Why men wolf down their meals {#blank#}1{#/blank#} women take their time? Many a woman has watched in disbelief as their partners eat their food minutes after sitting down to dinner. Now Korean researchers have discovered why: men and women {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (actual) chew differently. Women chew each individual mouthful more times — taking longer to finish {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (eat) their meal.

    The researchers hired 24 males and 24 females in South Korea. They recorded the size of people's bites, total chewing time per mouthful of food, total number of chews and how long {#blank#}4{#/blank#}   took the person to eat the entire meal. Men typically take {#blank#}5{#/blank#}   (large) bites with more “chewing power”, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} means they consume their meal more quickly than women.

    Though women were watched {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (have) the same chewing pace as men, they chewed each mouthful more times, slowing down the total time it took them to eat their meal.

    The study {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (publish) in the January issue of the Physiology and Behaviour Journal. But it flies in the face of an earlier result studied {#blank#}9{#/blank#} researchers at Nippon Dental University in Tokyo, Japan, which found no {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (different) in how the sexes chewed gum.

    John Snow was a famous doctor in London-so{#blank#}1{#/blank#},indeed,that he{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Queen Victoria as her personal physician. But he became{#blank#}3{#/blank#}when he thought about helping ordinary people{#blank#}4{#/blank#}to cholera.This was the deadly disease of its day.Neither its cause nor its{#blank#}5{#/blank#}was understood.So many thousands of terrified people died every time there was an outbreak.John Snow wanted to face the challenge and solve this problem.

    First there was England.Wales was{#blank#}6{#/blank#}to it in the thirteenth century.Now when people{#blank#}7{#/blank#}to England you find Wales{#blank#}8{#/blank#}as well.Next England and Wales were joined to Scotland in the seventeenth century and the name was changed to "Great Britain".Happily this was accomplished without{#blank#}9{#/blank#}when King James of Scotland became King of England and Wales as well.Finally the English government tried in the early twentieth century to form the United Kingdom by getting Ireland{#blank#}10{#/blank#}in the same peaceful way.

    When I was a ten-year-old girl, I was once asked to deliver a speech titled “ A Real Test in My Life” before the whole class ! Just imagine how{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(terrible) shy I was the moment I thought of that with so many eyes fixed upon me. I had only one{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (choose) , though. First I was to draft the speech and that was just a piece of cake for me, because I was a good writer – something to pride myself on. But the hard part {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(lie) in my oral presentation; to read from {#blank#}4{#/blank#} paper was not allowed ; I had to give the speech{#blank#}5{#/blank#}my memory and in front of such a big audience !

    A real trial began when I stood on the platform with my legs{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(tremble) and my mind blank. How much time had passed by , I didn't know . My listeners were still waiting patiently and without any signs of rushing me. Gradually I found{#blank#}7{#/blank#} back, giving out my speech with difficulty. Finally I finished. After it seemed to be a hundred years, I found my audience applauding. I made{#blank#}8{#/blank#} From then on, my fear of talking before an audience disappeared . Actually with my confidence building{#blank#}9{#/blank#} I now turn out to be a great speaker . Looking back, I know the greatest difficulty on our way to success is our fear. Overcome it,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}we will be able to achieve our goals .

    It is reported that next year, Singapore will treat sugary drinks in the way that other countries treat cigarettes — no advertisements. The plan aims {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (reduce) the high rate of sugar which may cause diabetes (糖尿病)and heart diseases. Thanks to its economic {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. (develop) and income growth, Asians have access to more and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (good) food than ever. However, Asian eaters, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} have become richer, gradually begin to change their traditional diets to the food rich in fat and sugar. As {#blank#}5{#/blank#}result, extra calories make them heavier. The effects of {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (eat) unhealthily are serious. In the past twenty years, countries in the region {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (see) the world's largest increases in premature deaths because {#blank#}8{#/blank#} the diseases related to sugar. Faced with {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (it) serious situation, Singapore^'s plan is {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (certain) reasonable.

    Today, home-ownership has reached extremely high levels. Modern generations tend to believe there is something wrong with them {#blank#}1{#/blank#} they rent. However, is high home-ownership really as people imagine？{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (stare) at data first, we realize that the most successful, stable, attractive country in the Western world is Switzerland. It has tiny unemployment; wealth; high happiness and mental-health scores. Does it have high home-ownership rates? Absolutely not. In Switzerland, about seven in ten of the population are renters. Yet, with Europe's {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (low) home-ownership rate, the nation thrives. Now go to the other end of the misery distribution. Spain has approximately the highest home-ownership rate in Europe (at more than 80%). But one-quarter of its population are unemployed.

    A likely reason is that high levels of home-ownership mess up the labour market. In a sensibly functioning economy it is easy for people to move around to drop into the vibrant job slots {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (throw) up by technological change. With a high degree of owner-occupation, everything slows. Folk get stuck. Renters can go to new jobs. In that way they do the economy a favours. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Friedman said, the rate of unemployment depends on the flexibility of the housing market.

Next we come to economic breakdown. Most analysts accept that at heart it was the housing market-obsessive pursuit of homes, the engendered mortgage（房贷） lending and an unavoidable house-price crash— {#blank#}6{#/blank#} sank the Western world. Germany, say, with its more efficient rental market, had a far smoother ride through trouble.

    As for the monetary system, in the past few decades, in the hope of getting untaxed capital gains way above their true labour earnings, many people threw their spare cash into buying larger houses or building extra bedrooms. TV programmes about how to make easy money, beautiful rising house prices, and most importantly, our faulty tax system encouraged that. When {#blank#}7{#/blank#} some point market broke down, everyone suffered. Our countries ought, instead, to design tax systems that encourage people to invest in productive real activities and in innovation. Renting leaves money free for better purposes. That also points to the role of sensible budgeting over a person's lifetime. Why should we think that when we die it is necessary {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (pay) off an entire house？

    Our children do not deserve it. Let them pay for themselves. We {#blank#}9{#/blank#} rent-and enjoy our lives with the money saved.

    Finally, moderation usually pays off. Our scientific understanding of how economies function is horribly limited. This suggests that the golden rule should be to avoid extremes. A50-50mix of home-ownership and renting, not the 70-30split that is now observed in so many Western nations, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (make) sense.