2 . Some people look as if they are simply born with the certain social skill that enables them to make friends with such ease that it seems pretty unbelievable. They end up having tons of friends in no time.     1    . Some have to work a bit harder in order to gain someone’s attention and friendship. The good thing is, there are many ways to improve your social skills and make your friend circle even bigger.

◎    2    

Having fun on your own is the first step towards making a good basis for a future friendship. If you learn how to have fun on your own, it is more likely that you will meet someone who has similar interests and also needs a friend.

◎Expand your view and find new things to do

When you have many things you like doing, the better chances are that you will be meeting people who are also into the same things. You can also make friends with someone without the same hobbies. There is no rule that you have to be friends with those who like the same things.     3    .

◎Social gatherings are the best way of meeting friends

Every time you have a chance to get together with others, don’t miss it.     4    . Or, if you really prefer staying at home, there are always online groups with people, who prefer hanging out with others from the comfort of their homes as well.

◎Make the circle of your friends with confidence

After doing everything above, you will notice at one point how you’ve got your confidence back.     5    . Just being confident, satisfied and happy will make you a friend magnet and bring you friend circles.

3 . Cynthia, 72, has worked as a flight attendant (空乘人员) for Southwest Airlines for almost 20 years. After her granddaughter Hannah, 24, graduated from college and wasn’t sure what to do except traveling, she eventually decided to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps and applied to Southwest. When Hannah got her acceptance notice, she was overjoyed and so was Cynthia.

Cynthia was present at Hannah’s flight attendant graduation in 2022. And behind the scenes, Cynthia was also trying to make sure she’d be on her granddaughter’s first Southwest flight. When Hannah saw her grandma on her first flight, she was very surprised. Working together for the first time was exciting for both of them. It was a long, multi-stop trip—the type Cynthia, with her years of seniority (资历) at the airline, usually avoids nowadays. She made an exception for Hannah.

When she was little, Hannah loved hearing her grandmother’s stories about her job, and had fond memories of flying with her grandmother during her summer vacation. But while Hannah always thought Cynthia’s job was amazing and exciting, she also saw the tough sides of flight attendants’ life. Often her grandmother would have to work on holidays and couldn’t take part in the family activities.

Cynthia also wanted to pass on wisdom to her granddaughter. She kept telling Hannah that flight attendants flew all the time, so everything was pretty simple and easy for them. Passengers sometimes just flew once a year and so flight attendants had to take it into consideration that they had to help these people, showing them the way, answering questions, and showing some enthusiasm.

Hannah says Cynthia brings this empathy (同理心) to every aspect of her life, and it has always inspired her. “That’s one thing that she has taught me—she’s just so sympathetic and so quick to help anyone. I see it when we’re working or outside of work. She really has the best heart,” says Hannah.

The groundbreaking Shaoxing Opera     1     (adapt), New Dragon Gate Inn, appeals to a new generation and revitalizes (振兴) the ancient art form for contemporary lifestyles.

In a specially     2     (design) studio theater in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, a world of jianghu     3     (bring) to life by a traditional Shaoxing Opera performance last week. Six actresses delivered     4     excellent show, which lasted two hours and 10 minutes.

The audience sat very close to the performers,     5     (enjoy) a unique and fascinating viewing experience.

Upon leaving the theater, these audience members felt a sense of satisfaction that encouraged them     6    (share) short clips (片段) of the performance online.

Based on the 1992 classic martial arts film of the same name, the Shaoxing Opera presentation shows spectacular artistic skills,     7     (successful) catching the interest of a younger audience by combining traditional Chinese opera     8     modern theater models and dramatic concepts.

As the play has gained popularity, Chen Lijun,     9     plays the important supporting role of Jia Ting, has become a social media sensation (引起轰动的人). Nicknamed the “Jade-faced Man”, Jia’s     10     (attract) appearance and good stage presence have got more attention.

5 . The following are some markets which have become tourist attractions.

Wiener Christkindlmarkt, Austria

Known as Viennese Dream Christmas Market, Wiener Christkindlmarkt, or Rathausplatz, is one of the Austrian capital’s oldest and most traditional attractions. It has a 150-square-meter children’s ice rink (溜冰场). Tree of Hearts, a giant maple tree with hundreds of shinning red hearts, is a hot favorite with visitors to have a picture.

Open time: November 10 — December 26

Basel Christmas Market, Switzerland

Basel Christmas Market is divided into two different sections at Barfusserplatz and Munsterplatz. Family attractions include the Christmas fairy tale tree at Munsterplatz with activities such as gingerbread and candle decorating, a star workshop and a festive train.

Open time: November 23 — December 23

Strasbourg Christmas Market, France

One of Europe’s oldest Christmas markets, Strasbourg began back in 1570, drawing in over two million people every year. Place Klebe is probably its most popular place thanks to the great Christmas tree.

Open time: November 24 — December 24

Brussels Winter Wonders, Belgium

Brussels really comes to life at Christmas time thanks to Winter Wonders, which is more like a festival than a market. A light and sound show, ice skating, and pleasure ground rides are among the activities to enjoy, while visitors can also stare in wonder at the huge Christmas tree set up in Grand Place.

