1 . Tobias, a 35-year-old Belgian musician, has become popular on social media for his excellent grasp of the Shanghai dialect. He has been sharing his everyday experiences, which he _______ in Shanghai dialect, on video-sharing and lifestyle _______ Douyin and Xiaohongshu, winning thousands of followers and millions of _______

In the videos, he speaks_______ Shanghai dialect, which many non-locals believe is as difficult to learn and _______ as a foreign language. He talks about walking on the city’s streets, enjoying the food and music, and _______ his daily life in the city. Tobias started shooting and _______ these short videos for his own practice purposes. He didn’t expect so many people would be watching them, following him and sending him _______ and encouragement.

Tobias did not bury his nose in textbooks or _______ intensive study to learn Shanghainese. He said his learning __________ involved getting immersed (沉浸) in a language environment, having a positive attitude, and speaking __________ “without being afraid to make mistakes” . He was not thinking too much when he started learning the Shanghai dialect — it was just for __________.

Tobias said he did not expect he would __________ the promotion of the Shanghai dialect, but it would be an __________ and pleasure if his posts encouraged his followers to learn and pass on the dialect. “I believe a dialect is the heart of a local __________” said the musician.

2 . My name is Maria Helena Corrcia, and I studied biology at college. After ________, I first worked as a laboratory researcher. Since February, however, I’ve been a volunteer of WWF Greece(World Wide Fund for Nature). I made the ________ because I’m interested in animal ________ and nature.

Working on the Egyptian Vulture New LIFE project, I ________ to protect vultures (秃鹫) from danger. Livestock (牲畜) keepers sometimes use poison (毒药) to keep their livestock from being ________ by wild animals. But the poison and the poisoned animals are often eaten by the vultures, who end up ________.

To save the vultures, we have to show the livestock keepers that there are other ways of ________ wild animals. For example, I’ve been helping ________ electric fences (栅栏) which can put wildlife off. Now they have ________ their ideas of using poison to deal with wildlife attacks and accepted that fences can be a better ________.

Until now, I have had nothing but _______   memories of working here. For example, the livestock keepers and their families were especially ________ when we gave them new electric fences and dogs. They appreciated our help so much that they ________ us the best food from their farms.

As I mentioned before, I used to work as a researcher in a laboratory. But my experience here in Greece has changed my life ________. Now I want to ________ this work in the future and help more people and animals in need.

3 . On a Sunny Saturday, Alyson Machigua, three, screamed with laughter as she and her mother, Marlen, played a game in the front yard of their home. Suddenly, tiny Alyson _______ the backyard of a neighbor. About half way across the yard, Alyson disappeared, seeming swallowed (吞没) by a hardly _______ opening in the ground, which meant the opening was not easy to find. Marlen cried loudly for help.

The neighbour Luz Jimenez, 26, was preparing dinner in her kitchen and _______ the cries were the sounds of children playing. However, when she ran outside anyway, she found Marlen _______ and dialing 911.

“Alyson fell into the hole!” Marlen cried to Luz. Then Luz heard Alyson’s cries from deep underground. Luz ran inside her own _______ and down to the basement for a gray rope to drop into the hole. Back in the yard, she used her hands to dig the hole, _______ the opening. When the policeman Aaron Perkins arrived a few minutes later, Luz was in the hole up to her _______.

“Get out of there,” Perkins told Luz, raising her up by the _______. “It’s dangerous for you.” “It’s more dangerous for the baby,” Luz said. “She’s going to _______.” After Perkins tied one end of the rope to a tree, Luz lowered ________, little by little, down the 15-foot-deep hole. Below, she saw water covering the floor of the hole. Alyson’s neck was covered. Luz dropped the remaining few feet into the water beside the baby. “Everything is going to be fine,” she told the little girl. “Don’t worry.”

As they waited for help in the two feet of dark water, Luz prayed that there were no snakes swimming at her feet. She ________ nothing more than snakes. Aboveground (在地面上), Perkins talked to Luz, keeping her ________.

