Socializing with my friends online is my life. The moment I wake     1     I check through all my social networking     2     (app), reading my emails and posting updates. I have 500 friends online and I live with several roommates, but I feel lonely. It seems that I have an active social life,     3     (attend) parties and playing sports, but I’m absent-minded because I     4     (strong) obsess over my phone.

Social networking     5     (be) the master of my life. Though sometimes I set deadlines    6     (tear) myself away from my phone, I fail again and again. Spending so much time socializing online. I always feel     7     (depress) and alone. As a result, I can’t finish what I should do in my real life.

It is common that at parties or at a family holiday, most members fix their eyes on their phones,     8    they think is normal rather than rude.

What is most worrying is that it is     9     (possible) to drop my phone. I need it for my studies because my teachers and classmates need to contact me. It is     10     problem that we are so close but really so far.

Zhang Jiacheng has lived his life in a village for more than sixty years. Zhang spends his days     1     (look) after his apple farm. His work is     2     (entire) physical, including planting and watering trees and picking fruit. Now his work, though, is sort of different from the one     3     it used to be: Livestreaming (直播).

When I visit Zhang’s land in mid-September,     4     66-year-old farmer is preparing to pick up apples in his fields. The branches (树枝)of his apple trees     5       (weigh) down by red delicious fruit.They can produce 30,000 kilograms of apples each year.

    6       (help) the villagers make their fortune, the government began offering free courses in 2013 to teach villagers how to use the internet to enlarge their businesses. Over 20,00 people have attended     7     (class) covering different topics from e-business to livestreaming.

“Before taking the livestreaming class, I was making 4,000 to 5,000 yuan per year,” Zhang says. “Now,     8     makes me excited is that I can earn 200,000 yuan each year.”

To be frank, the change is     9     (surprise) and tells us the advantages of using technology to connect farmers in the country and other workers with more people.

Now, using social media such as Taobao’s livestreaming, Pinduoduo, Douyin, these workers can help sell their crops across the country, which contributes     10     the developing of the villages.

As darkness falls on Chengiyuan village in northwest China, the spotlight shines on 83-year-old Jing Tingyou as his nightly show begins. The skilled shadow puppet (皮影) master takes center stage behind a white curtain, skillfully     1     (move) his puppets. Having devoted over six decades     2     the art of shadow puppetry, Jing is     3     expert in his field. He sets up his stage in a cave house in Gansu province’s Huanxian county. On the left side of the puppet master sits his younger brother, 73-year-old Jing Tingxiao,     4     accompanies him on a four-stringed instrument. They come from Huanxian, the birthplace of Daoqing shadow play, an important form of Chinese shadow puppetry. The Daoqing form     5     (be) more than 10,000 years since its first appearance, which     6     (include) on the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006. The Jing family band, to which the brothers belonged, was established in 1903 and is one of the most prestigious shadow puppet     7     (band) in Huanxian. During its heyday in the 1960s, Daoging shadow puppetry attracted many enthusiasts. However, with films and television series gradually     8     (become) the dominant source of entertainment in the late 1980s, its     9     (popular) became weaker and many performers moved on to other jobs.     10     the Jing brothers kept going and there has been a recent turnaround since Huanxian launched a string of projects to boost the art form. This ancient intangible cultural heritage is finding new vitality.

Earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 118 people

An overnight earthquake killed at least 118 people in a cold and mountainous region in northwestern China,     1     the country’s state media reported on Tuesday. Search and rescue     2     (operate) were underway in Gansu and neighboring Qinghai provinces. The earthquake left more than 500 people injured,     3    (severe) damaged houses and roads, and knocked out power and communication lines.

The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in Gansu at a relatively shallow     4    (deep) of 10kilometers just before midnight on Monday, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

By mid-morning, 105 people had been confirmed dead in Gansu and another 397 injured, including sixteen people     5     critical condition. Thirteen others were killed and 182 injured in Qinghai in an area north of the epicenter (震中), according to state media. Another 20 were missing in Qinghai after     6     (bury) in a landslide, according to the China News Service.

The earthquake     7     (feel) in much of the surrounding area, including Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, about 100 kilometers northeast of the epicenter.

The rescue work was proceeding in     8     orderly manner. Tents, folding beds     9    quilts were being sent to the disaster area. At least 4,000 firefighters, soldiers and police officers were dispatched (派遣) in the rescue effort, and the People’s Liberation Army Western Theatre set up a command post     10     (direct) its work.

Carrying the Flame of Inspiration

Excited, proud, and even a little emotional, I experienced a rush of different feelings when I passed the flame of the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou,     1     capital city of Zhejiang province, on Saturday as one of the 600 torchbearers (火炬手).

Although from different backgrounds, we 600 torchbearers all have something in common: Our deep respect for the para sports movement and the spirit in     2     these sports are contested. The flame that I carried was passed on by the first torchbearer of the relay, powerlifting Paralympic and world champion Tan Yujiao. The Rio and Tokyo Paralympic gold medalist is     3     (particular) proud to attend the Asian Para Games at home, both as a torchbearer and an athlete.

