1 . Since “SQUID GAME” appeared in mid-September, the show has taken the world by storm, producing millions of videos on TikTok. In Paris fights broke out as fans tried to crowd into a shop where visitors could take photos with staff dressed like the characters from the show.

“Squid Game”, which takes its name from a common Korean schoolyard game, follows a group of heavily-indebted losers who are dressed in green sportswear and fight for a nearly $40 million prize.

The global strong interest for the show confused people in South Korea. “Nobody around me understands why it was so popular, and neither do I,” says In-young, a 26-year-old from Seoul who stopped watching after a couple of episodes (集) because it upset her to see her childhood games described as a cruel struggle for survival, though she admitted the show in some way made sense for ordinary South Koreans struggling with unaffordable housing and low-paid jobs.

One Korean critic (评论家) guesses that the mix of violent entertainment with a very popular comments explains the show’s attraction to Western audiences, who are used to such themes from American productions such as “The Hunger Games”.

No doubt the attractive shape of the design, the grand clothing and scenes as well as the translation of different languages also help. The popularity of “Squid Game” is a reflection of South Korea’s outsize cultural power on the global stage. It may also have benefited from “Parasite”, a film about social injustice, which won the Oscar for best picture in 2020. But most of all, it shows that, like love and money, complaints about unfairness have no language.

2 . China’s three major mobile operators on Thursday started their long-awaited 5G service plans with users in dozens of cities. China Mobile,China Unicom and China Telecom announced their monthly 5G plans with prices ranging from 128 yuan to 599 yuan, almost at the same time.

The 5G services are now being used in 50 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The expectation for the new communication technology has long been high. The three major mobile operators already registered over 10 million wannabe 5G users before the official start.

The country is expected to have over 600 million 5G users by 2025, covering nearly 40 percent of the global total, according to Sihan Bo Chen, head of GSMA Greater China.

Major phone makers are jumping on the broadband wagon (马车). Eighteen types of 5G smartphones were brought out in the first three quarters of this year, and about 787,000 5G phones came into the market, according to a research institute with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Bloomberg News reported that bringing 5G services out to the world’s biggest population should give a push to China’s digital economy, including makers of telecommunications equipment, platforms and applications for the internet of things, autonomous (自动) driving and factory automation. It’s the kind of head start that will be expensive at first but could pay off well into the future.

China is ready to become the world’s largest 5G market by users, a position that could help it set global standards for such networks and inspire its drive to become a leader in technologies from robotics to autonomous driving and factory automation.

4 . The Friend Trip: Fun Without Conflicts

Anyone who said a friend is a friend forever has clearly never experienced a group trip where you will get into trouble arguing over plans and restaurant bills.     1     Here are some ways to do it without anyone getting unfriended.

Invite with care

“You cannot travel with everybody. All your friends are not travel friends,” says Irvin on her popular TikTok account. She suggests picking travel partners who share similar interests, and deciding ahead of time what kind of trip you will be taking—relaxation, partying or adventure.

Brainstorm as a group

    2     Some people prefer to use familiar spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel to organise the plan and share it with friends. And creating an Airbnb wish list lets friends suggest accommodation options for the whole group to see.

Exchange the captain’s hat

Use a classic teacher’s trick to keep everyone engaged and share the planning burden: schedule a group leader to take ownership of each day’s activities.     3     By making everyone the driver, everyone also gets the chance at some point to sit back and be a passenger.

    4    

Tracking expenses for a whole group can expose a lot of pain points. “I have seen so many friendships break down because dissatisfaction builds when one person suspects other friends are taking advantage of her financially or not pulling their weight,” says friendship coach Jackson.     5     Jackson says he liked Splitwise to help groups manage everyone’s bills, so there’s no confusion about who owes what.

The first underwater tunnel—Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel in South Asia, undertaken by China Communications Construction Company, opened in Bangladesh on Saturday.

