Americans’ pride and faith of their economic system,【C1】_____that it provides opportunities for all citizens to have good lives, are【C2】__by the【C3】_____that poverty persists in many parts of the country.

Government anti-poverty efforts have made some progress but have not eradicated the problem.【C4】_____. periods of strong economic growth, which bring more jobs and higher wages, have【C5】__poverty but have not【C6】_____it entirely.

The federal government【C7】_____poverty line as a minimum【C8】__of income【C9】__for basic maintenance of a family of four. This amount may fluctuate【C10】__the cost of living and the location of the family. In 1998, a family of four with an annual income below $16,530 was classified【C11】_____living in poverty.

The percentage of people living below poverty line dropped from 22.4 percent in 1959 to 11.4 percent in 1978. But【C12】________it has fluctuated in a fairly narrow range. In 1998, it stood at 12.7 percent.

【C13】_____the overall figures mask much more severe pockets of poverty. In 1998, more than one-quarter of all African-Americans lived in poverty; though【C14】_____high, that figure did represent an improvement from 1979 when 31 percent of blacks were officially classified as poor.

There are【C15】_____estimations on the accuracy of official poverty figures. Some analysts have suggested that the official poverty figures【C16】__the real【C17】__of poverty because they measure only cash income and exclude certain government assistance programs such as Food Stamps. Others point out, however, that these programs 【C18】__cover all of a family’s food or health care needs.【C19】__others point out that people at the poverty line sometimes receive cash income from【C20】_____work and in the underground sector of economy which is never recorded in official statistics.

The old saying of never forgetting a pretty face might be untrue as psychologists believe beautiful people are less likely to be recognized. A new study suggests that attractiveness can actually prevent the recognition of faces, unless a pretty face is particularly distinctive.

German psychologists think the recognition of pretty faces is distorted by emotions. Scientists at the University of Jena, Germany, discovered that photos of unattractive people were more easily remembered than pretty ones when they showed them to a group of people. Researchers Holger Wiese, Carolin Altmann and Stefan Schweinberger from the university, wrote in their study: “We could show that the test subjects were more likely to remember unattractive faces than attractive ones, when the latter didn’t have any particularly noticeable traits.”

For the study, which was published in science magazine Neuropsychologic!, the psychologists showed photos of faces to test subjects. Half of the faces were considered to be more attractive and the other half as less attractive, but all of them were being thought of as similarly distinctive looking. The test subjects were shown the faces for just a few seconds to memorize them and were shown them again during the test so that they could decide if they recognized them or not.

The scientists were surprised by the result. “Until now we assumed that it was generally easier to memorize faces which are being perceived as attractive, just because we prefer looking at beautiful faces,” Dr. Wiese said. But the study showed that such a connection cannot be easily sustained. He assumes that remembering pretty faces is distorted by emotional influences, which enhance the sense of recognition at a later time. The researchers’ idea is backed up by evidence from EEG-recordings which show the brain’s electric activity, which the scientists used during their experiment.

The study also revealed that in the case of attractive faces, considerably morefalse positive resultswere detected. In other words, people thought they recognized a face without having seen it before. “We obviously tend to believe that we recognize a face just because we find it attractive.” Dr. Wiese said.

In 1981, Nancy G. Brinker made a promise to her sister, who was dying of breast cancer. The public relations consultant vowed that she would work to spare other women from suffering in the same way. It was a dramatic gesture, and it led to a dramatic result: A year later, Nancy formed the Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, named after her sister. Having no fortune of her own, she needed a way to both raise money and draw attention to the course. Thenovelsolution, which she arrived at while jogging, was to start a series of five kilometer charity runs named the Race for the Cure.

Such events are now ubiquitous, but the 1983 Race for the Cure was one of the first. And it has become one of the largest. Since its inception, the Komen Foundation has collected more than $630 million for breast cancer research and is considered a prime mover behind the progress in treatment.

At the time that Brinker founded the Komen Foundation, breast cancer was rarely discussed in public and was a low priority in oncology research, despite the fact that it strike ones in seven women. She initially approached charitable groups, but none was interested in breast cancer. So in 1982, Brinker gathered 20 women in her living room and asked for their help. “The oil business was booming in Taxas back then,” she says, and the group was able to raise $1 million in a year. But it was the Race for the Cure that made Komen a mega-foundation.

