The main cause of death and disability in the US

    Stroke (中风) is the main cause of death and disability in the United States. Every 45 seconds, someone in America has a stroke. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It is the nation's third leading cause of death, ranking behind diseases of the heart and all forms of cancer. The following is something more about stroke.

Definition and description of a stroke

    Stroke is a type of cardiovascular disease. It affects the arteries(动脉) leading to and within the brain. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel（血管） that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} So stroke forms.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    The American Stroke Association has identified several factors (因素) that increase the risk of stroke. The more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that he or she will have a stroke. Some of these you can't control, such as increasing age, family health history, race, and previous stroke. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Factors resulting from lifestyle or environment can be improved with a healthcare provider's help.

Breakthroughs in treatment

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} In fact, about 600,000 people have strokes every year. For many years, there was no hope for those suffering a stroke. However, recent breakthroughs have led to new treatments. For the treatments to work, the person must get to a hospital immediately.

    For a long time, I have been thinking about the idea of going abroad to do something worthwhile(值得做的), such as doing some voluntary work, working with kids or animals. However, I had been stopped for different choices with the kind of things I could do and different countries where I could do them.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} And I had been puzzling over how I was able to afford the flights, costs and everything.

    I thought I couldn't wait to do something.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} So I just got up off my bed and went downstairs. I started making sandwiches, and then put some crisps, some biscuits and an apple into about six little picnic bags. I called a couple of friends and told them my idea that I was going into the city to give these foods out to the homeless.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    While we were buying some other things in the supermarket, we saw a whole cooked chicken that was on sale, so we bought it. We gave it to the first homeless man we came across.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} What a feeling like no other!

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} But I was very sad because I knew I had only helped one person out of thousands. Actually, it made me cry. But still at least I felt good to have helped others and the excitement got me satisfied, so I just had to keep doing that!

    I think we don't need to look too hard or travel too far for the things that are always on our own doorsteps.

A. He was really shocked and grateful.

B. He seemed glad to share the story with others.

C. They don't need to travel far for voluntary work.

D. Besides, it's very expensive to prepare for that.

E. I said to myself, “I have to do something worthwhile NOW！”

F. My friends loved my idea so much that they decided to join me.

G. I felt very happy because I did something making someone's day.

    Eudaimonia is an Ancient Greek word, particularly stressed by the philosophers Plato and Aristotle, which deserves far more attention than it has because it corrects the shortfalls (缺失）in one of the most central, but troubling words in our modem language: happiness.

    When we nowadays try to clearly express the purpose of our lives, it is the word “happiness” that we commonly turn to. We tell ourselves and others that the most important principle for our jobs, our relationships and the conduct of our day-to-day lives is the pursuit of happiness. It sounds like an innocent enough idea, but too much reliance on the term means that we frequently unfairly tend to quit or, at least, heavily question a great many challenging but worthwhile situations. The Ancient Greeks did not believe that the purpose of life was to be happy; they proposed that it was to achieve Eudaimonia, a word which has been best translated as “fulfilment”.

    What distinguishes happiness from fulfilment is pain. It is very possible to be fulfilled and—at the same time—under pressure, suffering physically or mentally, overburdened and, quite frequently, in an irritable (易怒的）mood. This is a slight psychological difference that is hard for the word “happiness” to capture, for it's tricky to speak of being happy yet unhappy, or happy yet suffering. However, such a combination is readily accommodated within the respected and noble-sounding idea of Eudaimonia.

    The word encourages us to trust that many of life's most worthwhile projects will sometimes be in conflict with contentment, and yet will be worth pursuing. Properly exploring our professional talents, managing a household, keeping a relationship going, creating a new business venture or engaging in politics… none of these goals are likely to leave us cheerful and grinning on a daily basis. They will, in fact, involve us in all manner of challenges that will deeply exhaust and weaken us, provoke (激怒）and wound us. And yet we will perhaps, at the end of our lives, still feel that the tasks were worth undertaking. Through them, we'll have achieved something deeper and more interesting than happiness.

    With the word Eudaimonia in mind, we can stop imagining that we are aiming for a pain-free existence—and then blaming ourselves unfairly for being in a bad mood. We'll know that we are trying to do something far more important than smile all the time: we're striving to do justice to our full human potential.

    A bright yellow “M” tells you that it's a McDonald's restaurant; we also associate the cheerful theme tune “I'm Lovin' It” with the famous US fast food.

