Xiao long bao (soup dumplings), those amazing constructions of delicate dumpling wrappers, encasing hot,     1     (taste) soup and sweet, fresh meat, are far and away my favorite Chinese street food. The dumplings arrive steaming and dangerously hot. To eat one, you have to decide whether     2     (bite) a small hole in it first, releasing the stream and risking a spill (溢出),     3     to put the whole dumpling in your mouth, letting the hot soup explode on your tongue. Shanghai may be the     4     (recognize) home of the soup dumplings but food historians will actually point you to the neighboring canal town of Nanxiang as Xiao long Bao’s birthplace. There you will find them prepared differently — more dumpling and less soup, and the wrappers are pressed     5     hand rather than rolled. Nanxiang aside, the best Xiao long bao have a fine skin, allowing them     6     (lift) out of the steamer basket without tearing or spilling any of     7     (they) contents. The meat should be fresh with     8     touch of sweetness and the soup hot, clear and delicious.

No matter where I buy them, one steamer is     9     (rare) enough, yet two seems greedy, so I am always left     10     (want) more next time.

Whenever I tell people that I teach English at the Berlin Zoo, I almost always get a questioning look. Behind it, the person is trying to figure out who exactly I teach…the animals?

Since June 2017, right before the     1     (arrive) of the two new pandas, Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, I have been helping the panda keepers at the zoo to feel more comfortable and     2     (confidence) speaking English. And who do they speak English     3    ?

Not the pandas, even though     4     language used for the medical training instructions is actually English. They talk to the flood of international tourists and to     5     (visit) Chinese zookeepers who often come to check on the pandas, which are on loan from China. They also need to be ready to give     6     (interview) in English with international journalists. This is     7     they need an English trainer.

So, what are they learning?     8     (basic), how to describe a panda’s life. It’s been an honor to watch the panda programme develop     9     to see the pandas settle into their new home. As a little girl, I     10     (wish) to be a zookeeper when I grew up. Now, I’m living out that dream indirectly by helping the panda keepers do their job in English.

For thousands of years, people have told fables (寓言)     1     (teach) a lesson or to pass on wisdom. Fables were part of the oral tradition of many early cultures, and the well-known Aesop’s fables date to the     2     (six) century, B. C. Yet, the form of the fable still has values today,     3     Rachel Carson says in “A Fable for Tomorrow.”

Carson uses a simple, direct style common to fable. In fact, her style and tone (口吻) are seemingly directed at children. “There was once a town in the heart of America,     4     all life seemed to enjoy peaceful existence with its surroundings,” her fable begins,     5     (borrow) some familiar words from many age-old fables. Behind the simple style, however, is a serious message     6     (intend) for everyone.

    7     (difference) from traditional fables, Carson’s story ends with an accusation instead of a moral. She warns of the environmental dangers facing society, and she teaches that people must take responsibility     8     saving their environment.

The themes of traditional fables often deal with simple truths about everyday life. However, Carson’s theme is a more weighty     9     (warn) about environmental destruction. Carson proves that a simple literal form that has been passed down through the ages can still     10     (employ) today to draw attention to important truths.

Beijing is a city bridging the ancient and the modern. From Buddhist temples to museums, narrow hutong     1     royal palaces, it is home to more than 3,000 years of glorious history even down to its layout, with the city keeping its carefully     2     (build) system of ring roads.

But for all its ancient buildings, Beijing is also a place     3     welcomes the fast-paced development of modern life, with 21st-century architectural     4     (wonder) standing side by side with historical buildings of the past.

It is a distinct visual contrast (反差) that shouldn’t work,     5     somehow these two very different worlds make a good combination.     6     (visit) several times over the last 10 years, I     7     (amaze) by the co-existence of old and new, and how a city was able to keep such a rich heritage (遗产) while constantly growing. As a photographer, I have spent the last two years     8       (record) everything I discovered.

The     9     (remark) development of this city, which is consciously designed to protect the past while stepping into the modern world,     10     (mean) there is always something new to discover here, and I could be photographing Beijing for the next 50 years.

Heatherwick Studio recently built a greenhouse at the edge of the National Trust’s Woolbeding Gardens. This beautiful structure, named Glasshouse, is at the centre of a new garden that shows how the Silk Road influences English gardens even in modern times.

The latest     1     (engineer) techniques are applied to create this protective     2     (function) structure that is also beautiful. The design features ten steel “sepals (萼片)” made of glass and aluminium (铝). These sepals open on warm days     3     (give) the inside plants sunshine and fresh air. In cold weather, the structure stays     4     (close) to protect the plants.

Further, the Silk Route Garden around the greenhouse     5     (walk) visitors through a journey influenced by the ancient Silk Road, by which silk as well as many plant species came to Britain for     6     first time. These plants included modern Western     7     (favourite) such as rosemary, lavender and fennel. The garden also contains a winding path that guides visitors through the twelve regions of the Silk Road. The path offers over 300 plant species for visitors to see, too.

