2 . On July 19, China’s first high-speed Maglev (磁悬浮) train with a speed of 600 kilometers per hour rolled off Qingdao, Shandong. Experts believe it will fill the gap between high-speed rail (铁轨) and air transportation.

Maglev technology was first described by Jonathan Swift in 1726 in Culliver’ Travels. It was first developed in the 1940s by British engineer Eric Laithwaite. Shanghai Maglev Train is the fastest passenger train globally, reaching 430 km/h in operation today. The only other Maglev systems currently serving the public are Linimo in South Korea. In 2015, an experimental Maglev train in Japan broke the record for the fastest train globally, traveling at 603 km per hour.

The benefits of Maglev are hard to doubt. The trains can reach higher speeds. Preventing interactions between wheels and rails also means less noise and no mechanical damage. It is highly efficient in maintenance (维护) and has much less trouble in bad weather. It uses 30 percent less energy than traditional trains. Maglev trains use only electricity, which reduces pollution. The main problem facing the development of Maglev has always been high costs. Unlike traditional high-speed trains, the new trains do not adapt to existing transport systems. They can operate only on their unique tracks, unable to switch to thousands of miles of traditional paths. There was already a rail network between two cities, and it was much cheaper to upgrade the lines than to build new lines with new technology.

Roger Goodall, a professor at Loughborough University says, “Maglev is a competitor to cars and planes, as well as buses and subway systems. It has many natural enemies but no natural friends.” He remains convinced that its most significant benefit is “connecting cities”, but doubts that this technology will gain widespread acceptance any time soon.

What will win in the end, the brilliant future of the new technology or the cold mathematics?

3 . I was traveling in Spain with my sister who was living there. I went into a bakery to order a couple of pastries(点心). There were different kinds of bread on a shelf, but only one kind had a little sign hanging from the shelf that said “something something borrachos”. I didn’t necessarily want that kind, but it was the only labeled one, so naturally I waved the guy behind the counter and ordered “dos borrachos por favor”.

I was pretty timid about my Spanish, so I whispered it. The men sitting near me all stopped talking and looked at me. The guy, very seriously, said, “que? quieras? (What do you want?)”

I shyly said again, with less confidence, “dos borrachos por favor.”

All the men around me started snickering(偷笑).

The guy again asked me what I wanted, and he was getting louder. He was raising his voice over the noise of the whole shop. He told me to speak up. Most of the tables now were also quiet.

I was getting a bit embarrassed. I thought he was making fun of my accent or I was pronouncing it wrong. I looked hard at the sign, made sure to pronounce correctly, and shouted “quiero dos borrachos! (I WANT 2 BORRACHOS!)”

He shouted, “aaaah, quieras dos BORRACHOS!” This time, he couldn’t keep a straight face and started guffawing(狂笑), and the rest in the shop followed.

I had no idea what was happening, so I just ran out, empty-handed and ashamed.

I came back and told my sister the story. She started laughing and explained “borrachos” means “drunk men” and the sign probably said that “drunk men were not welcome here” and that sign happened to hang under the shelf.

I had just shouted to a full shop that I WANTED a couple of drunk men.

5 . A man was travelling abroad in a small red car. One day he left the car and went shopping. When he came back, its roof was badly damaged.

Some boys told him that an elephant had damaged it. The man did not believe them, but they took him to a circus which was near there. The owner of the elephant said, “I am very sorry! My elephant has a big, round, red chair. He thought that your car was his chair, and he sat on it!”

Then he gave the man a letter, in which he said that he was sorry and that he would pay for all the damage.

When the man got back to his own country, the customs officers would not believe his story. They said, “You sold your new car while you were abroad and bought this old one!” It was only when the man showed them the letter from the circus man that believed him.

6 . Uncle Wang works in a book shop in the middle of the city. The shop is not far from his home. It is about one kilometre away. So Uncle Wang seldom goes to work by bus. Heusually goes bike there by bike, sometimes on foot. It takes him twenty minutes to get there by bike and forty minutes on foot. Today his bike is broken. He wants to walk there. Now he is having breakfast. He leaves home at ten minutes to eight and he walks to work twenty minutes earlier. His work starts at half past eight in the morning and finishes at a quarter to five in the afternoon.

9 . Four unusual festivals around the world

Wife Carrying Competition—Sonkajärvi, Finland

Although the exact origins of the tradition are unknown because of its long history, but today, wife carrying is practiced around the world. Participants (参与者) are allowed to carry their wives in various ways— including piggyback or fireman’s carrying. The prize is awarded based on the wife’s weight in beer.

Monkey Buffet (自助餐) Festival—Lopburi, Thailand

You may consider how a monkey would taste, but this is a buffet for monkeys. The local monkeys in the Lopburi are gifted with a feast of tons of fruits, vegetables, cakes, and candies every November. After the monkeys are given their treat, youths dressed up as monkeys perform dances. The festival first occurred in 1989, run by a local businessman to drive up tourism in Lopburi. Luckily for him and the monkeys, it worked.

Mud Festival—Boryeong, ROK

The festival is not historic by any means— the first one took place in 1998— and it was originally created as a marketing event for Boryeong mud cosmetics (化妆品). The mud from the Boryeong is considered rich in natural minerals and is used to make beauty products. Popular activities include a mud pool, mud slides and mud skiing.

Tomato Festival—Bunol, Valencia, Spain

The festival has run annually in August during a weeklong celebration in Bunol since 1945, when a noisy crowd took the tomatoes from a vegetable stall and started a food fight. The hour-long tomato fight used up about 145,000 kg of tomatoes in 2015. Since 2013 it has been a ticketed event to limit participants to just 20,000.

10 . A friend of mine called me at 2 am. I usually worked through the_________, so I was awake. She was_________some problems and wanted to talk to me about them.

I was_________with work, under a lot of pressure._________my work, I also had a lot on my mind. But I_________to stop what I was doing, put it all_________and talked to her. It did the trick because we managed to find some kind of clarity to the_________after the conversation.

I felt happy. I know that sometimes what_________is not really what you talk about or whether you have found a(n)_________solution to the problem. What really counts is knowing that when you are going through a（n）__________time, you have a shoulder to lean on. Just knowing that somebody__________enough to give you time, support and__________, without any judgment, is enough to__________much of the weight that you are carrying.

I've ever been in situations where I've had to__________through things by myself, with no support at all. Living like this makes you very__________. But it also makes you cynical, and leaves you feeling like you can only depend on yourself.

I have had__________from people at times, totally__________when I have really needed it. And I realise what a(n)__________it can make, having someone to talk to.

I really hope that I was able to give my friend support. Even though we did not__________the problem, I hope that I was able to__________her of some of the weight that she was carrying.