Do you want to start exercising? Congratulations! You are sure     1     (benefit) a lot from it. To start     2    , physical activity increases the efficiency of your heart and lungs. In addition, it has been proven that active people tend to have better immune systems and are at     3     (low) risk of diseases. Moreover,     4     (work) out can help you reduce stress, get over negative feelings, and improve certain brain functions. To help you exercise     5     (proper), there are several tips. First, make sure     6     you expect to improve: heart and lung efficiency, muscle strength or flexibility. Then stick with activities you enjoy. Second, eat right food     7     (meet) different needs of your body. When to eat is also of great     8     (important). Don’t forget to drink throughout exercise. Last     9     not least, wear proper clothes and equipment when exercising to prevent injury. Warming up before exercising and stretching at the end of your workout are good ways to avoid     10     (get) hurt.

Each time I take the underground I find myself     1     (surround) by dozens of passengers playing smartphones. They almost won’t even give a glance at the outside world. You may think it is normal to play smartphones     2     (kill) time. What’s worse, when I talk with some of my     3     (friend), they talk as playing, which is really an annoyance.

I really miss the old days when I chatted with some passengers on the train. Now things are     4     (difference). Everyone just concentrates     5     their smartphones. When talking with them, it seems that you are disturbing their playing smartphones. I could not just blame them for I am moving to be one like them. Sometimes I just feel we     6     (large) ignore our neighbors and want to keep in touch with distant strangers through the Internet. We care about the things far away     7     pay no attention to the needs nearby.     8     ridiculous the situation is! In a way we     9     (control) by smartphones. Are you     10     (experience) the same situation like me? Do you have any ways to avoid that?

Clowns (小丑) are almost everywhere in popular culture. But what they represent     1     (change) a lot over the past 400 years.

Clowns began appearing in the form we recognize today in European theaters in     2     17th century. With brightly colored clothes, big red noses and colorful faces, clowns tried every means to act foolish or play tricks     3     (make) the audience laugh.

Clowns became popular in the US in the 1960s. A happy clown     4     (choose) by McDonald’s to appear in its advertisements. Today, as we know, that company mascot (吉祥物) Ronald McDonald, is world famous.

However, the image of a happy clown is largely an American creation. In other cultures, the clown character is not     5     (necessary) good. One example is “Mr. Punch”, who was popular in British and French theaters curing the 1700s. While Mr. Punch was funny, he was also violent, often     6     (hit) his wife during the show,     7     gave rise to the name of “bad clowns”. Even today, in the eyes of some people, clowns are evil (邪恶的) and     8     (frighten).

Of course, there are different voices. Some people think clowns are positive, creative and imaginative. They bring people     9     (please) and laughter. That’s     10     attracts people, especially children, to clowns. They believe that as long as there are children in the world, there will be a future for clowns.

May 22.2021 is a sad day for the whole nation because Yuan Longping,     1     globally renowned agronomist (著名农学家)     2     (know) for developing the first hybrid rice strains, passed away at the age of 91. Yuan is called “the father of hybrid rice.”

Born in 1930, Yuan Longping     3     (graduate) from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953. Since then,     4     (find) ways to grow more rice has been his life goal. In 1973, he became the first agricultural pioneer in the world     5     grew rice with a high output. This special strain of rice makes it possible     6     (produce) 20% more of the crop in the same fields, Now more than 60% of the rice produced in China each year     7     (be) from this hybrid strain.

Academician (院士) Yuan Longping’s contribution to the cause    8     hybrid rice in China and even the world has been     9     (wide) recognized and highly praised.His     10     (die) is a great loss to China and the world, and he will always be remembered by the people all over the world.

Around twenty years ago, I was     1     (go) through hard times. I couldn’t find a satisfying job. To my shame, I had to drive a school bus     2     (make) ends meet.

One afternoon, while driving though a suburban neighborhood, I was so sad that I kept     3     (ask) myself, “Why has my life become so hard?” “What’s wrong with the world?” Then I pulled over the bus to drop off     4     little girl. As she passed, she     5     (hand) me a pretty earring, saying she found it on the floor and I should keep it in case the owner came to look for it.

In the evening, the owner did come to look for     6     (she) earring. When I gave it to her, she got excited and said, “Thanks, you are a     7     (really) gentleman.” I told her that she should thank the little girl     8     had found it. She said, “Yes, and you are a good driver, too. What a lovely world it is!” Then she left with satisfaction. I     9     (touch) by her words. I had thought something was wrong with the world just because     10     my poor condition. In fact, nothing was wrong with the world. I should change my attitude towards life.

The best time to see beautiful lanterns is during the Lantern Festival,     1     falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Last year it was on Feb. 8th, marking the end of Spring Festival. However, because of the COVID-19, we     2     (have) to stay at home last year.

As is known to us,     3    (watch) lanterns is a great activity. Lanterns are in different kinds of sizes and shapes, from animals to plants and flowers.     4     (make) it more fun, people paste riddles(贴谜语) on the lanterns. In some     5    (place), people “like releasing sky” lanterns(放天灯), which are called Kongming Lanterns. A sky lantern is a small hot-air balloon made of paper with an opening at     6     bottom where there is a small fire source. When the bright lights fly high in the sky, people can bless members and make wishes. In old times, the Lantern Festival was also     7     (interest). At that time, young girls were not     8    (allow) to go out very often except during certain festivals. Therefore, looking     9     lanterns gave young people a chance to meet each other. A line from Xin Qiji, a poet during the Song Dynasty, shows this: “Restless, I searched for her in thousands, hundreds of ways.     10    (sudden) I turned, and there she was in the receding light.”

A Chinese university has built the world’s longest 3D-printed bridge. The creation has a     1    (long) of 26.3 meters and a width of 2.6 meters. Its design came from the historical Zhaozhou Bridge     2    (build) in AD 605.

    3     the ancient Zhaozhou Bridge required a decade to build, the team spent only 450 hours    4    (complete) all of their new bridges concrete parts. Besides, the bridge’s cost came in at just two thirds of that of     5     ordinary bridge.

The bridge consisted     6     44 individual 3D-printed concrete units, each of them approxi-mately 3 by 3 by 5 feet. The sides, influenced by the Zhaozhou Bridge,     7    (make) with 68 single concrete plates moved into place by robot arms.

The leader of the team noted that “the demand for labor in construction projects will be in short supply increasingly” in the future. If China cannot find people to build bridges, “intelligent construction will become an     8    (importance) channel to solve this problem”.

There     9    (be) other 3D-printed architectural projects over the last few years, as the technology has become    10    (popular) than before. A team at MIT built a sample house in 14 hours. If there are ever houses on Mars NASA suspects the houses also will be built by robots using 3D printing.

Chinese Language Day

Language Days at the Untied Nations seek     1    (celebrate) multilingualism (多语言) and cultural diversity as well as promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the     2     (organize).

The date for the Chinese day was selected from Guyu, which is the     3    (six) of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars (日历),     4     (usual) beginning around April 20.

Chinese was established as an official language of the United Nations in 1946.     5    , in early years, Chinese was not commonly used in the work of the United Nations. The situation     6     (improve) after the Peopled Republic of China regained the lawful rights in the United Nations in 1971. In 1973, they     7     (include) Chinese as a working language,     8    was used by more and more UN offices and staff members.

In celebration of United Nations Chinese Language Day 2021, UNSRC Chinese Book Club     9    (be) organizing three events under the theme “Highlighting Pictographs (象形文字)”. The three events focus     10    three types of characters connected with three cultures and three UNESCO World Heritage sites. All the three events will be shown live.