The Glasshouse stands     8     a great achievement in contemporary design, to house the plants of the southwestern part of China at the end of a path retracing (追溯) the steps along the Silk Route     9     brought the plants from their native habitat in Asia to come to define much of the     10     (rich) of gardening in England.

During China’s dynastic period, emperors planned the city of Beijing     1     arranged the residential areas according to social classes. The term “hutong”,     2     (original)meaning “water well” in Mongolian, appeared first during the Yuan Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, the center was the Forbidden City,     3     (surround)in concentric(同心的)circles by the Inner City and Outer City. Citizens of higher social classes     4     (permit)to live closer to the center of the circles. The large siheyuan of these high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen often     5     (feature)beautifully carved and painted roof beams and pillars(柱子). The hutongs they formed were orderly, lined by     6     (space)homes and walled gardens. Farther from the center lived the commoners and laborers. Their siheyuan were far smaller in scale and     7     (simple)in design and decoration, and the hutongs were narrower.

Hutongs represent an important cultural element of the city of Beijing. Thanks to Beijing’s long history     8     capital of China, almost every hutong has its stories, and some are even associated with historic     9     (event). In contrast to the court life and upper-class culture represented by the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven, the hutongs reflect     10     culture of grassroots Beijingers.

The shelves in most supermarkets are full of family-size this and multi-buy that. However, if you’re shopping for one, buying extra     1     (benefit) from price reductions doesn’t make sense. Either your shopping is then too heavy to carry home     2     you can’t use what you’ve bought while it’s still fresh.

Of course, shops are not charities — they price goods in the way     3     will make them the most money. If most of their customers are happy to buy larger quantities, that’s     4     they’ll promote. But that leaves the solo (单独) customers out of pocket and disappointed.

Many supermarkets are no longer doing “buy one get one free” promotions because of the     5     (criticize) that they lead to waste. Consumers prefer money off individual items. However, though it’s nice to get a few cents off a pack of sausages, it would help even more if they could sometimes     6     (offer) in smaller packs. Even the biggest sausage fan doesn’t want to eat them every day.

If your supermarket sells loose produce, then buying smaller quantities is easier. Over the last two years, some supermarkets     7     (start) selling chicken or salad in packs     8     (design) with two halves containing separate portions (份). Then, when you use one section,     9     other stays fresh.

Who knows, perhaps some of the more forward-looking     10     (one) may yet come out with a whole range of “just for you” pack sizes with special offers as well.

Ecotourism is commonly regarded as low impact (影响) travel to undisturbed places. It is different from traditional tourism because it allows the traveler to become     1     (educate) about the areas - both in terms of geographical conditions and cultural characteristics, and often provides money for conservation and benefits the     2    (develop) of the local areas.

Ecotourism has     3    (it) origin with the environmental movement of the 1970s. It was not widely accepted as a travel concept     4     the late 1980s. During that time, increasing environmental awareness made it desirable.

Due to     5     growing popularity of environmentally-related and adventure travel, various types     6     trips are now being classified as ecotourism. Actually, a true eco-friendly trip must meet the following principles:

·Minimize the impact of     7    (visit) the place.

·Build respect for and awareness of the environment and cultural practices.

·Provide     8    (finance) aid and other benefits for local peoples.

·Make sure that the tourism provides experiences for both the visitors and the hosts.

Komodo National Park, officially recognized in 1980, is popular for ecotourism because of its unique biodiversity.    9    (activity) there range from whale watching to hiking (远足) and accommodations aim     10    (have) a low impact on the natural environment.

The Xi’an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived China’s long history. It     1     (build) originally to protect the city     2     the Tang dynasty and has now been completely restored (修复). It is possible       3     (walk) or bike the entire 14 kilometers.

We accessed the wall through the South Gate. The wall is 12 meters high and from here you can see streams of people moving inside and outside the City Wall.

After     4     (spend) some time looking at all the defensive equipment at the wall, we decided it was time for some action and what     5     (good) than to ride on a piece of history!

We     6     (hire) our bikes from the rental place at the South Gate. My bike was old and shaky     7     did the job. It took us about 3 hours to go all     8     way around the Xi’an City Wall. Supposedly you can do it in two hours, but we stopped at the different gates and     9     (watchtower) to take pictures or just to watch the local people going about their     10     (day) routines.

Kim Cobb, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, is one of a small but growing minority of academics     1     are cutting back on their air travel because of climate change. Travelling to conferences, lectures, workshops, and the like — frequently by plane —     2     (view) as important for scientists to get together and exchange information. But Cobb and others     3     (be) now questioning that idea pushing conferences to provide more chances to participate remotely, and     4    (change) their personal behavior to do their part in dealing with the climate change crisis. On a website called No Fly Climate Sci, for example,     5    (rough) 200 academics — many of them climate scientists —    6     (promise) to fly as little as possible since the effort started two years ago.

Cobb, for her part, started to ask conference organizers who invited her to speak     7     she could do so remotely; about three-quarters of     8     time, they agreed. When the answer, was no, she, declined the     9     (invite). That approach brought Cobb's air travel last year down by 75%, and she plans     10    (continue) the practice. "It has been fairly rewarding.", she says, "a really positive change."