1 . The first daigou, meaning someone who makes purchases on another’s behalf, were Chinese students studying abroad, who carried ____ products home on behalf of family and friends. Adding a commission (佣金) helped them pay their tuition fees. The ____ of social-networking apps such as WeChat, China’s most popular, brought the business online. Daigou could then offer their services to friends of friends, and ____ items they thought might appeal to their network. But while daigou in America and Europe purchase mainly luxury goods for their customers, in Australia they buy mainly vitamins, food and beauty products. And while luxury brands see daigou as a threat, undercutting sale in China, Australian firms have come to ____ them.

There are perhaps 50,000 daigou, ____ the aisles (过道) of Australian shops and periodically stripping them bare. Ordinary daiguo can post 60,000 parcels to China every day. The biggest have grown into ____ export businesses which deliver goods through China’s free0trade zones. Express delivery services to China have ____ and some 1,500 stores in Australia mainly take are of the needs of daigou. One such chain, AuMake, recently listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its ____ sales staff can arrange for a purchase to be posted to China as soon as it has been rung up (收款记账).

The ____ for the customers is simple: the products daigou post are guaranteed to be genuine. Ever since Chinese firms were found to have been selling contaminated (污染过的) milk power in 2008, many anxious Chinese parents have turned to foreign brands. But websites selling foreign goods are riddled with ____, while Chinese shops charge a fortune for the real thing.

The odd sales channel works for companies, too. Daigou allow young Australian firms to build their brands in China much more cheaply and easily than if they tried to ____ their products directly, argues Keong Chan, the chairman of AuMake. A firm called the a2 Milk Company doubled its profit in the year to June thanks to soaring Chinese ____. Daigou ____ more of those sales than Chinese retailers or e-commerce sites, according to Peter Nathan, who heads its Asia-Pacific unit. ____, many business fall over themselves to win the favour of the most influential daigou. “It’s like having 50,000 ____,” says Andrew Cohen, chief executive of Bellamy’s, a listed manufacturer of infant formula.

2 . Last week, I taught a case study on the decline of Nokia to my MBA students. I asked them, “Why did Nokia fall from industry _________ to also-ran position in the space of less than five years?” Their answers were _________:

“They lost touch with their customers.” True, but almost tautological-and interesting to note that this is the same Nokia that in the early 2000s was praised for its _________-centric marketing and design capabilities.

“They _________ to develop the necessary technologies.” Not really true-Nokia had a prototype touch screen before the iPhone was launched, and its smartphones were _________ superior to anything Apple, Samsung, or Google had to offer during the late 1990s.

“They didn’t recognize that the basis of competition was shifting from the hardware to the ecosystem.” _________, not really true-the “ecosystem” battle began in the early 2000s, with Nokia joining forces with Ericsson, Motorola, and Psion to create Symbian as a _________ technology that would keep Microsoft at bay.

Through this period, the people at Nokia were _________ the changes going on around them, and they were never short of leading-edge technology or clever marketers. Where they struggled was in transmitting _________into action. The company lacked the capability to change in a decisive and committed way.

The failure of big companies to __________ to changing circumstances is one of the principal puzzles in the world of business. Occasionally, a genuinely “disruptive” technology, such as digital imaging, comes along and __________ an entire industry. But usually the sources of failure are more dull and avoidable—a failure to __________ technologies that have already been developed, an arrogant disregard(傲慢的漠视) for changing customer demands, a self-satisfied attitude towards new competitors.

In such cases, the final responsibility for __________ rests with the CEO. But if such failures are to be avoided, it is clear that the CEO cannot do it on his or her own. People across the firm must keep their eyes open to __________ in their business, and to take responsibility to push their new ideas and __________ existing ways of working. Obviously, this isn't easy to do, but if there is a better understanding of the problem then there is a chance for improvement.

3 . Most of us have no difficulty recognizing luck when it’s on apparent display, as when someone wins the lottery. But _________ often plays out in delicate ways and it’s easy to construct narratives that portray success as out of everything but luck. These misleading stories have surprising implications for human mindset, downplaying the power of chances.

