2 . Every week, Liu Fang, a 38-year-old media worker in Beijing, goes to a store specializing in selling near-expired(快过期的) food and returns with a bag of snacks or drinks.

“The price tags on these goods have caught my eye. They are often _______ at 10 percent to 30 percent of the market price,” Liu said. “More importantly, most of them are from big _______. Why wouldn’t I love them?”

Liu is among the _______ number of Chinese people who enjoy buying near-expired food at much _______ prices. According to the latest report, the near-expired food industry had a _______ size of over 30 billion yuan in 2020. Young consumers aged between 26 and 35 _______ 47.8 percent.

Unlike the traditional _______ that buying such goods is embarrassing, more and more young people regard it as a kind of sustainable consumption that can help _______ food waste.

Indeed, food waste is a great _______ for China and other countries. According to a 2020 report, about 18 billion kilograms of food is wasted every year in China’s urban catering industry(餐饮业).

As people’s lives improved greatly, many began to make or ________ more food than could be consumed, CGTN reported. But the trend of buying near-expired food may ________ that the Chinese virtue of frugality(节约)is ________ a comeback.

“I’ve been very frugal all my life. Living ________ a hard time of hunger(1959-61), I’m used to saving every ________ and every penny,” Li Mei, a retired woman born in the 1950s, told CGTN. “I’m happy to see more young people, who used to ________ extravagantly(奢侈地), joining our ranks.”

4 . It’s most people’s terrible dream: surviving (幸存) a plane crash only to be left in a rainforest with no way of contacting the outside world. But this was _________ for four Colombian children, and in an unbelievable _________ of knowledge and willpower, they survived.

The children, aged 13, nine and four, as well as an 11-month-old baby, were _________ with their mother. They were going to visit their father in the capital city. Their plane experienced engine problems and _________ on May 1, 2023. For two weeks, bad weather prevented the army from _________ the crash site. They found three adults there later, including the children’s mother, who were already _________.

How did these children survive conditions that would be _________ for most adults? They are members of the Huitoto Indigenous (土著) group and were _________ in the rainforest. As such, they have a complete _________ of the rainforest. They know which fruits are safe to eat and which plants should be __________. They survived on a fruit called juan soco and seeds, and fed the baby water mixed with flour that they found on the plane.

While the __________ got on with the business of surviving, the Colombian army worked with Indigenous volunteers to find them. And after 40 days of __________, the army found the children and took them to recover at a military hospital in the city of Bogota.

Many around the world have taken this survival story to be a __________, while others point out that it is the result of an ancient and thorough knowledge of the __________ that has been passed down through Indigenous communities over the generations.

Indigenous groups have a deep respect for the forest and, __________, their close connect ion to the rainforest helped the children to survive.

7 . Did you ever have to say “no” to somebody? Such as a classmate asking to have breakfast with you? New research suggests that, at least socially, a rejection shouldn’t include an —___________. In other words, saying you are sorry doesn’t make the person being rejected feel any better. ___________, it might make the rejected person feel worse. That is ___________.Many people consider it to be good manners to say they are sorry when they ___________ a request.

Gili Freedman is doing some related research at Dartmouth College. For her research, she asked over 1,000 people to respond to different ___________ of social rejection. In one instance, the researchers asked people for their ___________ after a person named Taylor asked to join a co-worker who went out to lunch every Friday. And Taylor was told “no”. But in some cases, the person rejecting Taylor ___________ an apology. In other cases, the people doing the rejection did not say they were ___________. People were asked how they would ___________ if they were being turned down, just as Taylor was. Most said they would be more ___________ by a rejection with an apology than a rejection without an apology.

Gili Freedman said the reason is that apologies make people feel like that the rejection was ___________ — even when they felt-like it was not okay. Rejection without an apology lets them express their feelings of ___________, hurt or anger more easily. Freedman also said that an apology often makes the person ___________ feel better — even as it makes the person being rejected feel worse.

However, her research deals only with ___________ communication. A business situation might be very ___________. “If a manager rejects a job interviewee or a boss must tell an employee that he or she is being fired from a job,” Freedman said, “reactions to apologies maybe another case.”

9 . On Dec.26, Gelinne was at home. Suddenly, his daughter cried “Look!” Gelinne looked up just in time to see a small ________ a few hundred yards away, losing ________.

As the plane disappeared behind the trees, Gelinne, a former ________, realized it would land in the creek. ________, he ran down to the waterfront. The plane had slid to a stop on the broad, frozen creek, far from shore, sinking. The pilot was standing on the ________. Gelinne knew from his previous training that even a few minutes in the ________ water could kill the pilot.

Gelinne ________ the ice with his foot and decided not to take any chances walking on it. So he and his son, John, pulled two kayaks (皮划艇)out. “If it can float on the water, it can ________ on the ice,” Gelinne said.

The kayaks’ paddles (桨)proved too weak, so the ________ tried using sticks to push the boats along. When Gelinne reached the plane, the pilot was standing on a tail wing, surrounded by open water. Gelinne pushed his kayak off the ice and into the water, thinking, “What if he panics? What if I fall over?”

With his son nearby, Gelinne focused on keeping the pilot ________, joking, “Just ________ the kayak as if you were hugging your wife.” The pilot grabbed the kayak’s bow. Gelinne knew he had to get the pilot onto the shelf of ________ ice. But each time Gelinne tried, the kayak ________ the ice. He needed help.

Soon a police officer arrived and radioed for help. A boat appeared and ________ the pilot, Steve 71, and rushed him to safety, who would be treated for minor injuries.

The boat had arrived just in time, Gelinne recalled. “I’m 60 years old,” he says. “There was no way I could get him to shore.” Still, he was ________.

10 . A woman in her 20s from Aztec, New Mexico, went on a hiking trip in the Deer Park area along the Colorado Trail. She _______ off-path and didn’t follow the pathway. _______, she headed south along the Animas riverbank.

That’s when her worst _______ happened. She fell off along the mountain’s side while taking photos. She also broke her leg and was forced to spend two nights in the cold _______ without knowing how she could get out. Slowly but surely, she found a place where she could easily be _______ and started calling for help.

The Silverton Narrow Gauge Train was carrying people to appreciate the beautiful _______ of Silverton. One train _______   noticed a woman who was crying for help. She told the train conductor, who _______ asked for an emergency response team to _______ them in their rescue. The two train conductors, Nick and Kylah stopped the tour train and asked the passengers to wait as they ________ to rescue the woman. Nick got supplies and materials on the train to ________ the hiker’s broken leg. Kylah stayed with her and kept her ________ until the Silverton Medical Rescue Team arrived.

The woman was rescued and sent to ________. Luckily, aside from the broken leg, she ________ just fine. She thanked all the people involved, especially the train conductors. The ________ could have happened but for the train passenger who noticed her asking for help.