While this healthy lifestyle approach to health worked for some (the wealthy members of society), people experiencing poverty, unemployment or little control ______ the conditions of their daily lives benefited little from this approach.

The president explained that the purpose of taxation was to ______ government spending

Oscar Wilde said he felt sorry for those who never got their heart's desire, but sorrier still for those who did. It seems to be a paradox. What's your understanding of it? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? You should write at least 400 words. You are required to support your ideas with relevant information and examples based on your own knowledge and experience.

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应试教育

When it was published in 1959, Robert Frank's book, The American, ______ hostility in the United States.

On the whole, books are less limited than ourselves. Often they sit on the shelves absorbing dust long after the writer has turned into a handful of dust—and it is precisely the appetite for this posthumous dimension that sets one's pen in motion. So as we toss and turn these rectangular objects in our hands we won't be terribly amiss if we surmise that we fondle, as it were, the urns with our returning ashes. After all, what goes into writing a book is, ultimately, a man's only life. Whoever said that to philosophize is an exercise in dying was right in more ways than one, for by writing a book nobody gets younger. Nor does one become any younger by reading one. Since this is so, our natural preference should be for good books. The paradox, however, lies in the fact that in literature 'good' is defined by its distinction from 'bad.' What's more, to write a good book, a writer must read a great deal of pulp—otherwise he won't be able to develop the necessary criteria. That's what may constitute bad literature's best defense at the Last Judgment. Since we are all moribund, and since reading books is time-consuming, we must devise a system that allows us a semblance of economy. Of course, there is no denying the pleasure of holding up with a fat, slow-moving, mediocre novel; but in the end, we read not for reading's sake hut to learn. Hence the need for the works that brings the human predicament into its sharpest possible focus. Hence, too, the need for some compass in the ocean of available printed matter.

I am surprised ______ this city is a dull place to live in.

She had a strong ______ to give a talk about her experiences, because she didn't like the limelight.

闪婚

She should be ______ and not make unreasonable demands.

The fact that the golden eagle usually builds its nest on some high cliffs ______ it almost impossible to obtain the eggs or the young birds.

SOHO

When he arrived in America, he was surprised to learn that the mayor of the city was Chinese by ______.

______ you eat the correct foods ______ be able to keep fit and stay healthy.

______ conscious of my moral obligations as a citizen.

当人们聚在一起的时候，无论做其他什么事情——不管是玩耍、争吵，交朋友，还是造汽车，他们都要说话。我们生活在一个语言的世界里。我们与朋友、同事交谈，与妻子、丈夫或情人交谈，与师长、父母或姻亲交谈，我们还和公车司机甚至是陌生人交谈。我们面对面交谈也会通过电话交谈，而每个人都用更多的语言回应。电视和广播则进一步助长了这种滔滔不绝的谈话现象。我们醒着的时候几乎没有一刻能离开语言。即使在梦中，我们也说话或听别人说话。在没人答话时，我们照样说话。我们中有些人在熟睡时大声说话，有时候我们与宠物说话，有时候还会自言自语。 拥有语言，或许比别的任何特征，更能把人类与其他动物区分开来。要了解人类，就得了解使我们成为人的语言的本质。根据许多民族的神话和宗教，语言才是人类生活和力量的源泉。对一些非洲人来说，一个新生的婴儿只是一件“东西”，还不是一个“人”。一个孩子只有通过学习才能成为人。因此，根据这一传统，我们都是因为至少掌握了一种语言才变成“人”的。

Cynics believe that people who ______ compliments do so in order to be praised twice.

Millions of elderly Germans received a notice from the Health Social Security Ministry earlier this month that struck a damaging blow to the welfare state. The statement informed them that their pensions were being cut. The reductions come as a stop-gap measure to control Germany's ballooning pension crisis. Not surprisingly, it was an unwelcome change for senior citizens such as Sabine Wetzel, a 67-year-old retired bank teller, who was told her state pension would be cut by $12.30, or 1% to $1,156.20 a month.'It was a real shock,' she says.'My pension had always gone up in the past.' There's more bad news on the way. On Mar. 11, Germany's lower house of Parliament passed a bill gradually cutting state pensions—which have been rising steadily since World War Ⅱ—from 53% of average wages now to 46% by 2020. And Germany is not alone. Governments across Western Europe are racing to curb pension benefits. In Italy, the government plans to raise the minimum retirement age from 57 to 60, while France will require that civil servants put in 40 years rather than 37.5 to qualify for a full pension. The reforms are coming despite tough opposition from unions, leftist politicians, and pensioners' groups. The explanation is simple: Europeans are living longer and having fewer children. By 2030 there will only be two workers per pensioner, compared with four in 2000. With fewer young workers paying into the system, cuts are being made to cover a growing shortfall. The gap between money coming in and payments going out could top $10 billion this year in Germany alone.'In the future, a state pension alone will no longer be enough to maintain the living standards employees had before they retired,' says German Health Social Security Minister Ulla Schmidt. Says Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti: 'The welfare state is producing too few cradles and too few graves.' Of course, those population trends have been forecast for years. Some countries, such as Britain and the Netherlands, have responded by making individuals and their employers assume more of the responsibility for pensions. But many Continental governments dragged their feet. Now, the rapid runup in costs is finally forcing them to act. State-funded pension payments make up around 12% of gross domestic product in Germany and France and 15% in Italy—two percentage points more than 20 years ago. Pensions account for an average 21% of government spending across the European Union. The U.S. Social Security system, by contrast, consumes just 4.8% of GDP. The rising cost is having serious repercussions on key European nations' commitments to fiscal restraint.'Governments have no choice but to make pension reform a priority,' says Antonio Cabral, deputy director of the European Commission's Directorate General for Economic Financial Affairs. Just as worrisome is the toll being exacted on the private sector. Corporate contributions to state pension systems—which make up 19.5% of total gross pay in Germany—add to Europe's already bloated labor costs. That, in turn, blunts manufacturers' competitiveness and keeps unemployment rates high. According to the Institute of German Economics in Cologne, benefit costs reached a record 41.7% of gross wages in Germany last year, compared with 37.4% a decade before. French cement manufacturer Lafarge says pension cost of $121 million contributed to a 9% fall in operating profits last year. To cope, Germany and most of its EU partners are using tax breaks to encourage employees to put money into private pensions schemes. But even if private pensions become more popular, European governments will have to increase minimum retirement ages and reduce public pensions. While today's seniors complain about reduced benefits, the next generation of retirees may look back on their parents' pension checks with envy.