The favorite food in the United States is the hamburger, a kind of round sandwich of cooked beef.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}At fast food restaurants, people order their food, wait a few minutes, and carry it to their tables themselves. People also take their food out of the restaurant and eat it in their cars or in their homes. At some fast food restaurants, people can order their food, pay for it and pick it up without leaving their cars.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Most of them sell hamburgers, French fries and milkshakes, which are traditionally popular foods among Americans. In addition, there are many fast food restaurants that serve Chinese food, Mexican food, Italian food, chicken, seafood and ice cream.

    The idea of a fast food restaurant is so popular that nearly every kind of food can be found in one. Fast food restaurants are popular. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    First, they are not formal restaurants. Customers wear any type of dress when they go to a fast food place.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} People who are busy do not want to spend time preparing their own food or waiting while someone else prepares it. In fast food restaurants the food is usually ready before the customer even orders it. Finally, most food in a fast food restaurant is not expensive. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} However, they may not be able to afford a more traditional and more expensive restaurant very often.

A. Second, they are fast.

B. Chinese diets are also welcome.

C. In fact, they reflect American life style.

D. They will go to a good restaurant for important guests.

E. The favorite place to but a hamburger is a fast food restaurant.

F. Therefore, people can afford to eat at a fast food restaurant often.

G. There are many kinds of fast food restaurants in the United States.

    As is known to everyone, we all care about what others think of us and want to be liked, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}However, there are also many smaller, simpler things you can do, which can affect how others view you.

    Prove you are paying attention.

    To really show someone your interest in him or her, try bringing up a topic the person mentioned earlier. Did your co-worker talk about working with his son on a science fair project last week? Follow up and ask how it went. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}In fact, sometimes it says more that you can recall and show interest in even the small happening in another person's life.

    Handle criticism in a wise way.

    While you want to be generous with your praise, be careful with your criticism. For example, if someone makes an error, don't call that person out in front of a group. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Anyhow, be always gentle with criticism and only offer it when it's truly needed.

    Ask for advice.

    Asking someone for advice is a great way to get people to like you. It shows that you respect the other individual's opinion.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} When you make someone feel better about himself or herself, that person will most certainly end up liking you for it.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Most people love to talk about themselves. If you are asking questions and getting people to talk about themselves, they'll leave the conversation thinking that you're the coolest.

A. Try to be confident and respectful.

B. Everyone likes to feel needed and important.

C. It doesn't have to be a big, life-changing event.

D. Ask other people about their lives and interests.

E. Always use an individual's name in a conversation.

F. You can discuss your own mistakes before digging into someone else's errors.

G. The basics of getting people to like you are obvious—be nice, considerate and polite.

A garden that's just right for you

    Have you ever visited a garden that seemed just right for you, where the atmosphere of the garden appeared to total more than the sum(总和) of its parts? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. But it doesn't happen by accident. It starts with looking inside yourself and understanding who you are with respect to the natural world and how you approach the gardening process.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Some people may think that a garden is no more than plants, flowers, patterns and masses of color. Others are concerned about using gardening methods that require less water and fewer fertilizers (肥料). {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.However, there are a number of other reasons that might explain why you want to garden. One of them comes from our earliest years.

    Recall(回忆)your childhood memories

    Our model of what a garden should be often goes back to childhood. Grandma's rose garden and Dad's vegetable garden might be good or bad, but that's not what's important. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} — how being in those gardens made us feel. If you'd like to build a powerful bond with your garden, start by taking some time to recall the gardens of your youth. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Then go outside and work out a plan to translate your childhood memories into your grown-up garden. Have fun.

A. Know why you garden

B. Find a good place for your own garden

C. It's our experience of the garden that matters

D. It's delightful to see so many beautiful flowers

E. Still others may simply enjoy being outdoors and close to plants

F. You can produce that kind of magical quality in your own garden, too

G. For each of those gardens, write down the strongest memory you have

    You probably know that exercise is the key to reducing depression, but you might not know why. Here are some tips for exercising when you're depressed.

    Change your view of “exercise”.

    Forget “exercise”. Instead, think “being active” or “having fun”. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Besides, it gives you a bigger benefit.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Taking part in physical activities with others supports you in doing those activities. Ask friends what activities they're doing or they would like to start doing, and join them. Other choices include hiring a personal trainer, joining an exercise group or going to a class.

