2 . Humans have lived in cities for around 5,000 years. These cities were unlike modern cities, but still organized places meant for many people to live together peacefully. So, what was life like in the earliest cities created by humankind? Using modern technology, scientific explorers have discovered some answers.

The Indus Valley civilization existed from about 3300 — 1700 BCE, roughly 5,320 to 3,720years ago. Also known as the Harappan civilization, the Indus Valley civilization was one of the world’s earliest urban civilizations. At the same time, the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China were also prosperous. The Harappan civilization was located in South Asia, in what is now Pakistan and northwest India.

Although the Harappans had a written language, scholars today cannot decipher the text. As a result, most of what is known about Harappans comes from the ruins of their two largest cities: Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Both cities cover less than 2.6 square kilometers, or one square mile. This is much smaller than modern cities. For example, in the United States, Central Park in New York City alone has an area of 1.3 square miles. The cities had an estimated population of around40,000 each.

The cities were located about 644 kilometers, or 400 miles, from one another and were similar in layout. Scholars believe the Harappans used the position of the rising sun and moon to determine their cities’ geography. One significant feature of Harappan cities was their highly developed systems for supplying water and removing waste. In Mohenjo-daro, about 700 wells supplied water to the city’s buildings.

Explorers continue to investigate the Harappan civilization. Since 1986, they have made many important discoveries. Artifacts (手工艺品) are displayed at the National Museum in New Delhi, India, and in museums throughout the world.

As night falls, the sound of drums fills the air as an 8-meter fish-shaped lantern swims through the streets of Wangmantian village, Huangshan, in East China’s Anhui province.

Within the crowd, Wang Lijun — a 27-year-old villager who serves     1     the “head fish” — leads the procession, sometimes cheering on those behind her. Traditionally     2     (hold) by respected elders, the position of “head fish” has attracted younger participants to take on the role     3     (voluntary).

Every year between     4     13th and 16th of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar, villagers hold fish-shaped lantern     5     (parade). In old times, the mountain village,     6     (consist) of a lot of wooden structures, faced the risk of frequent fires. Therefore, villagers used to gather to parade with fish-shaped lanterns,     7     symbolic meaning is “water overcoming fire”.

With a history of over 600 years, the fish-shaped lantern     8     (recognize) as a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage in 2022. Villagers in Wangmantian have established     9     (profession) fish lantern performance teams. These teams have gone to cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing, Jiangsu province     10     (give) performances.

As fish-shaped lanterns continue to benefit local tourism and related industries, the future looks brighter than ever.

9 . Love has no borders when it comes to children’s birthday wishes. Zack Winton was ________ in his farm near the border between the US and Mexico when he came across a ________ site. A red balloon was caught in the grass and a note was ________ to it.

On it was written one word — Myra — ________ inside, was a numbered list of things, which was a list of birthday gifts she ________. Zack guessed that the balloon had been ________ from the neighbour city, Nogales, in Mexico. As a soon-to-be grandfather, he ________ hoped he could do something for Myra.

He ________ the information on the Internet hoping to see if anyone would respond to it but drew a ________ there. With Myra’s birthday drawing near and time running out, Zack got in touch with the local radio station in Nogales, which then played the information out ________. Within 24 hours, the radio station ________ Zack back.

With the radio station ________ for the two to meet the next morning, Zack took the day off from work, rushed to a ________, and bought the items on the list — clothes, art supplies, and a doll — and some ________ stuff as well after finding that Myra had a 4-year-old sister.

Zack and his wife packaged all the ________, drove across the border and arrived at the radio station, carrying presents for two ________ girls. The couple watched the young children happily ________ the gifts. Myra’s parents thanked them for their amazing act of ________.

Although there is a 20-foot wall at the border which ________ the two cities, Zack and his wife prove that when it comes to a child having her birthday wishes ________, love has no borders.

10 . I turned 65 this February, a big milestone. The last 12 months has indeed been a time of profound thinking for me, but not for the reasons you may think.

Recently our culture has started to acknowledge that a perfect woman image is totally unrealistic. I suppose there are a small minority of women born with incredible genes. But for most of us, short of starving ourselves, having plastic surgery, or airbrushing our photos, perfection is an unattainable goal.

I applaud many celebrity women who have come forward recently and said, “Hey, you see that picture of me on the magazine cover. This is what I really looked like before specialized hair and makeup and the magic of Photoshop.” I am so happy that our daughters and granddaughters are being raised with a much more realistic concept of what beauty is.

Being a woman of a certain age, that old message of feminine (女性的) perfection took hold long ago and has been hard to shake. My legs, waist and stomach are bigger than the charts say they should be. I would avoid looking for too long in the mirror. A swimsuit always required a cover-up to be worn over it. I had been very successfully taught to be ashamed of my imperfect body.

However, after a pretty serious health issue last year, I started to have a different feeling about my body. This body has given me two incredible children and endured too many surgeries. My belly, back, feet and knees are marked with countless scars but finally I see what they truly are — my battle scars. My extra pounds are the result of countless dinners I have made and enjoyed with those I love. My scars remind me of all the talented and kind doctors and nurses who have looked after me.

My body has allowed me a wonderful life thus far. I thought my body was not ideal, but now I thank it for being a source of strength, endurance and pleasure. At 65, I finally realize it is truly beautiful.