1 . Twelve-year-old Catherine has a lot of friends—632, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.

But is it possible that Catherine’s online friendships could be making her lonely? That’s what some experts believe. Connecting online is a great way to stay in touch, they say. However, some experts worry that many kids are so busy connecting online that they might be missing out on true friendships.

Could this be true? During your parents’ childhoods, connecting with friends usually meant spending time with them in the flesh. Kids played Scrabble around a table, not words with friends on their phones. When friends missed each other, they picked up the telephone. Friends might even write letters to each other.

Today, most communication takes place online. A typical teen sends 2,000 texts a month and spends more than 44 hours per week in front of a screen. Much of this time is spent on social media platform.

In fact, in many ways, online communication can make friendships stronger. “There’s definitely a positive influence. Kids can stay in constant contact, which means they can share more of their feelings with each other,” says Katie Davis, co-author of The App Generation.

Other experts, however, warn that too much online communication can get in the way of forming deep friendships. “If we are constantly checking in with our virtual world, we will have little time for our real-world friendships,” says Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University. Rosen also worries that today’s kids might mistake the “friends” on the social media for true friends in life. However, in tough times, you don’t need anyone to like your picture or share your blogs. You need someone who will keep your secrets and hold your hand. You would like to talk face to face.

4 . Are you happy with your appearance?     1    

“Almost all the girls with single-fold eyelids (单眼皮) in our class have had double eyelid operations,” Zeng, a Senior 2 student from Chengdu, told Xinhua. Zeng had the same surgery done this summer.     2    

From popular photo-editing apps to plastic surgery (整形手术), it seems that large eyes, pale skin and a skinny body are the only standard for beauty these days. But can following this standard really make us feel good about ourselves?

    3     . According to Huxiu News, over six in ten girls choose not to take part in certain daily activities, such as attending school, because they feel bad about their looks. As much as 31 percent of teenagers avoid speaking up in class because they worry that others will notice their looks.

“Many teenagers are upset about their appearance because they believe in unrealistic standards of beauty,” experts say.       4     Seeing all these things can make anyone believe that they’re too dark, too fat, too short, or too tall.

However, trying to live up to strict standards can make us feel anxious. What troubles us is not just our “imperfect” looks, but the fact that we criticize ourselves too much.

    5     Plus-size models are being featured in some fashion shows. All of us should be just as confident as they are.

Few discoveries are as amazing as discovering the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an. But behind the lifelike masterpieces, there is a group of experts working hard     1     (keep) the more than 2 00-earold historical relies in good condition.

Lan Desheng, 52, is among the     2     (dozen) of experts on the restoration (复原) team at the Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi’an. “    3     process of restoring Terracotta Warriors is very similar     4     doctors treating patients,” said Lan, who has spent 25 years     5     (repair) more than 150 figures of the Terracotta Army.

Lan said that most of the Terracotta Warriors showed signs of decay (腐化) after being buried for thousands of years, which was made     6     (bad) by oxidization (氧化) after they were discovered. The broken pieces, whose weight could sometimes reach hundreds of kilograms,     7     (make) the restoration both difficult and challenging. For Lan, the most challenging project was the restoration of a general,       8     took his team more than two years. Even so, Lan felt     9     (satisfy) with his job. “I hope that by restoring them, we are able to uncover historical facts     10     awaken the culture of Qin Dynasty.”

As the most     1     (wide) recognized type of Chinese opera in the world, Beijing Opera is regarded as the quintessence of Chinese culture. When performing Beijing Opera, artists follow the     2     (establish) types of singing, reciting, acting and martial arts,     3     are the four main elements and skills of Beijing Opera. Usually, performers start practicing these four skills from     4     early age. Perseverance is the key to the lively characters     5     stage.

Beijing Opera combines wonderful performance with fine costumes and makeup. The unique     6     (face) makeup art is called “Lianpu”. It uses a form of exaggeration    7     (show)the nature, psychological and physical features of the characters.

Color patterns are painted on the performers’ faces, especially on their eyebrows, eye sockets and the corners of their mouths. The face colors are connected with the characters’     8     (personality). For example, red means loyalty and hospitality; black shows     9     (fair)and justice; white indicates doubtfulness; blue suggests bravery; gold and silver create a sense of grandness.

Up to now, the art of Beijing Opera “Lianpu”     10     (apply) to many creative cultural products. Special stationary, clothing and skincare masks are getting more and more popular around the world.

9 . An American company has developed a new technique (技术) to make bread stay fresh for 60 days.

Scientists found that a kind of mould (霉菌) caused bread to go bad. The new technique kills the mould and keeps the food for longer time. This means there will be less waste of food in the world in future.

Food waste is a big problem in most developed countries. In the US, an average (普通的) family throws away 40% of the food they buy, which adds up to $165bn every year, about 330 million tons in weight. Bread takes a larger part. In the UK, 32% of the bread they buy is thrown away as waste when they can still be eaten.

The bread usually goes mouldy (发的) in around 10 days, but the American company says the new technique will keep the bread free from mould for two months.

”We treated a piece of bread in a special machine. At 60 days it had the same amount of mould as it was first made,“ says Mr. Stull, the leader of the company.

Although there are a lot of bread makers interested in the new technique, few customers like the idea. They say they don’t think a piece of bread which lasts for 60 days tastes good.

”We’ll have to make our customers accept the idea. But it will take some time,“ says Mr. Stull.

10 . While teenagers who are at risk of depression with risky behaviors — drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and cutting classes often alert parents and teachers that serious problems are brewing, a new study finds that there’s another group of adolescents who are in nearly as much danger of experiencing the same mental symptoms.

These teens use tons of media, get insufficient sleep and have a sedentary (不爱活动的) lifestyle. Of course, that may sound like a description of every teenager on the planet. But the study warns that it is teenagers who engage in all three of these practices in the extreme that are truly in a dangerous position. Because their behaviors are not usually seen as a red flag, these young people have been called the “invisible risk”group by the study’s authors.

The study’s authors surveyed 15,395 students and analyzed nine risk behaviors, including excessive alcohol use, illegal drug use, heavy smoking and high media use. Their aim was to determine the relationship between these risk behaviors and mental health issues in teenagers. The group that scored high on all nine of the risk behaviors was most likely to show symptoms of depression; in all, nearly 15% of this group reported being depressed, compared with just 4% of the low-risk group. But the invisible group wasn’t far behind the high-risk set, with more than 13% of them exhibiting depression.

The findings caught Carli off guard. “We didn’t expect that,” he says. “The high-risk group and low-risk group are obvious, but this third group was not only unexpected. It was so distinct and so large — nearly one third of our sample — that it became a key finding of the study.”

Carli says that one of the most significant things about his study is that it provides new early warning signs for parents, teachers and mental health-care providers. And early identification, support and treatment for mental health issues, he says, are the best ways to keep them from turning into full-blown disorders.