The buzzwords (时髦术语) “brittle college students” have gone viral on the Internet recently among mounting concerns over     1    serious decline in the physical health of Chinese college students. The words refer to the new generation of college students generally     2     (suffer) from many physical problems. “Brittle,” which     3     (apparent) means tender and fragile (脆弱), has been used by netizens jokingly     4     (describe) how easily college students can get injured and sick.

Such comments have caused heated discussions over the declining physical     5     (fit) of contemporary college students,    6     is confirmed by the astonishing record of visits to one hospital in the city of Zhengzhou, north-central Henan Province. It is reported that Zhengzhou Central Hospital     7     (receıve) some 1,700 young people aged between 18 and 25 in its emergency department in September alone.

“These young people were mainly diagnosed (诊断) with trauma, abdominal pain, chest tightness, hyperventilation, acute alcoholism, and cholecystitis. Most cases were caused by     8     (regular) daily routine, staying up late and unhealthy diet,” said Cheng Xiaodan, deputy director of the hospital’s emergency department.

A report pointed out that unhealthy lifestyle is common     9     college students. Many participants said they had experienced health     10     (issue) such as poor skin condition, lack of sleep, and emotional problems.

Since the pre-Qin period, Chengdu     1    (be) an important cultural town in China. But     2     really sets the city apart, culturally, is its opera. An important aspect of Sichuan Opera is     3     magic of “face changing” where vividly coloured marks are changed within the blink of an eye. In opera gardens and tea houses across the town, audiences who want a glimpse of the local culture love to drink tea while     4    (listen) to Sichuan Opera and watching face changing.

It     5    (believe) that “face changing” has its roots in evolution. Early humans needed survival strategies     6    (avoid) fierce animals and foreign invaders. Often, aggressive facial gestures and non-verbal cues were part of it. The Sichuan Opera is said to bring this range of emotions on stage.

Once the performance starts, the actor keeps pulling down one mask after another in swift     7    (movement) to convey different emotions.     8    (astonishing) , no matter how close one is to the stage and stare     9     the actor, they just can’t tell how the masks change.

In fact, the different kinds of characters and personalities that Sichuan Opera brings alive can be found among common people. This is why     10    (it) emotions will continue to resonate with people for a long time.

Kite flying dated from China and became popular around the country. With a long history, it is considered as the    1     (early) aircraft we have ever known. Kites were used for military purposes in the very beginning, such as measurement and signaling. Later kite flying gradually became     2     outdoor activity for recreation as well as art and     3     (be) warmly welcome for centuries.

In the past, people fastened bamboo-made whistles onto a kite. While     4     (fly) through the wind, it produced sound like the music produced by gu-zheng,     5     is a traditional Chinese instrument. Therefore, kite has     6     (it) modern name as feng zheng

In the 7^th century, kite     7     (introduce) to neighboring countries including Korea and Japan. Around the 13th century, Marco Polo introduced it to Europe and Arab countries.

Around the Qingming Festival, usually on early April, many people fly kites in public squares. The sky is dotted with kites of different     8     (design), such as dancing butterflies, bounding dragons, and swimming fish. When people look at those kites, they feel as if they were flying away with the kites to escape the noisy world and step into the nature with their body and soul. Besides, it is a way for people to pray     9     blessings and fortune.

The traditional Chinese kite expresses harmony between human and nature, a long-held belief     10     (treasure) by the Chinese people.

The name of the Paris 2024 mascot (吉祥物) is Olympic Phryge. It is shaped after the     1     (tradition) small Phrygian caps. The name and design were chosen     2     (represent) symbolic figures of the French Republic. The Olympic Phryge is decorated     3     blue, white and red, with the golden Paris 2024 emblem (徽章) clearly     4     (print) on it.

The Phrygian caps that the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic mascots are based on     5     (be) a symbol of freedom since ancient times. They are     6     (repeated) used as a common reference for French people. Phrygian caps can be seen on the head of the figure Marianne in every town hall and even feature on everyday     7     (object) in France such as coins and stamps. They are an international symbol of freedom,     8     (appear) on different emblems in North and South America.

    9     motto (格言) of the Olympic Phryge and Paralympic Phryge is: “Alone we go faster, but together we go further,”     10     stands for the ways that the mascots and the people of the world can make each other better by working side-by-side.

On February 16, 1861, a big earthquake struck Sumatra, an Indonesian island. The earthquake shook the     1    (west)side of the island, causing a tsunami (海啸). That wall of water crashed into the shore,     2     (destroy) towns and taking thousands of     3    (life).

Recently, though, a team of scientists discovered that another earthquake occurred before this deadly event. According to the record, that earthquake     4    (start) in 1829 and lasted for 32 years but no one felt even one shake. This kind of slow-moving earthquake     5    (call) “silent earthquakes” because no instrument can find them. Scientists have only begun discovering them because    6     the advances in GPS technology in the last twenty years.

To figure out what is going on under the ground, scientists need to study earthquakes. Every earthquake, either small     7     big, can teach scientists something about how much the ground will shake in the future. Unluckily, no one can predict (预测) when an earthquake will hit. Scientists just have to prepare to study all earthquakes     8     strike.

But silent earthquakes like the one in Sumatra change the game for scientists. These silent earthquakes happen all over     9    world. Sometimes, a silent earthquake happens just before a regular one, both of which might be related. By studying silent earthquakes, scientists hope to     10     (well) understand regular earthquakes than before and possibly predict them.