As you know, science plays     1    very important role in our education. Do you want to keep up    2    the latest research and discoveries in science? There are many good websites     3    you can check out the latest in the science world.

One great site is Science News for Kids. This site reports science news     4     (cover) a wide range of subjects. The articles are intended for younger readers, but adults will find this site     5     (suit) for them as well. Another wonderful site, one that I check out every day,     6     (call) Science Daily. The site is    7     (constant) updated with news, often about exciting    8     (find) that change how we view the world.

These sites post the latest stories and also keep all the past articles they    9     (post) earlier. That way you can find articles just about anything that    10     (be) related to the science fields you are interested in.

Stories     1     (tell) for centuries in all human communities under all kinds of circumstances.

Today, stories are     2     huge part of our societies and culture. Traditionally, stories have been handed down through the generations. In this series, we explore the importance of     3     (tradition) storytelling across various cultures.

For over 1,000 years, professional storytellers have been     4     (establish) figures in the marketplaces and bazaars of China. Their art had a big impact     5     the daily life of the Chinese townspeople,     6     (serve) as the “university” of ordinary people—the place     7     culture and knowledge were communicated in an entertaining and simple way.

The general themes of the stories     8     (fall) into five different categories: history, adventure, comedy, stories about Three Kingdoms and stories about Five Dynasties.

Traditionally, storytelling took place at the temple fairs, in entertainment areas and booths, in teahouses and wine shops. On festive     9     (occasion), a storyteller might be invited to perform in the private homes of the upper classes and even at the court. Storytellers of     10     (low) standing performed in the countryside.

Kyrgyzstan(吉尔吉斯斯坦) is a mountainous country where nearly two thirds of the people live in rural areas. The UN notes that the local economy depends     1    (heavy)on farming. So it is rare for any Kyrgyz to choose technology     2     a career path.

The UN Development Programme studied records about the country’s college     3    (graduate)in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, construction and manufacturing. It found that women make up less than 10 percent of those graduates.

Nineteen-year-old Alina Anisimova,     4     is a computer programmer, says some girls don’t have the courage to take on such studies because it is not common in their country. And, she also says a majority of parents discourage their daughters from     5    (study)these subjects. Girls in her country are expected     6     (marry) instead of having careers. Nearly one in 10 girls in Kyrgyzstan is married before the age of 18, notes the international aid group Girls Not Brides. She wishes that in the future people will not consider it so     7    (surprise)to see young women get involved in engineering and metal working.

Actually, the number of women in science, technology, engineering and math areas     8     (increase)in recent years. For example, in the US, there has been a push to get more girls interested in such subjects at     9     early age. Still, the UN’s cultural agency UNESCO notes that only about 30 percent of the world’s researchers     10     (be)women.

Nowadays, before we upload a photo of ourselves to social media, chances are that we'll use     1         app to smooth our skin, make our eyes     2     (big), eyelashes longer and lips fuller.

With a couple of taps on our mobile phones, we're able to get a quick fix and present our own best version to the world. However, the problem is, when we     3     (simple) edit our imperfections away, we're also changing the way we look at     4    (we).

Last month,     5     (research) from the Boston University     6     (publish) an article which analyzed photo     7     (edit) apps' bad impacts on people's self-esteem and their potential to cause appearance anxieties. They warned that such apps are blurring (难区分)the lines     8    reality and fantasy. These apps allow one to change his or her appearance in minutes and follow a(n)     9     (realistic) standard of beauty.

Now we've got this daily comparison of the real self with this intentional or unintentional self that we present on social media. This is     10     many young people suffer an identity crisis when it comes to how they look.

A teahouse is a special house which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments (茶点). Its function varies widely     1     (depend) on the culture. In China, a teahouse is a place     2     people gather to enjoy tea, chat and socialize. It     3     (consider) as a symbol of Chinese tea culture and people’s leisure lives.

Chinese teahouses enjoy a long-standing history. They developed from tea     4     (stand) in the Western Jin dynasty, took shape in the Tang dynasty, developed     5     (gradual) in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties an became booming in modern times.

In the Song dynasty, teahouses existed all over cities and villages,     6     a rate comparable with that of restaurants. The owners preferred to decorate their teahouses with paintings celebrities and rare and precious plants     7     (attract) customers. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the number of teahouses went beyond that of restaurants, gaining more     8     (popular) and becoming more famous. Later, the acculturation (文化移入) of western culture forced traditional Chinese teahouses to take on     9     new look. After reform and opening-up, with the rapid development of the economy and     10     (evidence) improvement of people's living standards, teahouses flowered in China.

The national college entrance exam in Russia，Unified State Exam，will include Chinese as       1       elective foreign language starting from 2019．Chinese will become the fifth elective test item for the Unified State Exam     2       (follow)English，German，French and Spanish．

The number of Chinese learners in Russia       3     (grow)quickly in the past decade，according to a survey     4     (conduct)by a linguistic research center in Russia．

Approaches to learning Chinese vary from person to person，    5     more and more people choosing university courses in Russia．

The three-hour-long Chinese test will quiz students on     6     (they)listening，reading，and writing abilities and a fourth section will examine students on grammar，vocabulary and Chinese     7     (character)．Some parts in the exam are even a little bit difficult for native Chinese speakers．

According to the Office of Chinese Language Council International(Hanban)7 as of 2017， some 100 million people，excluding native speakers，use Chinese     8     (global)．

The United Nations(UN)in 2010 suggested a Chinese Language Day     9     falls on April 20 each year       10     (celebrate)cultural diversity as well as to promote the equal use of a11 official languages．

A material can be really special when it was named after the place where it     1       (create)originally.That’certainly the case     2     “china”.And of all types of china，white porcelain(瓷)is among the most famous.

Nowadays，the     3     (tradition)material has taken on a modern look in the       4    (hand)of four Chinese artists in the Modern White Porcelain Exhibition.And the key word here is“modern”.One of the works     5     (be)a porcelain boat.But look     6     (attentive)and you’11 see that the boat     7     (build)with porcelain looks like a takeout box.Inside the boat is a statue of a baby.The baby stands for humans and the boat is       8     supports life.It suggests we may have done some damage to     9     environment and that we’re treating life like fast food.

All the four artists gave white porcelain a model style，each in     10     (they)own way.And this is what the exhibition’s theme comes from.It’s a dialogue between the past and the present.

In the letter to Rosemary, Jo     1    (main) told of her experiences as a voluntary teacher in a high school in Africa. It is fairly easy to imagine what     2    (difficulty) she met with while working there because there was no electricity, no water, or even no     3    (equip) for science subjects. In addition, students had to walk a long way to get to school.

    4     was quite difficult for Jo to get to know the local people because she didn’t speak much of the local English dialect. However, there was one chance     5     she managed to visit the home of one of her students. After up to two and a half hours’ hard journey, she and another teacher arrived at the student’s house, a low bamboo hut with grass     6    (stick) out of the roof. They entered the room     7     the narrow doorway and the hut was dark inside so it took time for their eyes to adjust. At dinner, Jo and her workmate learned a lot about local     8    (tradition) customs.

Although Jo’s muscles     9    (ache) and her knees shaking as they climbed down the mountain towards home, she really felt very glad     10    (spend) a day with the student’s family.