    Try an experiment.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Or go to the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Even if you're feeling too tired to do any actual exercise, still go to the gym, park your car, walk in, chage into workout clothes, and pick up a 5-pound weight. If you're really so tired that you don't want to do anything else, that's totally fine.

    Take it outside.

    Nature has a great effect on our feeling and decreases depressive symptoms. Even just looking at images of lakes and trees helps. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Or walk on a treadmill (跑步机) by a window.

    Tie it to a goal.

    Korb said, “When you connect your exercise to a long-term goal, it helps your brain forget momentary discomfort and makes your exercise more satisfying.” For example, Korb started getting active because it made playing sports more enjoyable. Figure out what's truly important to you. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Move with someone else.

B. Sign up and go to exercise classes.

C. It's a lot easier to do something simple.

D. Remind yourself of your goal regularly.

E. Remember your partner to keep you company.

F. Take a walk around your neighbourhood or a local park.

G. This increases your chances of actually moving your body.

Winning an Oscar isn't all about acting ability

    While the awards claim they recognize the top performances from around the world, a new study has found that you're more likely to win an Oscar if you're an American acting in a film that portrays American culture.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}British actors are more likely to take home an award.

    Researchers say the trend suggests viewers are more likely to perceive a performance as "truly brilliant" if they are members of the same social group as the actor. It can be seen, perhaps most famously, in the case of Leonardo DiCaprio, who finally won a long-awaited Oscar in the 88th Academy Awards for his role in The Revenant, which follows the story of an American frontiersman.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}In 2014, Matthew McConaughey won an Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, and Jennifer Lawrence took an award home in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook{#blank#}3{#/blank#}The findings come from a new study published in the British Journal of Psychology. The team investigated a total of 908 merit prize winners: 97 winners and 383 nominees for the Oscars, and 97 winners and 331 nominees for the BAFTAs. Overall, they found that US actors dominated the awards, claiming over 50 percent of the prizes across the Oscars and BAFTAs.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}When the performer and judge shared membership within a particular social group-for example, being American-the actor was more likely to win. As a result, American actors were found to win 52 percent of all BAFTAs, and 69 percent of all Oscars. While British actors won just 18 percent of all Oscars, and 34 percent of BAFTAs.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}In the Oscars, Americans who performed in films about non-US culture accounted for just 26 percent of the award winners. But, those who performed in films about American culture made up 88 percent of the winners.

A. In recent years, many actors have cast themselves as frontiersmen.

B. Subject matter played a role, too, according to the researchers.

C. And, the same applies to London's BAFTAs.

D. But they also noted a trend within social groups.

E. But the trend also stretches back throughout the years.

F. Things are different in Britain.

G. Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar in 2008 for his role in There Will be Blood.

I know just how you feel

    Do you feel sad? Happy? Angry? You may think that the way you show these emotions is unique. Well, think again. Even the expression of the most personal feelings can be classified, according to Mind Reading, a DVD exhibiting every possible human emotion. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    In the mid 1800s, Darwin divided the emotions into six types—anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise and enjoyment. More complex expressions of emotion were probably learned and therefore more specific to each culture. But now it is believed that many more facial expressions are shared worldwide. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} The Mind Reading DVD is a systematic visual record of these expressions.

    The project was designed by a Cambridge professor. His research team first had to define an "emotion". {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Using this definition, 412 emotion terms were identified and discussed, from "afraid" to "wanting".

    Then each expression is acted out by six different actors. "It was really clear when the actors had got it right," says Cathy Collis, who directed the DVD. "Although they were given some direction, the actors were not told which facial muscles they should move. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}"

    Someone who has tried to set such rules is the American, Professor Paul Ekman, who built database of how the face moves for every emotion. The face can make 43 distinct muscle movements. Ekman has also found that it may not be possible for people to reproduce them artificially. The most difficult expression to reproduce is the smile. It isn't only about stretching the lips, but tightening the tiny muscles around the eye. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If we learnt to recognize whether someone was using their eye muscle when they smiled, we would be able to distinguish true enjoyment from false.