現在有關中國的話題，往往令人驚異。譬如，大前研一竟說，45年後，中國經濟規模將是日本10倍。又譬如，劉兆玄向國外媒體透露，台灣未來可考慮將人民幣納入外匯存底。此說雖未獲央行支持，但人民幣的「潛能」已引發無限想像。

的確，關於中國發展的未來圖像，或因為與現實仍有遙遠的距離，有時顯得不太真實。但前面兩個例子的發言主角，一是趨勢專家，一是政府領導者，總不能說他們所言不過是興之所致的「寓言」！

大前研一的預言，尚有待時間考驗。而劉兆玄的說法，算是一種政策方向，雖未必真會兌現，但透露出某種施政判斷。不過數年前，人民幣在台灣還帶著強烈的「匪區」意涵，竟然如今已是外匯存底的考慮幣別之一。人民幣至今仍被高度管制，並非完全自由流通的國際化貨幣，但劉兆玄顯然是窺見了某種趨勢，向國外媒體發言不會無的放矢。

不論是大前研一或劉兆玄，他們談到的中國都反映了一個難以忽視的主題：中國大陸崛起不是新聞，但其崛起的速度和影響力的程度，還是令人難以掌握。過去的經驗法則可能不管用了，台灣要以新思維因應對岸這種高速的變化。

台灣面對中國大陸的思維包袱十分沈重。因為多年冷戰對峙和反共教育，以及其後的統獨認同分裂，台灣人看大陸，容易陷入傳統的框架內去思索，故有時可能在錯誤的資訊下做出決策。例如民進黨誓死抵制ECFA，而執政黨對某些兩岸合作議題又有些一廂情願的想像，這些都是統獨思維的產物。

中國大陸在鄧小平啟動改革開放後，僅僅花了30年時間，就一躍而為全球第三大經濟體，預期明年即將超越日本。下一個30年，中國的發展如果仍舊順利，可能將成長為國際間的強勢領導者之一。到那時，台灣必須考慮應對的難題，又豈止是人民幣與外匯存底的關係？

人民幣納入外匯存底，不管是否變成政策，指標的是全球趨勢及兩岸關係的變局。這個議題超越統獨辯論，台灣不能不預先思考審慎判斷。

Rail transport is the conveyance of passengers and goods by means of wheeled vehicles running along railways or railroads. Rail transport is part of the logistics chain, which facilitates international trade and economic growth. Rail transport is capable of high capacity and is energy efficient, but lacks flexibility and is capital intensive.

It consists of trains running along a permanent way, consisting of steel track on ties and ballast. Alongside is a signalling system and sometimes an electrification system. The rolling stock, fitted with metal wheels, moves with low frictional resistance when compared with road vehicles. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations. Power is provided by a steam engine, diesel engine or electrical transmission. Rail is the safest land transport which constitutes some Famous Railway Networks on Earth.

The oldest, man-hauled railways date to the 6th century BC. With the development of the steam engine, it was possible to construct mainline railways, that were a key component of the industrial revolution. In the 1880s, electric trains were launched, and the first tramways and rapid transit systems came into use. Following the 1940s, unelectrified railways in developed countries replaced steam with diesel. In the 1960s, high-speed rail was launched. Since, trains have become more accessible, and some are now driverless.

Sociology is a branch of social science that uses systematic methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Its subject matter ranges from the micro level of face-to-face interaction to the macro level of societies at large.

Sociology is a broad discipline in terms of both methodology and subject matter. Its traditional focuses have included social relations, social stratification, social interaction, religion, culture and deviance, and its approaches have included both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. As much of what humans do fits under the category of social structure or social activity, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to further subjects, such as the study of the media, health disparities, the internet, and even the role of social activity in the creation of scientific knowledge. The range of social scientific methods has also been broadly expanded. The cultural turn of the 1960s brought increasingly hermeneutic and interpretive approaches to the study of society. Conversely, recent decades have seen the rise of new mathematically rigorous approaches, such as social network analysis.

