Hi guys and gals. I'm just getting into guitar playing but I have run into a problem. I have been learning from books mostly and VERY slowly have been making progress but I tried TAB for the first time last night. I can't figure out what this is supposed to be though. What does 7^0 and 7^8^7\5-7 mean? The following is a small portion of the song if that helps. Also when you are supposed to play both E strings at the same time do most of you strum all the stings or pluck one string with a finger and pick the other?

E-7-----------7^0---------|---------7---8---7^8^7\5-7--
B-----0-----------0-------|---------0---0-----------0--
G---------0-----------0---|-----0----------------------
D-------------------------|----------------------------
A-------------------------|----------------------------
E-0-----------------------|-0--------------------------

Thanks for any advice you have.