Since the pre-Qin period, Chengdu    1    (be) an important cultural town in China. But    2    really sets the city apart, culturally, is its opera. An important aspect of Sichuan Opera is    3    magic of “face changing” where vividly coloured masks are changed within the blink of an eye. In opera gardens and tea houses across the town, audiences    4    (want) a glimpse of the local culture love to drink tea while listening to Sichuan Opera and watching face changing.

It is believed that “face changing” has its roots in evolution. Early humans needed survival strategies to avoid fierce animals and foreign    5    (invade). Often, aggressive facial gestures and non-verbal cues were part of it. The Sichuan Opera is said    6    (bring) this range of emotions on stage.

Once the performance starts, the actor keeps pulling down one mask after    7    in swift movements to convey different emotions.    8    (astonish), no matter how close one is    9    the stage, they just can’t tell how the masks change.

In fact, the different kinds of characters and personalities that Sichuan Opera brings alive can    10    (find) among common people. This is why its emotions will continue to resonate with people for a long time.

When it comes to gift-giving, context is everything. “Gifts are an     1     (express)of feeling,” said a psychoanalyst (心理分析学家). Good gifts show that you have paid attention. Bad gifts make you wonder if the giver knows you at all.

“People tend     2     (fall) into the trap of not fully putting the recipient first,” he added. People often give the gift     3     reflects their own desires and motivations rather than considering the preferences of the recipient.

This doesn’t     4     (necessary) mean the gift giver is terribly inconsiderate. It’s just because that person isn’t great at     5    is known in psychology as perspective taking (换位思考). “People may have trouble     6     that,” he said. But to give great gifts, you need to cultivate the ability to step outside yourself and really notice people’s passions, preferences and personalities.

Maybe the better strategy is to conduct your own not-so-scientific survey. Ask family and friends to tell you about the     7     (bad) and best gifts that they     8     (receive) up till now. You will learn what kinds of gifts truly touched them. You will also develop     9    better understanding of their core values, love languages and attachment styles. These conversations can help     10     (deep) your relationships, which is a gift in itself.

When thinking about careers, professional advancement, or even job hunting, we usually attach    1    (important) to the so-called “hard skills”, meaning skills     2     are directly connected to our ability to perform a particular task or do a certain job. These skills can be evaluated or measured, as they are the results of     3    (we) degrees, certificates, specialized knowledge, continuing education, vocational (职业的) training, and so on.

“Soft skills”, on the other hand, are harder    4    (measure) than “hard skills”, as they usually do not come from a degree or specialized training,     5     from life experience, personality, and attitude. They     6    (call) “people skills” as they    7    (typical) relate, in some forms, to how we deal or interact with other people. For example; Are we able to motivate and lead people? Can we communicate well with others?

Some commonly    8    (mention) soft skills would include creativity, teamwork, written and verbal (口头的) communication, management leadership, flexibility, and organization. These types of skills are vital, as they help to form     9    well-rounded person. They can provide a     10    (compete) edge in a job search. Soft skills are relevant to every industry or job, because people are always the key, in one way or another.

During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics man-made snow was widely used. Due to the fact     1     the area gets little natural snow, this was the first time the Winter Olympics had taken place on almost 100% artificial snow.

21 cities     2    (host) the Winter Olympies since 1972. However, just one of them will have a climate suitable     3     winter sports by the end of the century.

As the planet warms and the weather becomes increasingly erratic (无常的), natural snow is becoming less reliable for winter sports,     4     forces venues (场地) to depend more on artificial snow. But it comes at a cost: man-made snow needs many resources,     5    (require) huge amounts of energy and water to produce in a climate that’s getting warmer and warmer. Athletes also said that the sports     6    (they) became more difficult and less safe when man-made snow was involved.

Traditionally, snow-making has relied     7    (heavy) on snow guns and temperatures at or below freezing. To adapt to warmer temperatures and lower elevations (海拔),     8     different approach needs to be taken.

Making snow demands much energy and water. And with 1.2 million cubic meters of snow     9    (need) to cover roughly 80, 000 square meters of competition area, the water demand at this year’s Winter Olympics was massive.

Now, it becomes more and more common to use artificial snow at winter sports     10    (event). That’s true even in places that used to have a lot of snow naturally.

Last month, I went to China to travel. While     1     (do) some research about the trip, I discovered that Chengdu had the pandas, so I decided to go there.

