With the rapid development of China’s     1    and new technology, China has already       2    its poverty (贫穷) and the Chinese people have become     3    wealthy (富有). As a result, more foreign people including     4    from high schools are     5    in to come for sightseeing, to do business, or to learn new technology. Martin Mahanmad, a boy at the age of 16, after     6    from junior high school, was admitted to a local senior high school and two years later came to a high school in Beijing as an     7    student. In the beginning, he came across a great many difficulties, but as time goes on, with the help of his Chinese classmates, he has already     8    living in China. Now Martin can speak       9    Chinese.

Some years ago, Martin met a tourist from China, from whom he learnt that China was a country with 5, 000 years of     10    , powerful but friendly.

He also learnt China’s science and technology in the history was very     11    all over the world, and most importantly, ninety     12    of the high school students in China are studying hard for a brighter future.

Originally Martin’s parents wanted him to go to Japan but after a careful     13    , Martin chose China    14    Japan. He believed that nothing could       15    him from going to study in China.

As tourism develops, people are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment. Here in our city, there is a heated discussion about whether a hotel should be built at White Beach. The owner of the company thinks the hotel would attract more tourists, which will     1     and     2    . However, the local people worry that building the hotel is     3     and will     4    , in particular the turtles which lay their eggs on White Beach. But they also admit that building the hotel will     5     for people living in the area. Even though the owner of the company guarantees that the design will be in harmony with its beautiful surroundings, the local people are still concerned that the hotel may     6    . Increased tourist numbers will also mean more cars and aeroplanes, which in turn means     7    .

The World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)     1     the many species of plants and animals that     2     around the world. The WWF wants more people to     3     the problem, so they will stop hurting wildlife and     4     solutions. Very few people in modern society actually intend to harm animals. Most people do not realise that many animal species cannot     5     the changes brought about by modern civilisation. It is for this reason that the WWF constantly     6     information to stir up public interest in the welfare of the planet.

Jenny Carter an NHS coordinator is an “extreme night owl,” one of an estimated 8.2% of the population whose natural inclination(倾向)is to fall asleep well after midnight. Left to her own devices, she’d prefer to go to bed around 3 a.m. and wake up about noon.

Why do night owls exist? There is no single     1     accepted theory, but evolutionary biologists think that communities with more variation in chronotypes(睡眠类型)may have been more likely to survive.

Another theory is that variation is     2     how genetics works. Right from birth, our personal biological clocks are already     3    . Genetics establishes a person’s chronotype. Colin Espie, professor of sleep medicine at the University of Oxford, says this     4     differences in hair eye and skin color or height.

Natural night owls are     5     different from insomniacs or people who stay up until the early hours because of family or work circumstances. Being a night owl isn’t a problem.

But this isn’t always well understood. Jessica Batchelor is a medical writer who feels most productive at 11 p.m. “I can’t tell anyone when I went to sleep, woke up, showered or ate a meal without being     6    ,” she says “I struggle with feelings of guilt and shame.”

This mentality is rooted in our agrarian(耕地的)past when farm work had to begin at dawn.

Our culture mistakenly associates sleeping little and rising early with     7    . It is often extolled(颂扬)as a habit of successful people: for instance in the     8     with Margaret Thatcher’s four-hour rest, or articles about “sleepless-elite” CEOs who start their days with a 4 a.m. jog.

Actually, there is nothing wrong with staying up late as long as you’re getting a good amount of sleep every night;     9    , early risers have no special biological advantage. What research has not disproved, however, is that morning people tend to get more done.

The productivity expert Laura Vanderkam     10     that people should consider switching their schedule not because it’s necessarily better but because it’s practical.

Waking up earlier to work out, make headway on a creative project or enjoy a stress-free cup of coffee can help make it easier to accomplish more without sacrificing time for yourself.

The Pleasures of the Table

APRIL 9, 2020 was the darkest day in the recent recorded history of the restaurant industry. The     1     of lockdowns, combined with people voluntarily avoiding others, meant that on that Thursday bookings in America, Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Ireland and Mexico made via OpenTable, a restaurant-reservation website, whose reservations     2     numbered in the millions plunged to zero.

Being     3     of the dining experience has made people realize how much they value it. Eating out fulfils needs which seem     4     to human nature. People need to go on dates, to seal deals, and to simply have the ability to peer at their fellow humans. At a good restaurant, you can travel without the need to be actually travelling or simply feel rich for a night.

Yet restaurants in their current form are a few hundred years old at most. They do not satisfy some primeval (原始的) urge, but rather those of particular sorts of societies. Economic and social forces have created both the     5     of and demand for restaurants.

People have long     6     outside the home. Archaeologists have counted 158 snack bars in Pompeii, the ancient Roman city destroyed by a volcano in 79 AD—one for every 60 to 100 people, a higher rate than that found in many global cities today. Ready-cooked meals     7     meat and fish were available for Londoners to purchase from at least the 1170s. Samuel Cole, an early settler, opened what is considered to be the first American tavern (酒馆) in1634, in Boston.

