Inequality between men and women results in poorer health for children and greater poverty for the family, ___50___ a new study. The UN agency Unicef found that in places where women are excluded from family___51___, children are more___52___to suffer from malnutrition.(营养不良) There would be 13 million ___53___ malnourished children in South Asia if women had an ___54___ say in the family, Unicef said.

   Unicef ___55___ family decision-making in 30 countries around the world. Their chief finding is that ___56___ between men and women is vital to___57___ poverty and improving health, especially that of children, in developing countries. The ___58___ are contained in the agency's latest report. This report___59___ to a greater lack of ___60___ for girls and women in education and work which contributes to inferior position and poverty. Where men control the household, less money is spent on health care and food for the family, which ___61___ poorer health for the children.

  An increase in ___62___ and income-earning opportunities for women would increase their ___63___ power, the report said. For example, the agency found that ___64___ has the greater share of household income and property decides whether those resources will be used for family needs.

One day an out of work mime (哑剧演员) was visiting the zoo and attempted to earn some money as a street performer. As soon as he started to draw a   50  , a zoo keeper grabbed him and dragged him into his office. The zoo keeper explained to the mime that the zoo’s most popular attraction, a gorilla, had died suddenly and the keeper feared that   51   at the zoo would fall off.

He offered the mime a job to   52   the gorilla until they could get another one. The mime53  .

So the next morning the mime put on the gorilla suit and entered the cage before the crowd came. He discovered that it was a   54   job. He could sleep if he wanted, play and   55   people and he drew bigger crowds than he ever had as a mime.   56  , eventually the crowds got tired of him and he got tired of just swinging on tails. He   57   to notice that the people were paying more attention to the lion in the cage next to his. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he climbed to the top of his cage, crawled across a partition (隔墙), and dangled (悬荡) from the top to the lion’s cage. Of course, this made the lion very angry, but the crowd   58   it.

At the end of the day the zoo keeper came and gave the mime a   59   for being such an attraction. Well, this went on for some time, the mime kept   60   the lion, the crowds grew larger, and his salary kept going up. Then one terrible day when he was dangling over the angry lion he slipped and fell. The mime was   61  .

The lion gathered itself and prepared to pounce (猛扑). The mime was so scared that he began to run round and round the cage with the lion close   62  . Finally, the mime started screaming and yelling, “Help me, help me!”, but the lion was quick and pounced. The mime soon found himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and the lion said, “  63   you fool! Do you want to get us both 64  ?”

Cash is no longer king as far as most Australians and South Koreans are concerned as more than eight in ten pay less often in cash today than they did five years ago, according to a survey released on Monday.   50   , 69 percent of Americans surveyed use less cash than five years ago,   51    in Asia the figures were generally    52   , with Singapore at 45 percent, said MasterCard Worldwide.

Shuan Ghaidan, MasterCard’s Asia Pacific head of product sales and delivery, said one 53    for the    54    use of cash in Australia was the growing    55    of debit cards (借记卡), while in South Korea contactless payment on mobile phones had been popular. Credit cards    56    be used for higher value transactions, he said. Besides young people, for  whom    57    cards are usually their first card, he said the debit card is also    58    by some older people “who don’t want credit any more, don’t want to    59    debt any more.”

The global    60    has been rocked in the past year by a credit crisis    61    US mortgage loan defaults (次级房贷问题).

The    62    noted that nearly nine in ten Australians and New Zealanders said they

63   carrying large amounts of cash, compared with six in ten Singaporeans or 80 percent of Americans.

MasterCard said it    64    7,000 interviews across 12 countries, including Malaysia, China, South Korea, Canada, Italy, France and Germany.

On the morning of January 1 two European cities woke up as European Capital of Culture for 2009. The residents of Linz, the third largest city of Austria, and Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania(立陶宛), were given the __50__ by the European Union. The title offers the two cities the chance to improve their fortunes by showing the rest of Europe how exciting they are __51__.

The cities of Linz and Vilnius are __52__ to compete hard to attract the most international attention. Both are old cities, but __53__ Vilnius has better cared for its medieval（中世纪的） buildings, Linz’s __54__ scene is more lively than Vilnius’s. Each city certainly __55__ the title, but it is difficult to say if one is more culturally exciting than the other.

No Austrian city has changed as __56__ as Linz has in recent years. It was once a nice, quiet commercial town, founded by the Romans, along the river Danube(多瑙河). It became famous for being the place where Adolf Hitler partly grew-up. Later it became an __57__ city and today Linz is a modern place with a/an __58__ arts and music scene. To __59__ what is special about the city, Linz plans to tell the story of its city musical shows and events through 2009.

Vilnius, like Linz, has also __60__ much in recent years. __61__ a large medieval town, it is today a modern European city. __62__ Vilnius’s many changes, the city has preserved its historic center, which __63__ one of the largest in Europe. The city is famous for its narrow medieval streets.

To mark winning the European Capital of Culture title, the Lithuanian city held an enormous 2009 New Year’s Eve __64__. It included a light show said to have been “visible from outer space”, an achievement Linz had yet to beat.

When I took the first exam, I was shocked to find a 77, C-plus, on my test paper,  51    English was my best subject. I went to Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained   52 .

I decided to try harder, although I didn’t know what that   53   because school had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77. Again, I  54    with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn’t change his  55   .

One more test before the final exam. One more chance to improve my grade. So I redoubled my efforts and, for the first time,    56   the meaning of the word “thorough”. But my   57   did no good and everything   58    as before.

The last hurdle (障碍) was the final. No matter what   59    I got, it wouldn’t cancel three C-pluses. I might as well kiss the   60    goodbye.

I stopped working hard. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even   61    myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once I’d have fun with a test.

A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A. I hurried into Professor Jayne’s office. He   62    to be expecting me. “If I gave you the As you expected, you wouldn’t continue to work as hard.”

I stared at him,   63   that his analysis and strategy were correct. I was speechless when my course grade arrived: A-plus. It was the only A-plus given. The next year I received my scholarship. I’ve always remembered Professor Jayne’s lesson: you     64    must set your own standard of excellence.