Oceans are divided into numerous regions depending on the physical and biological conditions of these areas. The pelagic zone includes all open ocean regions, and can be subdivided into further regions categorized by depth and light abundance. The photic zone covers the oceans from surface level to 200 meters down. This is the region where the photosynthesis most commonly occurs and therefore contains the largest biodiversity in the ocean. Since plants can only survive with photosynthesis any life found lower than this must either rely on material floating down from above (see marine snow) or find another primary source; this often comes in the form of hydrothermal vents in what is known as the aphotic zone (all depths exceeding 200m). The pelagic part of the photic zone is known as the epipelagic. The pelagic part of the aphotic zone can be further divided into regions that succeed each other vertically. The mesopelagic is the uppermost region, with its lowermost boundary at a thermocline of 12 °C, which, in the tropics generally lies between 700 and 1,000 m. After that is the bathypelagic lying between 10 °C and 4 °C, or between 700 or 1,000 m and 2,000 or 4,000 m. Lying along the top of the abyssal plain is the abyssalpelagic, whose lower boundary lies at about 6,000 m. The final zone falls into the oceanic trenches, and is known as the hadalpelagic. This lies between 6,000 m and 10,000 m and is the deepest oceanic zone.

Along with pelagic aphotics zones there are also benthic aphotic zones, these correspond to the three deepest zones. The bathyal zone covers the continental slope and the rise down to about 4,000 m. The abyssal zone covers the abyssal plains between 4,000 and 6,000 m. Lastly, the hadal zone corresponds to the hadalpelagic zone which is found in the oceanic trenches. The pelagic zone can also be split into two subregions, the neritic zone and the oceanic zone. The neritic encompasses the water mass directly above the continental shelves, while the oceanic zone includes all the completely open water. In contrast, the littoral zone covers the region between low and high tide and represents the transitional area between marine and terrestrial conditions. It is also known as the intertidal zone because it is the area where tide level affects the conditions of the region.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a research facility currently being assembled in Low Earth Orbit. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998, and is scheduled to be complete by 2011, with operations continuing until around 2015. As of 2009, the ISS is the largest artificial satellite in Earth orbit, larger than any previous space station.

The ISS programme is a joint project among the space agencies of the United States (National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA), Russia (Russian Federal Space Agency - RKA), Japan (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - JAXA), Canada (Canadian Space Agency - CSA) and ten European nations (European Space Agency - ESA). The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) participates through a separate contract with NASA. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) similarly has separate contracts for various activities not done within the framework of ESA's ISS projects (where Italy also fully participates). China has reportedly expressed interest in the project, especially if it would be able to work with the RKA, although as of 2009, it is not involved.

The space station is in a Low Earth Orbit, and can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. It orbits at an altitude of approximately 350 km (190 nautical miles) above the surface of the Earth, travelling at an average speed of 27,700 kilometres (17,210 mi) per hour, completing 15.7 orbits per day.

The ISS has been continuously staffed since the first resident crew, Expedition 1, entered the station on 2 November 2000. This has provided a permanent human presence in space for the last 8 years, 175 days. At present, the station has the capacity for a crew of three. However, to fulfil an active research programme, it will be staffed by a resident crew of six beginning with Expedition 20. The crew of Expedition 19 is currently aboard.

Early crew members all came from the Russian and American space programmes until German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter joined the Expedition 13 crew in July 2006, becoming the first crew member from another space agency. The station has been visited by astronauts from 16 different nations, and it was the destination of the first six space tourists.

Louis Vuitton: Malletier à Paris was founded by Monsieur Vuitton in 1853 on Rue Neuve des Capucines in Paris. In 1858, Monsieur Vuitton introduced his flat-bottom trunks with trianon canvas (they were lightweight and airtight). Before the introduction of Vuitton's trunks, rounded-top trunks were used, generally to promote water run off, and thus could not be stacked. It was Vuitton's gray Trianon canvas flat trunk that allowed the ability to stack for ease with voyages. Becoming successful and prestigious, many other luggagemakers began to imitate LV's style and design.

In 1867, the company participated in the universal exhibition in Paris. To protect against the duplication of his look, he changed the Trianon design to a beige and brown stripes design in 1876. By 1885, the company opened its first store in London, England on Oxford Street. Soon thereafter, due to the continuing imitation of his look, in 1888, the Damier Canvas pattern was created by Louis Vuitton, bearing a logo that reads "marque L. Vuitton déposée," which translates to "mark L. Vuitton deposited" or, roughly, "L. Vuitton trademark". In 1892, Louis Vuitton died, and the company's management passed to his son.

