2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.encouraged	B. excuse	C. featured	D. favor	E. approaches	F. defended
G. access	H. serve	I. regional	J. celebrated	K. lengths

When Coca-Cola was first sold in 1886, nobody thought it could be improved. Nearly a century later, in 1985, New Coke was introduced to replace the original recipe of Coke in order to rebrand the product amidst falling sales——Coke was losing customers to Pepsi, whose sweeter taste was finding     1    . Unfortunately, the Coca-Cola Company saw a significant drop in sales soon after the release of New Coke. Some customers just preferred the “classic” recipe. The old adage(格言), “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” seems to apply here.

Something similar is happening with A Bite of China, a     2     food documentary focusing on the stories, traditions and culture surrounding interesting regional dishes from around China. The first two seasons of the show saw great success. However, when the third season began last month, the reviewers were not so “sweet”. With an entirely new production team, Season Three steers away from(偏离) the show’s core focus on     3     dishes and towards intimate life stories, non-food-related subject matter and even product placement(植入广告).

In the first episode of Season Two, a teenager in the countryside collects honey high up in a tree. The scene is stunningly filmed, telling a moving story about the dangerous     4     to which people go to gather food for their families. In the third season, however, the focus is taken almost completely away from the food. In one of its most infamous episodes, DIY lipstick using questionable ingredients bought online is     5    . Viewer response has been swift and severe, with several commentators wondering whether it is still suitable to call the show a food documentary. The production crew have     6     the changes, claiming that the innovation is meant to keep the show fresh and interesting to an expanding audience. While this may     7     in part, to explain the show’s creative differences from previous seasons, it doesn’t     8     the show’s declining professionalism, which has led to some silly mistakes such as mixing up ingredients or confusing the correct names of regional dishes.

Innovation is generally     9     in industries big and small, but a winning formula that has popular     10     is not necessarily something that requires changes. Innovation is a tool often best used when a new direction is called for. By trying to reinvent the wheel, one might just end up with a flat tire. It’s time that A Bite of China took a page out of Coca-Cola’s playbook and returned to the classic recipe, where success has never tasted so sweet.

3 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. fit B. practice C. promising D. boast E. ingredients F. disturbed G. evolution H. excuses I. passing J. stuck K. honouring

The Origin of Trick-or-treat

On October 31, hordes of children armed with Jack-o’-lantern-shaped buckets and pillow cases will take to the streets in search of sugar. Trick-or-treating for candy is equivalent to Halloween, but the tradition had to go through a centuries-long     1     to arrive at the place it is today. So how did the holiday become an opportunity for kids to get free sweets? You can blame pagans (异教徒), Catholics, and candy companies.

Historians agree that a Celtic autumn festival called Samhain (萨温节) was the origin of modern Halloween. Samhain was a time to celebrate the last harvest of the year and the approach of the winter season. It was also a festival for     2     the dead. One way Celtics may have appeased the spirits they believed still walked the Earth was by leaving treats on their doorsteps. When Catholics invaded Ireland in the 1st century CE, they rebranded many pagan holidays to     3     their religion. November 1^st became the “feasts of All Saints and All Souls,” and the day before it was dubbed “All-Hallows’-Eve.” The new holidays looked a lot different from the original Celtic festival, but many traditions     4     around, including the practice of offering food to the dead. The food of choice for Christians became “soul cakes,” small pastries usually baked with expensive     5     and spices like currants and saffron.

Instead of leaving them outside for     6     ghosts, soul cakes were distributed to beggars who went door-to-door     7     to pray for souls of the deceased in exchange for something to eat. Sometimes they wore costumes to honour the saints—something pagans originally did to avoid being     8     by evil spirits. The ritual, known as “souling”, is believed to have planted the seeds for modern-day trick-or-treating.

It wasn’t until the 1950s that trick-or-treat gained popularity in the US. Following the Great Depression and World War II, the suburbs were booming, and people were looking for     9     to have fun and get to know their neighbours. The old     10     of souling made a comeback and gave kids a chance to dress up in costumes and roam their neighbourhoods. Common trick-or-treat offerings included nuts, coins, and homemade baked goods (“treats” that most kids would turn their noses up at today).

4 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. rival   B. contributed   C. benefiting   D. witnessed   E. accounts F. uneasy   G. enrolment   H. intentionally I. delays     J. declined   K. unconsciously

Put off by US, Chinese students eye other universities

Caught in the US-China trade war, Chinese students are looking for alternative study destinations.

