A cultural tourism promotion event titled “Hometown of Confucius, Hospitable Shandong” opened in Rome Italy, on May 6,2023.

    1     (host) by the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the event’s opening ceremony    2     (attend) by more than 100 guests, including government officials from both sides, as well as    3    (representative) from Italy.

Shandong is    4    large province in terms of population, economy, culture, and tourism along the east coast of China. It has a population of more than 100 million and is the third    5    (large) economy in China. It has rich cultural tourism resources as it is    6     Mount Tai rises, the Yellow River flows into the sea, and Confucius was born. “Hospitable Shandong” has become an     7     (influence) tourism brand(品牌).

Shandong is willing to work with Italian partners    8     (strengthen) dialogue,enhance trust, and deepen cooperation, drawing a new chapter in the cultural and tourism cooperation and exchanges    9     the two places, said a senior official from the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.

During the opening ceremony, Riccardo Busi, president of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), announced the decision to establish the China Coordination Office of the FIAP in Shandong province,    10     (sign) a strategic cooperation agreement with the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.

2 . New research has discovered that adult howler monkeys use play to avoid conflict and reduce group tension, with levels of play increasing when they are faced with limited resources.

Howler monkey play involves individuals hanging from their tails(尾巴)and making facial expressions and signals, such as shaking their heads. However, play is an energy-costly activity for howler monkeys, who generally have an inactive lifestyle due to their mainly leaf-based diet.

The researchers examined how play varies with age, and they measured the amount of time adults play with other adults and with juvenile monkeys within their groups. By studying seven different groups of howler monkeys in the rain forests of Mexico and Costa Rica, the researchers found that the amount of adult play is linked to the number of potential playmates, increasing in line with the size of the group. Adults spend more time playing with other adults, rather than juveniles, and adult females spend more time engaged in play than adult males.

Crucially, the researchers found that play among adults increases in line with time spent searching for fruit. Howler monkeys typically eat leaves, and fruit is a highly prized resource that generates competition among the monkeys. Lead author Dr.Norberto Asensio, of University of the Basque Country, said,“One theory for the positive effect of fruit consumption on play is that a fruit-based diet simply provides the howler monkeys with more energy compared to their typical diet of leaves.”

“If this was the case, we should have observed adults engaging in more play with other adults of the group, instead of young monkeys during fruit searching. Because young monkeys do not pose a threat or provide competition at fruit trees, we believe that play among adults is a method for solving conflicts within the group, in a similar way that grooming(梳理毛发) is used by some other animals.”

3 . Desperately ill and seeking a miracle, David Bennett Sr. took the last bet on Jan. 7. when be became the first human to be successfully transplanted with the heart of a pig. “It creates the beat; it creates the pressure; it is his heart,” declared Bartley Griffith, director of the surgical team that performed the operation at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Bennett, 57, held on through 60 tomorrows, far longer than any previous patient who’d received a heart from another species. His remarkable run offered new hope that such procedures, known as xenotransplantation (异种移植), could help relieve the shortage of replacement organs, saving thousands of lives each year.

The earliest attempts at xenotransplantation of organs, involving kidneys from rabbits, goats, and other animals, occurred in the early 20th century, decades before the first successful human-to-human transplants. Rejection, which occurs when the recipient’s body system recognizes the donor organ as a foreign object and attacks it, followed within hours or days. Results improved after some special drugs arrived in the 1960s, but most recipients still died after a few weeks. The record for a heart xenotransplant was set in 1983, when an infant named Baby Fae survived for 20 days with an organ from a baboon (狒狒).

In recent years, however, advances in gene editing have opened a new possibility: re-edit some genes in animals to provide user-friendly spare parts. Pigs could be ideal for this purpose, because they’re easy to raise and reach adult human size in months. Some biotech companies. including Revivicor, are investing heavily in the field. The donor pig was offered by Revivicor from a line of animals in which 10 genes had been re-edited to improve the heart’s condition. Beyond that, the pig was raised in isolation and tested regularly for viruses that could infect humans or damage the organ itself.

This medical breakthrough provided an alternative for the 20% of patients on the heart transplant waiting list who die while waiting or become too sick to be a good candidate.

“I just made it to the South Pole!”

Meet Harpreet Kaur Chandi, also known as Polar Preet, the 33-year-old who has been making headlines all over the world after    1     (become) the first woman of color to complete a solo expedition across Antarctica.

“The reason    2    I chose Antarctica was that Ⅰ didn’t know much about it, and I thought, if I could do something that pushes me so far out of my comfort zone,    3    (hopeful) it’ll inspire other people    4    (do) the same,” said she.

As a part of her tough expedition, Preet endured temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius, and wind speeds of up to 96 kilometers per hour. She    5    (walk) around 27 kilometers a day, pulling a 90-kilogram sled containing her equipment.