    1     (locate) at the mouth of the Karnaphuli River, the tunnel connects the east and west banks of the river. It is 9. 3 kilometers long, has four lanes and is designed for speeds of 80 kilometers per hour. Major technical     2     (difficult) in construction had to be overcome, such as geological structures. To solve the problems, the project team applied the world’s     3     (large) steel casing (框架) , which allowed specialized machinery     4     (enter) and exit the tunnel.

The project, which was designed     5     Chinese standards, built using Chinese equipment and managed by Chinese enterprises,     6     (accomplish) as a successful exploration of China’s complete industrial chain for the construction of tunnels overseas, and will become     7     shining business card abroad.

As part of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, the tunnel is an important link in the Belt and Road Initiative. Not only will it     8     (great) improve transportation conditions in Chattogram     9     will drive economic development in Bangladesh. Moreover, it improves the Asian highway network, promotes connectivity between Bangladesh and     10     (neighbor) countries and will encourage the internationalization of Bangladesh’s development.

The Chongyang Festival is a     1     (tradition) Chinese festival celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar. According to legend, during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), a Taoist named Huan Jing saved his hometown     2     a plague (瘟疫) by leading villagers up a high hill in Shangcai,     3     (wear) dogwood branches and drinking chrysanthemum wine to drive away evil     4     (spirit). Since then, the tradition of celebrating the double ninth day     5     (last) for more than 2,000 years. The star during the festival is the dogwood plant,     6     grows in most parts of China. Many women and children wear its branches on their arms or decorate their hair with it. Additionally, people fill dogwood into sachets (香囊), which come in various shapes and     7     (decorate) with lively patterns like birds and flowers. They stands for different meanings of luck.

The Chongyang Festival is not only a historical Chinese festival but also     8     opportunity to show respect for the elderly. It encourages family reunions and helps to     9     (strength) family bonds. Moreover, it shows the beauty of Chinese culture and allows people     10     (connect) with their roots.

Welcome back to the summer term. It felt like a really long break and students have come back well rested. On INSET day, all staff worked with educational official, John Tomsett, on some of our key classroom development areas. It’s so important that our staff continue to develop and that we always find ways to improve our classroom practice.

It was fantastic to see so many of our parents at last Sunday’s Year 7 Parents and Carers’ Evening and the Year 11 Mock Exam Results Evening this Friday. We have a series of parental events over the summer term which you are all welcome to attend. Year 10 and Year 8 have not had an in-person event this year and therefore we have put on two additional events:

Tuesday 7th June—Year 10 Parent Information Evening

This event provides you with an opportunity to meet staff and find out how to begin revision and preparation for GCSE exams.

Wednesday 22nd June—Year 8 Electives Evening

This is an evening for students to choose an extracurricular activity to support future career plans. Staff will also be about this night for discussions.

Please do download our free parent app as all communication with regard to your child will be sent by the app.

Over the Easter period, the school kept busy with a Holiday Club which saw 70 of our new Year 7 students join us for a full day of activities.

I want to extend my thanks to all our parents and carers for their support and of course our staffing body, but most of all, your fantastic young people who did so well during Ofsted’s (英国教育标准局) visit.

All the best for a restful weekend!

Angela Wallace

Headteacher

A classical Chinese garden has gradually taken shape on the     1     (bank) of Huangpu River in the Pudong New Area.

Shanghai Garden, a highlight of the Shanghai Expo Culture Park, covers 50,000 square meters, nearly 2.5 times     2     (big) than Yuyuan Garden, one of the most well-known Chinese gardens in Shanghai, on     3     other side of Huangpu River.

Construction     4     the garden began in September 2017, when it     5     (design) to become a natural forest park as well as a new     6     (culture) landmark comparable to Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London. It should take at least seven years     7     (finish) all the work on it and once completed, it     8     (become) the largest riverside green area in downtown Shanghai.

Besides Shanghai Garden, this section also includes the 400-meter-long Temporal Signet Avenue     9     shows the history of the site — from its iron works to its riverside park, and a 160,000-square-meter forest,     10     (allow) visitors to escape the busy downtown life.