1 . Picture this: you’re out to dinner with a friend who you know makes a lot more money than you do. When you open the _________, your heart sinks. There’s not a dish in sight that is less than $35, and even a soup is going to run you $18. You probably vow (发誓) to _________ dollar pizza slices the rest of the month to balance out this dinner. _________, this time, what if you just turned to your friend, closed the menu, and said, “Sorry, I have to be honest. I can’t afford this. Let’s go somewhere else?”

That’s the idea behind “loud budgeting”, a trend that could not only relieve you of the _________ burden, but help you deal with these sorts of stressful situations both mentally and emotionally. In an age when everybody is showing off nice things on social media and _________ to be something they’re not, it feels somewhat revolutionary to just tell the truth about what you can’t afford.

The term was first introduced by TikTok (抖音) comedian Lukas Battle. Battle explained his concept in an interview: simply put, loud budgeting is being _________ about what you do and don’t want to spend money on. Since his video, the concept has caught on rapidly among the _________, who are pointing out that it has come at a significant time when everything is uncontrollably expensive.

It’s not just a TikTok thing though. Even those in the financial services industry are on board with the _________. Nikolina Cuca, a financial advisor, says that she’s seen social media add pressure to her clients, causing them to spend _________ on luxury items. “There should be no shame about trying to match your spending to your means. This trend helps young people moderate spending by __________ the idea of living within budgets.”

Beyond just saving money, loud budgeting is also bringing people closer. Honest money talks lead to greater respect among friends and family. By __________ discussing money goals, people are creating stronger bonds based on mutual understanding for each other’s financial situations. And perhaps the most valuable part of the loud budgeting trend is that it provides a sense of __________. For example, if you tell a friend you are trying to cut back spending on drinks out, you are much __________ to stick with the goal than if you just keep it to yourself.

With its focus on being open, spending wisely, and building __________, loud budgeting is more than just a passing trend, but a cool way for the younger generation to __________ their finances. As more people adopt this approach, it is likely to stay a big part of how we handle money in the future.

The Curious World of Bats

Not all bats are unbelievably adorable, like the one below. Many of them have     1     faces and large ears that help them “see” in the dark, using echo location (回声定位). But all bats are, without a doubt,     2     creatures.

Scientists are typically reluctant to     3     about bats because they make up such a large and diverse group of winged animals. With nearly 1, 500 species, bats     4     about one-fifth of all mammal (哺乳动物) species on Earth. But one thing that can be said about them as a group is that they are, in not- so-scientific terms, very odd. “They break all the     5    ,” said Cori Lausen, a bat expert at the environmental group Wildlife Conservation Society Canada.

Being able to fly is just one of their     6    , since mammals rarely fly. Apart from that, bats can also push their heart rate to extreme highs and lows-as slow as one beat per minute. Many bat species can go into a period of deep sleep, known as “torpor”, for a few hours a day or even for weeks to     7     energy when it’s cold or food is unavailable. And while most small mammals have short lives and lots of babies, some bats can live for two decades or more and typically have just one baby per year.

For how much energy they need, it’s also surprising that many bat species, including most of those in the US, rely on insects alone for food. They have to eat ridiculous quantities of them. A mom that is     8     a baby can catch more than 4,000 insects in one night.

Oddly, although bats can fly, they can’t easily take off from a(n)     9     position, like most birds and insects do. That’s one reason why they hang upside down-bats have to gain the momentum they need by falling. “For them, it’s not upside down,” Frick said. “It’s flight-side ready!”

While bats remain highly understudied relative to birds and other mammals, scientists are     10     the alarm. In North America, more than half of all bat species are at risk of severe population decline. Climate change, they say, threatens to only speed up their extinction.

The Day I Survived

It had been raining buckets that week, and authorities had issued a flood warning, though not for where I was. Still, I had placed sandbags on the floor outside my garden door just in case.

As I was drifting off to sleep, I suddenly heard the sound of rushing water,     1    I were lying beside a waterfall instead of in my bedroom. When I     2    (swing) my legs off the bed, I was shocked by the sensation of cold water lapping against my knees and rising fast.

    3    (feel) my way in the darkness, I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight. As I stepped out of my bedroom, water was shooting through the gaps of the garden door. The water     4    have gone over the sandbags, I thought. All around me, my things began to float: chairs, bookshelves, and pieces of my drum set.

I heard the garden door starting to break down     5    the pressure of the flood, and the water was now up to my waist. I began to panic. In bare feet and with my shorts     6    (glue) to my body, I started to walk to my only escape: the door that leads upstairs.

I struggled to the door and tried to pull it open, but the force of the water wouldn’t let me do so. I looked around and grabbed a broom     7    was floating behind me. Using it to pry (撬) open the door, I managed to make a gap of about a foot, just wide enough     8    (force) myself through. Finally, I made it outside. If I had woken up just a few minutes later, I would have drowned. The entire neighborhood was destroyed by the flood.

