Learning languages has many advantages: feeling confident when travelling abroad, making friends     1    (international), being able to read books in the original(原版的), and a lot more, like studying and working in other     2    (country). Most people live under the stereotype(刻板印象)that they lose their learning abilities with age. However, if faced     3     a challenge when there is no other way except to learn the new foreign language, adult people can show great results. Before     4    (decide)how to learn a new language, the first thing is to decide in which situation the language is to be used.

If the target is, for example,    5    (travel)or find new business at some international events, a course focusing on speaking practices is recommended(推荐). The     6    (base)vocabulary and conversational structures(结构), studied and practised heavily during a short period of time, may lead to the needed result, which might be the ability to communicate on the streets or support     7     small business talk. Usually the two or three months of study     8    (be)enough to start communicating. However, if brought back shortly to the usual environment, the person might lose the majority of knowledge if there would not be any supporting practice afterwards. Unfortunately, without practical usage     9     further development, the language abilities may go away as easily as they came. The language cannot     10    (learn)once and forever.

A Chinese food and culture festival won New Yorkers’ hearts and     1     (stomach) on June 24 with its debut (首次亮相) on a section of street at Washington Square Park in Lower Manhattan. The festival showed authentic Chinese food     2     soup dumplings, dandan noodles, kebabs, pastries, flower cakes, Jianbing, sugar paintings, stinky tofu and others from around 35 vendors (摊贩).

Foodies (美食家)     3     (wait) in long lines at some popular stands and the waiting time for the Jianbing event was over two hours. More than 30,000 people joined in     4     free event from 10 am to 6 pm, on June 24. Food is the best starting point for people     5     (understand) and appreciate Chinese culture.

Vendors from Qingmu Dessert Lab offered Chinese pastries and wore     6     (tradition) Chinese clothing known as hanfu. A set of four pastries was made to represent the four seasons with ingredients (原料)     7     (collect) throughout the year. Jianbing,     8     is a popular street food in North China, drew many     9     (people) interest as its vendor Gem Bing Shop is nearby.

The festival is expected to     10     (hold) at other cities in the US next year.

Art lovers in New Zealand     1     (enjoy) 2, 000 books from China and   more than 200 paintings from both countries at a China-themed book exhibition in Waipa on Sept. 15.

As one of a series of activities     2     (mark) the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic(外交的) ties between China and New Zealand, the book exhibition included 217 pieces of artwork     3     have been collected from 40 cities in China. There were also 15 paintings from New Zealand.

Dandi Wang, curator(馆长) of the exhibition and president of Prime Media New Zealand, said the exhibition included more than 2, 000 English language books with     4     (theme) ranging from political theory, medical information to Chinese     5     (tradition) cultural practices.

Dave Bromwich, former president of the New Zealand China Friendship Society, who has visited China more than 50 times, said the exhibition represented “a very good insight into Chinese culture”. He encouraged New Zealanders to pick up     6     book and start to understand it.

Ye Su, minister-counselor of the Chinese embassy in New Zealand, said he was       7     (deep) impressed by the works     8     display. Ye said that he believed the wide variety of books at the exhibition would enable more New Zealanders to better understand China, which will help enhance understanding between the two countries.

The exhibition also included a range of children's books and a     9     (collect) of poems. It's expected that the books     10     (donate)to local libraries and schools and the paintings will be given to local children's hospitals.

The first Buy Nothing Day    1    (celebrate) in September 1992. In1997, it was changed to the Friday following Thanksgiving in November. Soon after, it gained    2    support of Adbusters, a Canadian media company questioning the    3    (important) that cultures give to advertising and shopping. When the group tried to place commercials(广告) on television, the only major TV network     4    accepted them was CNN. Despite these attempts to silence the movement, it spread to the US, Germany, Japan, and several other countries worldwide.

Buy Nothing Day challenges people to avoid    5    (buy) anything for 24 hours. Supporters hope that during this time, people will reflect on the need to “have things”, which is pushed by large companies. By getting people to focus on what they do have, they can become more sympathetic(有同情心的) towards the poor     6    people who have less than they do.

Another activity    7    (call) the zombie walk is to show the way most people shop. In this walk, participants walk around shopping malls like zombies. If anyone asks them what’s happening, they    8    (educate) them about Buy Nothing Day. Whirl-Mart is another funny method of drawing attention to the purpose of Buy Nothing Day. People will take empty shopping carts and form a line inside a supermarket. Then, they will race through the aisles (通道) without putting anything in their empty carts. Other    9    (supporter) celebrate the event by     10    (simple) doing other free activities such as hiking, bicycling, or taking a boat ride. No matter how one participates, Buy Nothing Day presents us with an opportunity to remember that the best things in life are free.

A group of young people from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have come together     1    (produce) a positive comedy programme. Following their first hit, they are now taking on a more serious theme, poverty relief.

YutianYakexi, which means that Yutian     2    (be) brilliant in Uygur language, started airing online on April 8. The series tells a story about officials from Tianjin     3     help lift people out of poverty. At first, the farmers misunderstand the     4    (intend) of Cheng Ran, one of     5     officials, but then they become friends. In the end, the Xinjiang farmers finally make     6     (they) dreams come true with the help of Cheng. One of local residents said that her income rose to 3,000 yuan ($470.8) a month after being     7    (hire) by a newly built food factory, while     8     (previous) she had been only able to make a little money.

The team    9    (grow) quite popular on Chinese social media platforms since their online short video series Anar Pishti debuted (首次上映) in 2016. The show has earned more than 100 million views     10     Douyin, the Chinese name for TikTok, alone.