British English may have come first, but around the world, the American way of spelling is now far more popular.

    A recent examination of the English language shows that publications now largely use the American version swapping words like “centre” for “center” after the 1880s. To get data, researchers used Google's Ngram Viewer to analyze the words found in all English-language publications from 1800 to 2000. Entering a word into the viewer will show how frequently it occurs within the massive corpus(语料库)of books around the world.

    According to the data, this shift was further strengthened around World War I. Since then, English-language publications have preferred “gray” and “flavor” instead of “grey” and “flavour”. The American spelling has continued to grow over the years, with “liter” passing “liter” around 1900, and “center” becoming the more common choice over “centre” in 1913. “1913 marked a turning point in British spelling, as the American alternative became more frequently used in literature,” the post explains, in regard to “center”. This was just a year before the beginning of World War I, which many views as a key period in America's rise to superpower status.

    Though this switched again between 1920s and the late 1930s, the American, spelling took over for good around 1940, during which time the spelling “airplane” shifted dramatically over “aeroplane”.

    Ever since the middle of the 19th century, even the British Isles have slowly rejected the old spelling. The future is gray for British English.

the global village, everyone becomes a neighbour.

    The printing press has a long history. It was invented in Germany by Joannes Gutenberg around 1440, and brought to England by William Caxton in the 1470s.Yet the basic technology of printing remained the same up to the end of the 18th century, requiring two men to operate a wooden screw press by hand, producing about 200 impressions an hour. The 19th century was the period in which this process was mechanised, automated, and made many times faster.

    A key moment in the development of mass newspapers was the development of the steam-powered printing press, adopted by the times in 1814. The new presses were able to print per hour around five times the number produced by the machines. The editor, John Walter, had the machines fixed secretly at night, so that when his printers reported for duty the next morning the majority of them found that they were out of work. The Times went from a circulation of 5,000 a day in 1815 to around 50,000 in the middle of the century. This was not caused by the steam press, but neither could it have happened without it.

    Later developments improved this effect: the Applegath machine achieved 5,000 impressions per hour, and the Hoe press, an import from the United States, reached to 20,000 impressions per hour. Increase in the speed of papermaking in this period brought down the cost of printed materials both for the producer and the customer. In 1896, the Daily Mail was sold at the cost of only half a penny, and by 1900 it was selling nearly 1,000,000 copies a day.

    If print production was completely changed in those years, then so was its distribution. The appearance of the steam railway meant that for the first time newspapers could be distributed across the country on a daily basis.

When it comes to making healthy lifestyle changes, which should come first-changing your diet or becoming more physically active?

Previous studies suggested that providing people with too much information about nutrition and physical activity at once tends (趋向)to be discouraging. That has led to the popularity of advising people to make changes gradually, and set smaller goals.

So the scientists divided 200 inactive participants who were 45 or older into four groups. One group was instructed in making diet and fitness changes at the same time, the second group was taught about diet changes first, and then fitness changes four months later, the third group changed their exercise habits first and made changes in their eating habits four months later, and the final, control group was not instructed in either diet or fitness changes but in how to manage their stress.

The researchers followed the groups for a full year. Compared to the control group, the three intervention (干预)groups made healthy changes in their diet. Those who changed their fitness habits first significantly increased the amount of exercise they received daily compared to the other groups after four months. However, at the end of the year, the group that changed both diet and exercise at the same time was the only one that met the nationally recommended targets for both exercise and nutrition levels, while those who worked on improving their nutrition first were unable to meet the recommended levels of fitness after a year. The researchers suspect that changes to diet are easier to make than changes to physical activity.

The findings show, however, that pairing diet and exercise changes may help to overcome some of the barriers people face in adding more physical activity into their lives. If folks change diet and exercise orderly, the scientists say, they may end up placing more importance on the first set of behavior changes and feel less pressured to address the second set.

    Believe it or not, have you ever noticed that you feel happier and more relaxed after you eat bread, pasta or fruit? Do you find that you are more energetic and awake after eating yogurt or beans? These things are not accidents. Food affect we feel more than we think. Scientists researching (it) effect on our moods are beginning to understand that we can influence our feelings with what we eat.

    Although our moods relates having various foods, it is not quite as simple as choosing the foods for the right occasions. If that (be) the case, athletes would not eat a lot of carbohydrates before a race.

    Another chemical (connect) with our mood is caffeine, which (find) in coffee, chocolate and many types of tea, is perhaps worst thing you can have when you are feeling stressed.

    Of course, (enjoy) a nice meal with friends, whatever we eat, can also impact our spirits. Being with friends and family plays a big part in experiencing happiness.

    Most (important), though, remember the following old rule: try to eat different food, not too much.

    Benjamin West, the father of American painting, showed his talent for art when he was only six years of age. But he did not know about brushes before a visitor told him he needed one. In those days, a brush was made from camel's hair. There were no camels nearby. Benjamin decided that cat hair would work instead. He cut some fur from the family cat to make a brush.

    The brush did not last long. Soon Benjamin needed more fur. Before long, the cat began to look ragged（蓬乱）. His father said that the cat must be sick. Benjamin was forced to admit what he had been doing.

    The cat's lot was about to improve. That year, one of Benjamin's cousins, Mr. Pennington, came to visit. He was impressed with Benjamin's drawings. When he went home, he sent Benjamin a box of paint and some brushes. He also sent six engravings（版画） by an artist. These were the first pictures and first real paint and brushes Benjamin had ever seen. In 1747, when Benjamin was nine years old, Mr. Pennington returned for another visit. He was amazed at what Benjamin had done with his gift. He asked Benjamin's parents if he might take the boy to Philadelphia for a visit.

    In the city, Mr. Pennington gave Benjamin materials for creating oil paintings. The boy began a landscape(风景) painting. William Williams, a well-known painter, came to see him work. Williams was impressed with Benjamin and gave him two classic books on painting to take home. The books were long and dull. Benjamin could read only a little, having been a poor student. But he later said,＂ Those two books were my companions by day, and under my pillow at night.＂ While it is likely that he understood very little of the books, they were his introduction to classical paintings. The nine-year-old boy decided then that he would be an artist.

    Three years ago, when I entered my school for the first time, I was welcomed by students wearing white shirts with a badge (徽章) saying “Prefect” on them, who greeted me with the1“Welcome to Huaxia Middle School”. I was immediately impressed and2 I could be one of them. Then next year, in the summer of 2016, my wish3 when I was selected to be a prefect. Just like the ones4 me, I was to stand at the school gate and 5 new freshmen.

    So, you may wonder, what 6 is a prefect? Prefects are student leaders in our school. They're usually top students7 from higher grades to help teachers run the school 8 of the classroom9 you're chosen to be a prefect, you need to be a nearly perfect student. Becoming a prefect wasn't10 for me. I used to be sensitive and 11 caring too much about what others thought of me. But since I was12 to become a prefect, I tried my best to be more brave and hardworking, making rapid13in a year.

    The biggest benefit of being a prefect is that it teaches me to be14 and set an example for lower grade students. I was a member of the school soccer team, but I wasn't a good 15 and felt embarrassed about my poor 16. After having some students from lower grades join our team, however, I knew that I had to set a good example. So, I kept practicing my skills and 17 greatly.

    Being a prefect doesn't 18 mean I have a badge on my shirt. It also means that I have a hardworking attitude deep in my19“You can make it,” I always remind myself. Becoming a prefect has20 me to work harder and become an even better person.