WeChat, one of the world’s most popular mobile apps and social networks, brought home iF Gold Award for its smart retail innovation, Scan & Go. It is     1     first ever Chinese product to win gold in the iF Service Design category.

Scan & Go enables shoppers at retail stores to turn    2     (they) mobile phones into a virtual checkout counter. When shopping, customers use their mobile phones     3     (scan) product barcodes, view product information, get discounts, complete self-checkout, and pay     4     (direct) within the app via WeChat Pay. There is no queuing up at the cash register. “This concept     5     (show) a customer-centric scan-and-go-solution for an optimized (充分利用的) shopping and retail context. All standards of the good user experience     6     (meet) in this service design, including touchless access, efficiency or ease-of-use in scanning of market products and the final payment and checkout. This is user-friendly design at its     7     (good),” says iF Gold Award in its Gold Statement to Scan & Go.

According to statistics, sales during peak hours in     8     (tradition) supermarkets account for 60% of total turnover, and     9     average customers spend three to five minutes on queuing and payment during peak hours. With Scan & Go, customers no longer have to queue, and the payment time     10     (shorten) to one minute.

On my way home from work yesterday, I     1     (stop) off at a local supermarket. Among other things, I wanted to buy a couple of     2     (coconut). When I picked them up, I was     3     (amaze) that each coconut was wrapped in clear, thin plastic. Supermarkets want to make sure that coconuts reach the consumer in the     4     (good) condition. The packaging helps to keep the product fresh; it means the product will last longer.

I understand that, but in this case it’s     5     (complete) wasteful and unnecessary. It already has its own     6     (nature) packaging. It’s got a tough shell that’s almost impossible to break!

I really believe we should do away with packaging completely. There is     7     supermarket in Germany that has no product packaging at all. Its customers take refillable containers with them when     8     (shop), and use them instead of plastic boxes and bags.

The Rise of Retro Fashion

Do you care about what you wear? Some people are very fashion-conscious, carefully selecting the clothes they buy and how they dress. Fashionistas (时尚达人) always want to be seen in the latest designer gear. But that trend is changing as retro or vintage clothing is becoming a popular and often cheaper     1    .

Of course, “vintage” clothing is really second-hand clothing, worn before but given a second life. The fashion industry has rebranded this stuff to make it look     2     and possibly give it a higher price tag. Whereas we may have seen an old faded pair of jeans or a dress with a flower     3     sold at a jumble sale (旧货拍卖会), now we are     4     with boutique and pop-up shops dedicated to the stuff. And in the UK, one supermarket chain has started selling second-hand clothes in some of its stores. According to managing director Steve Lynam, the more people invest in the circular economy and shop vintage, the bigger     5     we will have on climate change.

Certainly, buying vintage puts     6     on extending the life of clothing. It cuts down on waste and helps to reduce the environmental damage caused by manufacturing new clothes. It’s also led to the rise of retro-fashion-items that your mum or dad wore decades ago that now look     7     cool again! It’s a big thing with younger people and has been helped by the rise of platforms like Depop and Vinted, which sell “worn” clothes online. As lanina Lucca, Senior Vice President at Depop explained: “The new     8     is looking to make choices that reduce their impact on the environment, with 77% of Gen Z saying that their biggest environmental     9     being that they want their choices to reduce waste.”

Another popular way of buying old clothes is in a vintage kilo sale. People pick what they want and then pay according to     10     rather than per item. Some items are upcycled — re-modelled or re-worked by adding embroidery, patches and other additions. However, these second-hand clothes are worn or re-designed, the sustainability of vintage fashion means it’s here to stay for some time to come.

How are you?

I’m writing to ask you to do me a favour. I have made some Chinese knots myself, and     1     (它们可以用来做装饰品). I hope you can help me sell them in your Internet store.

    2     (这些中国结是用很好的红丝制成的), each one about three centimeters across. As we all know, a Chinese knot means reunion, friendliness, warmth, peace and love, so I think    3     (它们会卖得很好). Each Chinese knot I will send to you is worth about one dollar. Among them there are two     4     (它们是给你的). Would you like to sell them for me?

Looking forward to your reply.

Yours,

Li Hua