“My heart is just like the flame right now. I used to be a kid with     4     (disability) who could not even attend our school’s PE classes, and now I’m a para athlete who is aiming at     5     (break) my own world record. Life presents me with the     6     (tough) tests, and I have lived my life in the most beautiful way,” said Tan.

When I was informed that I     7     (choose) for the honor, I asked myself one simple question: What will I actually pass through the flame? I think my fellow torchbearer Tan summed it     8     better than I could: “What I hope to pass on is the spirit of the para athletes that enables them     9     (fight) against all odds to win and chase excellence. I also want to pass on their positive energy, their     10     (confident) and strength.”

The two students have completely different lifestyles.

Joe, a student from London,     1     (use) the computer since he was very young. He does     2     (vary) things online. For example, besides doing all his school work, he chats with his friends, watches films and so on. In his opinion, it is convenient     3     (compare) the quality and prices from different online shops before be buys. However, his parents are worried about him. His mother considers it important to meet friends     4     person from time to time. If Joe keeps     5     (do) like that, he may become an “Internet addict”.

For Li Ying, studying is a big part in her life. She tends     6     (set) a goal for every subject when the term starts. She is very attentive in all classes and thinks     7     (active). She has a top 10 reading list and she tries to keep it     8     (update). She is also     9     active member of her school’s long-distance running team and volunteering club. All in all, she makes good use of every minute to achieve her goals.     10     the popular saying goes, “Every minute counts!”

In early June of 2023, Wang Pushi, a young man with a background in Kunqu Opera and also the lead singer of a rock band,     1     (amaze) his audience with a performance at “Youth π Plan”, a music competition show. With its energetic rhythm and beat, the     2     (combine) of ancient and modern melodies, and poetic yet bold lyrics, Wang’s song titled “Ming Song”     3     (skillful) mixed the power of rock with the elegance of Kunqu Opera.

    4     (study) traditional Chinese opera for 11 years, Wang joined the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre in 2014. Apart from Kunqu Opera, he has been interested in rock music from     5     early age. In 2019, Wang formed a rock band called “Xian Ke” with two friends,     6     he serves as the lead singer and guitarist. He said the band’s name came from a line in “The Book of Songs” that means persistence and devotion. So far, the band has created 45 songs, with one single     7       (reach) over a hundred million plays.

Wang expressed his hope     8     through their music, more young people will become familiar     9     and develop a love for Kunqu Opera. He hopes to promote their songs overseas and perform more exceptional Kunqu Opera on international stages, thus challenging the stereotypes (刻板印象)       10       (associate) with Chinese traditional music.

Luo Yan and his wife and son have settled in a big city. The Spring Festival is coming, so they travel back for the holiday, for     1    (they) dream of “three generations under the same roof”.

    2     the big city is far away from their hometown, the high-speed train has made it much more convenient for them to go back home. During the five-hour trip, they chatted excitedly with each other, their minds full of       3     (think) about their sweet home.

    4     their arrival, they find their home has been specially decorated by his parents for the joyous occasion. Everything represents joy, luck and     5     (happy).

At five o’clock on the Eve, the dinner table is already covered with white china plates and bowls, full of all sorts of dishes: chicken, duck, pork, fish and vegetables. The three generations sit around     6     table to enjoy the delicious food happily. Indeed, the whole family could not be     7     (happy) to be together. Despite the cold outside, their happy faces fill the air with warmth while merry     8    (laugh) rings throughout the house.

After dinner, the whole family are going to stay up late on the New Year’​s Eve. They gather around the television to watch the Spring Festival Gala, while ating snacks and       9     (chat) with each other about the past, the present and the future.

As midnight     10     (approach), Luo Yan takes his parents, wife and son outside to set off firecrackers, wishing all the best.

The Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company (TMACC) issued 30,000 free birthday month tickets in 2021 to local tourists,     1     (allow) each visitor to experience breath taking views of Cape Town from above the clouds. “We are     2     (excite) to play a role in making the top of the mountain accessible to everyone for their birthday,” says Giselle Esau, executive manager of Brand and Marketing at TMACC. A return ticket up the cableway would     3     (normal) be charged at R390, but the TMACC birthday month special allows all South African citizens     4     (travel) up Table Mountain for free. Every year, thousands of local     5     international tourists travel to Cape Town to visit Table Mountain. So TMACC also has special offers positioned for local and for eign students and position offerings that accommodate children and the elderly,     6     has helped ensure that     7     (visit) to the mountain extend the reach beyond the barriers of affordability. “The mountain belongs     8     all of us, and everyone should     9     (give) an opportunity to experience it. Drawing in local tourists could also be an opportunity to aid the     10     (recover) of local tourism industry.” says Esau.

The Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese festival,       1       (celebrate) on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese calendar. It     2     (date) from over 2000 years ago, which falls on June 20th this year.

The Dragon Boat Festival is    3     memory of Qu Yuan, a great poet of ancient China. On this day, Chinese people prepare Zongzi     4       (wrap) in bamboo     5     (leaf).       6     the festival name shows, people have dragon boat races to celebrate it,     7     (especial) in the     8     (south) places     9     there are many rivers and lakes. The competing teams row their boats forward to a drumbeat,     10     (race) to reach the finishing end first.