1 . You’ve got mail…and it’s a postcard

Paulo Magalhaes, a 34-year-old Portuguese computer engineer, loves to open his mailbox and find a brightly colored picture of Rome’s Colosseum. Or Africa’s Victoria Falls. Or China’s Great Wall.     1    

“I often send postcards to family and friends.” he says to China Daily, “but you can imagine that after a while, you never receive as many as you send, and you realize that not everyone is into it.     2    ” Seeking other like-minded souls, however, Paulo started looking in a somewhat unlikely place: online. Many would say the Internet is a place for people who have given up on the traditional postal service, but Paulo’s hunch(直觉)paid off.

Today his hobby has developed into the website postcrossing.com, a social network that has grown to 575,217 registered users in 214 countries and regions since he started it 10 years ago.     3    Running the website has almost turned into a full-time job.

Language is certainly a barrier for many people. For postcrossing to work worldwide, a common communication language is needed so that everyone can understand each other. As cool as it may be to receive a postcard written in Chinese, the concept doesn’t work if one doesn’t understand it.     4     So a common language is required and in postcrossing that’s English since it’s widely spoken.

“Many people in China have limited exposure to English.     5     That said, we know of many postcrossing members, including Chinese, who have actually improved their English skills through their use of postcrossing,” Paulo says.

7 . Accents are an important part of our identity. An accent gives clues about who we are, and the community we belong to or wish to belong to.     1    

What is the difference between accents and pronunciation?

Accents are about localized ways of speaking a language. A French person may speak English flawlessly (完美无瑕地), just with a French accent.     2     However, pronunciation is something that — as a learner— you can get right or wrong. If your pronunciation is correct, you can communicate effectively with others whatever your accent is.

    3    

If you think back historically people were much more localized with generation after generation of families living in the same small villages and few people traveled out of that area during their lifetimes. So over many generations differences in accent emerged and became very distinct to particular areas. Mountainous villages that are not easily accessible often develop very strong and distinctive accents.

How important is it to get an accent right?

If you’re moving to a certain part of a country, you might want to integrate better with your new community.     4     That’s because it shows a sense of belonging to the community you are trying to fit in with.

How to improve your accent?

    5     And then learners should consider which sounds exist in the language you’re learning and then spend some time in front of the mirror practicing moving your tongue and mouth to get those new and different sounds. And learners should be aware of stress and tone, which can sometimes even change the meaning of words.

The “24 solar terms” are a vital part of the Chinese calendar, which has     1     (it) origin with the ancient Yellow River basin. The Chinese calendar     2     (include) “24 solar terms”provides detailed guidelines and timetable for agricultural     3     (activity).

A complete set of “24 solar terms” first     4     (appear) in an ancient book The Huainanzi in early Han Dynasty. These 24 solar terms were soon absorbed into The Taichu calendar, the first well documented calendar in     5     history of China.

The Chinese Agriculture Calendar is     6     (actual) a combination of the lunar and solar calendar systems. There     7     (be) 365. 2422 days in one “sidereal year” while 12 lunar months add up to 354 days. To make both the lunar calendar     8     the solar calendar agree, a leap lunar month needs to be added every 2 to 3 years. Since the early Han Dynasty, a lunar month without a major solar term     9     (adopt) as a leap month (闰月) .

With more far-reaching cultural exchanges, the “24 solar terms” have been known     10     people in other parts of the world and were added to the “UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage” list in 2016.