Later, we     9    (assure) that something like this happens only once every 100 years. I hope so. It pains me to see     10    was once a lovely, cozy street now turns into a waterscape.

England Prohibits Phones in Schools, But Will It Help?

Recently, England’s Department of Education has confirmed plans to ban the use of mobile phones in English schools during the school day, including break times. The guidance offers schools a variety of ways to implement (实施) the ban, ranging from an order to leave all phones at home, to handing them in on arrival or keeping them in inaccessible lockers.

England’s response to the growing frustration with students’ cellphone use during school time is not unfounded. The United Nations this past summer published a report issuing a strong warning regarding technology use in schools around the globe. Some countries had already implemented strict “no-cellphone” policies. For example, France prohibited students in elementary and middle schools from using cellphones while on campus. Meanwhile, it is reported that most teens use their phones for an average of 43 minutes during school hours, with some students reaching six hours on the high end. These addictive devices often lead to distraction and social anxiety. Worse still, almost one-third of secondary school teachers said that their lessons were interrupted by students’ mobile phones.

However, some people don’t believe that banning mobile phones in England’s schools will fundamentally address the harm that mobile phones do to children. “We work with children daily. We understand that a phone is a device to pay for a bus, contact your mum, and find information,” Kidron, a secondary school teacher, said. “So the device is not the issue; it is the persistent irresponsible content provided by online tech platforms that is to blame. Companies that engage with children, therefore, should offer content that is suitable for their age and development capacity.” Ghey, a concerned mother, also raised her voice on this matter, but with a different perspective. She argued for the phone manufacturers to make specific products for under-18s that prevent them from accessing harmful content.

5 . Global Rise of TCM

Phan Thi Kim Chi’s connection with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) began at an early age. Growing up in a small village in Vietnam, it was inconvenient for Phan to travel to hospitals in neighboring cities. Whenever she caught a cold or experienced a headache as a child, her family would seek the help of a local TCM practitioner.     1     According to Phan, even though TCM has long been commonly practiced and accepted in Vietnam, finding a good school to learn TCM in Vietnam is not easy.

As a foreign student, Phan finds the TCM basic theory course to be the most challenging one in the curriculum.     2     It requires years of learning and practice to truly understand the concepts of yin and yang, harmony between human and nature, and the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Sometimes she even translates the TCM vocabulary and scripts into Vietnamese so she can remember and comprehend them better.

    3     According to a report, the total number of international students studying TCM in China was 8, 187 last year, with the largest population of 6, 441 coming from Asian countries, followed by 832 from Africa and 432 from Europe. Also, many Chinese medical universities had projects that sent professors overseas to teach TCM.

The booming situation of TCM is not limited to schools and clinics. It has also become a lifestyle choice for many young people. There is a trend among young people to place more emphasis on health conditioning and preservation. However, experts remind that TCM emphasizes the importance of diagnosing and treating based on identifying syndromes (症状). It is impossible to offer a one-size- fits-all approach to all patients.     4    

8 . What makes a certain piece of writing great? Well, it depends on whom you ask. There are, in my mind, three different readers: casual readers, lit critics, creative writers. They would say the following about Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre:

Casual reader: Jane’s story is very relatable, especially to women who survived their teenage years. The story’s elements of romance, mystery, and coming-of-age make it enjoyable to read.

Literary critic: Jane Eyre pulls inspiration from the Gothic and romantic literary traditions. The atmospheric setting mirrors Jane’s inner world and serves as a character itself.

Creative writer: Jane has an appealing character and her pursuit of a fulfilling life is timeless. While Jane’s emotions are often verbose (冗长的), each word still feels necessary in most passages.

All of these responses are reasonable interpretations of the great literary work Jane Eyre. What’s the difference between these three? The casual reader is primarily interested in the story’s relatability and entertainment value; the literary critic, who knows how to read literature like a professor, looks for ways to situate this work in its broader literary context.

The creative writer must do both: the job of the casual reader and the job of the critic. He/she engages with the work on a personal level while also researching what makes a work successful. This is Reading Like a Writer (RLW), which means being impacted by a piece of literature while investigating how the writer did it. Successful works of writing succeed for different reasons-a distinctive voice, moving storytelling, an empowering message, etc. Writers don’t make the achievement randomly: they earn it by crafting every plot point and character, every line break, with care and precision. It’s up to you to pay attention to these craft elements, the choices the writer makes and how they contribute to the work as a whole.

Yes, reading like a writer is extra work. But it’s necessary work to the writing practice. By observing the strategies writers employ to tell convincing stories or write engaging arguments, you equip yourself with the knowledge to perform these strategies yourself.