These were more like takeaways, though, or stands where food might be thrown in with a drink, than eat-in restaurants. The table d’hôte, which appeared in France around Cole’s time, most     8     resembled the modern restaurant we know and love today. Diners sat at a single table and ate what they were given. Many ofthese early restaurants existed only for the     9     of locals. Strangers were not always welcome.

What does the history of the restaurant say about its future? In recent weeks, global restaurant reservations have risen back up close to their pre-pandemic levels. The long-term future of the restaurant is less clear. The pandemic has led to many people     10     much more takeout food than before, while others rejoice in their newfound love of cooking. Restaurants have little choice but to continue to adapt.

Too Good To Be True

In ads, you will often see people staring open-mouthed at how wondrous a product is, clearly thinking that it can’t be true. It’s always worth bearing in mind that it might well not be.

Generally, advertisers may get away with a bit of exaggeration, but companies must not push the     1     too far, as it can cost millions of dollars in     2     if someone sues for making false claims.

Ads for Dannon’s Activia yoghurt said that it could provide     3     nutritional benefits, but in a legal challenge, the courts wouldn’t accept that these were “    4    ” and “scientifically” proven. Dannon had to pay up to $45 million to consumers who felt cheated and limit its health claims to strictly     5     ones in future.

It must have come as more of a surprise when Ferrero, the makers of the chocolate and hazelnut spread Nutella, began promoting its nutritional benefits (though long-term     6     will have been happy to learn that they ought not to have worried about it being unhealthy for all those years). However, it may have been a step too far for Ferrero to maintain it was a healthy “good for you treat.” After having to pay millions to the customers who sued over this false claim, the company     7     that it should change the ads and product labels.

Of course, images must not mislead either. An Olay ad for Definity eye cream showed former model Twiggy looking     8     wrinkle-free. You didn’t have to be an expert to see that the image must have been digitally     9    . In real life, Twiggy may have been looking good for someone pushing 60, but in the ad she looked a lot younger than she should have. After receiving complaints, the advertising authorities confirmed it was a case of image manipulation and     10     the ad, saying that it could give consumers a “misleading impression of the effect the product could achieve.”

Feeling Ugly on Zoom

Jane, a 40-year-old mental health professional from Ireland, never worried too much about how she looked. However, when her job went fully     1    , she found herself desperately anxious about Microsoft Teams (video) meetings. Her face looked rounder, her nose looked bigger, and her top lip looked thinner than she had ever noticed it while looking in the mirror.

“I’ve always thought that I was attractive, and people would always compliment my looks in person,” Jane says. “But on video, nobody was saying how nice it was to see my pretty face.”

In June 2021, Jane took matters into her own hands — or rather, her lips — and got her wrinkles plumped with filler. She was so pleased with the results that she plans to     2     the process every year.

As the pandemic forced the masses into video conferences throughout 2020, researchers noticed a phenomenon they called “Zoom dysmorphia” (畸形恐惧症). After months of remote meetings and social gatherings — and seeing their own faces on screen — more and more people became focused on their physical     3    . Shadi Kourosh, a Massachusetts dermatologist (皮肤科医生), coined the term after her clinic reopened for in-person appointments in the summer of 2020, when she noticed a huge increase in consultations for cosmetic procedures. Even more     4    , with the return to face-to-face interaction, consultation requests are not slowing down. While the trend may not only be attributable to Zoom, it is clear that the age of video conferencing has opened up a Pandora’s box of physical and mental insecurities.

Psychological studies have long associated time spent in front of the mirror with one’s     5    feelings of insecurity. However, Kourosh says that looking at yourself on a screen is more like looking into a funhouse mirror than an actual one. Front-facing cameras, with their close     6    , can distort (使……失真) people’s appearance, making eyes look smaller and noses seem bigger. Plus, people are not used to watching themselves while trying to pay attention to other people.

Doctors who perform cosmetic procedures are familiar with how the phenomenon of body dysmorphia has become     7     worsened in recent years by retouched (润饰的) celebrity photos or, even more recently, by social media filters. But most people are self-aware enough to know a social media filter is not real life. Zoom dysmorphia is tricker because people simply were not aware that video calls could cause     8    . These types of insecurities also affect a much broader section of society. Not everybody has a Snapchat account, but almost anybody who worked from home during the pandemic used video conferencing. The impact can be profound and lasting.

Jane has    9     feelings. Her job will be online for the foreseeable future. Feeling less attractive on screen than in real life, she is considering a rhinoplasty (隆鼻术) to improve her confidence. “But resolving my anxiety about my physical appearance is likely to     10    its own kind of insecurity,” she says. “It feels juvenile (幼稚的) as a 40-year-old women to think about my looks like a teenager. There’re bigger problems in the world.”