For more than three centuries, the American colonies and later, the United States have been a place for many "have-nots" to make the "American Dream" come true for themselves and to become "haves." And the optimism that people have, knowing that this    1    will always happen, has grown out of some key elements in the history of the nation, a nation that has differed profoundly from every other country in the world. The economic    2    of the nation will also be very much tied to these success stories. Three characteristics have contributed to such attainments.

First, the United States had natural resources undreamed of in other parts of the world. For farmers and ranchers there was land, often to be had cheaply or even for free. There were endless forests to supply lumber and rich    3    of coal, oil, silver, copper and gold. Besides, critical to the development of these resources was a population of both native-born Americans and immigrant who were connected by their common work ethic. This ethic held that industry and thrift should be

    4    with - as Benjamin Franklin says -- "a State of Affluence and some Degree of Reputation in the World," These Americans believed in self improvement as well as in the nobility of all kinds of work. They also, if somewhat    5    , often linked material success with spiritual movement. Next, by and large, America was characterized by a(n)     6    class structure. In contrast to England and other European countries with their history of aristocrats（贵族）, this country was filled by numerous communities in which family connections or    7    money counted for little.

However, the pursuit of American Dream sometimes also proved to be a source of tension and strain. At the beginning of the 20th century, writers like Jack London and F. Scott Fitzgerald depicted a lot of "have-not" characters whose fate is not a matter of free will. They are    8    by forces beyond their control. Often, in their works, children or young people are victimized by poverty that prevents them from    9    themselves. Convinced that a person's destiny is the result of his or her heredity interacting with the environment, they employ many    10     details to explore the oppressive world in which their characters are trapped. Analyzing characters' assumptions and values continued to illuminate the American experience.

Thanksgiving Day is a special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends     1     to eat and give thanks for their blessings.

Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it     2     in late fall,   after the crops are harvested.

The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich     3     harvest. Early in the 16th century,   the     4     Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth,   Massachusetts. But in the first winter of their     5     they had a difficult time. They suffered a lot and many of the Pilgrims even     6     to death. It was in the next year that they     7     a good harvest. So Governor (州长) Bradford declared a three-day     8    . The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food. Such is the     9     of Thanksgiving Day.

In time,   other colonies (殖民地) began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before Thanksgiving Day became a national     10    . During the Civil War,   President Abraham Lincoln announced the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today,   Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November while Canadians, their neighbours, celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday in October.

Education officials and industry experts are debating the future of online learning. The discussion is important because recently hundreds of universities in the United States have moved classes online because of the     1     of the new coronavirus.

For Asha Choksi, the rise of internet-based or online study programs has led to major improvements in higher education.

“What it’s done is, it’s actually given a lot more power to students in terms of how, when and where they learn,” the head of research for Pearson Education told VOA. Her company is     2     online learning programs.

Colleges and universities worldwide have been looking for ways to provide satisfactory education off campus and outside of     3     business hours. The decision by many schools in the U. S. to suspend in-person classes during the recent coronavirus crisis has shown how important online teaching can be. And demand for such programs is increasing.

The financial advising company Tyton Partners     4     the online program management industry at over $1.5 billion in 2015.

Choksi, however, argues that her company is     5     a path to higher education for people who might not have been able to get a degree otherwise.

Pearson Education is one of a growing number of companies that     6     with schools to create online study aids and full degree programs. Classes meet online through video     7    . In this way, students are able to     8     with each other and their professors even when they are far away from school.

Online learning also permits older students, who work, full-time and support families, to work on their education in their free time. It can be helpful for people who might have difficulty coming to a college campus, such as disabled students or those who live far from any college or university.

However, recent research suggests the majority of college students and professors prefer in-person instruction. In addition, some experts are     9     that companies in charge of online learning programs are not clear about the policies they have with the schools they serve.

Last year, the EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research published two opinion studies on online higher education programs. Researchers asked over 40,000 American undergraduate students and 9,500 professors what they thought about these programs. In both groups, as least 70 percent of people said they prefer in-person     10    .

Japan's Prime Minister and the International Olympic Committee agreed to postpone the Summer Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The decision, announced Tuesday, has    1    ramifications for the sports world as well as for NBC, the network that has become synonymous with the event.

The Olympics, which were scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9 in Tokyo, are both a global athletic competition and a major television event in which NBC and its parent company, Comcast (CMCSA), are heavily invested.

NBC has    2    every summer Olympics since 1988. Postponing this year's games disrupts multiple pans of NBC, from its ad revenue business to the promotion of Peacock, the, network's new     3    service. “This is significant to NBC because They've built their    4     around it. They're the network of the Olympics, said Jay Rosenstein, a former vice president of programming at CBS Sports. "The peacock is intertwined with the rings.” Rosenstein added that nearly every part of NBC is    5    with putting together the games, including its sports, news and cable divisions.

Japanese PM and IOC chief agree to postpone 2020 Olympics until 2021. "This is much more than just a two-week    6    for them. They have to prepare for it for years. Pausing and restarting it is a big challenge, Rosenstein told CNN Business. 'It's also a(n)     7    challenge because the Beying Winter Games in 2022 would likely only be six months later now."

Patrick Crakes, a media consultant and former Fox Sports executive, said that the Olympics are a “top-five investment for Comcast." "Every two years the whole company goes all in to present one of the world's unifying premiere events,” M Crakes told CNN Business, Ulf’s    8    to turning around an aircraft carrier to do all this again next year.

The games are a huge advertising and ratings    9    . NBC Sports announced that it exceeded $1.2 billion in ad sales for the upcoming Olympics - a new record for the games.

Brian Roberts, Comcast’s CEO, said earlier this month that he was "optimistic" that the Olympics would lake place as scheduled, but added that the company is    10    if the games are interrupted or canceled by the outbreak.

Grace Kajange, 29, is a volunteer business development service officer for gender equality from Mbeya region, Tanzania. She is especially concerned about the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for small business owners and entrepreneurs, like those she has been supporting through a VSO project.

“Many business owners here in Tanzania don’t have the skills and knowledge to develop their businesses and just do business to earn a living,” says Grace.

Illiteracy(especially among women), lack of     1    to capital and credit as well as the paucity of business education, make it very challenging to start a business in Tanzania. Now COVID-19 poses a huge new     2    to the small businesses Grace has been supporting as a volunteer.

“We expect changes in sales for small business owners, as people now have changed their     3    behaviors. People are less able to move around and some people have lost their jobs, so many people are now focused on making savings rather than using their money to buy things they used to before COVID-19.”

Many Tanzanians work in the “informal sector”—meaning they have to go out most days to work for that day’s living, such as selling items at a market or the roadside. For families struggling     4    due to COVID-19, there is no furlough scheme or government grant available(Tanzania’s economy is about 2% of the size of the UK’s).

“The nature of life here means people need to leave their homes to go out to work and make a living,” says Grace. “It is not that easy for people to reduce their movements and avoid gathering in some places, if they are to be able to     5    their families and themselves. People are trying hard to take precautions but still the majority can’t     6    to buy things like face masks and sanitisers.”

One of the reasons these items are so expensive for people in Mtwara, where Grace is a volunteer, is a lack of supply. But now, volunteers like Grace are helping     7    this challenge through the same small businesses she has helped to grow.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, VSO has provided training to well over a hundred small businesses, helping them     8    to selling products that are now in high demand but short supply-such as soap, hand sanitiser and face masks.

Since the training, these small businesses have won contracts     9    thousands of pounds and even been able to hire on more staff. Through volunteers like Grace, business owners are     10    , and even thriving, amidst the most difficult circumstances.