Passage Five

Originally the food of emperors, the cuisine known as kaiseki is the pinnacle of Japanese eating —and few restaurants serve a more refined menu than Kikunoi, in the former imperial capital of Kyoto. Kaiseki dining is the product of centuries of cultural evolution, but though Kikunoi is high-end — as the bill will indicate —its cuisine is meant to be a grand elaboration of the basic Japanese home meal: rice, fish, pickles, vegetables and miso soup, artfully presented in small, healthy portions.

"I believe that Japanese cuisine is something embedded in Japanese people’s DNA," says Kikunoi’s owner, Yoshihiro Murata. That may be true, but it’s a legacy under assault, increasingly crowded out by fast, convenient, westernized food. These days, Murata says sadly, his college-age daughter doesn’t see much difference between cheap restaurant food and the haute cuisine he makes. "I think that in Japan, people should eat good Japanese food," he says. "But they are faraway from it."

Japan is not alone. Food and diet are the cornerstones of any culture, one of the most reliable symbols of national identity. Think of the long Spanish lunch followed by the afternoon siesta, a rhythm of food and rest perfectly suited to the blistering heat of the Iberian Peninsula in summer. Think of the Chinese meal of rice, vegetables and (only recently) meat, usually served in big collective dishes, the better for extended clans to dine together. National diets come to incorporate all aspects of who we are: our religious taboos, class structure, geography, economy, even government.

Even the traditions we learn from others we adopt and adapt in ways that make them our own. Japan received chopsticks from China and tempura from Portugal. Tomatoes, that staple of pasta and pizza, arrived in Southern Europe only as part of the Columbian Exchange. "A lot of what we think of as deeply rooted cultural traditions are really traceable back to global exchange," says Miriam Chaiken, a nutritional anthropologist at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

In an era of instant communication and accelerated trade, those cultural exchanges have exploded, leading to something closer to cultural homogenization. That’s bad for not only the preservation of national identities but the preservation of health too. Saturated fats and meats are displacing grains and fresh vegetables. Mealtimes are shrinking. McDonald’s is everywhere. From Chile to China, the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease is on the rise. This, in turn, is leading to a minimovement in some countries to hold fast to traditional food culture, even as their menu grows ever more international.

Questions 21-25 are based on Passage Five.

We can learn from the first paragraph that Kikunoi is ______.

Paragraph Ten

Active people are much less likely to smoke; they’re thinner and they eat differently than their sedentary peers. They also tend to be more educated, and education is one of the strongest predictors of good health in general and a longer life.

Reasons why active people tend to be h____.

The ups and downs of life may seem to have no predictable plan. But scientists now know there are very definite life patterns that almost all people share. Today, when we live 20 years longer than our great-grandparents, and when women mysteriously outlive men by seven years, it is clearer than ever that the "game of life" is really a game of trade-offs. (46. As we age, we trade strength for ingenuity, speed for thoroughness, and passion for reason. These exchanges may not always seem fair, but at every age, there are some advantages.) So it is reassuring to note that even if you’ve passed some of your "prime", you still have other prime years to experience in the future. Certain important primes seem to peak later in time.

WHEN ARE YOU SMARTEST? From 18 to 25, according to IQ scores; but you are more experienced with increasing age. You’re sharpest in your 20’s; around 30, memory begins to decline, particularly your ability to perform mathematical computations. "But your IQ for other tasks climbs," says Berkeley psychologist Arthur Jensen. Your vocabulary at age 45, for example, is three times as great as when you graduated from college. At 60, your brain possesses almost four times as much information as it did at age 21. (47. This trade-off between sharpness and wisdom has led psychologist Dr. Leopold Bellak to suggest that "maturity quotients" (MQs instead of IQs) be adopted for adults.)

WHEN ARE YOU HEALTHIEST? For men, from 15 to 25; for women 15 to 30.

"A man is in his best shape in the decade before age 25," says New York internist Dr. Donald Timkins. "His muscles are firmest, his resistance to colds and infection is highest, and his body is most efficient in utilizing nutrients." (48. Women, for reasons scientists do not understand, get a five-year bonus.) Peak health begins to decline when the body process called anabolism (cell growth) is overtaken by the opposite process, catabolism (cell death). "Cells have been dyingsince birth," says Tomkins, "but in our late 20’s, they start dying faster than they are replaced." Also, muscle is replaced with fat.

WHEN ARE YOU HAPPIEST? You have the best physical sense of yourself from 15 to 24; the best professional sense from 40 to 49. Pessimism peaks between 30 and 39. San Diego State University psychologists Marilyn Borges and Linda Dutton found that before age 24, we believe that our happiest years are yet to come; over 30, we believe that they’ re behind us. (49. The pessimism peak occurs when we realize that talent and determination aren’t enough to guarantee success.)Lady Luck must help.

Also, youth’s good physical sense of self apparently does little to foster happiness. "Parents who tell their teenage children these are the happiest years," says Ligger, "couldn’t be more wrong. Adolescence is very difficult. Only when you are 40 and looking back does youth look blissful."

By viewing life’s various peaks, we can easily get the feeling that we are part of a giant give-and-take plan. (50. Though statistically the plan is there, we must remember that every peak has many exceptions. Says McLeish, "The human life journey cannot be charted by a single curving line.")

Paragraph Seven

Researchers found that of all the forms of inactivity they examined, television-viewing was the worst. It was linked to significantly higher blood pressure in children — the more TV kids watched, the higher their blood pressure — and the effect held true regardless of whether a child was heavy or at a healthy weight.

L ____ were found between TV watching and high blood pressure in children.

Paragraph Eight

The eating habits of American children appear to be shifting. And for a change, the news is good.Burgers, fries and colas remain popular with the under-13 set, of course. But new market research shows that consumption of these foods at restaurants is declining, while soup, yogurt, fruit, grilled chicken and chocolate milk are on the rise.

A s _____ for the better in the eating habits of American children.

Paragraph Nine

Not even the most optimistic greens could have predicted that the federal government’s cash-for-clunkers program would work this well — more than 240,000 Americans have traded in their clunkers so far, and the program has already burned through its first round of funding.

S ____ of a government program.

Paragraph Six

"Alas," said Huntington Willard, the Duke University genome expert, "genetically speaking, if you’ve met one man, you’ve met them all. We are, I hate to say it, predictable. You can’t say that about women. Men and women are farther apart than we ever knew."

Women are genetically more c ____ than men.

Paragraph Five

In recent decades most of North America has been experiencing more unusually hot days and nights, fewer unusually cold days and nights, and fewer frost days. Heavy downpours have become more frequent and intense. Droughts are becoming more severe in some regions.

C ____ in extreme weather patterns.

Paragraph Two

Children who are older by a wider gap tend to teach their younger siblings social and manual skills, almost like a third parent, while rivalry is usually greatest when the age difference is small. It is especially so when siblings are under four — they are easily displeased when gratification of their needs is postponed.

A ____ difference plays a crucial role in sibling rivalry.

Paragraph Three

A hundred years ago the Klondike gold rush drew more than 100,000 people from across the globe towards a wilderness where the average January temperature is-30℃. A handful became fabulously wealthy, but most counted themselves lucky to survive. Scores succumbed to diseases before they could make it back to civilization.

Few people became r ____ in the Klondike gold rush.

Paragraph Four

Just 54 per cent of students entering four-year colleges in 1997 had a degree six years later —and even fewer Hispanics and blacks did, according to some of the latest government figures. After borrowing for school but failing to graduate, many of those students may be worse off than if they had never attended college at all.

College d ____ face difficult financial situations.