Qipao, a traditional dress for females in China, is reputed as one of the paragons of traditional Chinese costumes. Though debated by experts about the exact time of its     1     (occur), it is generally believed     2     Qipao originated from a type of Manchurian female garment In the Qing Dynasty. It developed and     3     (popularize) soon during the Republican Period. Under the influence of celebrities in Shanghai and even politicians of the time, it reached its heyday (鼎盛时期) in the 1930s and 1940s.

Qipao mainly features a stand-up collar, Chinese     4     (knot) buttons, the left lapel (翻领) over the right, a tight-fitting waist, and hemmed slits on both sides. It is usually made from satin (缎子), brocade, silk,     5     cotton. Two major styles of modern Qipao were established in the progression,     6     (name) the Shanghai style and the Beijing style. The former,     7     (absorb) western elements of design and tailoring, leads the fashion trend.

Wearing Qipao,     8     was a natural result of women’s pursuit of intellectual freedom, carries a     9     (symbol) sense of promoting gender equality. Later on, the     10     (prior) of Qipao shifted from a political expression to ornamental emphasis. Till today, it is not just a symbol of fashion but a timeless classic, an irreplaceable cultural heritage in the fashion world.

Why chopsticks created: The tool for cooking

Taking food with fingers     1     (be) originally a common way of eating for humans, but then East Asia and Western Europe developed different tableware (餐具) to meet social and cultural etiquette (礼节). Why did the Chinese invent and use chopsticks instead of     2     (knife) and forks like the Westerners?

The reason is probably related     3     Chinese living habits.     4     (compare) with other regions’ food culture, Chinese food prefers thoroughly cooked vegetables, meat, and grains. In ancient times, there were generally two methods of cooking food: roasting and boiling.

Since China had advanced pottery culture, it was natural that boiling became the traditional and fundamental cooking method. Boiling food in a pottery container required much water, and the cooking process often needed small wood sticks     5     (stir).

Chopsticks’ original name in Chinese is “Zhu”,     6     has the same origin as “boiling”. It suggests that chopsticks are the tool for cooking at very first. Since the Chinese were used to using pottery and     7     (prefer) boiled food, and China had plentiful bamboo and wood, these factors together made up the basic conditions for     8     invention of chopsticks.

The     9     (early) known chopsticks are copper (铜) chopsticks from the late Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 BC). But as bamboo and wooden chopsticks are easy to rot,     10     is believed that the chopsticks existed early.

After walking for nearly 10 kilometers by China’s Huangshan Mountain, and just as he was     1     the edge of giving up, Phil Lecomte caught sight of a beautiful village. This moment took place 15 years ago,     2     the Frenchman traveled to Huangshan Mountain for the first time. He has since traveled to China almost yearly.

In 2012, Lecomte became a tour guide and his trip to China turned into a long-term stay. Unlike other guides, he     3     (rare) takes his guests — mostly foreigners — to the often visited     4     (attraction). Instead, he often hikes or rides a motorcycle with his friends, away from noisy cities, to search for     5     (hide) scenery scattered (分散的) around Huangshan Mountain.

Lecomte     6     (enjoy) time spent hiking with his Chinese and foreign friends. They sing and play the guitar by clear streams, chat with locals picking tea,     7     fall asleep to the sounds of frogs and insects.

Now, he also shares the beautiful moments he captures on his camera on Chinese social media, like images of an old man     8    (sit) in a chair reading a book against the sunset, or children running around     9     ancient village waving colorful fish lanterns. Lecomte     10     (take) more than 118,000 photos in China to date.

Reading fiction is highly     1     (benefit), and there are scientific studies to back this up. A recent study     2     (publish) in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that people who grow up reading fiction have a richer and more complex worldview than those     3     don’t.

Reading fiction develops your     4     (imagine), which allows you to be more creative and helps you with your problem-solving skills. Moreover, the ability to imagine things influences everything a person does,     5     (think) about their profession and creates, regardless of their profession. All you need to do to work on this skill is to expose yourself     6     a great novel.

Reading fiction improves your mental health. Reading improves people’s mood     7     (great) and brings it to a pleasurable state. Moreover, research suggests that regular readers are relatively mentally healthy,     8     (show) lower stress levels and higher self-esteem than non-readers.

Reading fiction helps process your emotions. According to InDaily, when a person indirectly experiences     9     event associated with an emotion, for example, if they read about what happens to a character and how they feel about it, the same region of the brain is triggered (触发，激发) as if they’d experienced the event     10     (them).

Suodiu, one of the dishes in Hubei, made a comeback this summer someway. The dish,     1     real rock dish, is literally rocks. It’s low in calories and 100% eco-friendly. Since its comeback, many street vendors (小贩)     2     (make) sudden profits by the suodiu craze.

Previously, on the coasts of Hubei Province, fishers would     3     (stick) on fishing boats long waiting for their turn to dock. With their food     4     (run) out, they came up with the creative and     5     (conventional) idea of cooking smooth river rocks to kill the time. The rocks were cleaned, boiled and then stir-fried with oil, garlic, ginger and a     6     (vary) of sauces. They never ate the rocks actually but just suck on them for the flavour and spat them out.

Hence, the name suo means sucking, and diu means getting rid of.     7     (essential), it all comes down to the secret sauce recipe.

Since the only thing eatable in suodiu is the sauce, every street vendor has     8     (they) own secret recipe. But the main ingredients are the same — ginger, lots of garlic and spicy chili,     9     will have you reaching for your ice-cold beer or bottle of wine.

