Yours,

Li Hua

4 . Quietly sitting there reading, I found myself suddenly listening to the train guard’s announcements (通知). Train travelers will surely agree that when the guard (列车长) makes an announcement, whether it’s the recorded message or the guard’s message, few people listen to it, because it’s often quite dull or hard to understand. This one was different. I noticed that other passengers appeared to be listening, too. Not only that, everyone was smiling!

Why was so much attention being paid to this message? As best I can recall the guard said something along these lines, “Good Morning Ladies, Gentlemen and Children, this is the 7: 35 a.m. from Penrith to Central and you’ll be pleased to know that we are right on time. And what a lovely morning it is in Sydney today. The sun is shining, birds are singing, and all’s right with the world. I trust you have a great day wherever you’re going. Thanks for catching my train this morning and I hope to see you again soon.”

Quite a few people (obviously previous strangers) started talking to one another about the guards excellent message and how good it had made everyone feel. I started thinking about this, and then I found the young guard and said “Were you the guard on the 7: 35 a.m. from Penrith?” The guard seemed a bit stunned at first, replying, “Yes, yes.” “Well, I really appreciate your announcement. Thank you for your extremely good message, which gave me and the other passengers such a good start to the day. Please keep doing it.” I said.

There are two messages for me in what happened that day. Firstly, when people are happy in their work, it shows in what they do and say. Secondly, the story attaches much importance to the benefits that accumulate (积累) from thanking people for something they’ve done, particularly when it’s not expected. Can you imagine the conversation that guard would have when he got home?

“Look on the bright side” is one of those     1     (suggest) that people always consider inspiring but less helpful. However, new research shows that finding something     2     (interest) in a terrible situation makes people quickly stop complaining. Besides looking at a challenge with humor is a good method,     3     may even be helpful in preventing depressed people     4     feeling sad.

In a study     5     (publish) earlier this year, researchers gave the participants some photos that show negative situations. Then they would describe these photos according to     6     request of researchers. Those using humorous words to describe the photos     7     (find) to have fewer negative emotions and more possibilities to go through a hard time in their life than those who described the photos     8     (direct).

The conclusion from the study is that for those at higher risk of depression, humor can develop an ability     9     (control) negative emotions. What’s more, humor has an extra benefit of     10     (make) others around you smile. Therefore, when you feel stressed, find something that can make you laugh first.

8 . Do you like Chinese traditional painting and dance? They are two important parts of the traditional Chinese art. But what about when they meet each other?

This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting (《只此青绿》) was staged on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and became popular.

According to CCTV, this poetic dance program was inspired by the 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains (《千里江山图》), created by Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng at about 18. The painting is amazing in its sweeping size, rich coloration and the expressive details, reported by CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: mountains and groupings of infinite (无限的) rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling (涟漪的) water.

When the dancers moved elegantly, audiences seemed to be looking at the moving mountains and rivers. “It brings me a pure experience of beauty. It is not only a drama but also an exhibition. Vast mountains and rivers are coming to life!” Internet user Mo Weisha wrote in a review. “More than a thousand years later, green mountains and rivers still impress people as they did long ago.” Some people even decided to watch the dance again when it was staged in the theaters later. In fact, in recent years, more and more modern shows have featured Chinese traditional culture and received warm welcome. As for the reason, it is due to people’s great love for traditional culture.

“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mind. They accept Chinese culture and are proud of it,” Yao Wei, director of Henan TV Station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.

Cloning is a technique scientists use to make genetic copies of living things. Genes, cells,     1     (tissue) and even whole animals can all be cloned.

Some clones already exist in nature. Single-celled organisms like bacteria make exact copies of themselves each time they reproduce. In humans, identical twins are similar     2     clones.

Scientists also make clones in the lab. They often clone genes in order to study     3     better understand them. To clone a gene, researchers take DNA from a living creature and insert it into     4     carrier. Every time that carrier reproduces, a new copy of the gene will be made.

In 1996, Scottish scientists cloned the first animal, which is a sheep     5     (name) Dolly. Since then, scientists     6       (clone) cows, cats, deer, horses and rabbits. They still have not cloned a human, though.     7     (part), this is because it is difficult to produce a viable (能成活的) clone. In each attempt, there can be genetic mistakes that prevent the clone from     8     (survive). There     9     (be) also ethical concerns about cloning a human being.

The cloning of animals has been used in a number of different applications. Livestock (家畜) like cows and pigs have been cloned to produce more milk or meat. Clones can even “bring back” a beloved pet     10     has died. Cloning might one day bring back extinct species like the woolly mammoth or giant panda.

10 . It’s been nearly two decades since the traditional clothing style Hanfu first started to reemerge in China. Since then it has gone from a small cultural movement celebrating an ancient fashion to a trend that is booming on social media, having been adopted by China’s Generation Z as a means of connecting with their past. Instead of following other cultures blindly, Generation Z now have different opinions about what trend is by promoting local culture while having an objective view of exotic cultural products.

The new tastes of Generation Z—young people born after 1995—are well represented on Bilibili. In the recent New Year’s Eve gala presented by Bilibili, it attracted more than 100 million views within 48 hours with a colourful set of programmes ranging from Peking Opera to classical Chinese cartoons. The same is also true of movie industry. Last year, for the first time, the top 10 most viewed films in China were all domestic films, while the ticket sales for imported films have dropped to only 16.28 percent.

”Generation Z grew up with the rapid development of China and under good economic conditions. With the development of the Chinese Internet industry, they have more access to diverse international information and culture, which bring them a much broader vision and makes them more open and confident in analyzing foreign culture. Apart from taking pride in China’s rapid development, this generation also pursues individuality and values devotion to the country,“ Professor Zhang Yiwu said.

He also noted that the popular rock and punk culture pursued by the 70s and 80s generation is more of a challenge against real life and local culture. Some people who were born in the 1970s and 1980s did not grow up in the Internet age—they experienced the transformation of China going from poor to rich first-hand. This kind of longing and admiration of the West came from a lack of confidence.

However, Generation Z now have the confidence to look at Western culture with equal status. This kind of cultural confidence will result in China being more active and creative in its development on the international stage in the future.