1 . Have you ever taken a personality test and found the results to be scarily accurate, checked your horoscope (星象学) and had everything come true or taken an online quiz that told you precisely what your favorite Disney princess means about you? Well, we certainly have done so too many times.     1         

We discovered that we’ve all been falling victim to the Barnum effect.     2    , despite the fact that the description is actually filled with information that applies to everyone. It was named after P.T. Barnum, a famous 19th century showman, who would famously say, “There’s a fool born every minute.”

    3     as pseudoscience (伪科学) — such as astrology and personality test — remains popular to this day. The Barnum effect explains why extremely general statements, such as the results of your personality test, seem so specific to you.

The key to success of astrology and personality test keep the statements as vague as possible, with a mix of mostly positive and some negative content.     4     See “At times you are extroverted and sociable, while at other times you are introverted and reserved”— who would not agree with that statement?

    5     Take everything you hear with several grains of salt.

“Military-style” travel has become the     1     (late) fashion among Chinese college students. Videos of them taking such trips     2     (trend) on social media platforms in recent years. The reason why it has become so popular is     3     college students can spend as little money as possible traveling to as many places as they can during the weekend. They usually hop on a regular-speed train on a Friday night, arrive at the destination city and travel     4     (extensive) there on Saturday. Then, they can repeat the same busy schedule     5     returning to their universities on Monday morning.

Different people have different views, with some netizens     6     (praise) these college students for their high ability to implement their plans. However, others doubt     7     such a tight schedule is healthy.

According to some experts, the “military-style” travel is a form of budget travel appealing to specific groups of people who are less     8     (concern) with in-depth experiences and more focused on checking off popular tourist destinations. Therefore, this has led to the emergence of a type of tourism     9     travelers are willing to sacrifice comfort for     10     (affordable) and convenience.

5 . Are you the kind of person who hated school? Or are you more like Michael Nicholson, who can’t stop learning? He currently has 30 degrees including 22 master’s and a doctorate!     1     The word comes from Greek with “phil” meaning “a lover of” and “math” meaning “learning”.

Humans are all philomaths to an extent – our brain is born to be curious. We want to learn and understand, partly to make sense of the world but also because of something called neoteny. This is a term that refers to the teenage characteristics of some animals, including humans, being preserved into adulthood. One of these traits is neuroplasticity, which helps our brains stay flexible.     2     While creatures like monkeys can’t do this and only learn during their adolescence.

But for every person who loves learning, there are plenty who can’t stand it.     3     Why is this? Educational anthropologists have suggested that if a concept or idea is too complex or dull, it becomes harder to link old and new ideas together.     4     This negative experience of education at school may lead to people avoiding learning opportunities in later life.   

    5     Evolution has made us lifelong learners, so take advantage of your biology and discover your inner philomath. Who knows what you could achieve?

6 . Would you go mad after two hours without TV, friend requests, exciting online games or your mobile, or would you easily survive?

Recently, university students around the world were asked to volunteer in a global experiment called “Unplugged”. It was designed to see how young people would react if they were asked to observe a total media ban by unplugging all forms of media devices for 24 hours.

Unplugged is being run by Dr. Roman Gerodimos, a lecturer in Communication and Journalism at Bournemouth University. The experiment is now over but he doesn’t yet know the full findings. However, during the experiment, Dr. Gerodimos said there were already signs of how much the experiment affected volunteers. He said, “They’re reporting withdrawal symptoms (脱瘾综合征), overeating, and feeling nervous, isolated and disconnected.”

During their 24-hour painful experience, three of the experiment’s guinea pigs had to endure one intrusion (侵扰) from the media: a reporter plus cameraman who followed them around for the day. They were asked to write down 100 lines about their day offline, but of course, they all waited until the next day when they had access to their laptops.

Elliot wrote, “Today, my whole morning routine was thrown up into the air. Despite being aware of the social importance of the media, I was surprised by how empty I felt without the radio or newspapers.”

And Charlotte wrote, “I have to say the most difficult item for me to be without has been my mobile; not only is it a social tool, but it’s my main access point of communication.”

Earlier in the year, a UK government study found that in the UK young people spend about half of their waking hours using the media. And a recent study found that on average, US teenagers send and receive over 3,000 texts per month -- that’s about six texts per waking hour.

So, with technology continuing to develop at an alarming rate, how much time will you set aside for sleep in the future?

Young Chinese consumers are becoming fans of home-made brands and turning their back on foreign products.

According to a recent survey by weniuan.com, about 96% of the     1     (interview) young people said they were willing to purchase guochao products, which refer to products produced by homegrown brands. At the same time, 91.6% of them expressed their     2    (expectation) for more video programs digging deeper into traditional Chinese culture than before. Over the past decade, Chinese food, drink and personal care brands     3     (expand) their market share by 3.3% to nearly 70%.     4     (gradual), the opinion that foreign products are superior has been abandoned by Chinese youngsters.

The age group of the interviewees ranged from the post-90s generation     5    the post-2000s generation. Unlike older generations     6     might favor Western culture and brands, young Chinese people     7     (raise) when the country’s economy was taking off, so they tend to have strong confidence in their     8    (nation) identity and culture.

The young people, who nowadays have access to     9     wide variety of China’s cultural heritages, are carrying the responsibility of       10     (spread) Chinese culture. Obviously, they’re really doing well.

10 . A trekking (徒步) club can be a fun way to travel and know more about the geography and cultures of many different places.     1     You will need previous experience in trekking, continued interest and enthusiasm, and an advertising plan.

The most important prerequisite (先决条件) to beginning a trekking club is trekking experience. If you are hoping to start a club, but have never done any trekking yourself, planning a club can be quite difficult.     2     Preparation is a must for trekkers, and beginners in trekking will seek advice and help from you.

Trekking can be a long and difficult journey filled with many unexpected things. Your interest in trekking will motivate beginners to experience the pleasures and fun of trekking, manly experienced members have had a disappointing trip.     3    

    4     Advertising is the best way to gain club members. Begin your campaign with local advertising, which is easy and effective and may draw interested first-timers who live around. Besides, meeting and talking to someone in person can help to establish a close circle of trekkers.

Once you establish the club and begin to plan the first trip, carefully research the trip’s main path, and check it over for potentially dangerous factors (因素). This attention to detail will set the pace of all future, trips.     5