1 . There is growing interest in East Japan Railway Co. ltd, one of the six companies, created out of the privatized national railway system. In an industry lacking exciting growth ________, its plan to use real-estate assets in and around train stations ________ is drawing interest.

In a plan called “Station Renaissance” that it ________ in November, JR East said that it would ________ using its commercial spaces for shops and restaurants, extending them to ________ more suitable for the information age. It wants train stations as pick-up ________ for such goods as books, flowers and groceries ________ over the Inter. In a country where city ________ depend heavily on trains ________ commuting, about 16 million people a day go to its train stations anyway, the company ________. So, picking up commodities at train stations ________ consumers extra travel and missed home deliveries. JR East already has been using its station ________ stores for this purpose, but it plans to create ________ spaces for the delivery of Inter goods.

The company also plans to introduce ________ cards—known in Japan as IC cards because they use integrated circuit for ________ information ________ train tickets and muter passes ________ the magic ones used today, integrating them into a/an ________ pass. This will save the company money, because ________ for IC cards are much less expensive than magic systems. Increased use of IC cards should also ________ the space needed for ticket vending.

5 . Practical Guides to Gift Giving

Many people find special occasions and holidays to be stressful. Trying to get the right gift for everyone is no easy task. To make your life easier during those times, follow these simple tips:

    1     Trying to find something the day before the occasion is extremely stressful and is nearly impossible. If you do find yourself in a situation where you need to come up with a gift right away, get the person a gift certificate to their favorite store.

Don’t go overboard in trying to find the most perfect gift. If you try way too hard, it creates resentment and extreme disappointment if the recipient’s reaction is not what you have hoped.     2    

Avoid buying cosmetics (化妆品) for people whose taste you don’t know.     3     Those items are embarrassing to return since many stores don’t accept them back. It is the same with buying clothes or jewelry.

Avoid giving large items for the home such as paintings or furniture.     4     If you visit this person’s home, they will face the embarrassment of either having to tell you that they got rid of your gift, or having to put the unwanted item on display at their home.

    5    Present the gift with an easy-going attitude — simply smile and say “This is for you.” And please don’t ask the person about whether they like your gift or not! Give gracefully, and feel confident about your gift. People will surely appreciate your skillful gift giving.

Include a gift receipt whenever you can. If the recipient does not like the gift, he or she will really appreciate the opportunity to return it or exchange it for something they like.

8 . Adaptation and innovation(创新) of traditional opera is the important trend of Chinese opera circle in recent years. In order to attract young audiences of new generation and catch up with the time, traditional opera circle makes efforts to create new works. In recent years, traditional opera came across the change of time and society. They gradually lost the main elderly audiences and traditional opera was not attractive for young audiences.

In order to find new opportunities, using modern sound, light and digital stage effects, China’s traditional Peking Opera is appealing to young people in a fashionable and innovative way, as the classic art faces an aging audience.

The centuries-old Tianleyuan Theater in Beijing has introduced fashionable performances of Peking Opera. The opera combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime(哑剧表演), dance and acrobatics(杂技).

Tianleyuan has a jingju art experience section and fashionable performances. It has attracted more than 2,000 audiences members, mostly young people, according to theater staff.

“Good art should keep pace with the times, so does jingju,” said Zhang Zishang, a 22-year-old performer of The Drunken Beauty, one of the classic jingju plays performed in the theater. “I feel today’s performance is very special,” Zhang said. She was born into a family of jingju performers and has had 10 years of stage experience, “Innovation is good, but we must also carry on the basic elements of jingju,” another young performer Deng said.

According to Deng, innovation is perhaps the best way for jingiju to deal with the problem of an aging audience. It has made successful attempts to combine jingju with local opera forms such as ballet when organizing performances abroad. “Innovation can help traditional arts go further. We are happy to see many young faces, and some of them even come twice to experience the ‘new’ art,” she added.

9 . “What would Ms K do?” was in my playlist of the top 10 questions as I was taking books and files in my office. Reports had been_________over the last few weeks about the growing_________of COVID-19. My husband, a physician,_________me that I should make plans to begin working from home. But who was Ms K? Why did I_________of her when faced with a global_________?

Ms K was a(n)_________education teacher. She taught my daughter, Dorian, for 3 years. Dorian_________from autism (自闭症). When I met Ms K, Dorian was in kindergarten, and in spite of our efforts to_________her in a regular classroom, it was_________.

Dorian’s multiple__________-ranging from hearing, speaking and mental problems-left us all__________at the end of each day. Most of all, they left Dorian with an inability to__________her needs. For Dorian, her__________way of interacting with others was pictures. It was Ms K who __________the communication puzzle for us all. Ms K and her instructional assistant both were__________in sign language and taught Dorian and__________the rest of the family how to__________.Within three months, Dorian’s sign vocabulary greatly improved, and she started to sign three-and-four-word sentences.

Our world changed greatly because of the three years__________with Ms K. I firmly believed Ms K would__________herself to the problems in the COVID-19, and develop ways of distance learning for students and families in the same__________-with a positive attitude, patience and a mass of resources.