Walking through his neighborhood supermarket in Australia,     1     packs of Chinese sauerkraut (酸菜) line the shelves, Huang Xiqing feels like he’s shopping in his hometown of Shenyang in Liaoning province. “The sauerkraut soup tastes just like home,” says the 45-year-old Chinese living in Canberra,     2     (sound) a little homesick.

Chinese sauerkraut, a pickle which     3     (make) of Chinese cabbage, is a traditional specialty of the northeastern region and is now sold around the country     4     exported overseas. Chinese cabbage has gained     5     (popular) with ordinary household, because it is cheap and can be stored for a relatively long period of time.

During the last decades, Chinese businessmen have set     6     several sauerkraut companies. Among them, the Xinmin agricultural product company of the Heilongjiang Cuihua Group has sold its Chinese sauerkraut not only     7     (domestic), but also to countries including Canada, Japan and the United States. When people were making purchases for Spring Festival, sales of Chinese sauerkraut on Douyin increased more than10-fold,     8     (compare) to the previous year.

But for Huang, Chinese sauerkraut is an everlasting link to home. “Although I have tried delicacies from across     9     globe. Chinese sauerkraut is still one of my     10     (favourite), and reminds me of my hometown,” Huang says.

2 . Lying in my hospital bed, I was flicking through (快速转换) the channels when I suddenly paused. Muscular women were competing in a body sculpting competition on the _______ . “Wow, they are _______ ,” I thought in amazement.

It was 2004, and I’d been hospitalized with asthma, which gave me the desire to _______ a more healthy lifestyle. I didn’t know how to exercise correctly and found it hard to _______ healthy diets. But now at 49, it was time for a _______ . Therefore, the day after I left the hospital, I joined the gym with one _______ : to look like the women I’d seen on TV.

The first sessions were so _______ that I could barely walk back down the stairs afterwards. But I kept _______ for several hours, four days a week, slowly building my strength. After six months of training, I _______ my first competition—Masters Over Forty. Standing on the stage, my heart nearly leapt from my chest when they ________ I was the winner.

Over the next 14 years, I ________ 35 titles in body sculpting competitions worldwide. During this time, I decided to use my experience to help other women over 40 achieve their ________ goals. I became a personal trainer and wrote a book to help people eat ________ food during their training. With the right diet, everyone can stay healthy and strong longer.

I know many older women have never been in the ________ or picked up a weight. But it’s never too ________ to make changes.

5 . For the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, fishing equipment is a deadly threat to their lives. In Indonesia’s Mahakam River, two-thirds of dolphin deaths in the past 25 years were drownings caused by being trapped in fishing nets. Now a relatively inexpensive and practical electronic device known as Pinger shows promise for preventing dolphins from becoming trapped. These underwater noisemakers have been used to protect various marine life, but this is the first time they’ve been proven effective at protecting freshwater dolphins.

The small sound device, about the size of a banana, is attached to a fishing net and sends out a pulsing noise (脉冲噪声) that annoys the dolphins but doesn’t harm them. Dolphins are capable of avoiding the nets, being scared of trying to seize fish from them, and can therefore feed and swim more safely in their habitat. Fishers’ nets, meanwhile, sustain less damage and this can make fishers control the cost.

Pingers are lucrative to fishers’ livelihoods. A six-month study, led by conservation organization Yayasan Konservasi RASI and supported by WWF, recently revealed that fishers who used the devices saw a 40% increase in their daily catch — an additional 350 to 500 pounds of fish — and tended to catch larger fish, thus increasing their profits.

Approximately 80 Irrawaddy dolphins live in the Mahakam River. Small populations are found in the Mekong and Ayeyarwady rivers, where, in addition to being trapped by the fishing nets, they’re impacted by the worsening habitat, unsustainable fishing practices, as well as water pollution.

During the study, the reduction in dolphin bycatch was significant. 100% of participating fishers kept using the devices after the trial ended, which proves that the action of using the device to protect dolphins from being harmed or killed is becoming effective.

