Some time after 10,000 BC, people made the first real attempt to control the world they lived     1     , through agriculture. Over thousands of years, they began to depend less on     2     could be hunted or gathered from the wild, and more on animals they had raised and crops they had sown.

Farming produced more food per person     3     hunting and gathering, so people were able to raise more children. And，as more children were born, more food     4    (need). Agriculture gave people their first experience of the power of technology     5    (change) lives.

By about 6000 BC，people     6     (discover)the best crops to grow and animals to raise. Later，they learned to work with the     7     (season)，planting at the right time and, in dry areas,     8     (make) use of annual floods to irrigate (灌溉) their fields.

This style of farming lasted for quite a long time. Then，with     9     rise of science, changes began. New methods     10     (mean) that fewer people worked in farming. In the last century or so, these changes have accelerated. New power machinery and artificial fertilizers (化肥) have now totally transformed a way of life that started in the Stone Age.

Something significant is happening to the world population-it is aging. The median(中位数的)age of an American in 1950    1    (be)30-today it is 41 and is expected    2    (increase)to 42 by 2050. For Japan, the    3    (number)are more striking-22 in 1950, 46 today and 53 in 2050. In 2015, one in 12 people around the world were over 65；by 2050, it will be one in six.

This aging of the population is driven    4    two factors. The first is declining birthrates, which means old generations are large    5    (compare)to younger generations, and so, on average, the population becomes    6    (old)than before. This is    7    (particular)true in the US. The second reason is that people are living longer. A child born in the US today has    8    very realistic chance of living beyond 100 and needs to plan accordingly.

People tend to focus on the first factor. However, greater attention should    9    (place)on longevity(长寿). It isn't just that people are, on average, living longer. It's also that they are on average healthier    10    more productive for longer. Therefore, they can work for longer, consume more and in general be a boost to the economy.

Rise After Falling

A father was worried about his son,     1     was sixteen years old but had no courage at all. So the father decided to call on a Buddhist monk(僧侣)     2    (train) his boy.

The Buddhist monk said to the boy’s father, “I insist that your son should be left alone here. I’ll make him into a real man within three months.     3    , you can’t come to see him during this period.”

Three months later, the boy’s father     4    (return). The Buddhist monk arranged a boxing match between the boy and an     5    (experience) boxer. Each time the fighter struck the boy, he     6    (fall) down, but at once the boy stood up; and each time a heavy blow knocked him down, the boy stood up again. Several times later, the Buddhist monk asked, “    7     do you think of your child?”

“What a shame!” the boy’s father said, “I never thought he would be so     8    (easy) knocked down. I needn’t have him stay here any     9    (long)!

“I’m sorry that that’s all you see. Don’t you see that each time he falls down, he stands up again instead of     10    (cry)? That’s the kind of courage you wanted him to have.”

Few people I know seem to have much desire or time to cook. Making Chinese     1    (dish) is seen as especially troublesome. Many westerners     2     come to China cook much less than in their own countries once they realize how cheap     3     can be to eat out. I still remember     4     (visit) a friend who’d lived here for five years and I     5    (shock) when I learnt she hadn’t cooked once in all that time.

While regularly eating out seems to     6    (become) common for many young people in recent years, it’s not without a cost. The obvious one is money; eating out once or twice a week may be     7    (afford) but doing this most days adds up. There could be an even     8     (high) cost on your health. Researchers have found that there is a direct link between the increase in food eaten outside the home and the rise in     9    (weigh) problems.

If you are not going to suffer this problem, then I suggest that the next time you go to your mum’s home     10     dinner, get a few cooking tips from her. Cooking food can be fun. You might also begin to notice the effects not only on your health but in your pocket.