Chinese has overtaken French, Spanish and German to become one of the most popular foreign languages for jobseekers in the UK. Research shows graduates in Chinese earn     1     average yearly salary of £31,000 or     2     (much).

“I had a lot of friends on other courses     3     didn’t do much in first or second year. But for Chinese majors, you have to spend hours and hours     4     (write) characters,” says Hannah Jackson, who graduated in Chinese Studies from Sheffield University in 2012.

Hannah describes her course as “majorly intense”. “Most of my friends admitted to crying in the first week owing     5     the course intensity (强度). I was almost told at one point that I might want to reconsider and drop out.”

“The degree is     6     (absolute) worth it. The efforts     7     (pay) off so far. I like that I could live, work and operate with relative ease in China. Looking around at people who have studied French or Spanish at university, I find there’s no such chance     8     (use) what they’ve learned in the workplace,” Hannah says.

Hannah went to look for a job in Shanghai, where she found more employment     9     (opportunity). After working as a project manager for Intralink Group for four years, she set up     10     (she) own company earning £5,000 a day. She has now returned to the UK and works in business development for the Body Shop.

Throughout history, many species of animals have been threatened with     1     (extinct) .When Europeans first arrived in North America, more than 60 million buffalo(水牛)lived on the continent. Yet hunting the buffalo was so popular during the 19th century that by 1900 the animal’s population     2     (fall) to about 400 before the government took action     3     (preserve) the species. In some countries today, the elephant faces a similar challenge, as illegal hunters kill the animals     4     the ivory(象牙)in their tusks.

    5    , not all animals with commercial value face this threat. The cow, for example, is a     6     (value) source of food, but no one worries that the cow will soon be extinct. Why does the commercial value of ivory threaten the elephant, while the commercial value of beef     7     (protect) the cow?

The reason is that elephants are a common resource, while cows are private goods. Elephants wander     8     (free) without any owners. The hunter has a strong motivation to kill as many elephants as he can find. Because hunters are numerous, each has only a slight motivation to care for the elephant population. By contrast, cattle live on farms     9     are privately owned. Each farmer makes great efforts to maintain the cattle population on his own farm because he harvests     10     benefit of these efforts.

Physical Fitness Tests at Nationals Cause Outrage

Chinese sports authorities have been criticized for their new fitness rules.

No matter     1    happens in the pool, swimmers can only progress to the finals    2    (base) on the results of their physical fitness tests. The General Administration of Sport (国家体育总局) passed this new rule in February. It    3    (come) into public attention after widespread criticism at the National Swimming Championships in Qingdao.

The two-day tests    4    (undertake) by swimmers before the championships started on September 26. Athletes took part in ten events, including 30-meter sprints, pull-ups, and 3,000-meter runs.

Out of the top 16 finishers in each event, only the eight who scored    5    (high) on their physical fitness tests progressed to the next round. As a result, some race winners have missed out on the final. These included Wang Jianjiahe, who broke    6    record in Asia. Yu Hexin, who set a new national record in the men's 50-meter freestyle, failed to make it to the final. World champion Fu Yuanhui also missed out.

"It's not    7    we don't care about physical fitness," Wang told reporters. "We just think physical fitness should not be a decisive factor."

However, Chinese Swimming Association chairman Zhou Jihong made    8    clear that the reform was here to stay. "Everyone is equal before the rules," she said in an interview. Zhou explained that the aim is    9    (allow) China's athletes to compete with the best in the world.

Athletes at the National Track and Field Championships in September also complained that the physical fitness tests were too hard for them. It is reported that even chess players have had to take such tests.

The new GAS rule stated that those who did not meet the physical fitness requirements    10    (not allow) to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. Strengthening physical fitness training can not only improve the physical fitness of athletes, but also lay a solid foundation for their ability to compete well.