Charles Darwin was an English     1     (science) who studied nature. He is known     2     his theory of evolution (进化论)．

Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shropshire, England. In 1831, Darwin boarded a ship     3     (call) the HMS Beagle and set out on a fantastic five­year journey around the world. His goal was     4     (study) the natural history of the areas he was to explore. Darwin was     5     (amaze) at the variety (多样性) of species he saw on his journey. He noticed that although the different islands had similar animals and plants, many seemed to have changed to adapt (适应) to their local environments. He noted some     6     (difference) between the mockingbirds found on San Cristobal, Floreana and two other islands. This led     7     (he) to wonder why they varied from place to place.

Darwin first presented his theory of evolution by natural selection (选择) in 1858 to explain how animals adapted to their environment to survive. The idea of evolution     8     (be) not new then, but Darwin’s theory explained how evolution occurred. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, the book was     9     immediate success. However, it was not popular with people     10     believed that all the animals on the planet had been made at the same time by one creator. But Darwin scientifically proved all the species on Earth had evolved from earlier species!

A white winter in Beijing is nothing new. The city is    1    （frequent）enveloped in snow over the colder months. However, the snowfall last weekend led    2    a unique combination of the seasons and a contrast of colours.

Famous places, especially with unique    3    （nature）beauty, were blanketed with a layer of snow and visitors. Camera in hand and braving the cold, I headed off to two of my favourite scenic    4    （spot）.

My first stop was Jingshan Park. The artificial park    5    （build）in the Ming Dynasty offered remarkable views of the Forbidden City. The coating of snow, contrasting with the colours of the autumn leaves and ancient structures only added to    6    （it）elegance and mystery. It is a view I    7    （see）countless times over the past decade and remains one of my favourite in the city.

Next up was Xiangshan Park,    8    dates back to the Jin Dynasty. There was a significant increase in    9    number of visitors. People traveled from all over China    10    （witness）the tree-covered hillsides transforming from their rich summery greens into yellows and reds like a blanket of fire. This created a picture I wouldn't soon forget.

A miniature black horse with     1     white nose ran into a room in Nashville's Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital. Some of the kids sat in wheelchairs and some wore masks, but they all screamed with     2     （excite）. "I can't believe there's a horse in the hospital!" a boy said. On this day, instead of     3     （take）challenging medical tests and procedures, these kids got to have fun with Magic, a miniature horse.

Magic is a member of an all-volunteer charity, Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses. It     4     （run）by Debbie Garcia-Bengochea and her husband. Teams of therapy horses work with people     5     have experienced unpleasant events. Each year, the animals interact with more than 25,000 people of all ages in hospitals, schools, and     6     （library）.

Magic has a special way of knowing who needs her the most. She goes over and     7     （gentle）puts her head on their shoulders. She     8     （win）many awards for her work so far. Due to Magic's uniquely empathetic（善解人意的）personality, volunteers often expect her     9     （reach）people in the most difficult situations, whether they are children with life-threatening illnesses     10     first people rescued from an earthquake. Not only does her presence comforts, but also it heals.

Recently, Chinese people from all walks of life    1    (discover)their daily lives are filled with an academic term; involution(内卷). In agricultural economics, involution originally means that    2    (add) work is put into agricultural production for higher output,    3    yet doesn’t increase proportionally(成比例地).

Our society is becoming increasingly competitive when population outgrows resources. Accordingly,    4    we used to achieve easily requires more efforts now. The level of competition we have in our society is often compared to millions of troops    5    (cross) a single wooden bridge. The    6    (major) of us are trying hard to get ahead of the troops.

Netizens now use involution to describe their current conditions, especially in the study of children. Parents feel stressed    7    (provide) their children with the best, and children must keep    8    in the race. Though great efforts have been made, they find it much    9    (hard) to go to the schools that they have been looking forward to.

Too much pressure is bound to do harm to children physically and mentally. Parents should cool down firstly and relieve their own anxiety, taking    10    (measure) to rid their children of heavy burden from involution.

Language is the best approach to    1    ( understand) a country. We know that language is a bridge for people to communicate. Chinese is one of the most beautiful languages in the world as well as    2    most-spoken one.

The beauty of Chinese language lies in its form, structure and rhythm. Every sound, stroke, word and sentence have their own stories. In the process of learning Chinese，I hope you will learn to appreciate the Chinese language and its profound cultural heritage. Some foreign friends say that Chinese is difficult    3    ( learn). It shows that those who learn Chinese have great courage and    4    ( wise).

Only after learning Chinese will you know the meaning    5    ( contain) in the Chinese characters. For example, the Chinese character “人”which means “people” consists    6     two supporting strokes, showing people need to support each other. The Chinese character “大”which means “big or great” is like the Chinese character“人”opening arms. This means people opening arms are of great vision. The Chinese character“天”is like “人”standing against the sky. That’s the reason    7    it has the meaning of “sky”. The Chinese character“信”means “trust”. Its left side is “人” and the right side “言” which means “words”. When the two parts    8    ( put) together, it means people keeping their words win trust. You can understand the philosophy at first glance.

