Military-Style Cotton Coats (军大衣) Have Made a Major Comeback this Winter and Stormed College Campuses

A video of college students in northeastern China     1     (wear) military-style cotton coats to class has trended on social media platforms. Meanwhile, many young women have started buying floral coats, often on sale.

With the price of down jackets (羽绒服) increasing, college students in China have picked up floral cotton-padded jackets and military coats to fend off the winter cold. Thanks     2     their low cost and high quality, cotton coats have made a major comeback this winter and stormed college campuses.

The general thinking among students     3     (be) that it isn’t about whether or not they can afford a down jacket     4     that cotton coats provide better quality at a much lower price.

One can buy ten cotton coats at the price of one down jacket. The     5     (cheap) military-style cotton coat costs less than 100 yuan, and they have become the most     6     (fashion) winter wear for college students in northern China.

Down jackets have been     7     must-have for many Chinese people. However, the prices have increased. According to data from the China National Commercial Information Center, the average price of down jackets     8     (rise) from 438 yuan in 2015 to 656 yuan in 2020.

The price of goose down has increased,     9     (main) due to the demand downstream. Many     10     (brand) have started to move towards high-end development, resulting in a more significant increase in demand for high-quality materials like white goose down, according to a down jacket seller in Jiangsu Province, surnamed Si.

Have you ever noticed when ordering takeaway food     1     there is an additional cost on top of the delivery fee? That is the packaging fee (包装费).

This fee is uneasy     2     (notice) because it is usually small and people acknowledge its value because takeaway food     3     (need) proper packaging.

Now,     4     , some shops have been found to be adding unrelated costs     5     it,     6     (give) consumers unpleasant surprises. Some     7     (shop) apply individual packaging fees for each ingredient of milk tea, each kebab in a barbecue, and even for choosing the flavor of     8     hot-pot meal. With all these charges stacking up, sometimes the     9     (seem) insignificant (微不足道的) outsourcing fees can account for half of the cost of a takeout order.

The Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission in Tune     10     (call) for rules on standardized and transparent packaging fees for takeaways in June, 2023.

Have you ever wondered what life is like now     1     (compare) to, say, the 1980s or the 1990s? I went to ask some people I know who were adults in the ‘80s and 90s’, and the answer I got was that “Overall, life is a lot     2     (good) now!” This didn’t really surprise me. I mean, these days we’ve got mobile phones and the internet and so on — but     3    (actual) those weren’t the things they talked about.

So what did they talk about? For     4     start, we don’t have to work physically hard since now there are a lot of things like dishwashers for housework. Then there’s the matter of how, these days,     5     is possible to work at home — it’s mainly     6    (computer) that have made this possible. Not only that, there’s a lot more     7     (equal) now. It’s easier for all people, whatever their social background, gender (性别), colour and so on, to have equal access     8     a variety of career opportunities.

That said, it’s not all a matter of improvement. Quite a few people told me that they feel more stressed these days because they rely a lot on technology and they are always     9    (anxiety) about security on the internet. Plus, we spend a lot of our time     10     (use) smartphones. One person said, “Wouldn’t it be great to be off the grid (不上网) for a few days?”

Socializing with my friends online is my life. The moment I wake     1     I check through all my social networking     2     (app), reading my emails and posting updates. I have 500 friends online and I live with several roommates, but I feel lonely. It seems that I have an active social life,     3     (attend) parties and playing sports, but I’m absent-minded because I     4     (strong) obsess over my phone.

Social networking     5     (be) the master of my life. Though sometimes I set deadlines    6     (tear) myself away from my phone, I fail again and again. Spending so much time socializing online. I always feel     7     (depress) and alone. As a result, I can’t finish what I should do in my real life.

It is common that at parties or at a family holiday, most members fix their eyes on their phones,     8    they think is normal rather than rude.

What is most worrying is that it is     9     (possible) to drop my phone. I need it for my studies because my teachers and classmates need to contact me. It is     10     problem that we are so close but really so far.

A cashless society is defined as one that doesn’t use cash in monetary transactions (交易). These societies favor alternative means of payment, such     1     credit cards, or contactless payment.

Of all the companies     2     (move) closer to becoming cashless, most people agree that Sweden is the closest. 85% of the country has access to online banking and only 2% of the country’s transactions consist of cash.

