Naturally green, red, yellow, or white, jade (玉) is a special rock. It’s important to Chinese culture     1    (main) due to what it represents. Here is a brief    2    (introduce) to jade.

Jade is classified into soft jade and hard jade. One type of hard jade is called feicui in Chinese that is now    3    (valuable) than soft jade in China today. As a part of Chinese civilization, Chinese jade has been in use for practical and decorative    4    (purpose) since it was found.

Chinese people love jade not only because of    5    (it) aesthetic (美学的) beauty    6    because it represents social value. In The Book of Rites or, Li Ji, Confucius said that there are 11 virtues represented in jade: justice, truth, intelligence, etc.

Jade is so firmly established in Chinese culture    7    there are many stories about jade. Among them the most famous is He Shi Zhi Bi,    8    (tell) the story of Mr. He and how he found a piece of raw jade and tried to give it to two generations of kings, but they didn’t recognize it as priceless and cut off his feet    9    (punish) him for trying to pass off an unworthy stone. Afterwards, the grandson of the first king, Wenwang, had his jeweler cut the stone open and found the raw jade. It    10    (carve) into a disc and named after Mr. He.

2 . A few years ago, I was leaving the dog kennel(养狗场) where I worked, only to find a baby goat at the end of the driveway. The kennel’s owners are animal rescuers, and I thought someone_________him over the fence. The kid was_________nervous but stood perfectly still as I got closer.

I’m an animal_________and I’ve brought home dogs, cats, horses, chickens, and fish, but never a goat. The tiny kid was too_________for me to leave it behind. I_________him Quincy and bottle- fed him in my bathroom.

Quincy proved to be quite_________. When he was about a week old, I tapped my fingers on the floor and said “_________” I was amazed when he dropped down. I was even more amazed when he did it three times_________. A quick study, Quincy learned to lie down, bow, and turn in a circle in no time. He knows the name of everything I feed him, and even joins us for_________to the dog park.

I often take my dogs to shows where they can perform their__________. Quincy did his first show at just six weeks old. He knew only a few tricks then, but he did them perfectly and never__________or got nervous in front of the crowd. Now he’ll shake hooves, come when called, walk on a leash, wave, smile for the__________( “Say cheese!” ), and more. Quincy and my dogs perform regularly at schools, nursing homes, and charity events. Quincy can even “read” his tricks off cue cards(提示卡), which always__________the most applause(掌声).

The goat kid nobody__________turned out to be one of the smartest animals I’ve had. He’s by far the sharpest of my bunch—just don’t tell the__________!

3 . “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smart phone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.” This is the definition(定义) of the word “selfie” in the Oxford English Dictionary. In fact, it wasn’t even in the dictionary until August, 2013. It earned its place there because people are now so obsessed(着迷) with selfies—we take them when we try on a new hat, play with our pets or when we meet a friend whom we haven’t seen in a while.

But does this obsession actually make sense? Is there any scientific explanation for it? Well, you should probably ask James Kilner, a neuroscientist at University College London.

Through our lifetime we become experts at recognizing and interpreting other people’s faces and facial expressions. In contrast, according to Kilner, we have a very poor understanding of our own faces since we have little experience of looking at them—we just feel them most of the time.

This has been proved in previous studies in which participants were shown images of themselves and asked to match their facial expressions in the pictures. In most cases, they failed to accurately produce the same facial expressions without being able to see themselves in the mirror, according to BBC.

To further test how we actually sense our own faces, Kilner carried out another study. He showed people different versions(版本) of their own image—the original which had been edited to look less attractive and one that was made more attractive—and asked them to pick the version which they thought looked most like them. Kilner found that most people chose the more attractive picture. This suggests that we tend to think of ourselves as better-looking than we actually are.

But what does it say about selfies? Well, isn’t that obvious? Selfies give us the power to create a photograph—by taking it from various angles, with different poses, using filters(滤镜) and so on—that better matches our expectations with our actual faces.

“You suddenly have control in a way that you don’t have in non-virtual(非虚拟的) interactions,” Kilner told the Canada-based CTA News. Selfies allow you “to keep taking pictures until you manage to take one you’re happy with”, he explained.

4 . The Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University have turned an electric car into a mobile laboratory named “Drive LAB” in order to understand the challenges faced by older drivers and to discover where the key stress points are.

Research shows that giving up driving is one of the key reasons for a fall in health and well-being among older people, leading to them becoming more isolated and inactive.

Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle technologies for older drivers which they hope could help them to continue driving into later life.

These include custom-made navigation (导航) tools, night vision systems and intelligent speed adaptations. Phil Blythe explains: “For many older people, particularly those living alone or in the country driving is important for keeping their independence, giving them the freedom to get out and about without having to rely on others.”

“But we all have to accept that as we get older our reactions slow down and this often results in people avoiding any potentially challenging driving conditions and losing confidence in their driving skills. The result is that people stop driving before they really need to.”

Dr Amy Guo, the leading researcher on the older driver study, explains, “The Drive LAB is helping us to understand what the key stress points and difficulties are for older drivers and how we might use technology to solve these problems.”

“For example, most of us would expect older drivers always go slower than everyone else but surprisingly, we found that in 30mph zones they struggled to keep at a constant speed and so were more likely to break the speed limit and be at risk of getting fined. We’re looking at the benefits of systems which control their speed as a way of preventing that.”

“We hope that our work will help with technological solutions to ensure that older drivers stay safer behind the wheel.”

Customs play a significant role in festivals, but sometimes they can change     1     time. With the development of modern society and the spread of new ideas, some traditions may     2     away and others may be established. One example is the     3     Chinese Spring Festival custom of lighting firecrackers to drive away the evil     4     and celebrate the new year.     5    , many big cities have given up this custom in order to     6     air pollution. Another example is Halloween, which slowly became an exciting festival for children, in spite of its     7     origins.

Festivals are becoming more and more commercial, with business     8     advantage of the celebrations. Online shopping websites and     9     media apps have made it much easier for the public to spend more on gifts for their     10     ones. Although some believe festivals should not be commercialized, others believe the increase in spending is good for the economy and public happiness.

Imagine having the     1    to sing together with hundreds of other people while you are at home alone. You can do this in a virtual choir. Virtual choir members record themselves while they    2         alone on video. These videos are uploaded     3    the Internet, and then they are put together into one video that you can see online-a virtual choir.    4    can take part in a virtual choir from anywhere-    5    you need is a video camera and an Internet connection. You do not even need a     6    . A virtual choir helps connect     7     people together. Many people do not have close friends or contacts who have the same interest in music. Many others do not have the chance to join a local choir. A virtual choir    8    them to add their voices to those of other individuals and become part of the global community. It has     9     to be a positive influence on the lives of many people. As one virtual choir member said,”Music helps me to... forget my problems. With music, I become someone     10     .”