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.

For 27 years, Mao Shihua     1     (be) a permanent fixture for the residents of Huangtankou, selling breakfast to schoolchildren from her simple stall (货摊) meters away from a primary school.     2     (fond) nicknamed “Breakfast Nanny”, Mao served food that was both nutritious and cheap. Each item cost just half a yuan,     3     the price was never raised.

Mao’s “day” began at 2 am,     4     she would start preparing the breakfast items. Around 5:30, Mao would ride a tricycle cart to her stall to sell the breakfast, and remained there till 7:30 am.     5     hours of preparing and selling the breakfast, Mao barely made 50 yuan a day. She would often need to dip into her pension (养老金)     6     (cover) costs. Even owners of neighboring stalls would admit that Mao made no money out of her business.

However, Mao didn’t care. The hours she spent serving food to the children living in the mountainous area was the     7     (happy) part of her day.

When 90-year-old Mao died on December 18, 2023, netizens from around the country expressed their     8     (admire) for her and grief over her death, praising her as     9     “ordinary hero”.

In 2019, inspired by Mao, the public service center established the “1-yuan caring breakfast” store. From 7 to 8:30 am every day, the store provides 20 to 30 breakfast sets     10     (price) at 1 yuan for special groups such as sanitation workers and elderly people.

Hidden in one of Beijing’s     1     (tradition) hutongs, Grandpa Jin’s store might not attract young people, but it surely means something to the local elderly people.

The 75-year-old storekeeper Jin Anguang has been selling wall calendars since 1980.   However, calendar stores are     2     (exceptional) rare today. Many people say it’s the last store of     3     (it) kind you can find in the busy city.

The wall calendars     4     (display) in the small store used to be a must-buy item for almost all the Chinese     5     (family) to welcome a new year. However, with the rapid development of digitalization (数字化), young people have turned to digital calendars,     6     (leave) the paper ones almost “a thing of the past“.

Nowadays, Jin’s store suffers from a decline, sometimes making less     7     100 yuan a day. Yet, among many local elderly people, it’s a place they’d pay     8     visit at least once a year. Some would even drive a long way just     9     (get) some old or new calendars. And this is what keeps Jin     10     closing the door forever, though his income isn’t stable.

“As long as someone comes, I’ll stick to it, regardless of how many people,” Jin said.

Italian cook Federico Bianchini rises with the first rays of spring sunshine, puts on his white work jacket     1     heads leisurely into the kitchen. A few hours later, the appetizing smell of dessert fills the house.

This is     2     fourth year that Bianchini, 61, has lived in Dongying in East China’s Shandong Province, running a restaurant with his Chinese wife, partly in memory of their only daughter, who was killed in a car accident.

Their daughter once visited Dongying and fell in love     3     the city immediately. “We wanted to see the place       4     was considered attractive by my daughter and to fulfill her unfulfilled dream,” said Bianchini.

In 2019, having finally gathered the courage to start a new business in their 50s, the couple     5     (decide) to move to Shandong.

While most cooks keep     6     (they) cooking methods secret, Bianchini shares them on a large board publicly     7     (show) in the restaurant. The couple have also joined in activities to introduce Italian dishes to schools and communities, offering free training.

“We feel that life in Dongying     8     (be) full of love, and sharing is a kind of     9     (happy),” Bianchini said, adding that his Chinese friends have introduced him to Chinese traditions like acupuncture (针灸) and taught him     10     (make) Chinese snacks such as steamed buns.

Somewhere between the bookstore and the car, I left my favorite winter hat. I like to think someone in need will find it, maybe along with those    1    (glove ) which were gone a week or so ago.

Since 2015, I    2    (lose) a lot of things. Some have reappeared later, some have not, and that’s all right I am thankful that I have enjoyed them for    3    while and also thankful that they were shared through the wisdom of the Universe later.

Now and then, I “lose” something    4    purpose, lake the $20 bill to a little boy,    5    was buying holiday gifts in the store for his family. And the boy, judging from the way he was calculating the cost, was    6    (obvious) short of cash.

“I think you might have dropped this?” I asked him,    7    (hand) him the money, but I    8    (refuse) politely. He said that he didn’t think so. With a big smile, I told him that I really thought it was    9    (he). He unwillingly accepted it and looked thankful.

Haven’t you ever received something just when you needed it? In our daily life, sometimes we    10    (be) the receiver, and sometimes the giver. Nothing is ever truly missing anyway. It’s just all sort of going to whoever needs it.

I take the train to work every morning. There is rubbish thrown away everywhere in the railway station,       1     terrible smell is more than I can put up with. So I always try to rush through it. The other day I was trying to do so as usual    2     something made me stop for a moment. I saw the most beautiful act of    3     old lady walking in front of me.  

The old lady    4    (support) by a white stick was walking slowly as each step took some effort. She stopped near a rubbish bin and slowly placed her walking stick against it. With great    5    (difficult) she bent down,   picked up some rubbish with her left hand and threw it inside the bin.    6     all took her great effort.  

