First, the good news: Americans are definitely eating more healthful meals. We are consuming greater amounts of such high-fiber foods as whole-grain breads, fruits, and vegetables, which are believed to help prevent certain cancers and other diseases. At the same time, we are substituting relatively low-fat foods for higher-fat ones-for example, eating fish instead of red meat, drinking skim milk instead of whole. The bad news is that our snack foods are not nearly as healthful.)Between meals, we often revert to eating large amounts of fat. For instance, sales of ice cream and potato chips are going through the roof. Another drawback of the snack foods is that they have almost no fiber. As eating-behavior experts have concluded, we try super-hard to eat healthfully at mealtimes-but then undo some of the good work by “rewarding” ourselves with snacks that are bad for us.

In the South, the Civil War destroyed half the region’s farm equipment and killed one-third of its draft animals. The death of slavery also ended the plantation system. The number of farms doubled from 1860 to 1880, but the number of landowners remained the same. The size of the average farm dropped by more than half, as sharecropping and tenancy rose. A shortage of cash forced Southern farmers to borrow against future crops. Crop liens and high credit costs kept a lot of black and white farmers trapped in a cycle of debit and poverty. So at the very time the rest of the economy was consolidating after the Civil War, Southern agriculture was marching off in the opposite, less efficient direction.

Just as there are rules of the road for drivers of cars, trucks, and buses, there are “rules of the sidewalk” for pedestrians. The sociologist Erving Goffman points out that, for one thing, pedestrians on a sidewalk keep to their right, relative to an imaginary dividing line in the middle of the sidewalk. Thus people sort themselves into lanes going in opposite directions, as on a vehicular roadway. And people who are walking slowly often tend to stay closer to the buildings, while to their left, in a “passing lane,” are the people who are moving more quickly. (5) Also, like drivers, pedestrians scan the route ahead so that they can swerve around obstacles-say, a puddle or a hole in the walkway-and so that they will not collide with anyone else. If a head-on collision seems possible, pedestrians will make eye contact and maneuver to keep out of each other’s way. Goffman notes one obvious difference, though: rules of the road are often codified in laws and regulations, whereas rules of the sidewalk are for informal social customs.

Some written and archaeological evidence indicates that the women warriors called Amazons actually existed. In his writings, the Roman historian Herodotus referred to fierce women warriors who swept down from the northeast and attacked Mediterranean settlements. In 1997, on the border of Russia and Kazakhstan, archaeologists discovered fifty burial mounds containing the skeletons of women who were buried with swords, arrowheads, and other weapons. One skeleton showed a deadly weapon-inflicted wound. Several skeletons were bow-legged, suggesting a life on horseback.

An old saying has it that “Many hands make light the work.” Thus we might expect that three individuals can pull three times as much as one person and that eight can pull eight times as much. Research reveals that persons individually average 130 pounds of pressure when tugging on a rope. However, in groups of three, they average 351 pounds (only 2.5 times the solo rate); and in groups of eight, only 546 pounds (less than 4 times the solo rate). One explanation is that faulty coordination produces group inefficiency. However, when subjects are blindfolded and believe they are pulling with others, they also slacken their effort. Apparently when we work in groups, we cut down on our efforts, a process termed social loafing.

Today, long prison sentences are common in America. However, in the early United States, punishments for crimes usually were swift, and often violent. The most serious crimes were punished by hanging. Some states gave the death penalty for a dozen or more offenses, including rape and homosexuality. Other felonies were punished with flogging or mutilation. As late as 1805 in Massachusetts, counterfeiters, arsonists, wife beaters, and thieves were whipped, had their ears cropped, or had their cheeks branded with a hot iron. Petty offenses-such as being drunk or disturbing the peace-were punished with a fine or a public dunking.

The most expensive items in a grocery store usually are placed at eye level, making them the most noticeable items; the cheapest items sit on the top or bottom shelves. So be sure to scan top and bottom shelves for the best bargains. This is just one of several tips that will save you money at the grocery store. Here’s another: comparison shop on the items that you buy most often; then shop at the store with the lowest prices on most of those items. Another way to save money is to buy items in bulk at “club” stores, but only if you’ll use everything that you purchase. Also, be wary of coupon offers on name-brand items. A premium price reduced by thirty or forty cents may still be higher than the store-brand price. Nearly always, it’s cheaper to buy a store’s own brand of the item that you want.

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What is the topic of the passage?