1 . I’ve had the good fortune of spending a lot of time working in London over the years. I’m a typical American, _________ to making eye contact and smiling when speaking to others. But until I spent time abroad, I was never quite _________ of what my facial expressions could convey.

In the UK, I _________ not everyone made as much eye contact on the street as I did. And it was _________ to hold eye contact during a business meeting. My _________ smile could be considered as flirtatious (轻浮的). But my British colleagues _________: I was American. This forward attitude was not _________, but it was just my culture. _________, being expressively cheerful among those who keep _________ closer to their vest (背心 ) was accepted in the UK.

____________, in other countries a cultural misunderstanding of smiling can have serious results. While it’s unlikely that a mistimed smile will ____________ you a contract (合同),____________ interactions can make it much more difficult to build effective business relationships.

Different cultures ____________ smiling in different ways. In Russia, people do not smile because it ____________ that you are at best foolish or at worst, sneaky (卑劣的). Even in family photos, adults ____________ with stony faces. In Japan, smiling is a way to ____________ your feeling that you don’t want others to know. Australians have smiling cultures. While they might not have the same ____________ for giant white smiles as Americans, they smile more than our peers in Russia, Japan, Switzerland, and the UK.

If Americans have to work abroad, my ____________ is to make sure you do some research. It is ____________ to be yourself, but you should also learn about the culture you are going to visit. This will help you communicate ____________ and effectively with your peers.

2 . Huagu (“flowery drum”) Opera is a local art form of Yueyang in Central China’s Hunan province. It______the cultural life of the local residents in a long history. It ______ more than 200 years ago. It is mainly ______ in a dozen counties and cities in not just Hunan, but also in the neighbor Hubei province and the eastern Jiangxi province.

In the past, they could ______ it mostly during important festivals such as Lunar New Year. But now they can watch it often. The One Yuan Theater, ______ Rongjiawan town of Yueyang, has staged 30 to 50 Huagu Opera shows each year since 2012. And the audience numbers for each show sometimes ______ 1,000. Some people ______ stools or are even willing to stand through a show of two or three hours. Though the theater has a ______ capacity of 800, there are not enough seats. To enjoy a show, each audience has to pay only 1 yuan ($0.15) as ______ fee to the theater, as the programs are ______ government funding. The project provides ______ and nearly-free shows to local residents. It has been ______. It has brought the once-dead cultural heritage back to life.

In its long development process, the opera has widely ______ features of Yueyang folk tunes and _____ factors of other opera types to form its own style. ______, Huagu Opera had no full-time performing teams. It was only performed by ______ artists, most of whom were local farmers, during free farming seasons on ______ stages. In recent years, ______ have been taken by the local government to ______ the art form. The One Yuan Theater, which aims to absorb more audience, has been a successful _______