China     1     for nearly a third of foreign students on US campuses who pour billions of dollars into the economy, but since March, the number has     2     for the first time in a decade. Visa     3    , concerns over being shut out of research projects and safety fears have turned off Chinese students.

    4     education powerhouses such as Britain, Australia and Canada are the biggest countries     5     from the shift, a survey by New Oriental China’s biggest private education provider said. Japan and South Korea and parts of Europe, especially Germany and Scandinavian countries with strong engineering programmes, have also     6     a rise in applications, the survey found.

The chilling effect which makes students and their parents     7     started 2 years ago, after President Donald Trump’s administration     8     decreased the visa duration of students in science and technology fields from five years to one in some cases.

Chinese students     9     $13 billion to the US economy last year, a figure that includes tuition fees and living expenses, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Top US universities including Yale and Stanford have complained that the trade war has affected campus     10    .

5 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. structured       B. treasures       C. revolution             D. accessible       E. professions       F. responsive G. promises       H. formalized       I. popularized             J. declared       K. creation

How the Victorians Invented the “ Staycation ”

Holidays feel like an important refreshment after such a tough year. While international travel is possible, it’s not exactly easy, so many are choosing to stay closer to home, taking a “staycation ”. This year holidaymakers are discovering the     1     of the UK’s coast and the beauty of its landscapes.

Domestic tourism as we know it began in the 19th century when the idea of the holiday was just becoming     2     . Expanding railways and changing work practices meant people had more leisure time for travelling. International travel was becoming easier but wasn’t     3     to all, so the Victorians chose to spend this newfound “ free ” time in the UK.

This gave way to the     4     of hot new holiday destinations, mostly on the UK’s coast. Great British seaside towns, from Bournemouth to Brighton, appealed to people with     5     of fun, sea and clean air — many of the things that continue to attract people today.

The great summer holiday as we know it was designed by the Victorians. The 19th century saw the industrial     6     and the rise of industrial capitalism, where factories were booming and work structures were more clearly and severely defined and presented. This led to the emergence of administrative     7     , like clerks, and an emerging middle class.

There was more     8     working time, including shift work in factories and time off on Sundays. As a result, working-class people had leisure time to use, and by the 1890s some skilled workers had half days on Saturdays, leading to the birth of the “ weekend ” — though this was not     9     until much later in the 20th century.

In 1871 the Bank Holidays Act was passed. This appointed certain days as holidays on which banks closed, though, over the years, more businesses began observing these days off work. Before 1830, banks closed only on the 40 saints’ days of the year, though by 1834 this was just four days, including Christmas day. From 1871, any day could be     10     a bank holiday, not just saints’ days.

6 . Directions: Fill in the blanks with the proper forms of the given words or phrases. Note there is one more word or phrase than you need.

excite       experiment       result from       result in fit in        survive            push               show off

1. It will be long for some overseas students ____________ with new manners and customs.
2. Wandering Earth tells of a grand plan of mankind: when the earth is facing destruction, humans ____________ the earth out of the solar system in search of a new home.
3. Are you attracted by all the clown’s tricks ____________ with the gadget he’s made?
4. He wasted too much time dealing with some insignificant things, ____________ the failure of the whole plan.
5. What ____________ people all over the country in the past few years is that China became the third country to softland an unmanned spacecraft on the surface of the moon.
6. ____________ the fierce competition, the CEO of Pizza Hut decides not to expand further, but to pay more attention to the quality of its products.
7. Decorations and color began ____________ with by post-modernist designers again, so as to avoid a soulless design.

8 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. defining          B. internationally       C previously        D serving       E driving F historically          G digest             H. dining       I. compared       J. beat       K. cooking

The presence of Cantonese restaurants in the U.S. —due largely to historical reasons — has made weekend dim sum with a pot of tea a gastronomic (美食的)highlight for Chinese communities overseas. In mainland China, however, its Sichuan food that has largely defined     1     out in major cities, which has become arguably the most popular regional cuisine in the country.

The importance of Sichuan food has also been recognized    2    . In 2011, its capita] city Chengdu became the first city in Asia — and second in the world — to receive a UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation.

