Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are     11     by the word "diet" everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that     12     us psychologically and physically.

Diet products seriously weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in the     13     to control the consumption (消耗) of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale (秤) instead. All we have to do is to recognize the word "diet" in food labels. On another level, diet products have greater psychological     14    . Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance (抵制) and     15    .

The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can     16     harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients (营养成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calories only because the diet industry has     17     chemicals to produce these wonder products. Though the chemicals that go into diet products can’t make a(n)     18     impact, these products are not nutritional.

Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to     19     think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to     20     having diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.

Music is nice, people seem to say, but not important. When students and parents are asked to rate subjects according to their importance, the music arts are________ at the bottom of the list. Too often, music is viewed as mere entertainment, but certainly not an education which should be first emphasized. This view is________. In fact, music education is beneficial and important for all students.

Music tells us who we are. Because music is an expression of the beings who create it, it ________ their thinking and values, as well as the social________ it came from. Rock music________ a lifestyle just as surely as does a Schubert song. The jazz influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their music is obviously American________ it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses our character and values. It gives us identity（身份，同一性）as a society.

Music provides a kind of feeling cannot be________ any other way________ can explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts explore the emotional meaning of the same phenomenon（现象）. We need every possible way to discover and________ to our world for one simple but powerful reason: No one way can get it all.

The arts are forms of thought as powerful in what they communicate as mathematical and scientific symbols. They are ways we human being "talk" to each other. They are the________ of civilization（ 文 明 ）through which we express our fears, our curiosities, our hungers, our discoveries, our hopes. The arts are ways we give form to our ideas and imagination so that they can be________ others. When we do not give children________ to an important way of expressing themselves such as music, we________ from them the meanings that music expresses.

Science and technology do not tell us what it means to be human. The________ do. Music is an important way we express the meaning and value of peace and love.

So music education is far more________ than people seems to realize.

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to inferior workmanship and used cheap materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work, the employer came to inspect the house and handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived with dignity.

Planning a visit to the UK? Here are some useful methods to cut down your budget.

AVOID BIG EVENTS

During big sporting games, concerts and exhibitions, the cost of accommodation is more likely to increase. A standard double room at the Thistle Brighton on the final Friday of the Brighton Comedy(喜剧)Festival (19th Oct.) cost £169.15 at Booking. com while just a week later, the same room cost £118.15. If you want to know which dates to a void-or you've looking for a big event to pass your time-check out sites such as Whatsonwhen.com, which allow you to search for events in the UK by city, date and category.

STAYAWAY FROM THE STATION

If traveling to your destination by train, you may want to find a good hotel close to the station, but you are expected to pay more because of convenience at the start of your holiday. Don't put too much attention on the part of town you stay in. Booking two months ahead of schedule, the cheapest single room at Travelodge's Central Euston in London for Saturday 22th September was £95.95. A room just an underground journey away at its Covent Garden hotel was £75.75. While at Farringdon, a double room costs just £62.95.

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF

Really central hotels in cities like London, Edinburgh and Cardiff can cost a fortune, especially at weekends and during big events. So it will be a good choice to consider checking into a self-cooking flat with its own kitchen. Often these flats are hidden away on the top floors of city center buildings. An example is the historic O'Neill Flat on Edinburgh's Royal Mile, available for £420 for five days in September, with room for four adults.

TAKE A BIKE

London's "Boris bikes" have aroused the most attention from home and overseas tourists, but other cities also have similar programs that let you rent a bicycle and explore at your own pace, saving you on public transport or car parking costs. Among the smaller cities with their own programs are Newcastle (approximately £1.50 for two hours) and Cardiff (free for up to 30 minutes).