It was the perfect drinking snack for bored fishers to pass the time while at sea. Now it’s still enjoyed     10     a drinking snack.

We had a wonderful time in Mauritius. During our week’s stay, we     1     (rent) a small car to explore the island a bit more. Driving in Mauritius is easy, although the roads are quite small, and drivers always expect others       2     (watch) out for them.

We spent most of our days       3       (swim) in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. The water was actually as warm as the air, so taking a bath at sunset was really       4     amazing experience!

Because there were not enough road signs, we got lost several times, but       5     (general) we enjoyed our little adventure. We visited the gardens of the chateau Labourdonnais and had a       6     (taste) lunch at the restaurant there. We also explored Grand Baie, which means Big Bay in English, and also had a look around the newly-built mall, where we explored the local supermarket. The kids loved the shelves packed     7     the biggest chocolate jars     8     were wondering at the many exotic (奇异的) fruits and vegetables.

All in all, Mauritius offers     9     you and your family can’t afford to miss. And if you go there, let us know about your     10     (experience). Looking forward to hearing from you! Contact us here.

Spring is here and temperatures are heating up. That means cases of tick-borne (蜱传播的) illnesses, particularly Lyme disease, are on the rise. And the problem is only being worsened by drawn-out warmer weather across a wider area of the country,     1     (drive) by climate change. The warming climate enables ticks to become active     2     (early) in the spring and then remain active later into the autumn or winter months.

Blacklegged ticks     3     (be) not insects and they can carry more than a dozen rare     4     (disease). But the most common by far is Lyme disease. Typical signs of the illness include fever, headache, tiredness, muscle and joint pain and red spots on skin.

Ticks draw blood from an animal host that can contain B.burgdorferi (伯氏疏螺旋体). An infected tick attaches to a human by digging its mouth into the flesh     5     it can feast for three to ten days.     6     takes at least 24 hours for Lyme bacteria to start swimming out in the saliva the tick drips into its host.

Melissa Prustinsk, a research scientist at the New York State Department of Health,     7     (warn) that it could be difficult to detect Lyme disease signs. “People often mistake them     8     the flu or even COVID-19,” she said. If you start to experience Lyme disease signs, don’t wait around to spot the tick before     9     (contact) a physician. “It’s better to be safe than sorry,     10     (especial) if you have spent time outdoors and know that there’s the potential that you could have received the tick bites,”she advised.

Roujiamo is closely associated with the north-central city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province. Since 210BCE, Xi’an has been both the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and the capital for 13 more-or-less Chinese     1     (dynasty).

The meat preparation used to make the filling for roujiamo traditionally     2     (date) back to the Warring States Period. The introduction into China of Central Asian-style flat breads, like the kind used in roujiamo, is often credited to Ban Chao,     3     Chinese general who spent more than 30 years     4    (battle) an association of tribes during the 1st century to regain control of the     5    (far) western reaches of China.

Every family has its own roujiamo recipe, but there are some constants (不变的事物). First comes the lazhi, which includes a list of spices: ginger, star anise, cassia and so on. A special importance     6    (place) on aged stock (陈年老汁). Once the stock is made, thick slices of pork take     7    (they) turn in the pot, simmering(炖) for hours. The flatbread bun, called baijimo, takes its name from     8     is today known as Baiji township.

To be sure, roujiamo is far     9     the perfect food. It’s risky to eat on the go. One has to use both hands     10     (eat) roujiamo; otherwise, the filling is going to launch out from both sides of the burn.

The first time I entered the busy Chinese hotpot restaurant, I was immediately impressed by the delicious smells and lively chatter. The waiter handed me a menu, but it was predominantly written in Chinese,     1    characters were completely beyond my comprehension. With some hesitation, I decided to take     2    leap of faith and pointed at a few items on the menu that looked     3    (invite).   

As the bubbling pot was set     4    (boil), I watched with fascination as the waiter poured a fragrant broth (肉汤) into it.     5    (mix) with chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, and other mysterious spices, the pot released a mouthwatering aroma into the air.   

The moment of truth came     6    I tentatively dipped my chopsticks into the broth and added a slice of thinly sliced beef and a handful of vegetables. The first bite was an     7    (explode) of flavors.   

The numbing sensation from the Sichuan peppercorns danced on my tongue, and I understood the reason for the restaurant’s name, “Spicy Heaven.”

I continued to experiment, trying various ingredients and    8    (marvel) at not only the food, but also the adventure, the    9    (delight) surprise of a world of flavors in a single bubbling pot.     10    my limited knowledge of the Chinese language, I laughed with my newfound friends and shared stories.

It is a special cross-country race. The competitors’ vehicles are made     1     fruits and vegetables like carrots, eggplants, grapefruits, pumpkins and oranges. They are the creations of pupils from the Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School.

According to Chen You, the science class teacher,     2     (base) knowledge had been taught within 6 classes to students before they drew sketches and     3     (choose) vegetables to make a food car.

Although students were encouraged     4     (design) their cars together with parents, all the cars should be made in the class. After     5     (bring) piles of ingredients as well as tools the children began their innovation. Some cut the carrot slices to make them round, and some others assembled (组装) their car components together.

In addition to the     6     (compete), students are required to reflect on the     7     (difficulty) they encountered making their vehicles,     8     things they have learned from the activity and the improvements they think the course can make.

    9     touched the teachers most was the unity and friendship among the children. For example, although the contest was fierce (激烈的), students felt     10     (excite) for the champion car as if they themselves had stood out, and when a girl’s car fell apart their friends comforted her and helped reassemble the car.