Consider the history of the Mona Lisa. After having staved in the _________ for most of its early existence, the painting was pushed into the spotlight in 1911 when it was stolen from Louvre. The famous theft remained _________ for two years until a maintenance worker was arrested after trying to sell the painting. His arrest caused a second wave of _________, with the painting on everyone’s lips. As in the art world, it is so too in the world of work. Almost every career path consists of a sequence of steps, each of which depends on former ones. Inevitably, some of those _________ steps can be influenced by chance factors, which, as a result, are sure to affect the following process. So it is reasonable to conclude that _________ all successful careers involve at least a certain degree of luck.

One’s date of birth _________, for example. According to a study, most children born in the summer tend to be among the youngest members of their class, which explains why they are less likely to hold _________ positions during high school and thus, less likely to land good jobs later in life.

To acknowledge the power of chance events is not to suggest that success is independent of _________. Charlie Munger has said. “The safest way to get what you want is to __________ what you want.”

Of course, luck counts too. Being born in a good education system is a kind of luck we can control— that is, at least we can decide how lucky our children will be. But in America, we’ve been doing a bad job as the budget for education has __________. The human tendency to __________ luck’s role has caused this troubling state by unwillingness to invest in education, the strong system of which can produce __________ for the next generation.

Luckily, there is a solution. Guiding people to __________ their good fortune tends to make them more willing to contribute to the __________, according to a study. So try to engage your successful friends in reviews about their experiences with luck. In the process, the next generation’s odds of success may well increase and meanwhile, all the social members are more likely to enjoy the improved public service.

4 . It is a tradition of corporate architecture. A company’s top executives get offices on the top floor with the biggest windows and best views. However, nowadays some bosses choose to “hot-desk”（轮用办公桌） with everyone else.

One argument for such a(n) ________ can be made. Staff morale （士气）would ________ if the employees are stuffed in open-plan offices while the executives occupy the spacious offices. When the executives sit alongside their teams, they will be more in touch with how projects are going and how staff are feeling. In theory, if the executives are ________, employees are more likely to approach them with problems.

But the bosses present all the time may ________ hurt morale. One of the joys of office life is the freedom to enjoy a bit of joking with colleagues. This may include the odd joke about the ________. In the presence of their boss, staff will be ________ in what they talk about and the tone of their comments. They may feel the need to sound serious at all times, for fear that the quality of their commitment to their work come into doubt. ________, the manager may be right behind them.

You also have to wonder whether executives will really spend every morning searching for a place to sit. Some hot desks will be a lot hotter than others. Once the chief financial officer has picked a desk on day one, the junior staff will ________ that particular spot on subsequent days. In contrast, anyone who works closely with a particular executive will be ________ to pick a desk close by.

The lingering（逗留不走的）boss presents other ________. Anyone who has worked in an open-plan office will acknowledge that other colleagues’ talking can make it hard to ________ at times. Managers may find themselves constantly being approached by team members with questions or problems for them to solve. Many people resort to headphones to shut out the background noise and to ________ their unavailability. But if managers do that, they run the risk of seeming shut off from their colleagues.

One study found that at firms that ________ to open-plan design, face-to-face interactions fell by 70%. Like an animal caught on open ground without cover, many people do not like being constantly observed. In the ________ of a physical barrier, they create a fourth wall, ________ their desire for privacy by facial expressions or brief replies to questions.

5 . Why HS2 should go ahead

For the country that invented railways, Britain has shown remarkably little interest in them lately. New networks have been built around Europe in the past few decades, but the only significant stretch of ________ laid in Britain in a century is the 67-mile HS1 railway that links London to the Channel Tunnel. ________ , the country has half as much track as it had in 1963.Yet while Britain has an almost American ________ to invest in railways, its commuting(通勤) patterns are European: l0% of journeys are by rail, compared with 9% in Germany and less than 1% in America.