After the death of his father, Georges Vuitton began a campaign to build the company into a worldwide corporation, exhibiting the company's products at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. In 1896, the company launched the legendary Monogram Canvas and made the worldwide patents on it. Its graphic symbols, including quatrefoils and flowers (as well as the LV monogram), were based on the trend of using Japanese and Oriental designs in the late Victorian era. The patents later proved to be successful in stopping counterfeiting. In this same year, Georges traveled to the United States, where he toured various cities (such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago), selling Vuitton products during the visit. In 1901, the Louis Vuitton Company introduced the Steamer Bag, a smaller piece of luggage designed to be kept inside Vuitton luggage trunks.

By 1914, the Louis Vuitton Building opened on the Champs-Elysees. It was the largest travel-goods store in the world at the time. Stores also opened in New York, Bombay, Washington, London, Alexandria, and Buenos Aires as World War I began. Afterwards, in 1930, the Keepall bag was introduced. During 1932, LV introduced the Noé bag. This bag was originally made for champagne vintners to transport bottles. Soon thereafter, the Louis Vuitton Speedy bag was introduced (both are still manufactured today). In 1936 Georges Vuitton died, and his son, Gaston-Louis Vuitton, assumed control of the company.

In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle all the bases, ending at home plate and scoring runs for himself and each runner who was already on base, with no errors by the defensive team on the play. In modern baseball, the feat is typically achieved by hitting the ball over the outfield fence between the foul poles (or making contact with either foul pole) without first touching the ground, resulting in an automatic home run. Circling the bases while the baseball is in play on the field, an "inside-the-park" home run, is rare in modern baseball.

When a home run is scored, the batter is also credited with a hit and a run scored, and an RBI for each runner that scores, including himself. Likewise, the pitcher is recorded as having given up a hit, a run for each runner that scores including the batter, and an earned run each for the batter and for all baserunners who did not initially reach base on error, except for the runs scored by any runners who reached base while facing an earlier pitcher are charged to that pitcher.

Home runs are among the most popular aspects of baseball and, as a result, prolific home run hitters are usually the most popular among fans and consequently the highest paid by teams, hence the old saying, variously attributed to slugger Ralph Kiner, or to a teammate talking about Kiner, "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, and singles hitters drive Fords."

The Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress on Thursday approved budget blueprints embracing President Barack Obama's agenda but leaving many hard choices until later and a government deeply in the red.

With no Republican support, the House of Representatives and Senate approved slightly different, less expensive versions of Obama's $3.55 trillion budget plan for fiscal 2010, which begins on October 1. The differences will be worked out over the next few weeks.

Obama, who took office in January after eight years of the Republican Bush presidency, has said the Democrats' budget is critical to turning around the recession-hit U.S. economy and paving the way for sweeping healthcare, climate change and education reforms he hopes to push through Congress this year.

Obama, traveling in Europe, issued a statement praising the votes as "an important step toward rebuilding our struggling economy." Vice President Joe Biden, who serves as president of the Senate, presided over that chamber's vote.

Microsoft Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It can be used to develop console and graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code together with managed code for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, .NET Framework, .NET Compact Framework and Microsoft Silverlight.

Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema designer. It allows plug-ins to be added that enhance the functionality at almost every level - including adding support for source control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) to adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server client: Team Explorer).

Visual Studio supports languages by means of language services, which allow any programming language to be supported (to varying degrees) by the code editor and debugger, provided a language-specific service has been authored. Built-in languages include C/C++ (via Visual C++), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET), and C# (via Visual C#). Support for other languages such as F#, M, Python, and Ruby among others has been made available via language services which are to be installed separately. It also supports XML/XSLT, HTML/XHTML, JavaScript and CSS. Language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user. These individual packages are called Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.

Microsoft provides "Express" editions of its Visual Studio 2008 components Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer at no cost. Visual Studio 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio 2005 are available for free to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark program. Visual Studio 2010 is currently in beta testing and can be downloaded by the general public at no cost.