“It was generally windy, and there were only two     6    (day) that I can remember when there was slight wind. There were times when it was so hard, and I just thought “This is the     7    (tough) thing I’ve ever done, how am I going to keep going?” And I would break it down and I’d take one step at     8    time, but I never thought, “I’m going to give    9    .”

Despite all the hardships and challenges, Preet says that there’s no stopping and that she has started training for    10    (she) next adventure.

7 . It was Grandpa’s 70th birthday and the whole family had been ________ for it for quite some time.

Early in the morning, I woke up ________. I got dressed quickly and headed downstairs to help. Mum was already in the ________ busy with Grandpa’s special birthday lunch. Dad was nowhere to be seen. After a quick breakfast, I ________ the special gift I had made for Grandpa, a ________ of his life story—for the last time. For weeks I had been ________ this, listening to Grandpa’s stories, ________ his favorite music and collecting photos from the family album.

Dad came in with some ________ just before lunchtime. ________, they were Grandpa’s best friends from secondary school, all in their seventies. Grandpa couldn’t believe his eyes and it took quite a long time for them to ________ down. As soon as the guests took their seat, Grandpa’s favorite music began to fill the room with ________ of the old days. With each old photo, the guests saw how Grandpa ________ from a handsome boy to a kind old gentleman. When grandpa and his friends appeared in an old photo in their school uniforms, there was a lot of laughter, with ________ in their eyes.

Towards the end of the party, Grandpa said excitedly, “It is a(n) ________ birthday celebration and I’ve got the best gift I have ever received. Now I am ________ my eightieth, ninetieth and even one hundredth birthdays already!”

9 . People have always had trouble pronouncing his name. The 19th-century British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli was once laughed at in Parliament for getting it wrong. If you don’t speak German, it’s not at all obvious how you are supposed to say it. A safe bet is to start with a hard ‘g’ on ‘Ger...’ and end with a ‘ter’: Ger-ter.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe has often been seen as one of Europe’s big cultural heroes— comparable to the likes of Shakespeare, Dante and Homer. He was excellent in a wide range of areas: he wrote many poems, was a huge hit as a novelist and made scientific contributions in physiology, geology and botany. He was also a diplomat, fashion guru (专家), a senior civil servant, the head of a university, a fine artist, an adventurous traveller, the director of a theatre company and the head of a mining company.

During his life, Goethe’s admirers were impressed by his literary works. But more than any of his books, what impressed people at the time was how he lived his life, the kind of person he was. The life was more significant than the books (which helps explain why, unlike Jane Austen or Marcel Proust, his literary works are relatively unknown).

Goethe was born in the city of Frankfurt in 1749. His family was comfortably off—it was new money, made from keeping an inn.

Goethe’s parents took great care with his schooling: he was mainly educated at home; he wrote poetry for his friends, took art classes, and learned Italian. He went to the theatre a lot and became friends with actors. As a member of the upper class, he wore a sword in public from the age of 12.

Goethe studied at the University of Leipzig and later did a master’s degree in law at the University of Strasbourg. He often went to a viewing platform high up on a nearby cathedral tower. He was afraid of heights. But he made himself do it because he liked to overcome difficulties—and loved the view.

10 . When places are well-known and popular— historical and modern alike— we might take it for granted that they’ll be around forever. But sadly, many of the world’s best known and culturally significant landmarks are in trouble.

This mountain, one of the Seven Summits, proves that even giants can fall to climate change due to the vast amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. While the mountain itself, located in Tanzania, isn’t in danger at present, its iconic snow cap might disappear—and shockingly soon. Research found that the snow cap had lost 85% of the total area of its ice fields between 1912 and 2007, and the remaining ice could be history as early as 2030.

Located in southern Peru, Machu Picchu is the remains of a huge stone castle that was built during the 15th century. These unbelievable Incan ruins are widely considered one of the must-see spots in South America. However, the site has been a victim of over-tourism, seeing the harmful effects of the crowds it gets as they wear down the structures. In addition, the area surrounding Machu Picchu has seen rapid development of the cities, as well as mudslides and fires, in recent years, leading UNESCO to work for its protection.

This stunning Floridian wildlife reserve has sadly found itself fighting for its life in recent years. As ‘the largest subtropical wilderness reserve’ in North America, according to UNESCO, it’s been a beloved travel destination for American citizens for decades, but the damage of time and human activity have not been kind to it. Its survival first came into question after it was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1993. But it’s human influence that has become the primary threat, as water flow to the site has decreased and the impacts of pollution have increased, resulting in harmful algal blooms (赤潮). Its vast, diverse wildlife is more threatened than ever before.