Just minutes later, the Hacketts-town Fire Department and Hacketts-town Rescue Team arrived and lowered a ________ into the hole. Luz climbed up with Alyson in her arms, and then handed her over to her mother. Emergency workers rushed the baby to an ambulance, ________ her clothes to survey the injury. Alyson was scared and covered in dirt but ________, she was uninjured. Luz saved the baby’s life.

4 . A 63-year-old man learning ballet a decade ago has become a hit on social media. James Cox has been a ballet ___________ as long as he can remember, but he never really got the chance to practice it himself. Growing up in a poor rural family, his main focus was always on ___________ or doing housework instead of dancing that was definitely a ___________ he could not afford. He ended up becoming a farmer, but he never got over his love for ballet.

“One day, I saw a ballet basic training course on TV, which ___________ the idea that I should try to learn to dance,” James said in an interview. Ballet requires a fit and ___________ body that is almost impossible to ___________ at a certain age without lifetime training. Becoming a ballet dancer at age 53 was far from ___________ in the world, and most of his friends didn’t understand why he ___________ this tough training at his age. But James Cox ___________ them all with the help of his family, who have always been very ____________ of his passion.

Not only does ballet make him a delighted man, but he is convinced that it has done ____________ for his health as well. “In the past, I had stomach problems. After dancing ____________ over the past decade, the stomach issues have mostly ________   ,” the 63 year old ballet dancer said “When I am in this class, I feel ____________ as if I have become young again,” James added “I am now doing what I ____________ to do when I was young.”

5 . More than 200 people were killed and 900 others injured in a major accident Friday evening involving three trains in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, officials said on Saturday.

At least 233 people ____ and about 900 were injured in the ____, and the number of death is ____ to increase further.

According to officials, the Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, hit the Yashwantpur-Howrah Express, which derailed (脱轨). A cargo train was also said to be ____ in the accident.

Officials said the ____ of the collision was so ____ that carriages of the two trains climbed atop each other, ____ deaths and injuries to passengers. A large number of passengers were ____ inside the derailed coaches.

____ after the accident, rescue teams, health officials, police, and fire services rushed to the ____. A large crowd of locals ____ reached the spot to help the injured.

All the health facilities nearby were ____ alert. Meanwhile, the injured were ____ to the hospital throughout the night.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ____ grief over the ____ of lives in the accident and condolences (吊唁) are pouring in from various quarters.

6 . A family of six is happy to be back home in Quebec after spending a year traveling the globe. Edith Lemay and Sebastien Pelletier organized this ________ to give their kids as many visual memories as possible — memories they can ________ long after losing their eyesight.

The Canadian couple ________ their first born daughter Mia, now 11, had vision problems when she was just three years old. After years of ________with specialists, the parents were told Mia suffered from retinitis pigmentosa (视网膜色素变性), a ________ condition that causes vision loss over time. ________, two of their sons were soon diagnosed (诊断)with the same incurable disorder. One specialist recommended Lemay help her kids create unforgettable ________ memories. That was when the couple had the ________ to show their kids the world.

The family set out in March 2022, ________ Africa from Namibia to Tanzania and touring some Asian countries. Aside from ________ beautiful sights, the parents also patiently taught their kids how to ________ to new situations, wishing them to be strong despite the ________ that may come later in their lives.

When things don't go as ________, many people tell themselves they are born unlucky enough to ________ taking responsibility to make changes in life. Yet this couple and their children have been facing life ahead ________. With such a positive state of mind, you can overcome anything.

7 . As I waited for my university lecture to start, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking up, I found a young woman smiling at me, ________ a notebook. I knew immediately who she was. The week before we had ________ emails, and I’d told her I would be sitting in the front ________. I always sat at the front and the reason was that I’m deaf and needed to lip-read the ________. “I’m Rosie,” the young woman said. She was the first person I’d ever met who was my ________ and wore hearing aids. At my school, I was the only person who wore hearing aids. So I was ________ and fascinated to see Rosie wearing them. She tied her hair back, and didn’t try to ________ them like I did.

