【推荐1】After a two-hour flight from Shanghai and an hour’s drive, I reached my destination: Jielingkou Village in Qinhuangdao City of Hebei Province, China. The tiny and ________ village is home to Shanhai Pass, where the Great Wall finally dives into the sea. During the Ming Dynasty (1368~1644), Jielingkou Village was considered an extremely important part of the Great Wall. But it slowly fell out of ________ and into disrepair—in modern China.

In 2018, an anti-poverty project began in the village, with the ________ of not only fixing the place up, but also ________ the living standards of the 200 people still living there. One of the ________ was to change all of the old homes into modern guesthouses. “This will allow city folks to enjoy the Great Wall in comfort,” said Ge, who was ________ the project.

But gaining the locals’ ________ took a lot of effort at the beginning. “Just two years ago, they weren’t ________ about the project at all,” Ge told me. “Seeing that they had to ________ water from a faraway well every day, we decided to build a water system that would send water to their homes. It’s one of the first, ________ we have made. It really ________ . Now some of those who were strongly against our project are now our greatest ________ .”

Ge said he hopes that as conditions are ________ becoming better in Jielingkou, some of the younger members of the village who left to seek opportunity in the cities will come back. “Already two university graduates who grew up in the village have returned to ________ the guesthouses. I hope more will be ________ by the potentials here soon.”

【推荐3】Teachers have always had to deal with cheating students. In today’s high-tech world, new   ________ are making it much easier for students to _________. Recent studies have shown that most _________ in the United States now have access to smartphones. Experts say much of the cheating is done with the help of smartphones.

Nile Nickel is a technology and social media expert. He says many students put _________ into their smartphones to cheat and then hide their cheating by _________ other devices to view the information. Earlier this year, officials _________ several Thai students cheating this way during exams.

Denise Pope, an expert at Stanford University, once said, “Some kids are doing well in school, and they are _________ cheating because they need to _________ their grades. They feel the _________ of keeping a really high grade point average.” According to Pope, improving the learning and testing process can help cut down on cheating. “What I mean by that is to create tasks where it’s almost ___________ to cheat,” she said.

Pope adds that changing the __________ tests are structured can prevent cheating. She says the best tests __________ students to write their answers instead of choosing from a list of choices.

But Pope points out that one of the most important ways to help __________ cheating is to get teachers, students and parents to talk __________ about it. She says this can help students better ___________ the reasons for holding themselves to a high standard of honesty.

【推荐1】The make-up has been __________ and the costumes are back in the wardrobe. All of the ghosts, and zombies (僵尸) have disappeared for another year. If you were out On October 31, you probably noticed that there seemed to be many more of the __________ creatures scaring up fun on Shanghai streets this year. Not everyone, however, is __________ about the increasing popularity of Halloween in our city.

In actual fact, Halloween is a holiday that makes __________ people unhappy, even in countries where it is widely popular. It is not surprising that stories of the dead rising and walking among us might offend certain religious and cultural __________ of any country.

__________, costumes are often designed to be scary, disturbing and even disgusting. This particular feature of Halloween is exactly what __________some elderly passengers on the metro a few nights ago. A group of local university students, who were heading for a Halloween party, had dressed up like zombies. Their frightening appearance shocked the elderly passengers, causing them to become nervous.

Micro-bloggers later discussed the __________ online, expressing __________ opinions. On one hand, some see it as an example of young people showing a lack of __________ and respect towards the people around them. On the other hand, others see it as a harmless way to have fun.

__________ one’s judgment of that particular story, we can all agree that this is an obvious case of both cultural and generational __________. China is a country that values respect for dead ancestors. It’s quite likely that some Chinese people see certain Halloween traditions as making fun of the dead. It seems that while China’s younger generation embraces the celebrations of Western countries, the __________ generation can easily feel offended and question the wisdom of adopting foreign holidays.

China is changing rapidly, and many of those changes are due to outside influences. As the country embraces the values and cultural celebrations of foreign countries, what happens to __________ values and celebrations? How do generations, which are becoming so vastly different, continue to respect and understand one another? __________ to think about while you eat your Halloween candy.

【推荐2】The Negative Impacts of Volunteer Tourism

Volunteer tourism, or voluntourism, is an increasingly popular form of altruistic travel. Its appeal lies in being an experience that allows visitors to feel good by being a part of some kind of meaningful change. But despite good intentions from participants, volunteering abroad has been the target of heavy criticism over the past few years.

Voluntourists only have a limited amount of time, and the ability to change the systems and provide support for the places they visit. Being volunteers, they also simply don’t have the skills to do so. And they can sometimes inadvertently perpetuate unhelpful and even patronizing(自视高人一等的)ideas about the places they visit. A number of studies have shown that volunteer tourism can have negative impacts, ___________benefiting the local communities.

*Unskilled labor creates more work

Previously, volunteering opportunities were often___________to skilled professionals, but this is not the___________of volunteer tourism. Anyone can become a voluntourist, which brings a series of problems. Though___________, they are often unskilled, especially when it comes to work such as construction and digging. This can often lead to locals being forced to take on the added responsibility for rebuilding homes and schools that would have been___________inadequate.

*Volunteers take local jobs

In the meantime, this takes jobs away from locals who would have been paid to do the same work. It also prevents them from learning or being taught the skills that could then be used to___________the community. As a famous proverb says, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” The time and efforts of volunteers could be better___________making local communities more economically independent and self-sufficient, allowing them to improve___________even after they depart.

*There is no long-term commitment

Lots of communities do need the help and assistance of volunteers, but what are they able to address in the few short weeks of their “___________”? Most places tend to benefit more from long-term engagement, and often the largest number of meaningful volunteers come from the communities themselves, rather than from____________eager to fix things. While short-term volunteers can do a lot of good, it is often so only when they have skills and training that____________the specific needs, such as medical aid, construction, conservation, teaching, or even religious work; as well as having experience doing the required work and with different cultures.

* There is a lot of focus on__________the volunteer

Voluntourism tends to place a lot of emphasis on the volunteers, sometimes even at the expense of the community they are looking to help. Travel companies attract individuals with promises of____________but immediately-rewarding experiences. This, in turn, can lead to large numbers of volunteers who, instead of helping create a change, can actually____________local communities from becoming more economically independent due to their very presence.

What Can We Do Instead?

Short-term volunteers, especially students, also need to be given the opportunity to explore various different cultures and destinations. But they should take the time to learn about the socio-cultural backgrounds of the places they visit. Short-term placements thus become more about experiences and____________exchange, where they may gain knowledge and respect other cultures, rather than go on trips that “help the poor”.

This kind of cross-cultural engagement can do a lot of good in a world that is increasingly leaning towards violence and xenophobia.