There     3     (be) a number of reasons for this cashless trend. Sweden has access to a popular payment app     4     (call) Swish, which more than 50% of the country uses. But the     5     (big ) catalyst (引发变化的因素) so far is that most Swedish merchants don’t access cash payment.

China also has a vast cashless market,    6     is mostly dominated by Tencent’s WeChat Pay or Alipay, which is owned by Alibaba. But unlike many other countries, China hasn’t embraced (欣然接受) credit card payment. Instead, most Chinese consumers make payment by scanning QR codes (二维码) on     7     (they) phones.

Most merchants request payment via QR codes and it’s not uncommon     8     (see) QR codes located all throughout China. And this trend is starting to spread to other countries that have a lot of Chinese     9     (travel).

The growing cashless trend has led many people to wonder     10     the U.S. will eventually go cashless. It is possible since U.S. consumers are increasingly moving away from cash and embracing other forms of payment.

It’s odd — we’re always talking about the healthy work-life balance and know that working long hours can lead to stress, anxiety, and    1     (depress). Yet, we continue to devote more and more time     2     our jobs. In fact, research shows that 80% of workers answer emails and return phone calls after hours.

People believe long hours on the job to be proof of their work ethic (职业道德). And no matter how much we’d like     3     (think) there’s a direct correlation between hours worked and results produced, it might not actually be the case. Quite the contrary — doing overtime     4     (find) to lead to lower productivity.

A study     5     was made by Ford Motor Company in the 1990s already showed that every additional 20 hours of work could only increase productivity     6     (temporary) before it drops. Another research indicates that working more     7     48 hours a week is associated with significant declines in productivity, more     8     (mistake), and more mental health problems.

Clearly, doing overtime     9     (be) not a sustainable way of working, and that’s why it’s time for us to rid     10     (us) of the always-on mentality. The key is not to add more working hours to your day but to increase efficiency during your working hours. But how can we achieve this?

A dance called “Subject Three” performed by waiters at the hot pot chain Haidilao in Shandong province has become an internet sensation .

The dance,    1     (origin) from a wedding in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, gained popularity after guests    2     (showcase) their moves. Jokingly    3     (associate) with Guangxi residents having to pass three life subjects — singing folk songs, eating rice noodles and dancing, the dance found its way to a Haidilao store in Qingzhou, Shandong province. A waiter known as Xiao Pang introduced the dance, sparking    4     trend among Haidilao waitstaff to perform “Subject Three” upon customer request.

In Wuhan, Hubei province, customers can now request the dance by    5    (simple) saying “I want subject three” at Haidilao.

However, the widespread adoption of the “Subject Three” dance has ignited debates on Sina Weibo. While many find it    6     (amuse) and enjoy the interactive experience, some express discomfort, especially when dining.    7    (critic) argue that the dance can be awkward and intrusive, disrupting the dining atmosphere and causing the    8    (disturb). And the company does not comment on reports that some branches have stopped offering the dance in the wake    9     the recent debate.

Amid the fervor, concerns about potential health risks have also surfaced. In Huzhou, Zhejiang province, a young man    10     tried the dance was hospitalized due ta knee pan. Medical experts have warned that the energetic and lively moves in the dance put pressure on the knee and ankle joints, and improper movement could lead to ligament injuries or even fractures.

Over the past 10 years, China’s sci-tech strength has grown along with the development of the country’s economic strength,     1     (become) a driving force for Chinese modernization. In terms     2     the quantity and quality of its research, China     3     (maintain) its first-place global position for many years.

In the past decade, China has won major     4     (science) research achievements, including its development of nuclear power technology and AI technology,     5     have not only promoted the development of emerging industries, but have also accelerated the transformation of traditional industries.

The 2023 Zhongguancun Forum     6     (schedule) to take place in Beijing in May. Themed “Open Cooperation for a Shared Future”, it included conferences, exhibitions, research achievement releases, competitions in cutting-edge fields and technology trading.

Science and technology are important guarantees for food     7     (secure). Sci-tech innovation inspires     8     development of smart medical care and the new medicine. Internet hospitals allow medical resources     9     (distribute) in a more balanced way.

    10     (additional), the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology has increased from 53 percent 10 years ago to 62 percent in 2022. Agricultural science and technology have contributed a lot to China’s rural vitalization and poverty alleviation (减轻).