I’m not sure when I started to love qipaos. I just remember that when I saw Zhao Wei and other stars     1     (wear) qipaos in the TV series Romance in the Rain, I     2     (impress). Although Chinese women are fond of wearing qipaos for special events, for example, red ones for weddings, I wear them more     3     (frequent), not only for parties but also sometimes even in the office.

I’ve collected some qipaos,     4     (buy) at a store in one of Beijing’s historical neighborhoods. A Chinese friend of mine recently gave me one of her old qipaos, which almost reaches my ankles. The qipao fits well at the shoulders,     5     it was simply too tight (紧的) at the waist.

Many foreigners’     6     (body) differ from those of the Chinese, which makes     7     hard for some foreigners to take off qipaos. Because I am not too short, and pretty thin, I can often buy ready-made qipaos in China.

In my native United States, non-Asians     8     (be) sometimes blamed on social media for wearing qipaos because of     9     (culture) differences, but in China, people have what I consider a more reasonable and open-minded approach: If foreigners wear qipaos, it is seen     10     an attitude of appreciation for Chinese culture.

Have you ever heard someone say “You can tell a lot about someone by how they dress” and wondered if that was true? What you wear can inform     1     (passer-by) of your type of employment, as well as your ambitions, emotions and spending habits.

In early civilizations, the key purpose of clothing was     2     (keep) us warm. Today, central heating warms our homes,     3     (reduce) our dependence on clothes alone to help us to survive. Clothes     4     (develop) from previous practical belongings to today’s social markers: they affect the way we see     5     (us). They help us to be seen in the light that we wish to be, and also bring     6     our personalities and social status.

In many societies, dress sense represents personal wealth and taste. For example, Economist George Taylor demonstrated this most     7     (vivid) with the Hemline Index (裙摆指数). Taylor noted that as a country enters recession (衰退) and adopts simply spending habits, women often show a preference towards     8     (long) dresses, while during times of prosperity (繁荣),     9     opposite result can be seen-hemlines often become shorter.

Whether you are male or female, your fashion choices can affect both your self-image, the impression     10     you convey to others and in turn, the way in which people behave towards you.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR!

Jiang Zhirong, 22, is from Yingcheng, Hubei Province. Last year, she passed the examination for upgrading from a junior college student to a university student, and     1     (admit) as an undergraduate at Hubei Minzu University.

As she was the only one in her class     2     succeeded in passing the exam, Jiang’s teacher and classmates advised her not to suspend her schooling, but she was     3     (determine) because she “wanted to give back to society”.

As a member of the Plan of the 2022 College Students Volunteer Service to Western Regions, Jiang has now worked in Hubei’s Laifeng County, at the junction (交界处) of three     4     (province), Hubei, Hunan and Chongqing.

In the     5     (two) year of her junior high school studies, Jiang’s father passed away. Her mother was unable to take care of herself because she suffered from     6     illness and her grandmother later succumbed (被压垮) to Alzheimer’s.

    7     (help) Jiang’s family, the local government helped rebuild their house. A kind-hearted man called Nie Chunhua gave support towards Jiang’s mother living in a welfare home.     8     a heart full of gratitude, Jiang studied very hard in technical secondary school and college, until she passed the undergraduate upgrading exam and suspended her schooling.

Speaking of her     9     (decide), Jiang said, “When I was asked whether I would regret     10     (suspend) school to volunteer in the western regions, I was certain I would never.”

Having grown up in northern Arizona, I believe that the southwestern state is home     1     the most beautiful landscapes on the planet. That is, until I     2     (invite) to explore Guizhou province by an organization many years ago. There is nothing like seeing with one’s own eyes.

My father used to drag my brothers and me on     3     (fish) trips around Arizona. We would compete to catch the     4     (large) fish. On my trip to Guizhou I had the opportunity to canoe on Wanfeng Lake,     5     I enjoyed the silence and took in the surrounding karst mountains.

During my trip around     6     city of Xingyi, in Guizhou, I saw the artwork of the Bouyei ethnic group. They use dyes (染料)     7     (produce) from local plants to make clothing and blankets. Local elders still practice weaving with wooden machines and pass that tradition on to their grandchildren. The designs were ancient, and carried     8     (wise) within them.     9     (serious), I got the feeling of being home while looking at the art on display in Xingyi.

I     10     (live) away from Arizona for 10 long years, making my own living in China. I’ve managed to build a family, a career, a livelihood, and passion projects. I feel as though I have everything I need. In Guizhou, I feel at home.

Fairy tales perform many functions. They can provide moral lessons,    1    (let) human beings live in harmony with each other. Such moral lessons may not mean much to a robot, but a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology believes they have found a way    2    (use) the fairy tales as moral lessons that AI (Artificial intelligence) can take to its cold, mechanical heart.            

The researchers have developed a system    3     is called Quixote. The system collects good moral stories from the Internet and then uses those    4    (story) to teach robots how to behave properly.

The experiment    5    (involve) going to a drugstore to purchase medicine. The robot has two choices: either wait in line and purchase the medicine    6     steal the medicine and escape. The robot will easily come to the conclusion that stealing it is     7    (efficient) at obtaining the medicine than waiting in line. But Quixote offers a reward for waiting in line and politely purchasing the medicine and a     8    (punish)   for stealing it.     9     this way, the robot will learn to behave properly on that occasion.