Britain's big ________ is that, because it has built no new high-speed lines, it runs fast intercity trains on the same track as slow commuter ones. Long ________ have to be left between slow and express trains. The need to make way for high-speed trains thus ________ the number of commuter services,and vice versa. Eight years ago,the government decided to change this by building a new 345-mile railway from London to the north of England. Though branded as High Speed 2, its principal job was to improve capacity(运输量) rather than ________ .

Rail is an increasingly significant part of the transport mix. Climate change is making carbon-efficiency even more important. At the same time, passenger numbers have gone beyond ________ . The government had expected passenger volumes to increase by 17-21% in the decade from 2011; actually, they were up by 24% within just seven years and are expected to go on ________ at a similar rate.

The benefit-to-cost ratio(效益成本比率) calculated for HS2, at around one, is hardly acknowledged. But just as the costs of big transport projects are often ________ , so are their long-term benefits. The extension to London's Jubilee tube line, ________ ,was approved with a BCR of less than one, but recent analysis suggests that it has been more like 1.75. And that includes only the profits that go directly to the railway, not the ________ consequences of the recovery of London's Docklands area, which the tube line made possible.

The main point of HS2, similarly, is its impact on the cities and towns along its ________ and beyond. Boris Johnson, the prime minister, is on a mission to promote growth in northern and western areas ________ by the country's London-centered pattern of growth. On its own HS2 won't make that happen, but doing so without a new railway would be ________ . The success of the "Northern Powerhouse" rail scheme, to link the north's big towns, depends on it.

6 . How are “global” students different from “glocal” students and how is their mobility likely to take shape in future?

To answer the above question, I am adapting and extending the results of a previous research study published by World Education Services. The research _________ four different groups or segments of U.S.-bound international students based on their academic preparedness and financial resources: Strivers, Strugglers, Explorers and Highfliers. With the growth of transnational education models, including validation of degrees, franchise programs, online degrees, branch campuses and now these four groups of international students may be further _________ by two primary subgroups: “global” and “glocal.”

“Global” students comprise Highfliers and Strugglers, who will not _________ the value of studying abroad, due to their strong desire for achievement or emigration, respectively. Thus, _________ destinations like the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia will continue to attract this segment. Alternative pathways to foreign education through transnational education will not be appealing to “global” students. In contrast, “glocal” students comprise Explorers and Strivers who have the _________ to study abroad in popular destinations like the U.S., the U.K. or Australia, but cannot due to their low academic or financial resources respectively.These students are _________ to other forms of engaging with transnational education.“Glocal ”students are different from “global” ones, as they would like to earn the social prestige and career _________ offered by foreign education without having to go very far from home. Both “glocal” and “global” segments will grow in the medium term, but the “glocal” one is expected to grow at a _________ pace due to a greedy appetite for foreign education, and expanding middle-class in emerging economies and technological innovation.

On the other hand, the “global” segment will grow at a slower pace due to a shift in institutional _________ or self-funded students at undergraduate level and the increasing cost and competition for recruiting international students. Transnational educational models also face several growth problems, including qualitative challenges __________ from credential issues with MOOCs to regulatory and funding complexity with branch campuses, which may __________ influence the expectations of “glocal” students and therefore growth.

Of course, not all international students can be boxed into this framework. However, the intention is to provide a broad framework for institutions to __________ the shift that is occurring in the competitive landscape and to help them make the best strategic choices. __________ the dynamics of international student mobility are changing with the growth of transnational education __________ in new student segments and behavior. Institutions need to __________ their internationalization strategies to deliver best possible results by better understanding their changing students.

7 . You take it for granted that you are a unique person, different from everyboy else on Earth, and you understand that everybody else is also unique. Identical (完全一样的) twins are fascinating because they______this idea: they are unique people, of course, not only in terms of appearance. They often share opinions, mannerisms and personality trails.

Identical twins are ______ occuring in about three out of every 1000 births. Although there may be tiny differences in physical appeaances between two identical twins, which allow family and close friends to ______ , they do have exactly the same DNA.

