However, there is some difference in lifestyle between city settlers and the country people. Almost 90 percent ofthe population lives in the fast-paced cities along the coast and has little more than a passing familiarity with the desert. The major cities preserve images of colonial heritage, but on the whole the impression is modern, with new buildings reflecting the country's youth. In contrast, therural communities tend to be slow-moving and conservative. For many years, Australia was said to have "ridden on the sheep's back" , are ference to wool being the country's main money earner. However, it is nolonger dominant ( 主宰的). Much of Australia's relatively sound economy is now achieved from natural coal and wheat, and by being the largest diamond producer in the world. Newer industries such as tourism and wine making are also increasingly important. Australians are generally friendly and relaxed, with a modest sense of humor.

    Yet, contrary to wide spread belief, very few Australians have true prisoner origins. Within only one generation of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Australia had become a nation of immigrants. Originally coming almost entirely from the British Isles, today one in three Australians comes from elsewhere. Australia's liberal postwar immigration policies led to a flowing of survivors from war-torn Europe. The emphasis has changed in recent years and today the majority of new immigrants are from Southeast Asia. Today Australia is a "mixture of nations" and although some racism exists, it has generally been a successful experiment and the country is reasonably proud to have one of the most harmonious multicultural communities in the world.

    You may have heard of the American Dream, an ideal that has powered the hopes of Americans for generations.

    It began as a belief that the US was a land of opportunity, and that anyone could achieve success through hard work. The dream has referred to home ownership, a good job, retirement security or each generation doing better than the last for a long time.

    Yet today, this concept seems to have greatly changed. As Tune magazine pointed out, quite different from the older generation, many Millennials (the generation born after 1980) redefine the American Dream as “day-to-day control of your life”. They “prize job mobility, flexible schedules, any work that is more interesting than typing, and the ability to travel”, said the magazine.

    Home ownership, once the cornerstone of the American Dream, is becoming a smaller priority for this generation. Meanwhile, nearly 40% of them choose travel as part of their dream. And running their own business is a rising favorite, as nearly 26% of Millennials consider self-employment as part of their dream.

    So what has led to this huge change?

    Many point fingers at the poor economy. “Modern young Americans seem bound to face a world stamped by ever narrowing opportunity,” noted The Daily Beast.

    “The rate of 16-to-24-year-olds out of school and out of work is unusually high at 15%. Many college graduates have taken jobs that don't require a degree,” Time reported.

    The magazine worries that these difficulties may lead to a lost generation who are “unable to ever truly find their feet on the corporation's ladder”.

    Dan Kadlec, a reporter of Time, sees Millennials as resetting their expectations. “This situation is different for young adults today,” he wrote. “A true American dream has to feel attainable, and many Millennials are feeling they can only attain a day-to-day lifestyle that suits them.”

    “Belittle” was first used by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.

    Many years ago, Buffon, a French naturalist, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics did not like them. Some critics said, “Buffon is more of a poet than a scientist.”

    Thomas Jefferson did not like what Buffon had said about the natural wonders of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if they were unimportant.

    This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was a naturalist, as well as a farmer, inventor, historian, writer and politician. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

    In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word－belittle. He said, “Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic.”

    Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in his English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle－to make somebody or something small, unimportant.”

    Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle newspaper used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “He is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.

    In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “'Belittle' has no chance of becoming English. And as more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it, the sooner it is forgotten, the better.” This expert failed to kill the word. Today, “belittle” is used where the English language is spoken.

    Can exercise during childhood protect you against memory loss many decades later?Exercise early in life seems to have lifelong benefits for the brain,in rats at least.

    "This is an animal study,but it shows that physical activity at a young age is very important一not just for physical development,but for the whole lifelong track of cognitive（认知的）development during ageing,"says Martin Wojtowicz of the University of Toronto,Canada."In humans,it may delay the appearance of Alzheimer's symptoms（阿兹海默氏症）,possibly to the point of preventing them."

    Wojtowicz's team divided 80 young male rats into two equal groups,and placed running wheels in the cages of one group for a period of six weeks.Around four months later—when the rats had reached middle age—the team taught all the rats to connect an electric shock with being in a specific box.When placed in the box,they froze with fear.

    Two weeks later,the team tested the rats in three situations: exactly the same box in the same room,the same box with the room arranged differently,and a completely different box in a different room.

    The rats without access to a running wheel when they were young now froze the same percentage of times in each of these situations,suggesting they couldn't remember which one was dangerous.But those that had been able to run in their youth froze 40 to 50 percent less in both changed box settings.

    “The results suggest the amount of physical activity when we're young,at least for rats,has influence on brain and cognitive health—in the form of better memories—when we're older,"says Arthur Kramer of Northeastern University in Boston,who has found that,in humans,exercise promotes the growth of new brain cells.

    Many people all over the world enjoy an alcoholic drink, such as wine or beer, during dinner. Many people raise a glass of alcohol to celebrate a wedding or a birthday. And having drinks after work with friends and co-workers is called "happy hour".

    All these situations are considered "social drinking" because they happen at social events. But when does "social drinking" become problem drinking?

    According to the World Health Organization alcohol abuse kills 3.3 million people each year. That is six percent of all deaths around the world. And in a new report on alcohol use around the world, the WHO says alcohol can create dependency, or addiction, in some people. The report also warns that alcohol use can increase the risk of developing more than 200 diseases, including some kinds of cancers. And, the WHO says alcohol abuse can put people at greater risk of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis(肺结核), pneumonia (肺炎)and HIV.

    WHO Mental Health and Substance Abuse Director Shekhar Saxena says the organization is concerned about drinking among young people between the ages 15 and 19. And it is most concerned about "binge-drinking", or an extended period of heavy drinking.

    The report concludes that worldwide 16 percent of drinkers over the age of 15 engage in binge-drinking, which is much more harmful than other kind of drinking and causes the most harm in terms of accidents, self-harm and harm to others. High income countries have the highest alcohol consumption and also the highest prevalence(盛行) of binge-drinking.

    The report also found that the highest rates of alcohol-linked deaths are in Europe, followed by the West Pacific and then the Americans. The report also finds Europe is the area with the highest alcohol use. Central and Eastern Europe are especially high.

    The World Health Organization suggests ways countries can protect people from alcohol abuse. These include increasing taxes on alcohol sales, raising the drinking age limit, and controlling the marketing of alcoholic beverages.

    Britain and France are two important countries in Europe. They are neighbors, separated only by the 20-mile seaway of the English Channel. And for most of the time that the two countries have existed, the French and the British have been rivals or even enemies. One conflict between the two countries lasted over 100 years, and the British and French were at war through the 18th century.

    There is no fighting now, of course. But there is still a strong sense of rivalry (敌对) between the two nations. That's why a recent survey in the UK caused a major shock.

It revealed (揭露) that one third of the British people would like to live in France. It also showed that twenty-one percent of British people would actually prefer to have been born in France.

    Many reasons were given. France has a better climate and a more relaxed lifestyle, with some of the longest holidays in Europe. It is thought to have better public services in every area from health to transport. People in France work shorter hours and enjoy longer vacations. And think of the food and wine!

    Estimates (估计) of the numbers of Britons living in France range from 100,000 to half a million. But it is not one-way traffic. Around 15,000 French people per year come to live in Britain, mainly settling in London. They are attracted by higher pay in Britain, lower taxes, a more dynamic lifestyle. Now it seems that people can go to the place that suits them best.