Most important, the foundation has doled out more than $180 million in research grants. “There is hardly an advance in the science of breast cancer over the past 20 years that hasn’t been touched by a Komen grant.” Scientists acknowledge that Brinker’s fundraising, and the attention the Komen foundation has drawn to the disease, have played a large part in improving the prognosis for patients. Breast cancer death rates have dropped 2.3％ a year over the past decade, a greater improvement than any other of the five leading cancer killers.

In honor of her work, and for setting a template for other advocacy efforts, Brinker was awarded the prestigious Lasker Award for Public Service. “Brinker”, said the Lasker Foundation, “dramatically increased public awareness about this devastating disease.” Still, Brinker says her promise to her sister is far from fulfilled “We remain focused on one thing—a world without breast cancer,” she says. “We will continue to address causation, as well as the disparities in treatment in medically underserved populations.” So Brinker continue to Race for the Cure.

Amazon is looking at drastically reducing its delivery times—to 30 minutes or less— as it plans a new service called Prime Air that it says could debut in a few years. The giant online retailer plans to use semi-autonomous drones to carry purchases to customers. CEO Jeff Bezos announced the plan Sunday on CBS’60 Minutes.

Bezos tells Charlie Rose that Amazon’s “octocopter” could be airborne within four to five years, using GPS coordinates to find customers.

The drones would depart from the retailer’s “fulfillment centres,” the huge warehouses it has built near many large population centers in the U.S. and elsewhere. They can carry about five pounds, Bezos says, a figure that covers around 85 percent of Amazon’s products.

The delivery drones would be particularly useful in densely populated urban areas, Bezos says. Powered by electricity, their current range of operation is around 10 miles from the point of origin.

Writing that “drones can explode, or run into things,” the Quartz technology blog’s Heather Timmons notes that safety concerns may limit where the new delivery devices could be used.

In addition to safety concerns, drones could face another challenge before they’re widely used for delivery: overcoming the possible suspicions of citizens who have mostly seen the unmanned aircraft mentioned in conjunction with military and surveillance uses.

Rose’s interview of Bezos also touched on the retailer’s 10-year, $600 million contract with the CIA, through its Amazon Web Services unit. The company is using its technological expertise to build a computing cloud for the agency, Bezos said.

When asked by Rose if that presented a conflict, Bezos answered, “We’re building what’s called a private cloud for them, Charlie, because they don’t want to be on the public cloud.”

Amazon isn’t alone in pursuing drone delivery. Earlier this year, a pilot project by Domino’s Pizza looked at flying hot pizzas to customers in Britain, posting a video of a successful test run.

That led the site Singularity Hub to observe:

“So why are drones such a big deal? In our robotic future, anything that can reduce urban congestion, minimize carbon emissions, save money andsave trips to the emergency room(car accidents kill, you know) will drive huge value in the economy and make our lives better, to boot.”

More than a decade ago, heart attack victim Phil Sokolof ran a series of advertisements accusing laden burgers and fries. Although McDonald’s representatives labeled the advertising claims made by Mr. Sokolof and his National Heart Savers Association an “outrageous lie”, the advertisements were effective and change did occur as the chain eventually shifted to vegetable oil in lieu of beef tallow.

Today, fast food once again finds itself at center stage in controversy surrounding its impact on public health. Morgan Spurlock, an amateur filmmaker, committed himself to an exclusive McDonald’s only diet for 30 days breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Always eating every item on the McDonald’s menu over the course of the month produced dramatic effects on his health. He gained some 18 pounds over the course of the experiment, experienced liver damage. Spuriock’s body fat composition increased by 7 percent, his cholesterol went up 60 points, and his blood pressure rose from¹²⁰⁄₈₀to¹⁵⁰⁄₁₀₀. Mr. Spuriock’s experiences are the subject of his new film, Super Size Me. Similar to its response to the Sokolof advertisements, McDonald’s representatives have attempted to discredit Spuriock’s experiment, calling his film “over the top”, “irresponsible”, and a “stunt full of distortions”. Shortly after Mr. Spuriock’s revelations about his fast food experiment, the Associated Press reported that McDonald’s was phasing out its supersize menu options.

