2 . Billions of insects are moving together over the sky like a black cloud. It’s a swarm of locusts. Many insects move in huge swarms. They form swarms for different reasons. Some move together to look for food or to find new homes. Sometimes insects swarm for protection. These enormous swarms can destroy food crops and harm other living things.

When something disturbs a red fire ants’ nest, out they will come. Not just one or two, but thousands of them. The fire ants swarm all over their victim. Their stings burn like fire. Each ant in the swarm can sting over and over again. The fire ants hold onto their victim with their mouth parts. Then they inject their prey with poison. Most small animals cannot survive the stings from a swarm of fire ants.

When army ants are on the move, anything in their path is prey. Even snakes can’t escape a swarm of these stinging ants. Army ants move together to look for food. They can’t see their prey, but they use smells and sounds to find their way. If they come to a river, they make a bridge with their bodies. They cling together with their legs. Then the rest of the ants can cross the bridge. There is not much that can stop these fierce and cruel ants from chasing their prey.

Insects are not the only animals that swarm. There are many others that do. Most are not harmful to people. Being close to a huge swarm of animals can be scary and dangerous. Some scientists have studied animal swarms. They have found that many swarms follow simple rules. They work together to solve problems. When they work together they are a very strong team.

3 . Xinjiang has long been known as a place of music and dancing.

No matter which ethnic group is living in Xinjiang, music and dancing are an inseparable part of our lives. From festive holidays to ________ and parties, music, singing and dancing are must-haves, with people of all genders and ages taking part in them. Even young children in Xinjiang, upon ________ music, start moving their hands and stepping on the beat. It is often the case that people say, “Everyone in Xinjiang knows how to dance.” Dancing shows our ________ for life.

When it comes to folk dancing in Xinjiang, the first thing people will ________ is “neck moving”, or more ________, the “head slide”. To do this, you move your cheek to each side.

The moment when I ________ people’s love for the ethnic dances of Xinjiang came during the COVID-19 ________ in 2020. I launched an open course on Douyin. Every day I live-streamed (直播) for an hour. In the 12-day period, more than a million people ________ my course.

Every day I would assign my viewers ________, asking them to shoot a short video and interact with me on the platform. I was flooded with ________ . I could see people of all ages and ethnic groups, even overseas Chinese showing their passion for Xinjiang dances. Many of them even ________ Xinjiang-style clothes and did their hair. I was quite ________ by my students during that period.

Short video and live-streams do not only ________ tourism and sell products, they also serve an important role in ________ a communication channel with the majority of netizens.

I believe so many people would like to connect with me on the Internet because they see me as a down-to-earth, relatable and real director of the ________ and tourist bureau (局).

Have you ever wondered how people type Chinese characters? The answer lies in the wonderfully useful phonetic system     1     (call) pinyin. It's the most commonly used system for spelling out the Chinese sounds, and it uses the letters in the Latin alphabet that you are already familiar       2     .

Pinyin is     3     extremely useful tool and should be the foundation of your Chinese learning. Besides, it's not just for Chinese learners like yourself.     4     (actual), all native Chinese speakers know pinyin,     5     is the first thing Chinese children learn at school before learning characters. So even if you don't know Chinese characters, you can type in pinyin and make     6     (you)understood.

Every single sound that exists in Chinese can     7     (display) easily in a pinyin chart. Once you master these 409 sounds along with the tones, you'll have practically mastered the pronunciation of every single word in the Chinese language. We've also created a series of video     8     (lesson)with practice tools that enable you to record yourself and listen back to it to     9     (sure) that your pronunciation matches the examples. Combined with our Tone Pairs practice tool, you now have everything you need     10     (master)pinyin, tones, and Chinese pronunciation.

5 . I got a volunteer job to teach computer skills in a library after many failures in applications and interviews. It’s an ideal opportunity to try something new and break away from the feeling of _______ .

Pretty soon after I entered the main library, I was _______ to work. There were too many learners and not enough teachers.

I was led to Jenna, who had been out of work for seven months. She was _______ back tears of frustration while trying to attach her CV(简历) to an e-mail. When we had finally sent out three _______ , she sat back. Ray, an _______ gentleman, did not know how to open and watch the video of his grandson _______ in an e-mail. A few quick clicks of the mouse and Ray was _______ playing and replaying the video.

When I left the library I had a new sense of purpose and a different way of _______ . Later that evening, I thought a lot about the persons I _______ today. But what I thought about most was how ________ we all were—just people ________ together in taking those first steps to make a ________ to our lives. That day, through ________ , I had realized the fact that to struggle ________ through life’s challenges is a lonely process, but to make that journey with others can make facing even the hardest challenges ________ .

6 . Over the decades, computers have affected our lives to an astonishing degree. When the first modern computer was conceptualized and built in the 20th century, it was so large that it took up a whole room. Over time, the technology shrank. First, computers became small enough to sit on a desk and be brought into the home. Then, they were made lightweight and portable, giving us the laptop. Today, most people have something even smaller: a smartphone that can fit into a pocket.

Though that's as compact as most people are used to, computers and technology are getting even tinier! One of the tiniest forms of technology available today is the microbot. A microbot is a very tiny robot -a machine programmable by a computer—that is built to perform specific tasks. You might tend to refer to this as just a small robot, but the size and dimensions of microbots are actually quite precise. A microbot is less than one millimeter in width, approximately the size of the tip of a pencil. In comparison, a small robot, which can be up to 100 centimeters in width, would be absolutely large. If you think that microbots are as small as you can get, think again. Nanobots smaller than one micrometer exist, but these are so small that they aren't visible to the naked eye(肉眼).

Since microbots are so small, they are potentially very cheap. Scientists and engineers working to develop these microbots believe that they could be used to explore environments or areas that are too small or dangerous for people.

Because the computing power of one single microbot isn't that large, microbots could be moved and used in large groups. At the moment, the biggest barrier to the development of these tiny machines is figuring out how to power a robot that can only contain an extremely small battery.