To stop inappropriate parking of shared bikes, Beijing’s Dongcheng and Xicheng districts will start a pilot program that sets aside certain areas fit to park,     1     (use) hi-tech assistance to enforce related rules. Dongcheng District will mark nearly 600     2     (site) for parking shared bikes, mainly near bus hubs, subway stations     3     shopping centers. Users will know from     4     (they) mobile phone app where to put them. The project will     5     (possible) start as early as June.

What’s more, Dongcheng and Xicheng districts     6     (plan) to use “electronic fence” to control illegal parking at present. Riders     7     park bikes outside the allowed areas cannot lock them and will continue to be charged.

The capital has increased its management of shared bike parking as they become a popular, cheap     8     (choose) for avoiding traffic jams. Haidian, Xicheng and Shijingshan districts have designed some 2,000 parking areas for     9     (share) bikes recently. Xicheng has also singled out 10 streets where riders     10     (ban) from parking.

At the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI), the     1     (late) season of the travel reality show on Hunan TV    2     (attract) a newfound interest in the special bridge in Croatia among viewers.

China and Croatia are far apart,     3     they were connected by the ancient Silk Road more than 700 years ago. In 2022, the Pelješac Bridge,     4     (build) by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, was     5     (official) completed and opened to traffic. It connects the northern and southern lands of Croatia,    6     has become a symbol of friendship and cooperation between Croatia and China.

Hai Tao, the head of the company, talked about the changes it has brought to local people’s    7     (life). He mentioned that people spent three hours     8       traveling to Dubrovnik, yet now it takes only half an hour    9     (cross) the bridge. It saves residents time, promotes local tourism development and increases job opportunities.

The bridge realizes “the centuries-old dream of     10     (connect) the south with the rest of Croatia” and its completion “gave the cooperation between Croatia and China a completely new dimension,” Croatian Prime Minister told Xinhua.

    1     (sit) back in my seat, I can’t quite believe that I’m about to travel along the railway that many foreign experts     2     (claim) was ”impossible“. The train has been racing along     3     (steady) since it left Xining. All this time, the song ”Sky Railway” has been playing inside my head. The words “railways like     4     (mass) dragons are winding among the mountains” seem particularly vivid as I travel     5     the “roof of the world”.

I was one of the people     6     came from all parts of China to work on this railway. Taking years     7     (complete), the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a record of all of our efforts to overcome     8     most difficult engineering challenges. How to protect the delicate ecosystem was among the top     9     (concern).

Now, thanks to so many workers’ efforts, the construction finished successfully. I am proud that we     10     (build) our “impossible” railway, and did so with the care that the environment deserves. It truly is an extraordinary “Sky Railway”.

Traffic School

Have you ever driven through a red traffic light? Have you ever parked in the wrong place or driven     1     (fast) than the speed limit (限制)? The answers are probably “yes”. Every year     2     (thousand) of drivers become “offenders”-they break the rules of the road. But do you know     3     the punishments for this offence are?

In most countries drivers have to pay a fine (罚款),     4     (usual) $100—$300. But in the USA, Australia and some     5     (Europe) countries offenders also get points on their driving license. After     6     (get) a certain number of points, they can’t drive.

Life is difficult when you can’t drive. So far, some states in the USA     7     (introduce) a new way to avoid this-Traffic School. Offenders have a choice: They can get points on their license     8     they can do a course at Traffic School.

Traffic Schools run “driver improvement courses”. They cost about $100 and take from four     9     twelve hours. Most people do the course in a classroom, but in some states drivers can do the course online. Drivers learn the rules of the road and they learn how     10     (be) better drivers. They don’t have to take a driving test, but at the end of the course they have to pass a written examination.

Big, heavy vehicles that can’t climb steep hills, running on two steel rails — we’re all familiar with the concept,    1    we call them railways or railroads. Right? However, here’s one of the most unusual railways    2    break the rules in order to reach the places other trains can’t roll: Chongqing Monorail (单轨), China.

Monorails have been around for more than a century,    3    they’ve never quite fulfilled the futuristic promises of those early    4     (promoter). That said, Chongqing Monorail is an     5    (exception) example where the unique qualities offered by monorails are ideally suited to their environment.

Chongqing in China is home to the longest monorail system on the globe, carrying millions of passengers a year on two high-capacity railway lines    6    (total) 61 miles in length. At just over 34 miles, Line 3 is also the    7    (world) longest single monorail line with an annual ridership of around 250 million. Brought into    8    (operate) between 2005 and 2016, the two lines have 70 stations with a mix of underground and elevated sections.

With extreme differences in altitude, Chongqing’s authorities    9    (force) to seek an alternative to conventional trains when they needed to transform its public transport system and monorail’s ability    10    (negotiate) steep climbs and tight bends made it the ideal solution. Finally, Chongqing Monorail emerged.

The sheepskin raft (羊皮筏), the oldest means of transportation along the Yellow River, has a history of nearly 2,000 years. The airbag of the raft is made of     1     whole sheepskin and goes through many processes including heating to remove hair, soaking in salty oil, sewing, drying     2     blowing. Then the airbags     3     (fasten) to a wooden stand, enabling its use for transporting people and goods across the water.

It is said that the largest sheepskin raft in old times     4     (consist) of more than 600 sheepskin airbags, with an impressive length of 22 meters and a     5     (wide) of 7 meters. It was capable of carrying around 30 tons of goods and drifting over 200 kilometers in one day.

In the early 20th century, before the 1950s,     6     railways were not yet in operation and road traffic was     7    (convenient), the sheepskin raft served as the most important means of transportation for residents     8     (live) along the Yellow River.

However, with the rapid development of society, the sheepskin raft has largely played its historical role     9     transporting people and goods. Nowadays, it can only be found along the banks of the Yellow River in some cities in Gansu province. It has become a tool for people     10     (do) some sightseeing on the Yellow River.