The village of Dafen, China was once thought to have produced the     1     (much) oil paintings in the world every year. Recognized as the “world’s art factory”, Dafen impressed visitors with its many workshops, in     2     painters copied masterpieces by Van Gogh, Monet and Warhol. But the village     3     (see) more as a production line than a place of culture. Today the future of Dafen may depend     4     whether it is able to earn respect of the art world.

Things started to change for Dafen in 2008, when the global financial crisis cut down overseas orders. With more demand coming from the native market, artists began painting     5     (difference) subjects. New customers preferred Chinese styles, says a painter in Dafen. He learnt the art of Shan Shui which     6     (involve) representing natural landscapes. In some ways Dafen reflected the broader economy. As exports starts to drop as a share of GDP, home demand plays a larger role in driving     7     (grow).

China is the world’s second-largest art market. But it is not clear where Dafen fits in. It is said that the demand for their paintings has dropped in     8     past two pandemic-stricken years. “Many people would probably be     9     (surprise) that Dafen still exists,” says Lisa Movius, a writer in Shanghai who reports art. In order to adapt to the change, perhaps it is time for Dafen     10     (make) a change.

A team at MIT (麻省理工学院) has created an AI technology. It can reproduce works of art. This successful system,     1     (call) RePaint, uses a combination of 3D printing and deep learning to recreate complex paintings.

It could     2     (use) to remake famous artworks for the home, or even to produce accurate copies to protect originals from     3     (suffer) damage when hung in museums.

“The value of fine art has     4     (rapid) increased in recent years, and there’s an increased tendency (趋势) for it to be locked up in warehouses (仓库) away from the public eye,” said one of     5     engineers of RePaint.” We’re building the technology     6     (change) this trend, and to create inexpensive reproductions (复制品)     7     can be enjoyed by all.” The team used RePaint to reproduce a number of     8     (painting).

At this time, the reproductions are only about the size of a business card, due     9     the time-costly nature of printing. In the future, they will become     10     (large) than they are now.

As a long-time resident of Beijing, I have always wanted to travel around and see more of China. And I finally found my big chance on the Labor Day holiday,     1     people would have seven days off, so I made a trip to Shanghai.

It was my first time that I     2     (travel) by not only rail but high-speed rail as well, which made this trip special. Many Americans aren’t used to     3     (take) public transportation, instead mainly using cars to get around. For me, riding to Shanghai by train was especially fascinating since I could     4     (expose) to different kinds of beautiful scenery and towns along the way through the spacious windows. In particular, I have always been a fan of the uniquely-shaped     5     (mountain) of China, enjoying their elegant shapes as they make the peaceful horizon more attractive. Another benefit of riding on trains was the spacious legroom which allowed me     6     (relax) more easily during my trip.

Throughout the journey, I couldn’t help considering it to be a good idea for the US to build a     7     (similar) useful and convenient railway system. The outspread cities in the US make     8     easy to see how the US would benefit from this kind of public investment. This could lead to less     9     (dependent) on car ownership and have a positive impact     10     both the economy and environment.

Traditional operas are finding ways    1     (interest) young people. Theater companies   in Shanghai are doing everything they can to give young actors a wide range of ways to show off their skills. Since 2011, the Shanghai Peking Opera Company    2     (provide) some fund for two seasons of “Youth Runway”, a long-term opera development project intended to find and nurture young opera talent.     3     the help of Peking Opera artists, 118 young     4     (perform) have mastered 200 plays and classical pieces.

Most of the young artists were born between 1995 and 2000,     5     (make) themselves the company’s    6     (new) generation. Together, they have appeared i almost a dozen plays. They will give 12 performances this year,     7     belong to four categories: spring, summer, autumn,     8     winter. The young participants will also demonstrate their involvement in the preservation and creativity of the art form.

In China, a variety of initiatives have been made to make traditional art forms more accessible to today’s youth. “Xiqu (traditional theater) has a huge potential to interest today’s young people because it can be    9     (creative) mixed with various art forms,” says Chen Daming,     10     theater critic. “These young participants have an important role to play in publicizing the art.”

Even if all goes well for you in high school9 that time of life still can be tough. After all, there's so much for you to learn academically (学术上地) and     1    (social), like getting along with classmates, and dealing with teachers. But of all the challenges,     2    （make）good friends might be the most important.

According to a new study published in the journal Child Development, best friends likely had a significant influence on how you behave in your 20s. Researchers found that those with strong, close bonds (联系) with their friends at age fifteen     3    (be) more likely to be healthy and happy later. Importantly, popularity, defined (定义) as lots of people liking you generally but not closely, wasn't found to have the same benefit as close friends.

The University of Virginia researchers who     4    (run) the study followed 169 subjects aged 15 to 25 every year for     5     decade (十年). Then the researchers analysed (分析) the 10 years of information     6    (understand) how people handled stress over time. They found that, compared to people with strong high school friendships, those     7     were merely popular did much worse on several measures of mental health, such as self-worth, social acceptance     8     relaxation.

“Being liked by a large group of people cannot take the place of building deep,     9    (support) friendships. So trying to build a close     10    (connect) with a few people should be a priority (优先考虑的事情), ” wrote Joseph Allen, who coauthored the study.

If you live in northeastern China, you expect long, cold winters. People     1    (live) in Harbin don’t just stand the cold, however, they welcome it. The city is home to the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival,    2    is considered to be the largest ice festival in the world. Even with temperatures usually close to zero, thousands of people head to city parks     3    (see) great ice sculptures, many bathed in colored lights.

The festival includes several thousand ice sculptures. Some of these works are the recreations of castles, historic landmarks and famous people, lit up at night in bright colors. There     4    (visitor) can climb ice stairways and go down ice slides (滑坡). They can also take part    5    sporting events, including skating, ice football     6    well as ice swimming.

The city started     7    (it) icy event in 1963 with the Ice Lantern Garden Party, a     8    (celebrate) of the tradition of creating lanterns out of blocks of ice. The larger festival     9    (begin) in 1985 and added sculptures, which have grown in number and size over the years. As it has gotten bigger, the festival has become popular outside the city.    10    (official), the festival starts on January 5th and lasts over one month.

Usually, we     1     (encourage) to be nice to our people. However, we always forget to be nice to our environment.

Global warming is quite     2     big problem today in the 21st century. Pollution leads to greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, which gradually causes the temperature of the Earth     3     (increase). And the rising temperature causes the melting of glaciers (冰川融化) and abnormal weather. Preventing global warming is key to the     4     (protect) for the Earth.

Simple things     5     can be done every day can help slow down global warming and make the Earth better place for us, our     6     (child), and more future generations to live. We need to take action     7     (active) to help reduce global warming.

There are many ways to help, such as taking public transportation, riding bikes or walking. The question is    8     we are willing to put them into practice. If the answer is positive, act now! We should walk or bike whenever we can. It’s also an     9     (easy) and more beneficial exercise than exercising in the gym. If we have to go to a place and we can’t walk, we should take the public transportation. We also try to encourage our friends and family to do the same to make a contribution to     10     (reduce) global warming. If everyone does something to help, together we can make a difference.