6 . What kind of images does “blue sky” create? A breath-taking scenery, broad-mindedness, or a promising future? For Ruslan, a young Kazakh student in China, it means something special. Ruslan’s microblog ID is “Ruslan Blue Sky,” so he is adorably called Mr. Blue Sky. With his sincere smile, selfless dedication, and goodwill toward the Chinese people, this name cannot be more fitting.

In 2023, Ruslan came to China to study Chinese. He did not feel out of place in the warm and wet Hainan, but found local people and customs charming. He had developed a strong interest in the Chinese culture in his childhood, watching Chinese TV series Journey to the West. While absorbed in studying at Hainan University, he made blood donation for the first time, and learned that he had the rare RH negative blood. With only 0.1% to 0.3% of the population having this blood, RH negative blood is referred to as “panda blood”. A dozen thousand women with this blood type get pregnant in China every year. Local RH negative blood banks are often in urgent need of supplies.

Having acknowledged how rare his blood is, Ruslan became a regular donor, making blood donation twice a year. In eight years, he has donated over 5,000 milliliters of blood. In order to help more people, he asked blood banks to leave his phone number with patients in urgent need. Learning a girl in a car accident needing this type of blood, he rushed to contact relevant hospitals to offer help and encouraged the girl with a microblog post—“Mr. Blue Sky is here to help!”

When receiving praise, he says that blood donation is what he and everyone else should do, and he offers help simply because helping others can be a rainbow in someone else’ cloud.

8 . What’s on

The Grand Expedition combines interactive design and the special “food” theme in one cultural performance. Performers will play various roles such as boat captains and chefs to interact with participants while offering them international dishes to try. The show has experimented with this “food + theater” theme for more than 10 years.

Where: Loire, Paris

When: April 22 to May 1, 2024

Price: From $111

Did you ever imagine one day technology could bring classic master Leonardo da Vinci right in front of our eyes? This data painting exhibition is attempting to achieve just that by using AI. The AI art team OUCHHH has allowed AI to study the works of Da Vinci, Einstein and Galileo.

Where: Uffizi gallery, Florence

When: April 19 to April 28, 2024

Price: From $13

This music event is a candlelight concert of classical music. Classical pieces from great composers will be played. The stage, lit with hundreds of candles, will allow audience to take as many photos as they like. With lit candles, great musicians and music, it is an excellent way for people to relax and enjoy music.

Where: Waverley, Edinburgh

When: April 22 to May 5, 2024

Price: From $12

This exhibition is a solo show for Eric Carle, a US author, designer and illustrator of children's books. Children and parents will definitely have fun at the exhibition. The art gallery showcases 24 illustrations by Eric and 15 interactive activities are available for families, providing visitors a memorable experience.

Where: Wenceslas, Prague

When: April 16 to April 26, 2024

Price: From $13

9 . Food labels seem to provide all the information a thoughtful consumer needs, so counting calories should be simple.     1     They say how many calories a food contains, and yet what they don’t say is that how many calories you actually get out of your food depends on how highly processed it is.

Food-processing includes cooking, mixing and mashing (捣烂).     2     It can also be completed in your home when you prepare a meal. Highly processed foods are more digestible, whose effects can be big. If you eat the food raw you will tend to lose weight. If you eat the same food cooked, you will tend to gain weight.     3    

As a result, when we are losing weight, we should reject processed food. And to do so would be much easier if our food labels gave us some advice about how many calories we would save by eating less-processed food.     4     The problem lies in a shortage of information. They find it hard to predict precisely how many extra calories will be gained when our food is more highly processed.

    5     The first gives a precise number of calories but takes no account of the known effects of food-processing, and therefore mismeasures what our bodies are actually harvesting from the food. The second would take account of food-processing, but without any precise numbers. Faced by this difficult choice, every country has opted to ignore the effect of processing and the result is that consumers are confused.