For scientists, the non- ______ similarities between identical twins are the most interesting: are they the result of growing up together in the same home, or are they the result of their identical DNA? By studying identical twins who have not grown up ______, researchers can see which similarities remain and which disappear. In other words, they can learn which aspects of a person’s ______ are determined by genes and which are influenced by the environment.

Identical twins Jim Lewis and Jim Springer were only four weeks old when they were ______: each infant was taken in by a different adoptive family. At age five, Lewis learned that he had a twin, but he said that the ideas never ______ “soaked in” until he was 38 years old. Springer learned of his twin at age eight, but both he and his adoptive parents believed the brother had died. The two Jims were finally reunited at age 39.

The ______ the twins shared not only amazed one another, but also amazed researchers at the University of Minnesota. The very fact that both twins were given the same name was a big ______. But there’s more.

As youngsters, each Jim had a dog named “Toy”.

One Jim had named his son James Allan and the other Jim had named his son James Alan

Both were fingernail biters and suffered from migraine headaches.

…

While not as mysteriously similar as the Jim twins, many more ______ of strange likenesses can be found among twins who were raised apart. For example, identical twins Tom Patterson and Steve Tazuni had very different ______ . Raised in a Christian family in rural Kansas, Tom still managed to choose the same ______ as his brother. Steve, who lives in Philadelphia, was raised in a Buddhist household. Both men own body-building gyms.

It’s obvious from these twins’ stories that ______ are a major factor in shaping who we are. This means that our personalities as adults are largely determined before we are born — and there is very little that we, or anybody else, can do to ______ them.

8 . Researchers have found that urban heat island effect made worse by sunbaked roads can be relieved by a simple measure: Paint the streets gray.

A study by Arizona State University found that _________a reflective, gray-colored material to black asphalt（柏油）resulted in a 10.5-to-12-degree Fahrenheit drop in average road surface temperatures. Meanwhile, sunrise temperatures _________an average 2.4-degree drop.

“This is exactly what we were hoping for,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said. “It’s exciting to see a technology that has the potential to meet the demands of a growing desert city in a world where temperatures are_________rising.”

Experts say road temperatures in the Phoenix area can rise to 180 degrees on a hot day. That_________energy remains in paved surfaces for hours, radiating heat back into nighttime air. Higher overnight temperatures result in warmer mornings, creating a_________of urban heat island effect.

Researchers found as well that the greatest temperature_________was near the road surface, with less dramatic results 6 feet above the ground. Even so, the neighborhoods with streets reflecting light experienced air temperatures 0.3-to-0.5 degree cooler compared with neighborhoods with_________roads.

But reflective pavements don’t affect all surfaces the same way. Researchers said that “the most meaningful measurement” was of radiant temperatures, a measure of how the body_________heat. Those measurements showed that the “human experience of heat_________at noon and the afternoon hours was higher due to surface reflectivity.” It’s been noted that the increase in__________ temperatures “may be a necessary trade-off（妥协）to reduce surface temperatures using a reflective surface.”

Heather Murphy, a spokesperson for the Transportation Department, said the response has been __________from drivers and residents in neighborhoods where the material is applied. “We have had some people who don’t like the look of it, but generally the response has been very__________”.

Still, officials cautioned that reflective pavement is not a remedy for the urban heat island effect.

“If you’re standing over these surfaces on a hot day,__________, you’re still going to be hot if you’re not in the shade,” said Jennifer Vanos, an assistant professor at Arizona State University. “So if we really want to __________true solutions, it’s not going to be just painting all the streets gray.”

A second phase of the study will examine questions about how the material performs under different__________, including changes in reflectivity, degradation and subsurface temperature over longer periods.