The researchers believe that AI has to be trained to adopt the moral values of society so that they will behave in    10    (social) acceptable ways.

A nearly 300-year-old musical instrument     1    (know) as a violin could soon sell for more than $10 million. The instrument     2    (make) by Italian violin maker Giuseppe Guarneri in 1736.

The violin is owned by Regis Pasquier,    3    bought the violin more than 20 years ago. He gave a concert the following day without even     4    (practise) on the instrument. Perrine, from a French auction house, noted, “For him, this instrument was perfect.”

Pasquier has since played the instrument in     5    (place) like Camegie Hall in New York and the Opera’ Garnier in Paris. Perrine said it could     6    (probable) sell for up to $10 million.

At that price, the violin would not even be the costliest in the world. In 2012,    7     unnamed buyer paid $16 million for a violin that was once owned by 19th -century violinist Henri Vieuxtemps. That violin is     8     loan to American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers for the rest of her life.

The most     9    (value) violin is believed to be the Messiah Stradivarius. The violin is estimated     10    (be) worth $20 million. It can be seen at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.

HEFEI- Three Dalmatian pelicans (卷羽鹈鹕), or Pelecanus crispus, were spotted at Chaohu Lake for the first time, the fifth    1    (large) freshwater lake in the country.

The rare birds    2     (photograph) on Wednesday by a local biological resources survey team and two birdwatchers.     3    number of Dalmatian pelicans, a national first class protected species, is quite small in China.    4    , it is rare to see three of    5    (they) at the same time, according to Yu Lei, a bird expert on the local biological resources survey team.

“This wading bird, which feeds on fish, has a high level of alertness and requires a good    6    (live) environment. The fishing ban in the lake and the improved environment are reasons behind the    7    (appear) of these pelicans,” said Yu, adding that they migrated here    8    (spend) the winter.

More than 80 birds, such as little swans and cormorants, were also spotted on Wednesday at the lake. Hefei City,     9    the lake is located,    10    (take) a number of measures to strengthen the protection of 10 major wetlands around Chaohu Lake in recent years, including banning fishing, land reclamation and waste dumping in the protected zones.

The first-ever C919, China’s first self-developed passenger jet,    1    (deliver) to China Eastern Airlines in Shanghai on December 9, 2022 and is expected to be put into commercial operation next spring,    2    is a significant milestone in the development of China’s aviation manufacturing (航空制造) industry.

The first C919 has    3    total of 164 seats, including eight seats in business class and 156 seats in economy class.    4    (base) on the initial approval of the CAAC (中国民用航空局), China Eastern also needs to carry out more than 100 hours of test flights    5    (confirm) the operational safety and various operational support capabilities of the aircraft, as the C919 is the first such model    6    (global).

Later, China Eastern plans to put the C919 into commercial service in    7    (city) such as Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an, Kunming and Guangzhou. Over 20 pilots will serve    8    the first group to operate the C919.

The aircraft industry has entered a new journey of development, and it is of great    9    (significant) in promoting cooperation and innovation in the global aviation industry chain.

So far, the C919    10    (get) 1,115 orders from home and abroad. In March 2021, China Eastern officially purchased the first group of five C919s, and other planes it bought are expected to be delivered in 2023 and 2024.

The history of siheyuan (courtyard house) in Beijing can be traced back to more than 800 years ago     1     Beijing established its status as the capital city. As a kind of traditional Chinese relic, siheyuan represents the     2     (capital) architectural style.

Siheyuan is a closed rectangular space with a courtyard in the center. It     3     (surround) by four houses: the main room, the opposite room, an eastern-wing house and a western-wing house. The housing arrangement is     4     (total) based on the rules of hierarchical system, which aims to keep the order of the family members’ status. The principal house facing the south is inhabited by the head of the family, and his or her     5     (old) son lives in the eastern-wing house, which is believed to be superior     6     the western- wing house. Usually, the opposite house is given to servants and other members. Undoubtedly, siheyuan is a mirror of Chinese culture,     7     (reflect) the sense of belonging in the mind of Chinese people. All the gates are printed red,     8     symbol of luck in China.

Indeed,     9     (know) more about Chinese culture and traditions, visiting siheyuan     10     (be) a smart choice for you. Staying in a siheyuan, learning how to make dumplings and enjoying a local Chinese life, you will get an unforgettable experience here.

While many people have made videos to cheer on those working on the front lines of the fight since the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai, Chien Meishuang     1     (spend) her time in lockdown at home, painting simple heartwarming works.

The paintings are part of her Journal of the Pandemic Lockdown,     2     project she started two years ago. “We are all facing a difficult time     3     we are trapped at home,” Chien tells China Daily. “I     4     (simple) wanted to let others know that there is a silver lining amid the dark clouds.”

The Taiwan native, who lives in Shanghai, is being on the receiving end of her neighbors’ kindness.     5     (document) her experience, the artist created a painting, titled Good Neighbors in China, marking the first new     6     (add) to her project this year. Other     7     (scene) shown in her latest works include delivery men having a quick lunch and her neighbors     8     (welcome) a 70-year-old man who returned from hospital after recovering from COVID-19.

“It is because of the pandemic     9     I have made friends from all walks of life in the area where I live. These individuals have provided infinite inspiration and stories     10     my works,” she adds. “As long as an artwork can touch people’s hearts, I believe it is good art. It doesn't matter how simple it is.”