Open time: November 11 — December 31

6 . For more than 50 years, seawater has flowed through the Hong Kong’s toilets. And in 2013, Hong Kong built a system that used seawater to cool part of the city. The system sends cold seawater to a factory with heat exchangers. The seawater takes in heat to cool pipes full of circulating (循环的) water. That cooled water then flows into buildings to cool rooms. The slightly warmed seawater is sent back to the ocean. Known as district cooling, this type of system tends to use far less energy than typical air conditioners.

How much water and energy had this strategy saved Hong Kong? And why weren’t other coastal cities doing this? A team at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology set out for answers. They focused on Hong Kong and two other big coastal cities: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Miami, Fla. The idea was to see what it might look like if all three adopted city-wide saltwater systems.

All three places would save lots of fresh water and energy, the researchers found. These savings came from the more efficient saltwater air conditioning. Though costly to build, saltwater-cooling systems could pay off in the long run for many cities.

The researchers figured out how emissions (排放) of greenhouse gases would drop if each city instead used seawater for cooling and flushing (冲刷). Next, they studied how much pollution would be created to build the new system. They compared these results to see how emissions of climate-warming gases would change for each city.

Hong Kong would see the biggest cut in greenhouse gases if the system were expanded to the whole city. It could drop by some 250,000 tons each year. Miami could see a drop of around 7,700 tons of carbon pollution per year. Saltwater cooling would cause more planet-warming gases in Jeddah than it would save. The reason: Jeddah’s unplanned urban expansion and all the pipes that would be needed to service it. The pollution coming from building such a large system would be higher than what the system would save.

7 . Many previous studies have indicated that frequent walking was associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes (糖尿病) in the general population, in a way that those with more time spent walking per day were at a lower risk. But their findings haven’t offered much guidance on the best habitual walking speed needed to lower diabetes risk.

A new study’s authors reviewed 10 previous studies conducted between 1999 and 2022, which assessed (评估) the links between walking speed and the development of type 2 diabetes among adults from the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. After a follow-up period of eight years on average, compared with those who took easy or casual (休闲的) walking(less than 2 miles per hour), those who walked at an average or normal pace (2 to 3 miles per hour)had a 15% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the researchers found. Walking at a “fairly quick” pace (3 to 4 miles per hour)meant a 24% lower risk than those who easily or casually walked. And quick walking(more than 4 miles per hour)had the biggest benefit: a 39%reduction in risk.

The overall message is that walking is an important way to improve your health. It may be true that walking faster is even better. But given the fact that most Americans do not get sufficient walking in the first place, it is most important to encourage people to walk more as they’re able to.

If you want to challenge yourself, however, using a fitness tracker—via a watch or smartphone app—can help you measure and maintain your walking pace, experts said. If you can’t get a fitness tracker, an easy alternative for tracking exercise intensity (强度) is the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “talk test”, which relies on understanding how physical activity affects heart rate and breathing. If, while walking, you’re able to talk in a labored voice but not sing, your pace is probably quick.

It was 3: 34 in the morning. I was in our apartment on the 22nd floor.

I went to bed at around 2 o’clock in the morning, but for some reason I woke up a minute or so before the quake started. I was comfortable in my bed, about to fall asleep again when suddenly the bed started moving a little. That bed used to move a lot, so I just thought it was my wife rolling over. I looked over to her and she was fast asleep. She wasn’t moving.

My first thought was: OK, it’s just another small quake. We used to get a lot of small quakes in Chile. But this one kept going and then got a bit stronger. It was enough to wake my wife up and she asked me, “Is the room shaking?” It is our way of asking: Are we experiencing a mild earthquake? The noise of the perfume bottles hitting each other in the bathroom and the hanging wine glasses clanging against each other in the dining room confirmed what was happening. I thought, OK, this is just a strong quake, no reason to get out of bed.

When an earthquake starts to get stronger, we have learnt that we have to open the front door because they sometimes become stuck when the building starts to sway (摇晃). So, I went to open the front door while my wife went to see how the kids were. They were still fast asleep. However, on the way to the front door, the shaking increased considerably. When I turned around to go back to the bedroom, the full force of the earthquake started to hit. I had never felt an earthquake that was so strong. I couldn’t move forward and I had to hold onto the wall to stay up on my feet.

The earthquake gave a final strong push of intensity (强度) and then our lights went out. This is the only time in my life when I honestly thought I was going to die.

The terrible shaking eventually stopped.

Once we were ready, we woke the kids up.

9 . Even when you have confidence in yourself, your goals will sometimes seem out of reach. When that happens, get hold of the people who _________ you and your goals and don’t let go!

When I was younger, I _________ because life felt so hard. I had _________to become a teacher or a business administrator. I knew I needed a college degree, but I had _________ believing in myself. Then a teacher in my high school _________ me. He told me three things: First, if you don’t believe in yourself, it will be _________ to get anyone else to believe in you. Second, never let other people’s _________ to see your brilliance prevent you from being brilliant. And third, despite life’s _________, stick to creating the future you want.

Early in my _________, I was teaching a workshop when a person in the audience yelled out to me. He told me I had __________ made a job choice and had a bright future. This __________ feedback (反馈)came at just the right time, because while the audience didn’t know it, I was __________ self-doubt.

Even now, I __________ myself that I have a bright future. That’s what I tell myself when I __________ success and failure. You have a bright future ahead. Think about this every single day. Remember your talents, skills, and interests. Explore the jobs that interest you, and have courage—and most __________, believe in yourself.