Many critics blame businesses like McDonald’s for public health concerns, contending that fast-food menus contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and a variety of other diet-related problems. Parallels have been draw between fast food, tobacco, and firearms: allegedly, all of these industries market products potentially injurious to public health, impose costs on society, and do not pay for the damage they cause. To date, two high-profile lawsuits have been filed on behalf of consumers against the fast-food industry. Critics opposed to such litigation argue that dietary practices are a matter of individual choice and personal responsibility. Fearing that fast food will become the next big tobacco and will be destroyed by “this ridiculous trend of lawsuit Lotto,” Representative Ric Keller of Florida has urged the Congress to enact legislation protecting the industry.

What is clear, and often seems to be lost in the debate over personal responsibility and litigation, is that America and other countries are experiencing an obesity crisis, particularly among younger segments of the population. Obesity contributes to approximately 300,000 premature deaths each year in America alone, leading some business critics to suggest that obesity, driven by fast food, will eventually surpass tobacco as the number one preventable cause of death and debilitation in the United States.

[A] Medicate with caution and see a doctor

[B] Go to bed early

[C] Get rid of time cues

[D] Get out of bed

[E] Try relaxation techniques

[F] Ease anxiety

[G] Take medicine when you are sleepless

How to Fall Asleep?

It’s 4 a.m., and you should be sleeping! You should be logging those crucial seven-plus hours of quality sleep each night, and the frustration that you cannot fall asleep will make you feel angrier at this 4:02 a.m. stare session. And it’s hard to fall asleep when you’re infuriated.

So what do you do? The tips below might help you sleep easier. Here’s the advice of Eric Olson, co-director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minn, and Harneet Walia, a doctor in the Cleveland Clinic’s Sleep Disorders Center.

【R1】________

When you lie awake in bed, you send yourself the wrong message. “You’re basically training your body not to sleep in bed, but to lie there and not sleep,” Dr. Walia says. “And your mind can get conditioned to that.” So if you’re unable to sleep for about a 15 or 20 minute stretch, try something relaxing and non-stimulating. Listen to music. Read a book. Whatever activity you choose, do it away from bed, and return when you’re feeling tired.

【R2】________

Use whatever relaxation tips you know to combat this inappropriately timed alertness. Try your favorite calming yoga pose. Neuroscience researcher Catherine Kerr explains a simple way of relaxing through breathing. You simply note the rising and falling of your breath, and focus on the parts of your body where you feel your breath, whether it’s in the lungs, tip of your nose or elsewhere. Visualization is another classic relaxing technique, in which you picture yourself someplace pleasant and calm. And what about the mother of all sleep remedies—counting sheep? Olson views this as a “mental distraction technique,” like visualization. He says, “You’re getting your mind off of ’I can’t sleep’ and onto something else.”

【R3】________

Sometimes the sleeplessness stems from worry. Your brain is overworking, thinking about your bank account and the big meeting tomorrow. For people who consistently have trouble “quieting the mind” at night, Dr. Olson suggests trying “to train your mind to think about those things at more appropriate times of the day.” By systematically documenting these worries during the day, ideally, you’ll be less likely to focus on them at night.

【R4】________

Another common anxiety that hides in the wee hours of a sleepless night is the mounting awareness that you’re not asleep when you should be. Stress and frustration increase as you worry about how you need to be up for work in four (or three or two) hours. The experts’ suggestion? Get rid of time cues. “No clock watching,” Walia says, “That’s a big no-no. Turn the clock around.”

【R5】________

Whether prescription or over-the-counter, Dr. Walia and Dr. Olson do not recommend drugs as a first choice for relieving sleeplessness. Ideally, the tips above and improved sleep hygiene should do the trick. But, should you choose a sleep aid, Olson reminds people that, of course, they make you sleepy. If your sleeplessness is frequent and influencing your daytime behavior, bring it up with your physician. “When people start to feel like they’re worried about their sleep during the day, that’s probably the time when they need some guidance,” Olson says.