Of the regional cuisine restaurants registered on Meituan, eateries     3     Sichuan food made up the largest proportion in 2019. It     4     out all other Chinese regional cuisines as well as popular international food choices, according to China F&B Big Data 2020.

According to Meituan’s database, Sichuan cuisine made up the highest percentage of eateries in 2017 and 2018 as well, growing from 4.4% in 2017 to 4.8% in 2018. Meituan also reported that young Chinese millennials born in the 1990s are the     5     force behind this trend, accounting for around 51.4% of all eating out.

Located in southwestern China, Sichuan has     6     been seen as a “land of plenty” due to its climate and topography (地形地貌).Fertile soil and a wetter climate have impacted the robustness of its agriculture, and in turn it’s    7    .

Two of the     8     characteristics of Sichuan food are its two most famous types of spiciness — “aromatic (香的)”and “numbing (麻的) ” . Some diners perceive Sichuan spiciness,     9     to other cuisines known for their hotness in China, as mellower. Therefore, it is easier to    10     for those who did not grow up with a spicy food culture.

9 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. double          B. intense          C. pressures       D. stock          E. agriculture       F. trapped G. withdrawal     H. availability   I. drive             J. expanding     K. rising

Throughout history, people have fought bitter wars over political ideology, national sovereignty and religious expression. How much more     1     will these conflicts be when people fight over the Earth’s most indispensable resource water? We may find out in the not-too-distant future if projections about the     2     of water in the Middle East and other regions prove correct.

Less than three percent of the planet’s     3     is fresh water, and almost two-thirds of this amount is     4     in ice caps, glaciers, and underground aquifers too deep or too remote to access. In her book, Pillars of Sand-Can the Irrigation Miracle Last, Sandra Postel outlines three forces that     5     tension and conflict over freshwater. Using up the water “resource pie”. In India, the world’s second-most populous nation, with over 1 billion inhabitants, the rate of groundwater     6     is twice that of recharge, a deficit higher than in any other country. Although water is a renewable resource, it is not a(n)     7     one. The freshwater available today for more than 6 billion people is no greater than it was 2,000 years ago, when global population was approximately 200 million. (The current U.S. population is 287 million.)

Global     8     accounts for about 70% of all freshwater use. In five of the world’s most water-stressed, controversial areas the Aral Sea region, the Ganges, the Jordan, the Nileland and Tigris-Euphrates population increases of up to 75% are projected by 2025. With the fastest rate of growth in the world, the population of Palestinian territory will more than     9     over the next generation. Most experts agree that, because of geography, population     10     and politics, water wars are most likely to break out in the Middle East, a region where the amount of available freshwater per capita will decrease by about 50% over the next generation.

10 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. disorder              B. influencing              C. escalates               D. reset                    E. satisfaction F. fruitless              G. refreshed              H. coincidence              I. functions              J. powerful K. recommended

The best thing you can do for your health: sleep well

Do you think you got enough sleep this past week? Can you remember the last time you woke up without an alarm clock, feeling     1    , not needing caffeine? If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” you are not alone. Two-thirds of adults throughout all developed nations fail to obtain the     2     eight hours of nightly sleep.

Insufficient sleep is now one of the most significant lifestyle factors     3     whether or not you will develop Alzheimer’s disease. During sleep, a remarkable sewage system in the brain, called the glymphatic system,     4     at its peak. As you enter deep sleep, this sanitization system clears the brain of a sticky, poisonous protein linked to Alzheimer’s, known as beta amyloid(淀粉样蛋白). Without sufficient sleep, you fail to get that power clean. With each passing night of insufficient sleep, that Alzheimer’s disease risk     5    , like compounding interest on a loan.

Perhaps you have also noticed a desire to eat more when you’re tired? This is no     6    . Too little sleep swells concentrations of a hormone that makes you feel hungry while checking a companion hormone that otherwise signals food     7    . Full as you are, you will still want to eat more. It’s a recipe linked to weight gain in sleep-deficient adults and children alike.

Worse, should you try to diet but don’t get enough sleep while doing so, it is     8    , since up to 70% of the weight you lose will come from lean body mass, not fat. Turn these facts around and you realize that plentiful sleep is a     9     tool for controlling your appetite, your weight and keeping your body in shape.

Put simply: sleep – a consistent seven- to nine-hour opportunity each night – is the single most effective thing we can do to     10     our brain and body health each day, and the reason why I strongly suggest and respect sleep scientifically and personally.