1 . The morning commute (通勤) is never fun. But if you pass through Stevenage on your way to work, your morning might be a little ________ thanks to the cat Nala.

Dragging yourself out of bed in the morning and off to work is hard, ________ on dark winter mornings. However, you might ________ to come out of the house with a spring in your step if your commute started at Stevenage station, where you’d be ________ by a cat called Nala.

Usually found sitting on a ticket gate, four-year-old Nala lives close to the station with her owner Natasha Ambler, and often ________ the station at rush hour to enjoy attention from commuters. Ambler ________ a Facebook page called The Adventures of Nala where hundreds of people have voluntarily ________ photos of the adventurous cat.

Recent photos posted by commuters include Nala ________ in line for her canned food at a supermarket, napping on newspaper stands and ________ with commuters at the station barriers to get their attention.

Nala wears a GPS tracking device so that her ________ can be kept track of, and is usually found at the railway station or the ________ leisure park. As well as the usual collar with her name and owners’________ information, Nala wears a tag to let people know that she’s not ________.

According to the BBC, Ambler reported that she’s not ________ about Nala in the slightest: “She’s obviously ________ and she’s very happy doing what she does — I just hope one day she doesn’t actually try to get on a train.”

4 . Most adults view human life as especially precious. For example, a survey of millions of people in 233 countries, most of them in their 20s and 30s, found they largely agreed that self-driving cars should crash into dogs or cats instead of people if they had to choose.

However, growing evidence suggests many young children feel differently. Using a toy railway and Lego figures, Matti Wilks and her colleagues at the University of Edinburgh presented 170 children aged 6 to 9 in an urban part of Poland with scenarios (场景) based on a thought experiment called the trolley problem.

The children had to decide whether to direct a runaway rail car down one of two tracks so that it crashed into a Lego person or a Lego animal — either a dog or chimpanzee (大猩猩). Surprisingly, children were likely to save a dog over a person. About 42 percent of the children wanted to save the dog and make the rail car collide with the person, compared with just 17 percent of adults. About 28 per cent of children also prioritized the chimpanzee over the person, compared with 11 percent of adults.

“Children learn from their parents, teachers and others that it’s morally (道德上) important to care for others, but it may be easier for them to learn this as a blanket rule,” says Karri Neldner at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. As a result, they don’t show a strong preference for saving one over the other, she says. “However, as they get older, they might pick up on cultural narratives that tell us it’s really important to care for other people,” says Neldner.

The reason children value dogs so highly is probably due to familiarity, says Wilks. Her studies have found that children who spent more time with dogs were more likely to say they would save a dog over a person.

5 . Hip hop is a subculture and an art movement that emerged (出现) from the Bronx in New York City during the early 1970s. Its development reflected the negative effects of post-industrial decline, political discourse, and a rapidly changing economy.

Looking back to New York City during this era, we see an economic collapse. The city’s economy was falling apart due to the decline of the manufacturing industry. Much of the middle class moved to the suburbs to escape the social and economic challenges.

Consequently, businesses closed their doors, causing many economic opportunities and sources of entertainment to disappear. As a result, urban youth turned to the streets for recreation and self-expression. The abandoned buildings and parking lots set the stage for block parties. These block parties laid the groundwork for early hip hop culture. DJs and MCs brought the music by setting up mobile “Sound Systems” introduced by Jamaican culture. Sheets of cardboard became dance floors for break-dancers, and brick walls transformed into canvases for graffiti. The emerging hip hop culture also became an outlet to deal with despair, abandonment and even violence.

Several people were influential in creating hip hop. Among the most famous ones is DJ Kool Herc, the “founding father of hip hop.” The Jamaican American made history in 1973 when he and his sister hosted the “Back to School” party in their apartment building. This historical party is recognized for launching the hip hop movement. Herc was also famous for creating a DJ technique called “break beat”-a mixing practice he adapted from Jamaican music. He noticed that people often waited for drum breaks of a record to dance. This took place when every instrument stopped playing except for the drums. Then the DJ would use two turntables (唱机转盘) to switch back and forth between two copies of the same record. The break section was also the most anticipated part of a song where people danced the most.

The DJ kept growing in popularity throughout the 1970s. He moved on to larger parks, played in clubs and inspired other DJs who helped this type of dance music to develop.

Harbin has witnessed a significant boom that has caused it to trend on social media this winter. By December 20, 2023, the city airport’s annual passenger throughput (接待人数)     1     (go) beyond 20 million. According to a news report, during the three-day New Year holiday, Harbin received 3.05 million tourists and made     2     income of 5.91 billion yuan, both of     3     reached record high.

Harbin, which is also known     4     China’s “ice city”, is famous for its ice and snow culture. For more than 60 years, the city has had a tradition of holding an annual ice lantern exhibition,     5     (present) the creativity and skill of its artists. Recently, the Ice and Snow World,     6     (recognize) by the Guinness World Records as the largest ice and snow park, is just one of many     7     (attraction) in the city. It features     8     (amaze) ice and snow sculptures, including replicas (复制品) of famous landmarks, animals, and cartoon characters.

“For individual travelers, a city’s infrastructure and public services form the foundation of tourism competitiveness. It is only when tourists feel the     9     (warm) of the city and the goodwill of its citizens     10     they blend into the lives of a travel destination,” said Dai Bin, president of China Tourism Academy.

CCTV’s Sports Channel uses the slogan “sport is power”, and these words proved true when China     1    (host) the FISU World University Games in Chengdu, Sichuan province, from July 28 to Aug 8.

Nothing is     2    (powerful) than letting thousands of foreign athletes, team members and visitors from around the world     3    (witness)and experience the energy of China. The games successfully showed China’s achievements to the world.

Chinese media should capitalize on the success of the games by producing more     4    (video) that highlight the amazing and touching aspects of the games     5    sharing them on social media platforms. This will help spread China’s success stories around the world.

For China the games will facilitate the     6    (grow) of university sports in the nation,     7     is crucial for improving the physical health of its students. It is most fitting that China     8    (take) Aug 8 as National Sports Day ever since.

It is only natural     9     the nation to work hard to host more international sports events, as these provide the perfect platform to showcase China’s successes. There are already other upcoming opportunities. China might also aim to host a FIFA World Cup,     10    (regard) as the most spectacular international sporting event.

9 . Is walking good exercise?

For exercise to really count, it has to be hard or complicated, or leave you totally wiped out with muscle pain for days-right? Not at all! While high-intensity activity certainly has its place, so does the most basic, accessible form of exercise: walking.    1    

One of the biggest reasons walking is so popular is because it’s a low-impact exercise. It doesn’t put nearly as much pressure on the joints(关节)as running or any sort of jumping or hopping movement.     2     It’s a gentle way to get the blood flowing and circulate oxygen and nutrients(营养物质)to muscles.

For people just getting started with fitness, walking is a wonderful form of aerobic exercise(有氧运动).    3     Just get up and walk, and you’ll get your heart and lungs working. Unlike other forms of cardio-like running, biking, dance workouts, or boxing-walking isn’t frightening, and it doesn’t require lessons or special equipment.

Enhanced blood flow is going to improve recovery and help ease muscle pain. Although it is not going to completely heal it, it can help reduce it and accelerate the muscle repair process.     5     Chemicals that are released in the body when our cells create and use energy to power through a tough workout may further boost recovery.