Kweichow Moutai, the company that makes the eponymous (同名的) liquor, is China’s most valuable firm outside of technology. Globally, its market cap has surpassed Coca-Cola, which had long held the     1     as the world’s largest beverage maker.

Apart from the Chinese diaspora (移民社区), however, Moutai is still     2     unknown overseas. Almost all — about 97% — of its sales come from China alone, according to its financial reports.

So how is a company that sells its products     3     in just one country now worth more than some longstanding global corporations? And can Kweichow Moutai succeed in     4     to non-Chinese consumers?

Moutai is named after Maotai, a picturesque small town in the southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou. This is where the company says its baijiu — distilled (蒸馏) from fermented (发酵的) sorghum and rice — gets the magic     5    .

According to the Moutai Museum, environmental factors, such as the town’s climate and seasonal changes in the water of the local river, help give the liquor its unique taste and is     6     to the production process.

Known as the favorite tipple of Mao Zedong, founder of Communist China, and as the ‘drink of     7    ,’ it was famously used to welcome former US President Richard Nixon on his historic trip to China in 1972, and again in 2013 when Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his US counterpart, Barack Obama, in California.

Being part of so many major public events in China ‘has really     8     the brand in the national consciousness,’ said Cavender, the managing director of China Market Research Group.

Today, the brand is seen more as a     9     status symbol. Some customers buy it not to drink, but to keep as investments. Limited-edition cases are collected and showcased by international auction houses, like Christie’s, which says that some bottles can     10     more than $40,000 each.

“It’s also been a tremendous advantage during an economically tough year: wealthy consumers who are spending less on travel may splurge more on liquor,” Cavender said.

There have been a lot of changes in American eating habits in the last ten years. One is the     1     awareness of the nutritional value of food. Another is an increasing interest in a variety of     2     foods. Since about 1970, Americans have been more and more     3     about health. They have begun to notice the ingredients(配料) in what they eat.

When they select food in the supermarket, they     4     the package over to read the labels carefully. They prefer to eat food that is     5     without unnecessary chemicals and often choose fruits and vegetables grown without poisons used to kill insects. A small group of Americans,     6     vegetarians, has decided not to eat meat. They choose a complete diet from other kinds of food because they think that meat products are not good for health.

Also more and more Americans have become interested in food from other countries. They have been going out to international restaurants and     7     trying unfamiliar dishes. Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, and Greek cooking as well as many other recipes(食谱)are all     8     these days in the United States. People to say that Americans ate uninteresting, unhealthy food, but this has     9     in the last ten years.

A growing number of Japanese have become recluses（隐居者）. Pressure from work and society is causing some to escape.

About a year ago, Mika Shibata's youngest son returned to the family home and went     1    upstairs. He has yet to emerge from his bedroom. At the age of 26, he sleeps during the day and stays awake at night. His mother feeds and shelters him, hoping he will recover from this state.

The Shibata family's pain is shared by many others in Japan. The government says there are more than 1 million hikikomori, or recluses,       2    as people who have played no part in society for at least six months. Many have barely stepped outside their homes for decades.

A handful of     3    crimes have pushed them back into public view. In Maya recluse, aged 51, killed two people, including a child, in the city of Kawasaki before committing suicide.

When the phenomenon became widely noticed over a generation ago, few understood it. Recluses were considered lazy or odd. Mental-health care was scarce and official support     4    

Parents felt responsible and were too embarrassed to look for help. But even now, occasional crimes involved recluses cause concerns that they are dangerous, says Morito Ishizaki, a recovered hikikomori who runs a magazine for sufferers.

In fact, he explains, they are rarely criminals. Many have just collapsed under pressure at school or work and have     5    to their childhood sanctuaries（避难所）.

Support groups are     6    up around the country. Tokyo is among several cities with helplines and websites that try to reach shut-ins, who range from teenage school dropouts to salarymen who have lost their jobs.

Ageing parents often come     7    help, says Ichiro of Tokyo's metropolitan government. He says they worry that after they die, their hikikomori children will not be able to survive.

More than half of Japan's recluses are now aged over 40, according to a Cabinet Office survey this year. That shocked the government, which had     8    the condition mainly affected the young.

Tamaki Saito, a psychiatrist who     9    the term hikikomori, says the government is partly to blame for turning a blind eye. Now the problem has grown. If it is not taken     10    , many more might become recluses, he says.

No, You Were Not Happier Way Back Then

We sometimes get stuck thinking that everything was so much better, and easier, in the past. It's one of the tricks our minds play on us, especially when we are feeling vulnerable or overwhelmed.

However,     1     is it the case that things were "objectively" better in the past. Psychologists refer to this flawed thought pattern as rosy retrospection. It happens because when we think about the past, we are more likely to think about people, events, places, and things in the     2    . And, when we do so, we are more likely to focus on positive generalities than the unpleasant details.

Here's an example: If you think back to a holiday you had with your family say, five years ago, you're likely to remember the enjoyable conversations you had, the good food you ate, and the great family photos you were able to take. You're probably not going to remember how uncomfortable the couch was that you slept on for five nights     3    , how you had a cold for the entire trip, how your travel plans were     4     by bad weather, and, not to mention, how stressful it was being with your     5     family for a whole week.

In other words, the negative details about past events     6     out of our memory over 26 years while the positive aspects of our past experiences remain. It’s good that this happens, as it keeps us in a positive frame of mind in the present. In fact, people who tend to remember negative experiences more than positive ones are likely to exhibit mood disorders such as depression. In other words, rosy retrospection is a cognitive bias — but, like many cognitive biases, it is one     7     an important purpose.

It can, however, lead to mistakes in     8     decision-making. So it's always a good idea to approach our nostalgic (怀旧的) feelings with a healthy degree of caution.

Psychological research generally suggests that our best days are ahead of us, not behind, There searchers found that optimism was lowest in people's twenties, then rose gradually through people's thirties and forties,     9     in people's fifties, and gradually declining after that.

In other words, there's good evidence to suggest that your happiest days are still to come. And, even if they're not, it's still important to assume that they are. Don't     10     away from looking upon the past with a certain degree of fondness. But, for the same reason, don't use the past as an excuse to be unhappy in the present.