A brand's music has a similar effect on its customers as its logo. “It appeals directly to the heart, where consumers' decisions are really made,” wrote Marketing Week.

This is probably why companies from around the world have recently focused more on building a “sonic (声音的) identity”.

    An example is the software company Tencent QQ. Since 2014, this Chinese company has been trying to trademark (申请商标权) its “Di-Di-Di-Di-Di-Di” notification sound. The trademark was finally approved on Nov 15, which means that Tencent's “Di-Di-Di-Di-Di-Di” notification sound is now protected by law and can only be used by QQ.

    Sound and music can also help tell stories. In Game of Thrones (《权力的游戏》) there are so many characters that it is difficult to memorize them all. So, they wrote melodies (旋律) specific to each family. The result is that characters do not only look familiar, but sound familiar too.

    “I think a huge reason why sound inspires action is that, on an unconscious level, we are always listening,” Lauren Nagel, executive creative director at Pandora Media, told GeoMarketing. “You can close your eyes, but you can't shut your ears.”

Writing an art exhibition review is a creative experience that helps you express your ideas about an artist's work. Your review will provide a description (说明) of an art exhibit.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Here are some tips that may help you write a good art exhibition review.

Walk through the show to watch the artwork. Spare 1-2 hours to experience the art exhibit so you have plenty of time to examine the artwork. Move through the exhibit slowly, examining each piece of artwork. Besides, make several passes through the exhibit. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Take notes on the description, the form and your impression. Be as detailed as possible so you can use your notes to write the full review. First, note the title and theme of each work. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Finally, record your impression on the art, how it made you feel, and what worked or didn't work within the piece.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} While you don't need to include audience responses in your review, it may help you improve your own review of the show. Watch flow others comment on the exhibit and write down the sentences that they say.

Talk to the artists if they're present at the exhibit. If you attend on the opening night, you may meet the artists. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Ask about what they hope the audience will experience, and how they created their works. Take notes on what they say so you can use the information to write your review.

A. Notice how others are reacting to the artwork.

B. The reasons can be explained from several aspects.

C. These will help you find something new about the works.

D. Take the chance to chat with them about what inspired their works.

E. Besides, compare your review with other reviews to find out the differences.

F. Then write down the medium, materials, and techniques used to create the piece.

G. This helps visitors know what to expect from the exhibit and gives advice to the artist.

Once upon a time, science fiction was just a style among other styles. There were crime stories, there were horror stories, there was literary fiction, and there was science fiction. But today science themes dominate these other styles. It's difficult to think of much modern crime, horror or "serious" fiction that doesn't involve science.

And its not just books. With every second movie and computer game having a sci-fi element, science fiction seems to have controlled our entire entertainment culture. It's clear that if we want to define science fiction, we should relate it to the role that science plays in our lives.

Although some experts have claimed to be able to trace sci-fi back to ancient times, it is more reasonable to find it in initial form in the 19^th century, when industrial societies arose. One of the features that set industrial societies apart from other kinds was the increasing part that science played in everyday life. Factories with vast machines turned out huge quantities of goods, which were transported by trains, motor vehicles and ships all over the world. Cities were built on the back of technology, with electricity in homes and hospitals helping everyone to lead healthier, more convenient lives. All of these changes had great effects not only on people's real lives, but on their imaginative ones.

Writers began to describe these changing physical and mental landscapes, eventually giving science fiction a large and devoted fan base of especially young readers, who found that it spoke to their curiosity about the future that science would create.

But sci-fiction reflected fears about science more than it did hopes. These typical early science fiction novels might be a UK novel like H. G. Wells' The War of the worlds (1897). With great skill, Wells played upon the fears of technology by imagining Earth under threat by a civilization-that of men from Mars.

The science fiction of today expresses the impact of the computing revolution, robotics and our environmental challenges, while it is less concerned with "little green men from Mar" and other themes of past sci-fiction.

Given that science, technology and polities are always intertwined, contemporary science fiction often has a great deal to say about power. Many recent novels-like American Cory Doctorow's Little Brother (2008)-are concerned with government and security service "conspiracies (阴谋)" against the people, particularly as the revelations of whistleblowers like Edward Snowden sink in. This can give sci-fi writing a "skeptical (怀疑的)" feel.

This underlines one of the features that remains constant between the beginnings of the empire of science fiction and its state today.

As then, so now: We want to read about how fearful the future will be, not how it will be a paradise.