In many urban Chinese offices, a trend (趋势) is gaining popularity among young professionals. The trend     1     (know) as “office farming” involves growing fruit-bearing plants such as bananas and pineapples right at their desks.     2     (particular), these fruits, which often come with half-ripened (半熟的) fruits, are easy to care for, as they require just regular water changes and nutrient (营养的) additions.

This trend is not just about     3     (decorate); it is also about functionality. These beautiful plants can produce fruits,     4     adds an interesting element to the usual office environment. As     5     result, these desk gardens quickly become office attractions,     6     (offer) a unique way to break the ice and foster social interactions (相互作用) among colleagues.

The appeal of these fruit-bearing plants is evident on social media platforms, where thousands of these plants     7     (sell). This trend connects China’s farming traditions     8     modern city life. It also reflects broader social trends. Office workers seek to relieve the stresses of long working hours and     9     (difficulty) environments by taking part in more calming and nature-oriented activities. As the practice grows, more workers are considering increasing their indoor gardens and adding more variety to their collection of plants     10     (bring) a sense of happiness to their office surroundings.

On November 15th, 2022, the world’s population reached 8 billion people, a milestone in human development. While it took the global population 12 years to grow from 7 to 8 billion, it     1     (take) approximately 15 years—until 2037—to reach 9 billion,     2     sign that the overall growth rate of the global population is slowing down.

    3     (current), China and India are the most populated countries in the world,     4     1. 4 billion people in each country. However,     5     (base) on UN projections, India will surpass

China for the first time in 2023. More than half of the predicted increase in the global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in eight countries. On November 15th, China Daily published United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s article,

    6     title was “Eight billion people, one humanity”.     7     he puts it, with our human family growing larger, our world is growing more divided, challenged by food insecurity, deepening inequalities, the climate crisis and an unequal COVID-19     8     (recover). He stresses that global gatherings in November— COP 27 and the G20—are chances     9     (bridge)divides,

Restore trust, and ensure that our 8-billion-strong world could yield enormous     10     (opportunity) for some of the poorest countries.

In recent years, there     1    (be) people in expanding numbers who have participated in the test for civil servants. Millions of students choose civil servant     2     their most ideal occupation after graduation. And among them, the high-educated, like     3    (master) and doctors, take quite a large percentage. The craze in civil servant test     4    (attract) widespread attention. The following fundamental causes can account for this kind of craze. First and foremost, nowadays college students face great employment pressure. Civil servant, as one of the most stable professions in today’s China, becomes their     5    (prefer) choice. Moreover, recently, the welfare and salary of civil servants     6    (improve) greatly, which undoubtedly attracts many people. Last but not least, the high social position of civil servants is a crucial factor drawing     7    ( much) people to take part in the civil servant test. In my opinion, this craze in civil servant test will continue in the following     8    (year). However, from the long run, it does not do good to the development of our nation. If most high-quality talents gather in the government departments, it might lead to a waste of resources.    9    (according), both the individuals and the government should have a more objective recognition     10     the civil servant test craze.

These days, people who do manual(手工的 体力的)work often receive far more money than people who work in offices. As often as not, people who work in offices     1     (refer) to as “white­collar workers”. Such is human nature. A great many people are often willing to sacrifice(牺牲、舍弃)     2     (high) pay for the privilege (殊荣) of becoming white­collar workers. This can cause     3     (curiosity) situations.

    4     Alfred Bloggs got married, he was too embarrassed（尴尬的） to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told     5     that he worked for the corporation. Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart black suit. He then changed into overalls（工装） and spent the next eight hours     6     a dustman: Before returning home at night, he changed back into his suit. Alfred's wife has never discovered     7     she married a dustman and she never will, for Alfred has just found     8     job. He will soon be working in an office.     9     (earn) only half as much as he used to, he feels that his rise in status is well worth     10     loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him “Mr. Bloggs”， not “Alfred”

A simple badge (徽章) is playing an important role in helping lost seniors return home. By scanning a QR code on a plastic badge, anyone with a smartphone can reach the person’s emergency contact     1     (immediate). “It’s efficient and     2     (save) effort,” said Li Caoliang, head of the Lei Feng police station in Fushun, Liaoning province.

The idea came to Li and his     3     (colleague) four years ago when dealing with more than 200 lost seniors in a year. Some of the old people got lost because they had illnesses such as memory     4     (lose) or Alzheimer’s. They couldn’t tell their identity, address or phone number. Sometimes, the officers had to spend hours     5     (try) to figure out who to call from vague descriptions by the lost seniors. In some cases, the lost seniors had to stay overnight at the station before their families     6     (contact). The number of lost seniors has dropped to around 30 a year since     7     the police developed came into use.

China has 264 million old people, accounting     8     18.7 percent of its population according to its seventh population census     9     (conduct) last year. Wang Jiajuan,     10     has long focused on improving public services for an aging society, says the innovative QR code ID helps guarantee the travel safety of seniors.