schools have to provide meals at lunchtime. C hildren can choose to bring their own food or have lunch at the school canteen.One shocking finding of this research is that school meals are much healthier than lunches prepar ed by parents. There are strict standards for the preparation of school meals, which have to include one portion of fruit and one of vegetables, as well as meat, a dairy item and starchy food like brea d or pasta. Lunchboxes examined by researchers contained sweet drinks, crisps and chocolate bars . Children consume twice as much sugar as they should at lunchtime.The research will provide a better understanding of why the percentage of overweight students in Britain has increased in the last decade. Unfortunately, the government cannot criticise parents, bu t it can remind them of the nutritional value of milk, fruit and vegetables. Small changes in their c hildren's diet can affect their future health. Children can easily develop bad eating habits at this ag e, and parents are the only ones who can prevent it.12 A Powerful InfluenceThere can be no doubt at all that the Internet has made a huge difference to our lives. Parents are w orried that children spend too much time playing on the Internet, hardly ever doing anything else i n their spare time. Naturally, parents are curious to find out why the Internet is so attractive, and th ey want to know if it can be harmful for their children. Should parents worry if their children are s pending that much time staring at their computers?Obviously, if children are bent over their computers for hours, absorbed in some game, instead of doing their homework, then something is wrong. Parents and children could decide how much use the child should make of the Internet, and the child should give his or her word that it won’t interfere with homework. If the child is not holding tothis arrangement, the parent can take more drastic steps dealing with a child's use of the Internet is not much different from negotiating any other soft of bargain about behaviour.Any parent who is seriously alarmed about a child's behaviour should make an appointment to dis cuss the matter with a teacher. Spending time in front of the screen does not necessarily affect a ch ild's performance at school. Even if a child is absolutely crazy about using the Internet，he or she is probably just going through a phase, and in a few months there will be something else to worry about!13 The Old GateIn the Middle Ages the vast majority of European cities had walls around them. This was partl y for defensive reasons but another factor was the need to keep out anyone regarded as undesirable , like people with contagious diseases. The Old City of London gates were all demolished by the e nd of the 18th century. The last of London's gates was removed a century ago, but by a stroke of lu ck, it was never destroyed.This gate is, in actual fact, not called a gate at all; its name is Temple Bar, and it marked the bo undary between the Old City of London and Westminster. In 1878 the Council of London took the Bar down, numbered the stones and put the gate in storage because its design was unfashionable it was expensive to maintain and it was blocking the traffic.The Temple Bar Trust was set up in the 1970's with the intention of returning the gate home. The aim of the trust is the preservation of the nation's architectural heritage. Transporting the gate will mean physically pulling it down, stone by stone, removing and rebuilding it near St Paul's Cathedral. Most of the facade of the gate will probably be replaced, though there is a good chance that the basic structure will be sound. The hardest job of all, however, will be to recreate the statues of the monarchs that once stood on top of the gate.14 Family HistoryIn an age when technology is developing faster than ever before, many people are being attract ed to the idea of looking back into the past. One way they can do this is by ìinvestigating their own family history. They can try to find out more about where their families ca me from and whatThey0did,This8is8now8afas8tgrowing hobby, especially in countries with a fairly short history, lik e Australia and the United States.It is one thing to spend some time going through a book on family history and to take the decis ion to investigate your own family's past. It is quite another to carry out the research work success fully. It is easy to set about it in a disorganized way and cause yourself many problems which coul d have been avoided with a little forward planning. If your own family stories tell you that you are connected with a famous character, whether hero or criminal, do not let this idea take over yo ur research. Just treat it as an interesting possibility. A simple system for collecting and storing you r information will be8adequate to start with; a more complex one may only get in your way. The m ost important thing, though, is to get started. Who knows what you might find?15 Helen and MartinWith a thoughtful sigh, Helen turned away from the window and walked back to her favourite arm chair. Would her brother never arrive? For a brief moment, she wondered if she really cared that much. Over the years Helen had given up waiting for Martin to take an interest in her. Her feelin gs for him had gradually weakened until now, as she sat waiting for him, she experienced no more than a sister's. curiosity to see what had become of her brother.Almost without warning, Martin had lost his job with a busy publishing company after spending th e last eight years in New York as a key figure in the US office. Somehow the two of them hadn't b othered to keep in touch and, left alone, Helen had slowly found her confidence in her own judgm ent growing. Ignoring the wishes of her parents, she had left university halfway through her course and now, to the astonishment of the whole family, she was gaining a fast-growing reputation in th e pages of respected art magazines and was actually earning enough to live on from her paintings. Of course, she took no pleasure in Martin's sudden misfortune, but she couldn't help looking forwa rd to her brother's arrival with quiet satisfaction at what she had achieved.。