1 . TikTok, the widely popular social media platform, has taken the world by storm with its short-form videos and addictive content. But did you know that there is also a Chinese version of TikTok?

The Chinese version of TikTok is called Douyin, and it has quickly become one of the most widely used apps in China. Launched in 2016 by Beijing-based tech company ByteDance, Douyin has attracted an enormous user base and reshaped the social media landscape in China.

So, how did Douyin gain such vast popularity in China?

One of the factors contributing to Douyin’s success is the large population of smartphone users in China. With over 1.4 billion people, China has a massive user base for social media platforms. Additionally, the rise in internet penetration and the availability of affordable smartphones have made it easier for people to access and use Douyin.

Douyin takes advantage of China’s culture of sharing and enjoying bite-sized content. In China. there has always been a strong demand for short-form entertainment, including popular formats like variety shows, quick comedy skits, and music videos. Douyin provides a platform for users to easily create and share short videos, allowing them to express their creativity and talent.

Douyin leverages the power of social network effects. Users can follow each other, like and comment on videos, and engage with a large community of like-minded individuals. This sense of belonging and community encourages them to spend more time on the platform.

Moreover. Douyin continuously improves its features and algorithms to enhance user experience and keep users engaged. The app uses advanced AI technology to analyze user preferences and provide personalized recommendations, ensuring that users see content that is relevant and interesting to them.

Overall, the rise of the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the large smartphone user base, the popularity of short-form entertainment in China, social network effects, and continuous improvements in features and algorithms.

Of all fields of science, physics has a reputation for being frightening to the general public. That’s     1     professor Tatiana Erukhimova worked with others to produce a series of videos showing real-world applications of physics in a fun and insightful way. The videos have earned her fans around the world.

Not only     2     (be) the explanations in every video easy to follow, but Erukhimova’s     3     (enthusiastic) is what truly keeps the viewers engaged. Erukhimova’s unique teaching method comes from her hope     4     (stimulate) students’ interest in physics through demonstrative classes.

Born to physicist parents, Erukhimova     5     (become) attached to the field since she was very little. After     6     (offer) a position at Texas A&M almost 25 years ago, Erukhimova moved from Russia to Texas. Since then, she has won over both university students     7     casual viewers with her particular way of explaining science.

While Erukhimova is aware that people may not learn a lot from watching a short video, getting them     8       (interest) and curious about learning more is all worth it. She said, “I     9     (strong) believe that not everyone has to major     10     physics, but everyone has to get a chance to play with it, respect the results of science, and get a chance to learn how fun it is.”

3 . In February Chen Qiqi was riding on a field trip, seeking interesting plants in South China’s Hainan province. Suddenly, she ______ and gave other passengers a shock.

As the car pulled over, she jumped off and ______ to a plant. Chen ______ the plant at close quarters, while taking pictures and shooting it from various angles. “It was Entada phaseoloides (榼藤) and I couldn’t wait to share it with my ______,” she says.

She applied for studies of ______ protection at college in 2016. The college study has given her ______ knowledge of plants and the plant-hunting ______ has made her have a good ______ of the natural world. These led to her option of becoming a teacher at a (n) ______ education institute after graduation.

However, the lockdown interrupted her plans so she couldn’t ______ with it. Instead, she picked up skills of video shooting, which ______ her to be a plant video blogger. Her short videos cover a ______ range of plants, including red spider lily, box bean and air plants, etc. In Chen’s ______ on TikTok, over 100 videos explaining varieties of plants have earned her almost 1 million followers.

“I feel proud and my job is ______ when people say they know about some plants because of me. As for her future plans, Chen says she ______ to carry on exploring the world of plants.

Two graduates, from Central China Normal University in Wuhan, Hubei Province, using the names Wanwan and Chaochao,     1     (upload) a 17-minute video online late last year about their lives over the past five years.

In the video, Wanwan,     2     has taken up a dozen jobs since graduating five years ago, said she now only has 5,000 yuan. Her roommate Chaochao got a master’s degree in scriptwriting (编剧) from Communication University of China. But     3     consequence of a tough job market, she had great difficulty     4     (obtain) a job in the film industry. Last year, she started to learn painting but she said she had to work part-time as a cleaner at a hotpot restaurant to support     5     (she).

“When you can accept your failure, you will feel that it is not that bad. When working at the hotpot restaurant, my biggest     6     (comfortable) is that I won’t starve to death no matter what is next,” Chaochao said. “There are many roads in our lives, and no matter which direction you go, you will     7     (eventual) find your own road.”

The video was one of the trending videos of last year, gaining more than 5.44 million views and more than 26,000 comments since it     8     (release), with many netizens sharing their own failures in the comments section.

Netizens said they were warmed by their courage to share failures with the public, strong determination     9     (achieve) their goals, optimism in the face of hardships     10     spirit of never giving up.

10 . New research suggests that nearly half of American teenagers say they use the Internet almost all the time. The results were based on a Pew public opinion study earned out from April 14 to May 4. The study contained 1,316 teens aged 13 to 17 years old. The research found that about 95 percent of American teens have smartphones.

The study also asked teens about their social media behavior. It found that the number of teens using Facebook has dropped to 32 percent, down from 71 percent in 2015. The research showed that teens have moved away from Facebook to spend time on the video sharing services YouTube and TikTok. About 95 percent of the teens said they use Google-owned YouTube, while 67 percent said they use TikTok.

About 62 percent of the teens said they use Instagram, which is owned by Facebook’ s parent company Meta. About 59 percent said they use Snapchat. Less than one fourth of the teens said they use Twitter.

The research found that teen boys are more likely than teen girls to use YouTube, or the services Twitch and Reddit. Teen girls are more interested in using TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. In addition, higher shares of black teens reported using TikTok, Twitter and WhatsApp compared to white teens.

About 54 percent of the teens questioned said it would be “somewhat hard” to give up social media, while 46 percent said it would be “somewhat easy” . About 25 percent of the teen boys said giving up social media would be “very easy”. But just 15 percent of the teen girls said the same.

Experts in online technology behavior have accused (指控) large technology companies of contraposing teens with methods to get them to spend more time on their social media services.

Child rights groups have warned that heavy use of social media services can harm the mind health of young users. They have called on large technology companies to take steps to reduce such harm.