I     7    (move) to see this old woman make such a great effort to keep even a small part of it clean!   I couldn’t stop    8    (think) about that all day.  

I want to follow her example. I hope people will do the same as I do. If everyone makes contributions    9     protecting the environment,   there will be less pollution and the world will become    10    (clean) and more beautiful.

Henry Tyler made the catch of the year on the weekend. When he saw a young child hanging from a sixth-floor apartment balcony (阳台), Henry ran one hundred metres, jumped over a 1.2-metre fence, and held out his arms to catch the     1     (fall) child.

Eric Brown, only three years old, knocked Henry down when he fell. The boy is in the hospital and doctors say he'll be OK.

    2     Brown family live in an apartment building outside Toronto. On the day of the accident, Mrs. Brown was at work and Eric was at home with his father. They both fell     3     (sleep) while watching TV.

Eric woke up a little later when he heard children playing outside. He pushed a chair onto the balcony, and climbed up     4     (see) them. When he looked down, he     5     (accidental) slipped and fell over the edge. He hung on for a few minutes     6     screamed for his father, but his father didn't hear him.

Henry     7     (fix) his car when he heard the screams. He looked up and saw Eric hanging from the balcony. He quickly     8     (throw) his tools aside, and started running, arms out.

"He saved my     9     (son) life," said Mrs. Brown. "I don't know     10     to thank him.”

"I just didn't want the boy to be hurt," said Henry.

My wife and I moved to a small town along the coast. Our three-bedroom, two-bath home can     1    (comfortable) accommodate a total of about eight people, us     2     (include).

Here is the problem: We have some close friends who occasionally come to visit. On one previous visit, they announced at dinner that a close friend of     3     (they) would be“drop-ping by”the following day.

The next day, their friend showed up with her two children, her older sister and her dog. It was obvious     4     they intended to stay with us, because they dragged in pillows from their car.

My wife welcomed them with open arms. We then set about     5     (try) to find space for them, many of whom slept on the floor or the sofa. This brought     6     number of people from seven to 11, plus an additional dog.

When everyone left     7     the end of the three-day holiday, my wife and I had a long discussion about what       8     (happen) and what we would do about it. We agreed that our friends took advantage of us, and we decided     9     (change) the visiting rules.

As a result, our friends’ visits are less frequent, which makes my wife     10     (happy).She wants to throw the new rules out.I totally disagree. What is the way out?

A Shanghai full-time mother, Zhao Yonghui,     1     (make) more than 40 pieces of traditional costumes for her daughter over the past three years. She said that the idea of making traditional costumes was born three years       2    her daughter required one for a kindergarten event.

“My daughter and her classmates liked the first homemade costume very much and other children even urged their mothers     3     (learn) how to make one for them. My daughter was also extremely     4     (pride) after receiving praise for wearing the clothes made by her mum,” said Zhao.

    5       (encourage) by that incident, Zhao bought books, visited a clothing museum,     6     even consulted professional tailors so that she could make more professional-looking costumes.

Today, she can craft a     7     (various) of types of Chinese traditional costume,     8     (include) Hanfu dresses, cheongsams, and a coat skirt from the late Qing Dynasty. According to Zhao, it is more expensive for her to make costumes     9     (she)—the cost is equal     10     the price of two to three pieces on e-commerce platform Taobao. However, her creations are far superior in quality and style.

I have a neighbor we call "Happy". I have never seen her angry at anything and never heard her say a harsh (苛刻) word to anyone or about anyone. They always have a positive attitude     1     other people and the society.

Happy and her husband Ben. 70, have a huge garden on which they spent many happy hours together working. Most of the neighbors watched interestingly as Ben doubled the size of     2     (they) garden. As the cost of food climbed faster, we all wished we also had such a large garden.

One day last month was the time     3     Happy and Ben asked most of the neighbors to go for an “all-day food feast". The place where we     4     (invite) to go was their house. They said to us, "Please bring gloves and arrive very early in the morning, will you?" We didn't know the reason why they asked us to do that. Neither did we know what     5     (take) place the next morning.

By 9:00 am, there were nine of us in the garden picking     6     (variety) kinds of vegetables such as tomatoes, beans, okra, and squash. By 10：00 am, there was lots of laughter. We didn't need to pretend     7     (be)like others and we were ourselves. We shared a lot of stories. By five o'clock. everyone was a little drunk from the wine and beer. After dinner, we played games. We were     8     (extreme) happy. As we were leaving, Happy and Ben handed each of us a shopping bag that was filled with the bounty (收成) of the day. What a delightful gift!

Well, in     9     (summarize)the point wasn't so much about the food. The true gift was a day of friends enjoying one another's company, wasn't     10    ? None of it would have happened if it had been for Happy and Ben's garden.