There are many    9    ( example) like this. There is no other language in the world that can create so much beauty with just two thousand    10    ( common) used characters. When you try to learn Chinese，you will feel China, understand China better, and even fall in love with China.

Shanghai never made anyone     1     (disappoint). Located in the mouth of Yangtze river, with the nickname “Paris of the East” or “Pearl of the Orient”, Shanghai makes     2     (it) a famous place for street food lovers from all over the world. With the mix-culture     3     East and West, Shanghai’s unbeatable and attractive food culture in sweet and oily cuisines is well-known everywhere. While     4     (comfortable) knocking about the street food corner of Nanjing West Road, you just cannot miss a few typical Shanghainese cuisines,     5     are usually served as breakfast for local Shanghainese.

Are you     6     (hunger) and don’t know what to eat? Just 4 pieces of Shanghai pan-fried dumplings can make your stomach feel better after a few hours     7     (wander) in search of food. This tasty dish is usually what Shanghai     8     (cook) are eager for after a long day inside the kitchen. Da Bing in Chinese literally refers to “large pancake”. Not only Da Bing is a popular street food dish     9     it is also a favorite in Chinese restaurants. As one of the Chinese “Four Kings of Breakfast”, Da Bing is a perfect substitute for rice at any meal and can     10     (eat) as snack at different times of the day.

Seventy-one-year-old retired judge, Leon,    1    (drive) his car one day last March when he had a sudden heart attack. He later learned that someone had offered him first-aid    2    (treat). Soon after he recovered, Leon was    3    (determine) to give thanks to whoever saved him.

    4    (search) the record that someone had called 911 that day, Leon found that he was saved by a lady named Susie Powell. “I was on my way to the office when I saw    5    (he) curl up (蜷缩) in his seat,” recalled Powell. Luckily for Leon, Powell had just completed a course on first aid. She immediately applied her first-aid knowledge    6    practice. She called 911. Then she got him out of the car and laid him    7     (mild) on his back.

Two weeks after the incident, the two met for lunch. Leon told Powell about his different     8    (interest). When Leon asked    9    he could do to thank her, Powell said he didn’t need to do anything. However,    10    idea came into Leon’s mind. He would sponsor (赞助) a poor child’s education in Powell’s name.

Along the River During the Qingming Festival is a painting     1     the Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan(1085-1145 ). The painting is 25.5 centimetres in     2     ( high ) and 5.25 metres long. The countryside and the crowded city are the two main parts in the picture, with the river     3    ( run ) through the entire length. The right part is the rural area of the city. There are crop fields and rural folk. A country path broadens into a road and     4     ( join ) with the city road. The left half is the urban area,     5    eventually leads to the city center. Many economic activities can be seen in this area. Zhang Zeduan’s painting is celebrated as     6    most famous work of art from the Song Dynasty. However, there are copies of the famous painting. An early copy, generally     7    ( consider ) to be the most similar to the original, was made by Zhao Mengfu during the Yuan Dynasty. Another known remake(新版)    8    ( paint ) during the Ming Dynasty. This copy has a length of 6.7 metres,     9    ( long ) than the original. Another version by five Qing Dynasty court painters was presented to the Qianlong Emperor on January 15, 1737. This version was.    10     (late) moved, along with many other handicrafts, to the National Palace Museum in Taipei in 1949.

As a saying goes, “Birth is much, but breeding is more”. Chinese families attach great     1    (significant) to their children's education.     2     it comes to children's education, Chinese parents will spare no effort.

What many parents are convinced is     3     they must devote themselves to guaranteeing their children will receive a good education. They will ask their children to take all kinds of tutorial classes during weekends and holidays. They are not only willing    4     (invest) in education for their children, but also prepared to spend countless hours supercising (监督)their studies, because most parents hope that their children can     5    (admit) into an ideal university. As a result     6     China's Reform and Opening-up Policy, more and more parents are able to afford their children's study abroad or their participation in an international exchange program, all of which will     7    (broad) their horizons. In the past few years, more children     8    ( prefer) to go abroad for further education.

Parents expect their children to grow up     9    ( excellent) through their efforts,     10    ( make) contributions to the nation⁵ s development and prosperity eventually.

Chinese music     1     (make) since the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents     2     (provide) evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty. Today, the music remains     3     rich traditional heritage in one aspect, while gradually changing into a more contemporary form at the same time.

There are many cases     4     westerners are asked to name a few traditional Chinese musical instruments. Their answers include but not limited     5     the stringed instruments called the erhu, guzheng, and the dizi flutes. With music played by these instruments, they can imagine the scenes of an eastern garden, such as the quietness of snow and lively colors of summer.

The dizi is widely used in     6     (vary) kinds of Chinese folk music, as well as Chinese opera and orchestra.     7     (tradition), the dizi has also been popular among the Chinese common people, and it is simple to make and easy to carry.

Most dizi are made of bamboo, which explains     8     dizi are sometimes known as Chinese bamboo flute. It is possible     9     (find) dizi made from other kinds of wood, or even from stone. Jade dizi (or yudi) are popular among     10     (collect) interested in their beauty and professional players.