9 . Last year Miranda Lim found that taking care of three young children homebound by the pandemic meant she often had to work late into the evening to stay on top of her job. Concerned that the _________ hours were having a bad effect on her sleep, Lim started tracking her sleep time with an app on her mobile phone. She wasn’t quite _________ the results. “I saw my bedtime was _________ anywhere between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.,” she says. “I was just horrified.” As a result, she immediately set up a daily alarm — not for waking up, but for _________ to bed at a reasonable hour.

It’s _________ why Lim would be a bit of an alarmist when threatened with a lack of a constant night’s sleep. As a sleep disorders physician at the VA Portland Health Care System, Lim is at the forefront of a global team of medical researchers who have in recent years been _________ the ways in which even moderate sleep shortage in middle age strongly link to Alzheimer’s disease later in life. She says, “Our big discovery was that the lack of sleep involves brain processes that may _________ into the disease.”

The finding that getting more and better sleep could offer the best, and _________ only, way to significantly reduce the risks of neuro-degeneration (神经退化) in older age is likely to further _________ an already hot sleep industry. Market research firm Infinium Global Research puts the current worldwide market for sleep __________ — including drugs, special bedding, and health care services — at an estimated $80 billion–plus, and predicts it will __________ to $114 billion over the next five years. Research firm BCC has been projecting a similar growth rate. Now Tim O’Brien, who heads life sciences content at BCC, says he’s watching for “a sudden leap”.

That leap would be driven not only by consumer’s __________ pursuit of better sleep-related health, but also by a stream of new __________ and technologies that are emerging to help achieve it, from sleep drugs to implantable medical devices to smart pillows. Fitbit’s companion app offers a range of insights and exercises aimed at __________ sleep, including sleep “scores” that break down different aspects of sleep, recommendations for when to get to bed and when to wake up, deep breathing and mindfulness exercises, and more. In addition, a big push into the market is being made by __________ a number of sleep-tracking and sleep-promoting features into the latest version of its “Nest Hub” smart speaker-and-screen device.

Nevertheless, some experts think the tech can help with slight pushes, but people still have to develop the healthy habits.

10 . Imagine sitting inside a windowless train that's shooting through a tube at twice the speed of an airplane. Your train has no wheels, produces no _________ , makes its own electricity, and isn't affected by bad weather. This is the hyperloop, a new vision for the world's _________ , safest, and greenest form of transportation. Many have _________ this new technology, but others say the hyperloop vision is just a bunch of hot air.

Hyperloop developers plan to use the properties of magnets to float, stabilize, and drive the capsules or pods for hundreds of miles through _________ tubes. Without air or ground to slow down the vehicles, what was once a five-hour journey would become a half-hour excursion, engineers promise.

Supporters of the technology promote additional _________ of transporting passengers and cargo by hyperloop. For example, they firmly state that unlike other city-to-city transport that's _________ , such as planes or trains, hyperloop vehicles would leave as needed, like Ubers and taxis. While the _________ would hold only 28 to 50 passengers each, developers plan for them to depart stations in groups every minute or so which they say could amount to shuttling 50,000 people an hour. That's more than twice the passenger _________ of the world's fastest trains.

Developers also say that hyperloop tubes would be _________ so they wouldn't interfere with other traffic or threaten wildlife. And tubes would be covered with solar panels to power the hyperloop's systems. ____________ , advocates regard the hyperloop as the transportation choice for the future.

But not everyone is on board. Engineers have calculated that the high-speed vehicles will need to make much wider turns than currently envisioned, and otherwise they won't be ____________ for passengers. This would add several miles to the proposed tube tracks, Engineers also say planners haven't included enough time for vehicles to safely brake and take off at stations. Some engineers believe it will take much longer than claimed to pump the ____________ out of the tubes before each vehicle's departure. Critics thus say hyperloops can't go as fast or serve as many passengers per hour as advertised, making them ____________ existing high-speed transportation options.

Hyperloop companies say they're ____________ these concerns. They claim that they can safely maintain high speeds by having the vehicles bank around the turns as a plane does. And their hyperloops will rely on the split-second reaction times of a computer to ____________ vehicles quickly, frequently, and safely.