What are the things that first come to your mind when you think of the UK? Are they nonstop rain, polite manners, boring food and tea drinking?

Some of the UK’s     1     stereotypes are true, a new survey has found. For example, British people do have a (n)     2     to drink lots of tea.

The research polled 1, 402 foreigners living in the UK on their opinions about the British way of life. Unsurprisingly, the majority of them, almost 70 percent, said they enjoyed living in the country—good manners, especially UK people’s extraordinary ability to queue, are the main reasons for foreigners’     3    . More than one-third said they liked British people’s restrained     4     to emotion.

However, there are aspects of British culture that are     5     of. The heavy alcohol drinking culture ranked as the least favorite trait, followed by the British sense of humor and the country’s bad weather.

It may not be too hard to understand why heavy drinking and bad weather are     6    , but what’s wrong with the British sense of humor?

British humor is known for being dry and satirical (讽刺的), so it is generally more     7    . When it comes to making the British laugh, there is nothing more effective than a     8     inappropriate joke, noted the BBC. “Britons are more comfortable with life’s losers,” wrote English actor Ricky Gervais in an article published in Time magazine.

“The majority of nationalities have stereotypes     9     around them and Britons don’t escape this,” said Liam Clifford, the founder of Global Visas, the website that conducted the research. “People probably come here with a stereotype-based preconception of what to expect. It’s good to see from our survey, though, that, in the majority of cases, this reputation is actually     10     upon living here.”

3 . Become a global citizen without leaving home

As an undergraduate student, I often dream of traveling the world and experiencing various cultures; I dream of having a better perspective and contributing politically, socially and economically towards the world.     1    .

Here are some tips on tackling the feeling of being separated from the international community simply because you can’t afford to travel.

There are different international clubs, especially at many universities, which allow you to make connections with people from around the world. For example, AIESEC is the world’s largest student-run organization that offers opportunities for students to go on international internships (实习).     2     — being involved in helping someone else’s travels permits you to be a part of their international experience.

Paying attention to international news broadens your sense of current events outside your borders, which can lead to reflection about your local environment.     3     — even if you cannot physically be where events originate.

Having a pen pal is all about creating relationships with others that can allow you to learn about and embrace cultural differences. Strong friendships can have lasting effects.     4    .

    5    . Taking an international development course can help you gain insight into international relations and development. These courses require our brains to remember and form ideas, which allows for positive debate and understanding of the world around us. Language classes can also make you feel like you are part of another culture.

4 . Fragile. Oversensitive. Glued to their phones.     1     While there may be some truth to these stereotypical (刻板印象的) features, there might be more to this generation of teens than what is generally observed.

Never before have the lives of any generation of teens been as flooded with mobile technology and social media as the teens of this generation.     2     This is in contrast to the more village spirit or community-oriented attitude of their parents’ and grandparents’ days. We have teens who may not know about who lives in the unit next to theirs, much less offer a friendly nod or wave when they happen to cross paths with a neighbour.

    3     Arguably, the very connectedness that social media brings about has led to an opening of minds and a flourishing (繁盛) of dialogue among people of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Logging onto platforms where people of all walks of life meet means that one is exposed to those people and their distinctive ways of life. In comparison, the parents or grandparents of this generation of teens probably did not have the same opportunity to get to know people outside of their social circles at their age, and are thus more likely to have fixed, stereotypical opinions of people different from them. This generation of teens, on the other hand, has the chance to use this technology to learn more about and attempt to understand the variety and diversity out there.     4    

To conclude, the teens of this generation differ in many ways from their predecessors (前辈), in some ways more positive than others.     5     Therefore, this generation of teens differs from past generations, with the changes around them.

Evacuation (疏散) orders from Israel’s military have forced hundreds of thousands of people    1     (flee) south from their homes in northern Gaza since Friday, the     2     (large) wave of civilian displacement (离开家园) in a week of war according to the United Nations, even as others refused to leave, fearing that escape routes are too dangerous.

The main roads running from north     3     south were crowded. In some areas traffic came to     4     stop with trucks, buses, overpacked cars and people on foot all     5     (crowd) onto the same narrow roads to head south.

But many     6     (civilian), including hospital staff, are refusing to leave. Ahmed Okal, 43,     7     lives in Gaza City’s Zaitoun neighborhood, said he didn’t trust that civilians traveling south wouldn’t be targeted with airstrikes (空袭). “I am     8     (definite) afraid of staying here,     9     I will not risk the lives of my wife and children on the way to the south,” he said, referring to reports that some of those fleeing     10     (kill) in an airstrike.

World Population Day was founded by the United Nations, and this holiday is    1    (annual) observed on July 11th.

The idea of World Population Day started in the late 1960s,    2    world leaders openly declared that adults have the right    3    (choose) whether they wanted children or not. This idea was also viewed as a human right. During this era, leaders were more open about    4    (discuss)child-bearing and the right women had to time their children    5    they wished. While this was just one of the    6    (sign) to the feminist movement in the US, this idea was new to many developing nations at the time.

In 1989, the world population quickly increased to five billion. During this same year, the United Nations founded World Population Day. Both events    7    (occur) on July 11th of that year.

World Population Day is celebrated in many ways‒‒much of this depends on the region. For participants who live in countries where gender    8    (equal) is a law, the holiday is meant to be     9    reflection and celebration of significant moments in history that helped society achieve this basic human right.

Every July 11th, the United Nations also has central celebrations in which all nations    10    (permit) to participate. In addition, the UN holds an annual theme.

9 . New research shows that the cost of raising a child in China is nearly seven times its GDP per capita (头数), far more than in the United States and Japan.

GDP, or gross domestic product, is the measure of the total value of goods and services in a country. GDP per capita is a measure resulting from GDP divided by the size of a nation’s total population.

The high cost of child-raising is one more difficulty Chinese policymakers face as they try to deal with quickly decreasing birth rates.

Experts warn China’s aging population will put pressure on its health and social security systems. A decrease in workers could also severely limit growth for the world’s second largest economy in the coming years.

New policies permit families to have as many as three children But China’s birth rate dropped to 7.52 births per 1,000 people in 2021. That is the lowest since the National Bureau of Statistics began recording the information in 1949.

The high costs of raising a child have caused officials in China to place restrictions (限制规定) on the private tutoring industry. Some areas have been giving couples money for having a second or third child.

The average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in China in 2019 was 485,000 yuan for a first child. That is 6.9 times China’s GDP per capita that year. That information comes from a recent report from the YuWa Population Research Institute in Beijing.

China ranks second highest among the 13 countries included in the study. The country is behind only South Korea, which has the lowest birth rate in the world. The United States number, based on 2015 data, is at 4.11 times GDP per capita. Japan stands at 4.26, based on data from 2010.

Child raising costs are even higher in China’s major cities, reaching more than 1 million yuan in Shanghai and 969,000 yuan in Beijing. Birth rates in the two cities are even lower than the national average.

YuWa warned the decreasing birth rate would “profoundly (深刻地) affect” China’s economic growth potential, its ability to create and its welfare (福利) problems.

The study found that China would need to spend at least 5 percent of its yearly GDP to provide reasons for couples to have more children. That would include education funding (基金), special housing loan (贷款) rates and tax breaks. Other considerations include equal time for mothers and fathers to be away from their jobs and the building of more childcare centers.