On my sixth day, I finally had a chance     2     (visit) the pandas! I didn’t go to the famous panda reservation in Wolong, but to Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding directly, which is much     3     (close), because I had heard that people might not see the pandas in Wolong but I wanted to be sure to see these cute fellows. At 7:30 a.m. I     4     (join)a group of five fellow panda     5     (fan) and we set off. My friends,     6     had visited the pandas before, told me about     7     active the pandas were, always playing around. However, all we saw them doing was sleeping and eating. I thought they must be tired, because most of them     8     (bare) moved. A few minutes later, a     9     (sleep) panda came down     10     his tree house to the ground. He was absolutely lovable.

Beverly Cleary was the best-selling and award-winning author of dozens of books for children,     1     writing changed the world of children’s books by showing that stories about the lives of ordinary     2     (kid) could be interesting, funny, and popular.

As a child, she had trouble learning to read. Even after she learned to love reading, she still     3     (find) many books boring. She wanted to read funny books about children like herself.

When she grew up, she set out     4     (write) stories. Ms. Cleary worked hard to get children hooked on reading. When her son didn’t show much interest     5     books, she wrote The Mouse and the Motorcycle. The book tells the exciting story of     6     motorcycle-riding mouse and his friendship with a young boy. The book was a hit, and led to two more books     7     (star) Ralph S. Mouse.

But that sort of fantasy was unusual for Ms. Cleary, who     8     (usual) focused on real life, even when it involved serious problems.

Ms. Cleary kept writing until she was 83 and won almost every award for children’s books,     9     (include) the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award. Though Ms. Cleary is no longer with us, her characters and stories     10     (love) and shared for years to come.

Elephants in the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary (禁猎区) in northern Kenya are being fed goat milk. Workers there say the elephants enjoy drinking goat milk. They say the milk may be     1     (healthy) for them than other choice.

The sanctuary had been using powdered baby milk     2     (feed) the young animals it cared for. But it decided to test goat milk,     3     costs less and is locally available.

The sanctuary rescues young elephants     4     (find) alone in the wild and cares for them. It is not until they are old enough     5     they will be returned to the wild. Dr. Steven Chege is the sanctuary’s medical advisor. He says goat milk seems to be very good for the     6     (survive) and health of baby elephants.

Chege says goat milk is helpful because it contains a different kind of “highly digestible protein” that powdered baby milk lacks. This results in fewer stomach     7     (problem) for the young elephants.

Liwana Lenakukunyia is one of many goat farmers     8     (sell) milk to the sanctuary. She says she’s happy to get new earning and that many of the farmers who now earn money     9     (be) women. “Since we started milking goats and selling milk to the sanctuary,     10     least we have our own cash to feed our family with,” she said.

It was an emotional moment for two women in China     1     the mother of the bridegroom discovered that her daughter-in-law was her biological daughter.

The reunion occurred at the wedding in Suzhou on March 31. According to Sohu News, the discovery     2     (make) after the mother noticed a birthmark on the bride’s hand, which looked strikingly similar     3     that of her long-lost child.

Determined to uncover the     4     (true), the woman gathered the courage     5     (ask)the bride’s parents whether she was adopted. After explaining her story and     6     same birthmark, the bride’s parents     7     (final) confirmed that their child had been adopted.

Indeed, the bride was the woman’s long-lost biological daughter. It turns out she went     8     (miss )as a child and was picked up by her adoptive parents on the roadside some two     9     (decade) ago.

The wedding would have been called off at this point, but the woman also revealed that her son was also adopted. The wedding proceeded as     10     (plan). The story of joys and sorrows moved all the people present. The ending of the story is, as the idiom goes, “As You Like It.”

Photos of the bride crying and hugging her long-lost mother spread on Chinese social media.

A few weeks ago I was out with my family at the opening of a new playground in our community. The advertisements were put up,     1    (state) there would be coffee available and activities for children, and I was convinced that it was a good idea for us to attend. So after we settled in, and found a place for the kids         2    (play) in, I headed over to the coffee station.

I     3    (break) my reusable coffee cup several days before,     4     I knocked off a table onto a hard floor, so I didn’t have anything with me. Feeling       5     (guilt) that I might need to use a throwaway cup, I was delighted to see they were using good old ceramic(陶瓷的) coffee cups that are     6    (rare) seen today. It looked like they searched the cupboards and grabbed every cup they could find.

After we finished, the cups went into a big container where they would     7    (wash) later. What a fantastic way of solving the problem of reusable cups! Yes, there is the washing to do after, but,     8     any plastic or paper waste being created, it is worthwhile.    9     is great to see a local council leading the way in a significant       10     (reduce) of waste.