After the lecture, Rosie and I carried on talking. She always remembered to look at me when we talked. I didn’t have to worry that she’d ________, and I’d miss a joke or remark. There was an instinctive awareness between us about making communication clear and ________. I’d grown up thinking that deafness was some kind of ________, but here was Rosie, who was clever, wise, full of fun and deaf. What was the big deal?

I felt like a window had opened on my own experience as a deaf person. Partly it was the joy of being able to talk ________. We discussed noisy social events, or group conversations, where we felt on the fringes. The ________ that I wasn’t the only deaf student at the university made the experience feel less lonely.

We continued to share notes on being deaf. Learning to advocate for myself as a deaf person in the professional world was ________. But Rosie was more enlightened, and she was a fierce advocate. She held up a ________ to my own experience, but also set an example for me, offering an alternative ________. Our friendship has become an essential part of who I am as well.

8 . Twenty years ago, I was months into my first job at a start-up independent publishing company in New York.One afternoon, I ________ a train with a load of hot-off-the-press catalogues (目录薄) our first to list every one of our titles. I was on my way to ________ my aunt, who’d agreed to ________ them to her friends.

Back then, I was much less _______ ; somehow I made it on the train but I hadn’t had time to buy a _______ . I figured I’d buy one on board. When the conductor came to stand next to me, I opened my _______ and found nothing inside. They didn’t ________ credit cards back then. I was told to get off at the next station.________,the man next to me handed $15 to the conductor. I was beyond grateful and ________; I promised him I would send him a check, which he ________. I made him write down his address, though.

Later, I wrote a check, ________ it in a letter, and sent it off. I expressed my ________ again and included my email address. Soon he emailed me and we ________ a lasting friendship.

That ________ action has stayed with me .Thinking about that day, I ________ myself to be much kinder to strangers and to focus on the good in people.

9 . Neerja wakes up at 7 o’clock. She finds that she has a birthday cap over her head. She’s both ________ and confused. “Is it my birthday today? But it is in August …” She ________ her phone. It shows August 27, her birthday.

Things are getting more and more ________ for her. In a few seconds, her family ________ the room with a huge cake box. She is almost ________ about it.

She comes forward to ________ the cake, and as she opens the box, everything becomes ________ at once. The box has a joker mask with “April Fool!” written on it. With loud laughter, they make her ________ that she’s been tricked (欺骗). Now Neerja owns the title of “FOOL OF THE YEAR”. And if she doesn’t want the ________, she has to pass it to someone else.

On her way to school, she continuously ________ about how to add a member to the “fool’s chain (链)” till she sees Hari. A(n)________ comes to her mind. She says, “Hello, Hari! The class teacher called you to her office. She wants you to be the new class monitor (班长).” After some time, she sees him coming back ________. She realizes that she has made a huge mistake.

She goes to him and says, “I’m really sorry. I just ________ to pass the title ‘FOOL OF THE YEAR’ to someone else”. “‘FOOL OF THE YEAR’... what’s that?” he asks curiously. Neerja can’t help ________ his innocent (天真的) question. Hari laughs too. Though they are both now members of the “chain of fools”, they are happy that this chain is the beginning of their ________ too.

10 . Have you ever felt the need to grab a pen and start writing your thoughts on paper? Words—beautiful and fascinating. But you know what is better than putting your imagination somewhere? In my case, to win the competition for the best novelist.

That was a small tournament organized by my school annually to _______ our creative writing and vivid imagination. Since I had a burning passion for _______, I decided to show my power. I thought no one could _______ me.

I finished a long story and e-mailed it. As I _______ the email every day, my eyes were wandering to _______ the line “Congratulations! It is a great pleasure to inform you that…” _______, no such thing came.

I was not accepted. I _______ my abilities. The next day at school, I tried my best to be _______, avoiding the usual contact. But in the corridor, I _______ Stacy Williams, my school rival. Could she be the ________? I started walking sneakily. In class, I was just looking out of the window at the ________ clouds which were a reflection of my soul.

Thankfully, a film that night—Forrest Gump lifted my ________. I wouldn’t let a stupid competition ________ my future. I could win on the next one or even at a better tournament. The important thing was to ________ my head and face my challenges without losing hope when everything seemed ________.